API Social Worker Council: Diana Ming Chan Bilingual Social Worker Scholarship

The Asian Pacific Islander Social Work Council (APISWC) of the California Chapter of NASW is proud to announce the applications for the Diana Ming Chan Bilingual Social Work Scholarship. Diana who lived from 1929 to 2008 was a well-respected social worker in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was one of the first Cantonese bilingual social workers in San Francisco Chinatown and advocated for the need of bilingual social workers. Diana was also known for her dumpling diplomacy where she invited top politicians to her home to discuss the importance of school social workers. Eventually, Diana was able to effectively lobby the San Francisco Board of Education to open up school positions for social workers.

Two scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each will be awarded at the NASW-CA annual conference in October 2015 in South San Francisco.

Individuals applying for the scholarship must meet the following criteria:

– Must be an undergraduate or graduate social work student enrolling in his/her final year starting in Fall 2015.
– Be bilingual in an Asian language.
– Be enrolled at any of the following universities: San Jose State, CSU East Bay, San Francisco State, or UC Berkeley.
– Applicants do not have to be a current member of the APISWC, but scholarship winners will be asked to become actively involved with APISWC as time permits.

The application packet must include the following:

1. Cover letter with name, email address, and phone number.
2. One letter of recommendation.
3. Copy of most recent official transcript.
4. Limit of 500 words responding to: “How would you advance social work in the Asian and Pacific Islander Community?”  
5. Limit of 500 words responding to: “How do you plan to or have you used your bilingual skills to help others?”

All applications must be postmarked by Monday, June 8, 2015 and mailed to:

Asian Pacific Islander Social Work Council
c/o Quarry Pak
P.O. Box 591073
San Francisco, CA  94159

Winners will be notified no later than July 31, 2015.

Questions can be emailed to apicouncilnorth@gmail.com 

More history about Diana Ming Chan can be found at:
http://www.naswfoundation.org/pioneers/c/chan.html