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This year's grantees and projects are as follows:
INSPIRARE Global: The International Network of Social Work Praxis & Innovation for Research, Advancing Scholarship, Rights, and Education
Project Lead: Laura Krishnan-Mackie, MSW, LICSW
Institution: Colby-Saywer College
Project Co-Leads: Dr. Effrosyni Kokaliari, Springfield College
Dr. Christine Tronnier, Springfield College
Dr. Kleio Koutra, Hellenic Mediterranean University
Jennifer Crosett, BA, MSW Student, Colby-Sawyer College, INSPIRARE Global Fellow
Emryn Lessie, BA, MSW Student, Colby-Sawyer College, INSPIRARE Global Intern
INSPIRARE Global: The International Network of Social Work Praxis & Innovation for Research, Advancing Scholarship, Rights, and Education will transcend borders and cultures, fostering innovation in social work education at a time when social justice and human rights are increasingly under threat. Recognizing the historical impact of imperialism, colonization, and the predominant focus on domestic issues within U.S. social work education and practice, this initiative seeks to address contemporary global challenges in social work education. These include anti-DEI ideologies, refugee crises, forced migration, climate change, war, freedom of speech, trauma, and social work practice and research. The project’s overarching goal is to create platforms that serve as a global hub for social work educators, students, and professionals—a space to exchange knowledge, challenge dominant narratives, and develop decolonized, cross-cultural approaches to social work.
Storytelling for Global Justice: An Interactive Digital Archive on Anti-Racism in International Social Work
Project Lead: Brittany Lynch, DSW, LCSW, RYT
Institution: Iona University
Project Co-Lead: Dr. Prospera Tedam, University College Dublin
The Storytelling for Global Justice project seeks to address a critical gap in social work education by integrating global perspectives on anti-racist practice into U.S. curricula. Despite social work’s commitment to social justice, many undergraduate and graduate programs primarily focus on national policies and Western frameworks, leaving students without a comprehensive understanding of how racism and colonial legacies shape social policies, resource distribution, and client outcomes on a global scale. This lack of international perspective limits students' competencies in engaging with immigrant, refugee, and racially diverse populations whose experiences are shaped by systemic inequities beyond national borders.
Advancing Transformative Equality: Co-creating International Human Rights-Based Social Work Education Supporting Persons with Disabilities
Project Lead: Katherine Tyson McCrea, PhD
Institution: Loyola University Chicago
Project Co-Lead: Professor Jonas Ruskus, Vytautas Magnus University School of Social Work
This project aims to import into social work curriculum modules the wisdom of 1) two international communities of persons with disabilities, their families and staff caregivers, and 2) international experts on advancing the human rights of persons with disabilities. The curriculum will enable social work faculty and organizational staff educators to advance transformative equality based on an international human rights perspective.
Integrating Global Indigenous Voices into Social Work Classrooms
Project Lead: Phyllis Ngai, Ed.D.
Institution: University of Montana
Project Co-Leads: Dr. Colleen Carew, University of Montana
Dr. Jessica Liddell, University of Montana
Social-work students seldom hear Indigenous voices in the social work classroom. In particular, there is a lack of teaching/learning materials that capture Indigenous perspectives developed specifically for international social work education. To contribute to advancing international social work education, this project plans to create an online resource hub that will house and disseminate teaching/learning materials that elevate the voices of Indigenous peoples living in different contexts around the world. The resource hub will be a product of collaboration among a virtual network of social-work educators and community partners recruited nationally and internationally. Participating educators will contribute teaching/learning materials in the form of video or audio recordings or visuals of artistic expressions that they curate, create, and/or co-create with Indigenous collaborators and allies in their local contexts. The online hub will also serve as a transnational virtual space that generates solidarity among Indigenous participants and allies in support of demarginalizing Indigenous voices of strength, resilience, and well-being.