UBSSW and Erie County DSS Awarded Children's Bureau and National Child Welfare Workforce Institute Grant

The UB School of Social Work, in partnership with Erie County Department of Social Services (ECDSS), was awarded a grant through the Children’s Bureau and the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI), as one of 7 Workforce Excellence sites across the U.S. 

Associate Professor Annette Semanchin Jones is the UB lead on this project, along with Dean Keith A. Alford, Clinical Assistant Professors Todd Sage and Michael Lynch, along with Assistant Professor Melanie Sage. The UB team is working closely with the ECDSS leaders to build workforce capacity in the county child welfare programs. As part of this project, NCCWI is supporting an organizational change effort that began with an organizational assessment, and is now moving towards the implementation of action strategies with the goals of increasing worker retention; addressing work conditions; strengthening leadership and supervision; and working towards racial equity in child welfare. As part of these efforts, NCWWI is supporting four cohorts of MSW students at UB, with a focus on leadership development in child welfare.