Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students - The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Department of Social Work requests HRSA Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students support for “From Our Communities, Back to Our Communities: Scholarships for Disadvantaged Clinical Social Work Students Serving MUC.” The project will provide need-based scholarships to full-time graduate clinical social work students from disadvantaged backgrounds who face severe financial hardship and are preparing for behavioral and mental health practice in primary care, rural, Tribal, and other medically vulnerable communities.? The project addresses three related needs: persistent financial barriers that threaten enrollment, retention, and timely graduation; regional shortages of licensed behavioral and mental health providers; and limited access to integrated behavioral health services in medically vulnerable areas of North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad and surrounding communities. Recent program data show that most full-time JMSW students meet HRSA’s disadvantaged-background definition, nearly all rely on financial aid, and many continue to experience unmet need while completing intensive graduate coursework and required field education. Without additional scholarship support, students may need to reduce enrollment, increase employment, assume additional debt, or decline high-need field placements.? SDS funds will be used for scholarships that support tuition, required fees, reasonable educational expenses, and reasonable living expenses, consistent with program requirements. The project will support approximately 20 eligible full-time JMSW students per year over the project period, with awards sized according to documented financial need and severe financial hardship. Scholarship recipients will receive academic advising, career guidance, peer and faculty support, field placement coordination, and preparation for licensure and employment in clinical social work. Students will complete substantial supervised field education hours in community-based, behavioral health, primary care, hospital, school-based, crisis response, and nonprofit settings, with an emphasis on placements serving medically vulnerable communities.? Project activities will strengthen recruitment, retention, graduation, and workforce outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The program will expand outreach to feeder institutions and community partners, maintain strong advising and retention supports, develop new interdisciplinary field partnerships with primary care clinics, federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, and related agencies, and require targeted preparation in clinical rural health and integrated behavioral health practice. The project will also establish a systematic post-graduation tracking process to document whether scholarship recipients enter behavioral and mental health practice in primary care settings and rural, Tribal, or other medically vulnerable communities.? The population groups served include graduate clinical social work students from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds with documented financial need, including first-generation graduate students and students from communities with limited economic and educational resources. The ultimate beneficiaries are children, adults, families, and communities in medically vulnerable, rural, and other high-need areas that experience behavioral health workforce shortages and barriers to timely, culturally responsive mental health and substance use services.
