Delphie Morales, a graduate student in the Community, Organization, and Business Innovation department at the USC School of Social Work, said she found her voice in Washington, D.C.

Last month, she, along with 15 other COBI students, spent a week in the city as part of the inaugural COBI Fellows Program in Social Innovation, a novel learning opportunity for students interested in understanding and creating social change. The COBI intensive in D.C. was just one part of the program. Students met with policymakers and several foundations and nonprofit organizations to get a better understanding of how federal policies affect social work practice across the country. Through these meetings, Morales recognized that even as a budding social worker, she, too, had a place at the table.

“I realized the importance and power of brainstorming and dialoguing with influential individuals who are in the position to create effective social impact,” she said. “[My future goal is to] help create effective after-school programs in underserved communities through evaluation and consultation services. The trip to Washington exposed me to the importance of networking with diverse stakeholders who are also interested in youth development in their respective social service areas.”

The COBI Fellows trip was one of three social work immersion programs that took place in March. The other courses were Child Development and Social Policy and Military and Veterans Policy and Practice. While there have been national immersion programs in past years, it was the first time that all three happened simultaneously in the same city. The programs included meetings before and after the week spent in D.C., and this year, a total of 70 Master of Social Work students participated.

Learning beyond the classroom

The COBI Fellows intensive, which was co-directed by Clinical Associate Professor Tory Cox and Clinical Assistant Professor Melissa Singh, exposed students to the social innovation dynamics at various organizations and connected them to network opportunities for future field internship placements.

“Programs like this change the way that we educate our students,” Singh said. “The current problem-solving techniques are not working for the situations and issues we are facing. These wicked problems require us to innovate our teaching styles and methods, but first we need to understand what we are up against.”

Among the week’s highlights were visits to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, where students learned about forthcoming state-focused programs aimed at addressing mental health disparities. They also attended a morning session at Ashoka, where students were challenged to reframe their definition of social change and impact. At Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton, students had the opportunity to participate in innovation labs.

Clinical Associate Professor Omar Lopez and Penelope Trickett, the David Lawrence Stein/Violet Goldberg Sachs Professor of Mental Health, served as lead faculty for the Child Development and Social Policy immersion, which comprised 24 second-year students. The program consisted of site visits to Congress, governmental agencies, and policy and advocacy think tanks to provide students with a framework for understanding how social policy affecting children is developed and processed at the federal level.

Lopez said one of the most memorable meetings was a presentation by Rafael Lopez, commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“[He] talked about policy on the national level and gave insight into how the current presidential administration works and issues that impact children throughout the country. His presentation was particularly inspirational [because] he was actually one who benefited from those services when he was young,” Lopez said.

Clinical Associate Professor Fred Stone and Clinical Assistant Professor Kristen Zaleski co-led 30 students in the Military and Veterans Policy and Practice immersion. The program consisted of meetings with high-ranking officials in the Veterans Administration and the Pentagon who serve as social workers helping members of the military, as well as visits with military leaders involved in mental health and family issues in the Department of Defense.

Students also got the opportunity to meet with Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ), the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, who spoke about overcoming barriers as a woman in the military as well as her efforts to end military sexual assaults. They also met with Rory Brosius, a student in the Virtual Academic Center who currently serves as deputy director of Joining Forces, a national initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden to provide support for service members, veterans and their families.

“The trip exposes students to many of the services and programs that are available to military members, veterans and their families,” Stone said. “Many of the students are veterans or family members of veterans who hope to use the information that they learn from this class to give back to the military after graduation.”  

Real-world applications

The three immersion programs may have had different areas of focus, but the objective was the same: to show students that there is more to social work than clinical practice.

“Social work, as a profession, is unique. We look at society as a whole. We cannot ignore the macro influences that impact service delivery. So our students need to be aware of why policy is developed, how it’s developed and how it can impact society,” Lopez said. “It makes a difference seeing it in person. Going to the offices, looking into the eyes of the people working in the field and seeing how passionate they are about their work leaves a lasting impression on the students.”

Beatrice Martinez, a student in the military immersion, said the trip opened up her eyes to different career possibilities within social work.

“It was important for me to be a part of this intensive … [because] I was exposed to diverse social service agencies working at the organizational, group and individual levels – or in social work terms, the macro, mezzo and micro levels,” she said. “[This] allowed me to expand my knowledge pool of what social workers are capable of doing. We can do it all, in a nut shell.”

Martinez also credited the immersion for reminding her why she chose to go down the social work path.

“The program was exactly what I needed in one of my most challenging semesters in the MSW program. This experience reminded me of why I am doing what I am doing,” she said. “This experience has taught me the importance of cultural competency specific to each population that we may serve as future MSWs. It is important to learn from, work with and build on the strengths of the people we are serving to become an effective social worker and an agent of change.”