The School of Social Work is proud to announce the development of a new fund, named after an alumna, legislator, and advocate for social justice, to advance the School’s priority goals of diversity and inclusion within the School and in our social justice work with the community.
The Tamara Grigsby Memorial Fund for Diversity and Inclusion, named after Tamara Grigsby (MSSW 2000) and seeded by an anonymous alumni donor, will be used to recruit students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds; increase programming to promote an inclusive environment; provide training for students, faculty, and community members on new approaches to improve diversity and inclusion in the classroom and in our communities; and to emphasize through action the School’s training and commitment to diversity and inclusion in its many forms.
While we have seed money to start this fund, we need other alumni and friends to contribute to our diversity and inclusion efforts.
Diversity and inclusion are high-priority areas for the School and this fund allows us to expand and improve that work. “This fund will help us fulfill our commitment to training the next generation of social workers who are tasked with addressing the deep and ongoing social justice issues that face our communities, nation, and world,” says Stephanie Robert, Director and Professor at the School. For example, since 2014, the School has hosted an annual, “Social Workers Confronting Racial Injustice” conference for about 400 students, faculty, staff, and area social workers. This fund will help us bring in a national speaker for the conference for the first time to speak on the intersection of race and gender. Also, for many years, we have sent students to the YWCA’s Racial Justice Summit and this last year sent three students to a social justice political boot camp in Washington D.C. With additional contributions to this fund, we can send more students to these and other similar trainings.