Cal State LA receives grant to expand its social work graduate program

Cal State LA has been awarded a $3.4 million grant by the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) to expand its social work graduate program and help develop a culturally sensitive and competent behavioral health workforce.

“There are tremendous needs to provide well-trained social work professionals in behavioral health care, such as mental health, substance use, intimate partner abuse, child maltreatment and more,” said Siyon Rhee, the grant’s lead principal investigator and director for the School of Social Work in the Rongxiang Xu College of Health and Human Services at Cal State LA. “With this program expansion grant, we will be able to address these needs.”

The five-year grant is funded by HCAI’s Social Work Education Capacity Program, which is designed to increase the supply of social workers trained to provide behavioral health care.

The university’s Master of Social Work program aims to respond proactively to behavioral health needs of the surrounding Los Angeles immigrant and economically underprivileged communities. The program’s curriculum will be designed to prepare social work majors to become competent advanced generalist practitioners who are sensitive and culturally proficient in serving children, youth and families in these underserved communities.

“As the School of Social Work at Cal State LA is particularly mindful of the richness and complexity found through socially diverse and multicultural surrounding communities, we are truly excited with this grant opportunity,” said Rhee.

Recognized in the field of social work, Rhee’s research is on health, mental health, intimate partner violence, and social work practice with children in Asian American immigrant families. She has collaborated on child welfare workforce development activities with the California Social Work Education Center at UC Berkeley and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

The social work faculty and staff participating in this grant project also include co-principal investigators Ga-Young Choi, Anh-Luu Huynh-Hohnbaum, Taqi Tirmazi and Hermila Melero.

In California, expanding access to behavioral health care and increasing the workforce are critically important, said California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Mark Ghaly.

“This new grant program is an important investment to train social workers who play a crucial role in behavioral health care delivery,” he said. “Our goal, under the governor’s vision, is to reimagine behavioral health and emotional well-being for all children, adults and families in California. Awards like these will help us reach that goal.”

The HCAI’s mission is to expand equitable access to quality, affordable health care for all Californians through resilient facilities, actionable information and the health workforce each community needs.