Richmond wins national youth homelessness award, with help from social work faculty
VCU School of Social Work faculty M. Alex Wagaman, Ph.D., and Maurice Gattis, Ph.D., were instrumental in writing a grant proposal that helped Richmond become one of 10 cities to win a Grand Challenge award.
The project will tackle homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color. A Way Home America, a national advocacy and research organization, is spending $1.5 million to sponsor awards in 10 cities.
Both Wagaman, an associate professor, and Gattis, a first-year iCubed visiting scholar and associate professor, have done extensive work in the intersection of homelessness and vulnerable populations.
“One of the reasons the Grand Challenge opportunity was so attractive was because there is so much synergy with what we are doing here in Richmond,” Wagaman says. “The communities that were ready were the ones best positioned to apply. We had to have key partners sign on, and we had young people who are directly affected at the table.”
Learn more about the Grand Challenge on the VCU News site.
Categories Community, Faculty and staff, Research