Stronger Together
Students participating in the LLI form tight-knit cohorts that support their success within and beyond the classroom.
Latinx Leadership Initiative (LLI)
The mission of the Latinx Leadership Initiative (LLI) is to develop social work leaders equipped to work with the Latinx community on sustainable solutions for complex problems.
Some 207 MSW students and three doctoral students have graduated from the program since 2013. Our LLI social work practitioners work with Latinx communities across the United States and abroad in a variety of settings: schools, clinics, hospitals, and prisons, providing an array of services, including behavioral health, individual and family services, case management, advocacy and support, and more.
The LLI works by:
- Recruiting Latinx students
- Teaching classes in Spanish
- Advancing a cohort-based educational model through the Latinx Communities field of practice—where students navigate graduate education together—supported by mentors and each other
- Designing an evidenced-based curriculum of what works when communities lead their own processes of transformation
- Conducting cutting-edge research that is advancing the field on best-practices for social work with diverse Latinx communities.
- Boston Public Schools
- Chelsea Public Schools
- Dimock Community Health Center
- East Boston Neighborhood Health Center
- MGH Chelsea
- South End Community Health Center
- Southern Jamaica Plain Community Health Center
- JRI Lynn- Spanish Team
- Casa Esperanza
- Latinas y Niños
- Cambridge Health Alliance Spanish Team
- Charlestown New Health
- Family Access in Newton
- Harvard Immigration Clinic
- RIAN immigration clinic
- Lynn Community Health Center
- DA's office
- Child Witness to Violence Project (BMC)
- Martha Elliot Community Health Center
- Brigham and Women's Adelante Program (DV)
- North Suffolk Chelsea Mindeaze program
- Chelsea Collaborative
SUPPORTING THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY
The LLI prepares bilingual and bicultural social workers to work effectively with Latinx communities across the country. Students in the program are empowered to find innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of the communities they serve.
MEET THE TEAM
Rocío Calvo
Founding Director
Founding Director of the LLI, Rocío Calvo strives to prepare students to work effectively in underserved communities. An Associate Professor of Global Practice and Health & Mental Health, she believes social workers need to be more nuanced in how they understand different cultural experiences in the U.S.
Ximena Soto
Assistant Director, Latinx Leadership Initiative
As Assistant Director of the LLI, Ximena Soto creates opportunities for MSW students to apply what they learn in the classroom. She fosters relationships with Latinx service providers across Greater Boston and connects students to placements.
Latest Latinx Leadership News
Print
We are an application-based training program that prepares Social Work MSW students to work with Latinx communities towards sustainable solutions for complex problems.
As a masters student, you will earn an MSW degree from the BCSSW with the added bonus of being part of a cohort. The Latinx Communities field of practice cohort requires you to take MSW foundation courses in Spanish, be placed in Field Education internships with selected organizations who have expertise working with Latinx communities, and participate in field seminars designed specifically for bilingual/bicultural social workers.
Students in the Latinx Communities field of practice take a specific set of courses and make a commitment to having two field placements that serve the Latinx communities.
Required courses are:
- SCWK 7723 Repensar la Diversidad: Sistemas de Opresión y Privilegio (core course)
- SCWK 7721 El Estudio del Comportamiento Humano en su Contexto Social (core course)
- SCWK 8800 Habilidades Básicas Para La Práctica Macro (core course)
- SCWK 7762 Habilidades Básicas Para La Práctica Clínica (core course)
- SCWK 7701 El Sistema de Bienestar Social (core course)
- SCWK 7722 Patología Psicosocial (required for clinical students only)
- SCWK 8837 Social Services with Latinx Populations (advanced practice course)
- Pasantía I & II
- Pasantía III & IV
One optional advanced clinical course is offered in Spanish:
- SCWK 8862 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy en Español (elective)
The Latinx Leadership Certificate requires the completion of three specific courses and does not require a field placement with the Latinx community. The certificate requires you to take at least one course in Spanish. To complete the certificate, you do not need to be enrolled in the Latinx Communities Field of Practice, which is an application-based field of practice.
No. The field of practice welcomes applicants of all backgrounds that are proficient in oral Spanish. Every applicant needs to be committed to serving Latinx communities and needs to be comfortable becoming part of a cohort comprised mostly by Latinx students.
Students need to be proficient in oral, conversational Spanish. You don’t need to know academic Spanish. Readings and assignments are done in English.
No. Classes are taught in Spanish.
No. The Latinx Communities field of practice is an academic training program that requires specific classes and field education requirements to train social workers who want to work with Latinx populations.
Field Education is a required component of the field of practice. We are intentional about the recruitment of partner agencies that train our students and we carefully match students with supervisors. Our partners that work in a variety of settings—legal, medical, behavioral health, immigration, and schools—that serve the Latinx community in myriad ways. We train all supervisors in best practices in supervision, which includes an awareness of specific issues that may impact student education and professional development.
If you are interested in being considered for a spot in the incoming cohort of 20 students, please contact Ximena Soto (ximena.soto@bc.edu). The first step is to schedule a Spanish language fluency screening. Following the fluency screening, the selected students will then have an interview with the LLI team.
For more information please contact:
- Ximena Soto, Assistant Director, Latinx Leadership Initiative
- Rocío Calvo, Associate Professor, Global Practice, Health, and Mental Health; Founding Director, Latinx Leadership Initiative
