Marsha and Marian’s Neighbors: Youth shared-housing program could be national model
Using “radical imagination,” VCU School of Social Work faculty Maurice Gattis, Ph.D., and M. Alex Wagaman, Ph.D., and their collaborators have developed a youth shared-housing model in Richmond unlike any in the country. “There are just so few evidence-informed, co-designed interventions for this population,” says Dr. Wagaman, who is now serving a one-year term as special advisor […]
Meet Jae Lange: ‘So proud to be fighting alongside my team and my community, fighting to end homelessness’
Jae Lange says they were a social worker long before a job or degree made it official. “I was born one, and I will die one,” says Jae, a first-generation student in the B.S.W. Program who also is a direct service specialist for a grant-funded project administered by the School of Social Work. Marsha and […]
Fulbright awards fuel opportunities abroad for social work faculty Gattis, Burnette
One VCU School of Social Work faculty member is currently working abroad in South Africa, and a second will be headed to Mongolia this summer – both as repeat recipients of Fulbright awards. Maurice Gattis, Ph.D., an associate professor, was named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for Social Sciences and Humanities and has been working in […]
Social work-led project to reduce homelessness receives $800K+ grant
Two VCU School of Social Work associate professors, Maurice N. Gattis, Ph.D., and M. Alex Wagaman, Ph.D., have secured a Virginia Housing Trust Fund Homeless Reduction Grant The $883,014 grant builds on a previously funded project and will work to reduce homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth, pregnant and parenting youth, and young people at the intersection […]
Free training available on LGBTQ+ youth homelessness through Nov. 30
If you’d like to learn more about the issues of LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, a valuable, free training resource is available as part of a November-long competition among Richmond and four other cities selected for the national Grand Challenge to End Youth Homelessness.
Alumna Elaine Williams earns top honor for recent graduates
Elaine Genise Williams is way ahead of schedule. Only two years removed from earning her bachelor’s degree in social work from VCU, she is already being honored with one of the VCU Office of Alumni Relations’ 10 Under 10 awards.
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 […]
Real research: Elaine Williams examines how service providers can better serve needs of homeless youth
When Elaine Williams was in middle school, her family was evicted from its Richmond apartment. Then she became a VCU social work student and joined a participatory action research team to study youth homelessness.
Richmond youth who have faced homelessness and housing instability use research and advocacy to help others in similar situations
Members of the Advocates for Richmond Youth held a “pop-up, drop-in center” at Side By Side, a space in Richmond for LGBTQ+ youth, that offered free food, clothing, hygiene items, computer access for job searches, and legal assistance to any 14-to-24-year-olds experiencing homelessness or housing instability.