New DU Project Looks to Grow, Diversify School Social Workers

Recognizing the critical need for more school-based mental health professionals, especially within underserved communities of color, Dominican University is launching a new program aimed at training and graduating a growing cohort of school social workers.

The university is the recipient of a five-year, $3.8 million Mental Health Service Professionals Demonstration Grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand access to youth mental health services. Funding will support the Social Work Integration for Thriving (SWIFT) Schools Project at Dominican, which will assign Master of Social Work students and Post-MSW students to intern in selected, understaffed suburban Cook County school districts with mental health needs and diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Student assignments will begin in August 2025.

The grant is aimed at addressing ongoing shortages in the school social work profession, particularly social workers of color. It allows Dominican to build on its existing efforts to grow interest in the school social work concentration and focus on culturally responsive recruitment and placement within under-resourced schools in communities near the River Forest campus, said SWIFT program director Maria Elena Pascarella, clinical assistant professor and faculty lead for the School Social Work Track at Dominican.

Efforts will be made to target and attract a diverse pool of graduate school candidates, with a focus on those who are bilingual and bicultural, particularly from Latine and BIPOC backgrounds.

“Within the workforce, school social work is largely white and female, so being able to train more students of color to go into the profession is important,” noted Pascarella, who has a background as a school social worker. “Students and families want to be able to connect with school-based mental health professionals who understand their perspective, culture and language.”

This can lead to more positive outcomes for those receiving services, she noted.

Through their internships, the graduate students will work directly with elementary and high school students and consult and collaborate with families, school staff and community agencies. Funding from the grant will cover the students’ tuition during their school placement, as well as stipends for the school social workers who will be supervising them, Pascarella said.

“We are aiming for 20 students in this program per year over five years, graduating a total of 100 school social workers,” she said.

The SWIFT Schools Project also aligns with Dominican University’s mission of social justice and community care, Pascarella added.

“We really are trying to provide compassionate service in communities where we are most needed," she said. “Our identity as a Hispanic-Serving Institution also lines up nicely as well. We have heard from a number of our students that their goal is to work in and uplift the communities they come from.”