School of Social Work News

Professor Lisa Wexler has received a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Grant for her project, Family Safety Net: Developing an Upstream Suicide Prevention Approach to Encourage Safe Firearm Storage in Rural and Remote Alaskan Homes. The study will support, encourage and assess safe firearm storage practices relevant to Alaska Native families. Alaska has suicide rates far above national averages, including a teen suicide rate among Alaska Natives 18 times higher than the rate for other American teens.

Student Services Admissions Coordinator Nyshourn Price has been selected by NEW: Solutions for Nonprofits as a Champions of Change fellow. Champions for Change is a racial justice fellowship shifting hearts, minds and actions away from the collective harm of white supremacy and toward a liberated path on which we all get to live into our purpose.

A new study from Parenting in Context Research Lab found parents are overwhelmed, kids are anxious and economic hardship is common during the pandemic. The pandemic presents parents with new challenges on how best to prepare and support their children for a different school experience. In the early days of the pandemic, nearly 80% of parents were educating their children at home.

Every member of the School of Social Work community should know that the building exceeds the university standards for public health safety. SSW passed a strict university approval process before reopening. People greatly reduce the risk of COVID transmission if they wear a mask, wash their hands and follow social distancing guidelines. No symptomatic people are allowed to enter the building.

The School’s COVID-19 Reentry website has information specific to our school about safety. U-M also has a COVID-19 website. 

There are incidences of COVID-19 at U-M and in most communities across the nation. Testing and environmental surveillance are going on across campus. Last week, U-M started a new Contact Tracing Corps. 

Where can I get a test?

Testing is available from University Health Service, local health care providers, pharmacies and urgent care centers. If you have a health care provider, contact them about testing. 

Testing Sites in Washtenaw County

• University Health Service offers testing for students.The first step is an assessment, which can be done anytime online or by phone (734-764-8320) during UHS open hours.
• Here is a list of ongoing testing sites in Washtenaw County.

Pop-Up Testing provided by Washtenaw County Health Department

Thanks to alumna Carrie A. Rheingans for providing the following information from Washtenaw County Health.

• Saturday, 9/19/2020, 9 AM-1 PM. Free at Washtenaw County Health Department, 22 Center St., Ypsilanti. Enter Center Street from Michigan Avenue. With or without symptoms. Registration is required. Drive-up or walk-up. Please do not line up before the start time. No insurance needed. 
• Saturday, 9/26/2020, 9 AM-1 PM. Free at Ypsilanti District Library, 5577 Whittaker Road, Ypsilanti. With or without symptoms. Check the Washtenaw County Health Department COVID web page for registration information. No insurance needed. 

Associate Professor Kathryn Maguire-Jack has received an R01 grant from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control to examine the preventive impacts of childcare subsidies and paid family leave policies on child maltreatment and intimate partner violence. She is a co-investigator of the 3-year $1.05 million project led by Prevent Child Abuse America. Maguire-Jack is working with researchers from the Prevent Child Abuse America and Casey Family Programs

Associate Professor David Córdova and co-authors received the Reuben Hill Award from the National Council on Family Relations. The award is presented for the best research article that makes substantial and significant contributions to family research and theory.

Karla Goldman's article "Fifteen Years after Katrina: Lessons for August 2020" reflects on Hurricane Katrina and draws connections to the pandemic. Writes Goldman, "A crisis offers the opportunity to draw upon established strengths and reach forward for new possibilities implicit in working across differences, even as we hold fast to the essential connections and stories that define who we are."

We are angry and disheartened at the recently released video showing Daniel Prude’s death at the hands of police in March. This treatment of police officers toward Prude, a Black man with mental health issues, is the latest of too long a series of police brutality cases that stain our nation. We grieve with Prude’s family and recognize the cruel and inhumane restraints that led to his death. Black Lives Matter. We demand justice, accountability and racial equality. We also call for a complete and fundamental philosophical overhaul in the training and behavior of police officers, giving them the tools to respond to mental health crises with critical health interventions and trauma-informed policing.