Two California Grad Students Committed to Latino Empowerment Awarded National Social Work Scholarships

NASW Foundation Announces
Educational Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C.–The National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) recently announced winners of the 2014 Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial Scholarship, including two California graduate students committed to helping young people and their families in Hispanic and Native American communities.

“Both women exemplify the sort of passion and drive we like to see in Foundation scholarship candidates,” said NASWF director, Robert Arnold. “Specific to these awards, Ms. Escobar’s focus on clinical therapy among Latinos in California schools, and Ms. Swenson’s focus on parenting skills in Latino communities, match the mission well.”

The Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial Scholarship is a monetary grant awarded to master’s degree candidates in social work who have demonstrated a commitment to working with, or who have a special affinity with, American Indian/Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino populations, or in public and voluntary nonprofit agency settings. 

Ms. Escobar, at the University of California-Berkeley, has devoted most of her hours outside of graduate school helping young people in both Hispanic and African American communities in Los Angeles area. She moved from Mexico with her family at age four. She has volunteered and worked at a number of different educational assistance programs and sees herself focusing on more quality therapy in Latino communities. “As a social worker, my ideal workplace would be a school where I can work with students on environmental, psychological, and other factors affecting their mental health and academics,” Ms. Escobar said.

Ms. Swenson, a student at California State University at Long Beach, has prioritized helping families and young people as her mission. From enlisting young people to serve their communities at homeless shelters to helping students prepare for college, Ms. Swenson has worked 13 years in social services. Her MSW at CSU-Long Beach will allow her to build on her already successful work with youth:  to “work with families in a more clinical, therapeutic way…help (Latino) parents strengthen their parenting skills, help them become closer to their children” and more engaged in the young people’s self-esteem and education. She adds that there is a huge need for therapeutic counseling because waits are often long for Medi Cal services.

The Gosnell Scholarship was established through a bequest of Consuelo Gosnell, a social work practitioner who was a champion of civil and human rights and worked diligently to ameliorate conditions for critically under-served American Indians and Latinos in the Southwest. 

For more information about the NASW Foundation or the Gosnell Scholarship Program, please visit www.naswfoundation.org or e-mail naswfoundation@naswdc.org.