Serving as interim dean at SSA is truly one of the greatest honors of my professional career. SSA has a distinct place—and has played a remarkable role in the history of the University of Chicago, in creating and defining the profession of social work, and in making the pursuit for social justice and equity a core mission of our research, training, and community engagement.
In this conversation, SSA Associate Professor Jennifer Mosley discusses the role of foundations with Grace Hou, President of Woods Fund Chicago. Mosley studies how nonprofits use involvement in policy advocacy to more effectively support the communities or populations they serve. Woods Fund Chicago is a private grantmaking foundation focused on the promotion of social, economic, and racial justice by funding projects that draw on the power of communities to fight the brutality of poverty and structural racism.
Poverty isn't a static condition. New research is showing how unstable life is for many low-income families.
A growing movement to find alternatives to mass incarceration is gaining more attention thanks to the research of School of Scoial Service Administration Associate Professor Matthew Epperson, who has spoken widely on the topic.
For the past year, SSA has been working with Peking University (PKU) and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in an ambitious partnership—the Tripartite Collaboration for Advancing Social Work in China. This initiative, launched with lead funding by Anna Pao Sohmen, EX '68, and philanthropists Sue Peng and Xiotian Zhang, is designed to foster the development of professional social work education and research in China.
The School of Social Service Administration has invested in more than just a new source of caffeine and nourishment with the official opening of Try-Me's Café in the School this past fall.