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Author: Jessica Famularo

MassLive: CISWH Partners with the Amal Alliance to Support Homeless Children

Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) was featured in a recent news story for its partnership with the Amal Alliance. CISWH is the lead evaluator of Colori Playspace Express, a trauma-informed mobile classroom that supports the emotional well-being and development of young immigrant children experiencing homelessness across Massachusetts. CISWH will share evaluation results later this year.  

On MassLive, Danielle de la Fuente, executive director of the Amal Alliance, shared how the project fosters stability and resilience among the children participating in the program.  

Excerpt from “More than 600 homeless children have boarded this eye-catching bus. Here’s why it matters” originally posted on MassLive: 

The brightly painted bus, known as the Colori Project, brings early childhood education directly to children living in Massachusetts’ emergency shelters. Since its launch, the bus has reached more than 600 children, offering play-based learning focused on social-emotional growth. Each session incorporates mindfulness, storytelling, and expressive activities designed to help children process trauma and build foundational skills. Amal Alliance leads the project in collaboration with Horizons for Homeless Children and Neighborhood Villages, working alongside the Healey-Driscoll administration to bring critical developmental resources to families in crisis. 

Read the full article here. 

Social Work News: CISWH Director Shares How Social Workers Can Respond to Political Upheaval

As tax and budget cuts, deportations, and a flurry of executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion become the new norm, social workers find themselves on the frontlines of a growing crisis. In a recent op-ed for My Social Work News, Dr. Tami Gouveia, director of the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW), issues a powerful call to action. Gouveia outlines how policies stemming from Project 2025 and the America First Agenda are already having severe consequences for marginalized communities. Dr. Gouveia urges social workers to meet this moment with bold, collective leadership grounded in ethics and solidarity. 

Excerpt from “America at a Crossroads” by Tami Gouveia, published in My Social Work News: 

“This is just the beginning. It has been hard to watch and absorb that we are living in a new reality. Understandably, many who are in a position to say something or to take action are afraid to because of the very real repercussions. And sometimes, when the work day is done, it feels easier to look away and tune out.  

But we must bear witness to the programs and aspects of civil society that are being decimated. Staying tuned in helps us better understand what we are losing, what we need to try to save, and what we will need to rebuild when the embers of the scorched earth approach taken by the new administration and DOGE eventually flame out.” 

Read the full article here. 

BU Today: CISWH Director Tami Gouveia Shares How the Beyond 2025 Action Hub Helps Social Workers Track Shifting Policies

Since the 2025 presidential inauguration, President Trump has signed an overwhelming number of executive orders, many of which follow proposals in Project 2025 and the America First Agenda. Prof. Tami Gouveia, director of the Center for Innovation in Social Work in Health (CISWH) at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW), built the Beyond 2025 Action Hub to track these policies as they move through congress or cross the president’s desk. Speaking to BU Today, Prof. Gouveia explains how social workers and public health professionals can use the Action Hub to better understand how orders and policy proposals impact their communities.

Excerpt from “BU Social Work Professor’s Database Tracks Trump Executive Orders Compared to Project 2025 and America First Agenda” by Rich Barlow:

Prof. Tami Gouveia leads a team of 10 part-time people—SSW staff and students—working on the database, which went live January 21, one day after Trump’s inauguration. “Project 2025 has gotten a lot of the attention, but the America First agenda is just as extreme. There’s a lot of overlap,” says Gouveia, who joined BU in 2023 after a career that included two terms in the Massachusetts State House of Representatives.

“We were noticing that in social work and public health, colleagues across the country didn’t know what was in Project 2025,” Gouveia says. “I decided we need to help everyday people—not just social workers and public health practitioners, but really everyday people—understand what’s in here. We’ve been breaking it down into bite-sized pieces.”

Read the full article here.

MotherJones: CISWH Senior Project Director Meg Comeau Shares Expertise on Proposed Medicaid Cuts

As the United States House and Senate prepare to debate the 2025 budget bill recently passed by House Republicans, cuts to Medicaid spending could total hundreds of billions of dollars. Medicaid, the largest health insurance program in the US, covers more than 70 million people. Meg Comeau, senior project director at the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) explained to MotherJones how Medicaid funding cuts will deepen health disparities, particularly for marginalized populations.  

Excerpt from “Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Would Leave Millions of Americans Without Health Care” by Julia Métraux: 

The truth of the matter is that most disabled people on Medicaid qualify due to income, which puts them at the highest risk for losing coverage if Republicans decide they’re not “poor enough” to cover. The approval process for [Supplemental Security Income (SSI)] can take years, with tens of thousands of applicants dying annually while on wait lists. That leaves many disabled people too sick to work before the government agrees they’re “disabled enough,” if they end up qualifying at all. 

And while cuts to Medicaid will be devastating for tens of millions of Americans, said Meg Comeau of Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health, “We won’t be able to get a good handle for a while on how many people are in those optional categories whose coverage has been taken away.” 

Read the full article here.  

WCVB Boston: CISWH Partner Amal Alliance Brings Social-Emotional Learning to Immigrant Children

The Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) recently collaborated with the Amal Alliance to design and perform an evaluation for Colors of Kindness, a mobile trauma-informed social-emotional learning program that helps asylum-seeking children in Massachusetts cope with trauma and learn how to communicate their feelings. The evaluation results will be released later in 2025. The program was recently featured in a news story on WCVB Boston. Speaking to the reporter, Danielle de la Fuente, Amal Alliance executive director, shared the impact the Colors of Kindness mobile curriculum has on immigrant children.  

Excerpt from “5 for Good: Mobile classroom serves young children living in shelters” originally posted on WCVB Boston.    

The bus specifically serves kids who are too young for regular school. On board are materials for play, but the teachers focus on lessons to support social and emotional development, using a curriculum called Colors of Kindness. Amal Alliance brought the bus and the lesson plan to Massachusetts in coordination with the state government, Horizons for Homeless Children, and Neighborhood Villages. 

Read the full article here. 

2/26: The Attack on Immigrants’ Rights: A Beyond 2025 Critical Conversation

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 
3:00 – 4:15 PM ET  
Zoom  

 

.5 CEs are available for this event

This event is presented in partnership with the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care and the National Alliance of Public Health Students and Alums.

Join the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) at the BU School of Social Wok (BUSSW) for The Attack on Immigrants’ Rights, the third event in the Beyond 2025 Critical Conversation series. As immigration policies continue to shift, many individuals and families face increasing uncertainty. This session will provide critical insights into the legal and social challenges facing immigrant communities and equip attendees with practical strategies for advocacy and support.  

Mojdeh Rohani, executive director of the De Novo Center for Justice and Healing, and Prof. Luz M. López, CISWH director of global social work, will lead a discussion about legal fraud prevention, and essential resources and best practices for supporting individuals who are navigating complex immigration issues.  

Social workers and healthcare providers play a crucial role in supporting immigrant communities, and this session will highlight strategies for professional solidarity, advocacy, and self-care.  

 

Register Here 

 

About the Speakers 

Mojdeh RohaniMojdeh Rohani (MSW’09) 
Executive Director, De Novo Center for Justice and Healing 

Mojdeh Rohani serves as the executive director at De Novo Center for Justice and Healing where she works with survivors of torture, war trauma, gender-based violence, and human trafficking. She is also a consultant and board member for various organizations, including the Massachusetts Attorney General Immigrant Advisory Council. Rohani is the former chair of the Training and Education Group of the Africa Global Mental Health Institute. 

Prior to her executive director role, Rohani was a lecturer at BUSSW and co-designed and directed the Building Refugee and Immigrant Degrees for Graduate Education (BRIDGE) program. 

Luz M. LopezProf. Luz Marilis López 
Director of Global Social Work, CISWH; Clinical Professor and MSW/MPH Dual Degree Director, BUSSW 

As the director of Global Social Work at CISWH, Prof. López works in Nicaragua in collaboration with the Superemos Foundation’s domestic violence program, a Boston Medical Center and Dorchester House medical brigade, and the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in Estelí (UNAN-FAREM), conducting workshops on violence prevention, education, and trauma care. In Uganda, Prof. López collaborates with the social work program at Makarere University to address the mental health needs of immigrants, refugees, and displaced persons—many survivors of war and sexual violence.  

Prof. López is a faculty affiliate of the Boston University Center for Forced Displacement and collaborates in their Border Studies Program at the border of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and Mexico.  

She is also an advisory board member of the National Hispanic & Latino Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network, and serves as director of the dual degree program in social work and public health (MSW/MPH) at BUSSW. 

2/12: Threats to Medicaid Benefits Eligibility for Children and Families

A Virtual Event  
Wednesday, February 12, 2025  
3:00 – 4:15 PM ET  
Zoom 
.5 CEs are available for this event.

This event is presented in partnership with the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care and the National Alliance of Public Health Students and Alums.

Join the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW) for the latest session in the Beyond 2025 Critical Conversation Series: Threats to Medicaid Eligibility and Benefits for Children and Families.  

Current policy proposals are poised to make major changes to Medicaid, resulting in threats to eligibility, benefits, and funding structures that could impact millions of children and families.   

Meg Comeau, CISWH senior project director, and Adenike Chon, licensed graduate social worker and lived experience partner at Gillette Children’s Hospital, will share how we can use our collective power to take action against disruptive legislation so that every Medicaid-enrolled child has access to the care they need.

.5 CEs are available for this event. 

Register Here

About the Speakers

Adenike ChonAdenike Chon, MA, LGSW
Counselor, Open Door Health Center; Lived Experience Partner, Gilette Children’s Hospital

Adenike Chon is a licensed graduate social worker in Saint Paul, Minnesota where she consults on a plethora of diverse projects. Nationally she has served as a parent advisor for the Collaborative for Improvement and Innovation Network to Advance Care for Children with Medical Complexity (CMC CoIIN) and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Chon is a graduate of Partners in Policymaking, PACER Family Leadership Training, and the Family Voices of Minnesota’s CONNECTED Peer Support Program. She served three terms on the Minnesota Department of Education’s Special Education Advisory Panel. Currently, she is a member of the Complex Care Quality Improvement Team and a family engagement research partner at Gillette Children’s and the National Academy for State Health Policy’s (NASHP) Project Advisory Committee.

Meg ComeauMeg Comeau, MHA
Senior Project Director, Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health, Boston University School of Social Work

Meg Comeau is a senior project director at the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH). She is a nationally recognized expert on Medicaid policy’s impact on children with special health care needs, medically complex conditions, and disabilities. She offers over 19 years of professional experience leading multi-million-dollar research, policy analysis, technical assistance, and care delivery improvement projects aimed at increasing pediatric health care access and quality, with a strong emphasis on equitable family/clinician partnership.

 

Boston Globe: CISWH Director Tami Gouveia Shares View on the 2024 Election

Dr. Tami Gouveia, director of the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) shared her response to the 2024 U.S. presidential election in a recent interview with the Boston Globe. The article asked several Boston-area women how they’ve responded to the election and their expectations for the future heading into another Trump presidency. Dr. Gouveia shares her experience leading the Massachusetts’s chapter of the Women’s March in Washington in 2017, and how women’s responses eight years later have changed.  

Excerpt from “Trump is back after winning more women’s votes. Some fear it’s a sign the country has moved backward on #MeToo and more,” by Anjali Huynh:  

“What I see now is continued passion and compassion that’s going to translate into strategic action. That’s why I think we’re not seeing as strong of a reaction — we anticipated that this could happen and we’re figuring out what the most effective ways of responding are going to be.” 

Read the full article here. 

CISWH & BUSSW Students and Faculty Participate in 13th Annual BU Global Programs International Education Week 2024

 Thursday, November 14, 2024 
12:00 – 2:00 PM 
Conant Lounge, 2nd Floor 
BU School of Social Work, 264 Bay State Road 

Global Social Work: Community Voices and Interdisciplinary Partnerships in Nicaragua, Rwanda, and Kenya  

Join us for a panel session where faculty and students from the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) and BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) will discuss global, community-centered partnerships that promote rights-based global change, equitable health, psychosocial education, and well-being in Nicaragua, Kenya, and Rwanda. This event is being held as part of BU Global Programs International Education Week (IEW) 2024.  

The speakers will share their experiences partnering with cross-cultural organizations to advance health and well-being worldwide.  

Speakers 

  • Luz López, PhD, MPH, Clinical Professor, BUSSW; Global Social Work Director, CISWH 
  • Emily Lamunu (SSW’27), CISWH fellow 
  • David Andrade (SSW’24), CISWH fellow 
  • Elizabeth Johnson (SSW’24, SPH’26) 

IEW is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange. 

In-person attendance is highly encouraged for this interactive event. However, if you are unable to attend in-person, please use the link below to join us virtually. 

Attend the Event 

CISWH Faculty and Student Fellows Share Expertise at APHA 2024

Faculty and student fellows from the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) presented on research and innovations in interdisciplinary education at the American Public Health Association’s 2024 Annual Meeting, held recently in Minneapolis, MN.  

The CISWH team shared their expertise on a broad range of topics, including trauma-informed mental health interventions in rural Nicaragua, the benefits of using systems theory and participatory mapping to create an organizational theory of change, and lessons learned from a virtual reality simulated learning pilot for an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Social Determinants of Health in healthcare settings. Learn more about the presentations below.  

Charting Success: Participatory Systems Mapping in Social Work Organizational Leadership and Strategic Planning 

Dr. Tami Gouveia, CISWH director and Paul Farmer Professor of Practice, shared how CISWH used participatory systems mapping to develop the center’s new theory of change and strategic plan. Demonstrating the CISWH team’s successful application of systems approaches, Dr. Gouveia highlighted how social work leaders can apply systems theory to organizational leadership, as well as in developing sound interventions to address society’s most complex issues.  

Global Health Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Trauma-informed Care in Nicaragua 

Prof. Luz M. López, CISWH global social work director and clinical professor at BUSSW, shared the outcomes of a qualitative and quantitative study evaluating the efficacy of an interdisciplinary training program that helped social workers and other mental health professionals in Estelí, Nicaragua deliver trauma-informed care to families affected by domestic violence.  

Women’s Leadership in Global Health 

Ottoho Edima (DrPH’27), CISWH graduate fellow, discussed how women in global public health still face barriers that limit their leadership and career advancement opportunities. Even in states with robust funding in public health and healthcare, women experience challenges with work life balance, accessing mentorship opportunities, and unequal pay. Edima proposes that women-led mentorship programs and supportive professional networks can start to address these problems.  

MyART4U 
 
During a poster session, Emily Lamunu (PhD’27) proposed the MyART4U project, a mobile phone app that would provide people living with HIV in Uganda a tool to help manage their health more effectively. The app would be developed with culturally sensitive technology to ensure that marginalized communities get the care that they need, while also fostering social inclusion and eliminating stigma.  

Collaborative Approach to Addressing Social Determinants of Health in Dental Education: Implementation of an Interprofessional Education Rotation 

CISWH graduate fellow Melanie Morris (PhD’24) highlighted a new, interprofessional approach to third-year student rotations at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. Implemented during the 2023-2024 academic year, dental students participated in team-based workshops alongside pharmacy, social work, and nutrition students to think critically about how diverse health disciplines can work together to provide better, more equitable outcomes for patients.  

 
Social Work Expertise in Multidisciplinary Health Care Settings to Address Social Determinants of Health: Lessons Learned from a Virtual Reality Education Initiative  

CISWH graduate fellow Zoë Richman (MSW’25) discussed the outcomes of a pilot for an interdisciplinary course that helps medical, social work, and nutrition students practice integrating the Social Determinants of Health into care collaboratively through a virtual reality simulation.