Brown School doctoral students were recently the lead authors of stories in two prestigious social work and public health journals.

In ”Cash Transfers and Health,” published in the Annual Review of Public Health, Sicong (Summer)Sun analyzes the impact of cash payments on families with children – similar to proposals from the Biden administration. Sun led a team from the Center for Social Development (CSD) that conducted the research. “Evidence suggests that cash transfers produce positive health effects, but there are many complexities and variations in the outcomes,” she writes. “Continuing research and policy innovation—for example, universal basic income and universal Child Development Accounts—are likely to be productive.”

In “Voting Infrastructure and Process: Another Form of Voter Suppression?”, published in Social Service Review, Kyle Pitzer looks at data collected in a CSD study examining St. Louis polling places in the 2018 election. “Findings indicate that voting infrastructure and process at polling sites are associated with the predominant race and income level of census tracts in which they are located,” he concludes. “Problems in voting infrastructure and process are not usually discussed as intentional voter suppression, but this evidence suggests that they are systemic and have the same effect as intentional voter suppression.”

“These are important papers published in top journals,” said Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at the Brown School and director of the CSD. “Our Ph.D. students lead excellent research and publish in the best academic journals. More importantly, they are only at the beginning of their academic careers and will contribute much more in the years ahead.”

The Brown School welcomes new faculty who are focused on national and global research and impacts. The group includes alumni and administrative leaders, as well as members of WashU research centers.

Their diverse research interests range from harnessing data set to expanding field education. Major themes include a focus on increasing health and safety for marginalized populations: women and girls in global conflict; the impact of economic instability on the mental health on low-income minority families; and promoting health and wellness in the Latinx population.

Learn more about them below.

New Brown School Faculty

Jeremy Goldbach, professor (tenure review pending), served as director of the Center for LGBTQ+ Health Equity at USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. His research is primarily focused on measuring, understanding and intervening experiences of minority stress and discrimination among LGBTQ+ children and adolescents. Later this year, he will be installed as the Master and Johnson Distinguished Professor in Sexual Health and Education.

Sunghei Han, lecturer (equivalent to assistant professor), has worked in nonprofit operations and higher education for twenty years, including a stint as administrator of the International English Language Testing System (IETLS) center at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Her contributions will focus on field education and field advising, as well as teaching across programs.

Jason Jabbari, assistant professor on the research track, leads the education research portfolio at the Social Policy Institute. Jabbari applies advanced statistical techniques to analyze large-scale surveys and other sources of complex data.

Rebecca Lengnick-Hall, assistant professor on the research track, helps organizational leaders and staff understand implement evidence-based practices to improve mental health service delivery, empowering them to implement and sustain programs. She is collaborating with colleagues across campuses.

Luis Armando Parra, assistant professor on the research track, previously served as provost postdoctoral scholar for faculty diversity in the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Using an intersectional lens, he studies the effects of heterosexism, racism, and social support from family and peers, as sources of stress and resilience, on neurobiological and immunological regulation, affective forecasting, and behavioral health (e.g., anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation).

Diana Parra Perez, research assistant professor, focuses her research on promoting health and wellness for marginalized and underrepresented communities with an emphasis on U.S. Latinx populations. Parra serves as mindfulness facilitator for the Academy for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Ilana Seff, assistant professor on the research track, works globally to improve the lives of vulnerable and marginalized populations. Her research focuses on preventing violence against women and girls, social norms related to violence, and the mental and psychosocial well-being of displaced populations.

Atia Thurman, lecturer (equivalent to assistant professor), is the former associate director of the Clark-Fox Policy Institute and manager of the Brown School Equity and Inclusion Initiatives. Her contributions will focus on field education, field advising and student support, as well as teaching across programs.

Liwei Zhang, assistant professor on the research track, focuses on the impact of economic instability and inequality on parenting and children’s mental health. Zhang seeks to inform community-engaged, individualized practices that support low-income and racial-ethnic minority families. She is collaborating with colleagues within the Center for Innovation in Child Maltreatment Policy, Research and Training.

Democrats have called for a permanent expansion of the monthly child tax credit, which will continue through the end of the year. In making the expanded credit permanent, lawmakers can leverage the power of child development accounts to build assets for all children in the United States, says a Washington University in St. Louis expert on asset building.

“We have an unusual opportunity to build wealth for every child in the United States,” said Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor in the Brown School. “Our research has shown that this changes the outlook of parents and children while growing resources for education. Over time, an inclusive Child Development Account (CDA) policy will reduce extreme inequality, enable more children to reach their potential and create a more productive economy.”

Sherraden is director of the university’s Center for Social Development and a renowned expert on social policy and asset building.

He is co-author of two recent policy briefs on nationwide child development accounts and changes to state college savings plans.

“CDAs build assets to ensure that early investments are available to all children,” the authors write in the first brief. “Experimental research documents that CDAs have large positive effects on savings for college, with the largest effects among households of color, lower incomes and lower parental education.”

They argue that the policy instrument for delivering universal CDAs at scale already exists, namely state 529 college savings plans. With policy and practice changes, 529s could be a delivery system for CDAs.

“Giving every child an account and assets as early as birth, with more to those with greater disadvantage, can bring multiple policy proposals together, develop all of our children and secure the nation’s future,” Sherraden said.

He has spent years studying the impact of Oklahoma’s CDA experiment, SEED OK — which he was principal investigator on — finding positive outcomes for college savings account holding and savings as well as on mental health.

Margaret Clancy, policy director at the Center for Social Development, is one of the co-authors on the briefs.

A new center at the Brown School is taking a leading partnership role in the development of Delmar Divine, the collaborative space for national and local nonprofits that is designed to promote innovation, racial equity and improve the lives of children and families in Metro St. Louis. Although the project – which includes affordable housing and retail – isn’t scheduled to open until December, the Center for Human Services Leadership is already working to support and strengthen the management and leadership of the nonprofit tenants.

“We’ve been ramping up the services we’ve been providing and now they’re going to take off like a rocket,” said Barry Rosenberg, the center’s director and professor of practice at the Brown School. “A big part of it is building community among the non-profits and making those connections to enhance collaboration.”

Delmar Divine recently hired Brittany Hogan, MSW ’09, to manage the center’s services at the complex on Delmar Boulevard, a street known as a racial and economic dividing line in the city. Hogan joined the center after work in economic development and education, most recently as Director of Educational Equity and Diversity in the Rockwood School District. “I’ve dedicated myself to continuing supporting and building of community in St. Louis, and this is a wonderful way to continue that work,” she said.

Rosenberg said the Center’s mission is “to transform this real estate project into a vibrant, collaborative, innovative community advancing social impact for our region.” He said the Center will serve four basic functions:

• Building a dynamic community and values-based culture that makes Delmar Divine a great place to work and visit.
• Facilitating information and referral on all matters involving leadership and management to help organizations be more effective, efficient and sustainable.
• Deepening management knowledge and skill and expanding the leadership pipeline.
• Building relations between the nonprofit tenants and the Washington University community, helping Delmar Divine to become an exceptional site for community-based education, research and programming.

Delmar Divine is the vision of founder Maxine Clark;  Washington University and the Brown School are active partners. Delmar Divine Charitable Corp., which operates the project, is chaired by Mary McKay, Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School, who asked Rosenberg to manage the school’s role. The Center with funding from the Missouri Foundation for Health has been evolving for about a year. Sarah Hollstrom and Autumn Shepherd, two second-year MSW students in the Social Impact Leadership concentration, were hired on in September to put together a database of resources around leadership and management; and develop the Center’s website. They and Hogan are conducting a series of interviews with the 29 non-profits that will be in the building to better understand their needs and learn how the organizations will prepare to address matters of equity and inclusion.

“It’s an honor to share in Maxine Clark’s vision,” McKay said. “Using our expertise and resources to bring our community together to improve lives is a key part of the mission of the Brown School, and of Washington University.”

Clark, the founder of Build-a-Bear Workshop, is a major donor and namesake of the Clark-Fox Policy Institute at the Brown School, a center for public policy engagement to advance social and economic justice. “We are delighted that the Center for Human Services Leadership will be taking a leading role in strengthening our member organizations’ ability to play a sustained and effective role in strengthening our community and making a positive impact,” Clark said.

Hogan said she will aim to help the organizations in Delmar Divine find new ways to better connect with their clients, communities, and partners.

“Most non-profits are enormously stressed in terms of time,” Hogan said. “We will simplify their job by providing the information they need in a curated fashion, and help focus on things they need to know.” She said the Center will also provide much-needed resources for on-the-job training and skills in management, fundraising, and quality improvement. “We’re filling a hole in what they often struggle to do,” she said. Workshops in management will kick off this fall, followed by additional professional development opportunities.

One of the first tenants at Delmar Divine will be Behavioral Health Response (BHR), a St. Louis-based non-profit that offers 24-hour mental health services, including telephone counseling, in Eastern Missouri.

“I am so excited to be able to be located in a space with other nonprofits,” said Pat Coleman, BHR’s Chief Executive Officer. “It’s going to enable us to share services and get professional development for our staff and our team. Like the other nonprofits, we work saving lives.” She said the Center will help train BHR’s 185-member staff, research the needs of the community, and develop new fund-raising mechanisms.

“They’re going to be a great resource,” she said.

An innovative program to support Brown School students who are interested in completing part of their practicums in Indian Country has received additional funding of nearly $1 million for an additional four years to build capacity for integrated and trauma-informed behavioral health care. The program, Social Workers Advancing through Grounded Education (SAGE), is led by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the Brown School.

“The SAGE program is open to any Brown School student who wants to practice in Native communities,” said Kellie Thompson, director of the Buder Center. “The program creates opportunities and reduces student financial burden so students can train to be culturally respectful social workers in Indian Country.”

The SAGE program has funded 69 Brown School social work students since it began in 2014 and was expanded in 2018 to include students in the public health program. The most recent funding by the U.S. Health Resource and Services Administration will support training social work students, including courses and practica in Indian Country. The Buder Center has developed strong relationships nationally with American Indian & Alaska Native organizations, tribes and communities, including important alumni connections. SAGE practicum sites will be organizations serving Native communities and support Native well-being through integrated care, trauma-informed care and behavioral healthcare.

The SAGE program will continue to include training stipends through the Center for Innovation in Child Maltreatment Policy Research and Training, led by Melissa Jonson-Reid, the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work Research at the Brown School.

“It has been an honor to be able to partner with the Buder Center in the SAGE project and watch it grow over the past several years as it builds capacity to serve indigenous peoples across the country in areas of behavioral health, family violence prevention and trauma intervention,” said Jonson-Reid.

“This new opportunity greatly expands the number of students to be served each year as well as provides ongoing infrastructure for collaboration such as the CICM’s support of specific training components. Additionally, it provides matching funding to further expand the program.”

SAGE complements the Buder Center’s central mission, to support the Buder Foundation Scholarship program and to prepare Buder Scholars to be leaders in the field of social work. In 1990, Kathryn M. Buder worked with Native leaders around the country to determine what a center could look like with the aim to prepare students as future social workers who go back to their communities to serve as leaders. Thompson shared there have been 222 Buder scholars since 1990.

“The support the Buder Center receives from the Foundation creates opportunities for Native students and makes everything else we do possible,” Thompson said.

“Students come to the Brown School because of the Center, the American Indian/Alaska Native concentration, and other opportunities like SAGE.”

Thompson said the COVID-19 pandemic required suspending some of the SAGE practicums, while others started virtually. “The Center has tried to create as many opportunities as we can without overwhelming the virtual space we all live in,” Thompson said. The American Indian Student Association hosted virtual talking circles, and the Center adapted in various ways as well, including watching films, delivering and mailing groceries and care packages, and hosting its annual Pow Wow virtually on March 27-28. The Pow Wow reached over 13,000 with its program of music, drums and dancing. “I believe our Native community felt the Pow Wow provided needed connections during a very difficult, isolating year,” she said.

The Center also created the Digital Indigenous Storytelling Project, which shared Indigenous people’s stories who are from the state of Missouri. “Sharing these stories was a way to feel connected to each other,” Thompson said. “Our oral tradition is so important. We are going to continue adding interviews and document the stories of Native people in Missouri to save and share.”

Recently, the Center recently welcomed a new Assistant Director, Veronica Bruesch (Wichita/Ponca), to replace Wynette Whitegoat (Diné), who is pursuing a doctoral degree. Bruesch, MSW ’16 is a Buder Scholar alumna who concentrated in American Indian/Alaska Native populations while at the Brown School. A graduate of Haskell Indian Nations University, she has dedicated her time since graduating from the Brown School to serving Native children and families.

“We are excited to have Veronica back at the Center as part of the team,” Thompson said. “And we are happy to welcome Wynette

To help address gaps in measurement and provide organizations with a tool to track the self-reliance of refugees and other displaced populations over time, researchers at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a Self-Reliance Index (SRI).

“Humanitarian actors are increasingly recognizing the need to shift focus from providing refugees with immediate assistance to promoting their ability to obtain sustained self-reliance. Until now, we haven’t had a comprehensive tool to measure progress toward this goal,” said Ilana Seff, research assistant professor and lead author of the paper, “Measuring self-reliance among refugee and internally displaced households: The development of an index in humanitarian settings,” published July 10 in the journal Conflict and Health.

“The Self-Reliance Index is unique in that it provides a holistic picture of a household’s self-reliance, beyond just economic indicators, allowing policymakers and practitioners to track changes over time,” said Lindsay Stark, associate professor and senior author.

The index comprises 12 domains to try to show how a refugee family may fare on its own, including housing, food, education, healthcare, health status, safety, employment, financial resources, assistance, debt, savings and social capital.

Along with partners at the Women Refugee Commission and RefugePoint, Seff and Stark spent two years developing a tool that could be contextually adapted for different settings while still maintaining global relevance.

The team worked with several organizations to further inform the testing of the index after initial efforts to pilot the tool in Nairobi, Kenya; Amman, Jordan; and Palenque, Mexico. Data were collected by RefugePoint in Kenya, Asylum Access in Mexico, the Danish Refugee Council in Lebanon and Caritas Switzerland in Syria.

Since the SRI’s official release, the tool has been built into several popular data platforms among humanitarian NGOs so that it can be used to screen for program eligibility, generate a more holistic picture of organizations’ refugee clients, support program evaluations, and for policy/advocacy efforts. To date, it has been used in more than 20 settings across the globe.

“Ultimately, we hope the Self-Reliance Index can help the humanitarian field move beyond stop-gap programming to support refugees to thrive as self-sufficient, actively engaged members of society,” Seff said.