Community Engagement - Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis

Chiang receives 2026 Community Impact Award

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 20:18:14 +0000

Mei-Hsi Chiang, assistant director of evaluation and dissemination at the Brown School Evaluation Center, has received the 2026 17�Թ� Community Impact Award. The award recognizes an employee who builds and sustains partnerships that benefit both 17�Թ� and the broader St. Louis community. Honorees are nominated by colleagues and selected by a universitywide committee. Recipients receive a personalized, engraved award. “I’m deeply grateful and honored to receive this award,” Chiang said. “It reflects the collaborative work I’ve been fortunate to do with community partners across St. Louis. Their commitment to equitable outcomes for individuals and communities they serve is what makes this impact possible.” Chiang earned her Master of Social Work from the Brown School in 2016. She joined the Evaluation Center...

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Naseh receives William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award

Myra — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:01:22 +0000

By Diane Toroian Keaggy April 21, 2026 When newcomers to St. Louis succeed, the entire region succeeds, says Blake Hamilton, president of the International Institute of St. Louis. That’s why he agreed to join with Mitra Naseh, an assistant professor at the 17�Թ� and founding director of the school’s Forced Migration Initiative, in her quest to foster belonging among the region’s large Afghan population and to find ways to better connect refugees to the services they need to thrive. “This work also reminds us that welcoming is not a measure of individual effort alone. It is a measure of whether our region is prepared to unlock talent, recognize credentials, support families and create pathways to mobility,” Hamilton told attendees at the 2026...

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Clark-Fox Policy Institute event bridges research, community voices to advance refugee well-being in St. Louis

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:04:35 +0000

A new initiative designed to accelerate the translation of academic research into actionable policy drew a full crowd for its first event April 1 at Delmar DivINe. The session, hosted by the 17�Թ�’s Clark-Fox Policy Institute Senior Policy Fellows program, brought together scholars, practitioners, and community members for a meaningful conversation about the experiences and well-being of refugees in St. Louis. In his opening remarks, Jason Jabbari, assistant professor at the Brown School and Clark-Fox Policy Institute (CFPI) faculty director, underscored the institute’s commitment to move research more quickly into policy impact. He emphasized supporting scholars who work closely with communities and are committed to translating evidence into action. “We’re here not just to share ideas, but to...

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Alumna helps North St. Louis recover six months after tornado

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 13:57:00 +0000

On a bright October afternoon, sunlight filters through the blinds of a small office in North St. Louis. Inside the North Newstead Association, the phones are unusually quiet. A rare moment of calm, said Executive Director Constance Siu, MSW ’17. Nearly six months after a devastating tornado tore through St. Louis, hitting North City especially hard, Siu and her small staff are still helping neighbors rebuild their lives. “Remember that May 16 still happened this year, and it’s still affecting a lot of people,” she said. “Once you drive into the south of the city, it’s easy to forget the tornado ever happened. But we still have so many residents who don’t have a place to live, who are not in a dry structure...

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Brown School launches initiative to tackle complex problems through private-public partnerships

Roger — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 14:28:59 +0000

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis is deepening its engagement with the St. Louis community through a new initiative that connects university expertise with residents, community organizations and industry partners. The 17�Թ� Public Exchange joins a model first created five years ago at the University of Southern California (USC). The program’s goal is to co-create solutions to complex societal challenges while generating knowledge that benefits both local communities and the broader world. Organizers say this partnership lays the foundation for a national network linking researchers with community and industry partners to collaboratively address pressing social issues. “The goal of this program is to serve as a convener, assembling expertise across our campuses to help partners in policy,...

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Friedman Center for Aging marks nearly 30 years of leadership, new home at Brown School

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 18:53:44 +0000

For nearly three decades, the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at Washington University has been at the forefront of research and programs addressing the challenges and opportunities of an aging society, from health care and housing to preparing for retirement and combating ageism. The center has become a nationally recognized resource for training professionals and helping communities to support older adults. Now part of the Brown School, the Friedman Center is 17�Թ�’s only program dedicated exclusively to interdisciplinary aging research, education and community engagement. To celebrate its relocation, the center hosted a lively event on Sept. 25 in Hillman Hall’s Clark-Fox Forum, drawing more than 140 attendees, including students, faculty, alumni, community members and local leaders in aging services. ...

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Campus spaces honor Indigenous history, promote mental health

admin — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 19:25:14 +0000

Near Hillman Hall, just steps from Forsyth Boulevard, a garden welcomes visitors into a calming, natural retreat. Nestled among trees, native sweetgrass, and coneflowers, the Buder Circle & Three Sisters Garden offers a tranquil space centered around corn, beans, and squash; plants deeply rooted in Indigenous agricultural traditions. This garden is one of 15 newly designated “Connection Points” across 17�Թ�’s Danforth Campus, part of a broader effort led by the Brown School’s Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies. These spaces are the result of the Arboretum/Mental Health Space project, an initiative developed by students in the Sustainability Exchange, a capstone course for Environmental Analysis majors. The project reimagines familiar campus areas as mental health spaces where students, faculty,...

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Brown School volunteers support tornado recovery efforts in North St. Louis

admin — Fri, 23 May 2025 17:51:42 +0000

In the wake of a devastating tornado that struck the St. Louis area on Friday, May 16, students, alumni, and faculty from 17�Թ�’s Brown School have mobilized to assist recovery efforts in one of the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods. The tornado cut a 23-mile-long path, damaging or destroying an estimated 5,000 structures, according to St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer. The storm claimed five lives and injured dozens more, with the greatest impact felt in North St. Louis—a historically disinvested and predominantly Black community. On May 20, a team of volunteers from the Brown School, including 12 students, two alumni, and four faculty members, joined local relief efforts at the People’s Response Hub, a recovery initiative launched by Action St. Louis and...

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Older adults play key role in tornado recovery

admin — Thu, 22 May 2025 16:39:37 +0000

As St. Louis begins to recover from the May 16 tornado, one group is often overlooked in disaster recovery: older adults. However, according to an expert on productive aging at the Brown School, older adults could play a critical role if given the opportunity. “Older people have skills, networks, and a desire to help. The easiest way to mobilize older adults as volunteers is simply to ask them,” said Cal J. Halvorsen, associate professor at the Brown School, who studies aging societies, work, and social purpose and impact. Halvorsen noted that engaging older residents in recovery efforts doesn’t require complicated outreach. It can be simple: church bulletins, community fliers, and social media can be effective ways to spread the word,...

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Brown School faculty honored for community-engaged research at Confluence Awards

admin — Thu, 01 May 2025 15:25:47 +0000

Brown School assistant professors Tyriesa L. Howard and Mitra Naseh were recognized for their impactful, community-engaged research during the 2025 William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award Showcase, held April 16. The annual event, hosted by the Confluence Collaborative for Community-Engaged Research, Teaching and Practice, recognized 11 projects from among 58 nominated faculty-community partnerships across 17�Թ�. “All of these projects share a common goal: to deliver tangible, positive outcomes that make St. Louis a more equitable and healthy region,” said Bettina Drake, director of the Confluence Collaborative for Community Engagement. Howard received a 2025 Provost Impact Award for her project, Improving Postpartum Mental Health for NICU Families: Developing and Piloting ‘The Fathers First Initiative’ in Neonatal Healthcare Systems. She shares...

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Brown School summit sets attendance record, strengthens LGBTQ+ advocacy and community

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:37:56 +0000

The Rainbow Resilience: Advancing LGBTQ+ Wellness Summit made history on March 28-29, drawing nearly 120 attendees to the Brown School at Washington University. The event—which sold out two months in advance—was the largest in-person professional development event ever hosted by the school. The two-day summit brought together social workers, nonprofit leaders, policymakers, mental health practitioners, and advocates for hands-on training focused on strengthening support systems, countering harmful legislation, and building community power. Dorian Traube, professor and Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School, highlighted the summit’s significance in her opening remarks. “True resilience is not just about surviving. It is about building, healing, and reclaiming joy,” Traube said. “It’s the quiet courage that emerges when we dare...

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Brown School researchers to evaluate wealth-building pilot program in St. Louis

admin — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 22:16:41 +0000

Researchers from the Brown School’s Evaluation Center and Center for Social Development (CSD) will assess the impact of a new financial initiative aimed at closing the racial wealth gap in St. Louis. The team will collaborate with Mobility Capital Finance, Inc. (MoCaFi), a financial technology company, to conduct initial evaluation planning, baseline data collection, and a mixed-methods analysis of the Junior Bonds Pilot. Funded by the James S. McDonnell Foundation and Edward Jones, the pilot program will provide $5,000 in investment accounts—known as Junior Bonds—to 300 seventh-grade students in historically disadvantaged low- and moderate-income neighborhoods across St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis. The initiative was announced in a Jan. 23 op-ed in The St. Louis American. The funds will grow over time in...

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Parra Perez project selected for 2024 APHA TV Thought Leadership Film Series

Myra — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 21:40:34 +0000

The BRIC (Building Resilient Inclusive Communities) Program co-led by Brown School Assistant Professor Diana Parra Perez, which brings together community and academic partners to foster health equity, was invited by the American Public Health Association to participate in their Thought Leadership Film Series, which is a part of their Annual Meeting and Expo that took place in Minneapolis at the end of October. The goal of the series is to highlight community-based initiatives across the country, to uplift the intersectionality of health, social, and economic advocacy, prevention, and resource. Only a handful of projects around the country are invited to be part of these series. The film showcased the Empowered Thriving Communities (ETC) project, a groundbreaking five-year initiative backed by a $3.8 million CDC...

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Brown School hosts inaugural professional development summit on policy and equity

admin — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:53:40 +0000

On October 18-19, the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis marked a major milestone with the launch of its first-ever two-day professional development summit, Policy and Equity: Collaborative Frameworks for Inclusive Change. The event allowed attendees to choose between two specialized tracks: one focusing on advocacy strategies and the other on data and evidence. In her opening address, Dorian Traube, the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School highlighted the strong turnout, calling it a testament to the community’s commitment to structural reform. “It reflects our ongoing commitment to providing spaces where we can come together to learn, collaborate, and challenge the boundaries of equitable policy,” she said. “Building community is a core goal of...

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Celebrating a Century of Impact: The Brown School Turns 100

admin — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 11:00:00 +0000

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis will mark its 100th anniversary this academic year with a series of events and activities, celebrating its century-long contributions to social work, public health, and social policy. “The centennial celebration is not just a look back at our history, but a powerful reminder of our ongoing mission and focus. It’s a renewing of our commitment to meet the needs of a changing world through the strength and unity of our community,” said Dorian Traube, the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School and a professor. Founded in 1925, the Brown School owes its inception to Betty Bofinger Brown, wife of Brown Shoe Company founder George Warren Brown. Her...

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