#KeepAlbanyConnected: A chat with Lex Bhagat of the FFAPL

The Community and Public Service Program (CPSP) is a popular course for UAlbany students, as they are able to volunteer in the community and earn academic credit at the same time. CPSP Director, Sheri Stevens, joins us to chat about the history of the program, the value it brings to the local community, and the impact of volunteering on students.

We are joined by Visiting Assistant Professor, Caroline Sharkey. Caroline's research centers on collective efficacy and social cohesion to mitigate community violence and school shootings, the impact of trauma and historical trauma, and to address the needs of young people in city contexts. We speak about the role of meso/macro-therapeutic interventions, particularly digital storytelling, to foster positive youth development, empowerment, and reclamation. 

We are joined by Angie Wootton, a new Assistant Professor at UAlbany's School of Social Welfare. Wootton’s mixed methods research focuses primarily on characterizing and seeking remedies to persistent mental health and behavioral health disparities in the LGBTQ+ community, primarily among sexual minority women, transgender and gender non-binary people, and those experiencing multiple intersecting forms of stigma, discrimination, and exclusion based on sex, gender, and sexuality. This work takes a strengths, resilience, and trauma recovery focus to identify and promote promising new pathways to wellbeing for multiply marginalized LGBTQ+ people. 

Research interests: mental and behavioral health disparities; LGBTQ+ community connection and peer support; sexual minority women; LGBTQ+ social policy analysis; telehealth; COVID pandemic impacts

Clinical practice interests: social work at the intersection of health, mental health, and behavioral health; LGBTQ+ individuals and communities; motivational interviewing; harm reduction, strengths and resilience-focused practice, trauma recovery; counseling intervention development 

We are joined by SSW and SPH alum, Taylor Perre ‘22. We speak about the intersection of social work and public health, Taylor’s program and policy work at the Home Care Association of New York State, and navigating the political arena to make macro-level change.

Bio:

Taylor Perre works at the Home Care Association of NYS as a Senior Associate for Public Health and Policy, working across major program and policy areas, grant-supported initiatives, and is a core member of the advocacy team interfacing with the Legislature, state agencies, and allied associations.

Taylor has a professional background in public health and social work, and an experiential concentration in aging, with positions and practica experience in quality and research, direct supportive services for older adults, behavioral health, hospital discharge planning, and elder abuse initiatives.

Taylor completed her Master of Public Health, Master of Social Work, and the Hartford Partnerships for Aging Education & the Internships in Aging Project at the University at Albany. She has two research papers published in the Journal of Hospice Care and Palliative Medicine about young adults’ values regarding advance directives and continues to research in the areas of advance directives, long-term care, nursing homes, and green house models.

In 2019, armed with a $6,500 University StAR grant, Associate Professor Carmen Serrano set out to establish a largely student-run podcast that would help to amplify the voices of underrepresented and marginalized UAlbany students and alumni, with stories that would prove both instructive and inspiring to others. Joining us today are Carmen Serrano and two student members of the UAlbany Student Stories Podcast, J-Lyn Thomas and Yesenia Melo. 

More information via UAlbany News: https://www.albany.edu/news-center/news/2022-podcast-gives-voice-students-challenges-and-victories

In this episode, we speak with Meghan Keegan of the Albany Common Council. We discuss social workers as elected officials and the benefits of bringing the social work perspective to the table in the political arena. 

Bio: 

Meghan Keegan holds a Masters in Social Welfare (2006) from the University at Albany. She spent the first 15 years of her career working with special victims, at risk youth, and individuals with disabilities in the non-profit community based sector and in state government. That included 10 years of government oversight work holding publicly funded programs accountable and 7 years as a civilian investigator working alongside law enforcement on special victims cases throughout New York State. Meghan was a leader in organized labor and currently works for organized labor (PEF-AFLCIO).

Since 2015, Meghan has volunteered with a national non-profit organization (New Leaders Council) working to develop leadership capacity among young progressives with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. There she helped build the Capital District NY Chapter serving as Chapter Director and Institute Chair, served for 2 years on the National Programs Committee, and served as the National Policy Lead for the Women’s Caucus. Here in the City of Albany, Meghan helped to launch the first Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Programs, served on the Albany High School Community Engagement Team, and has been directly involved in various community efforts surrounding issues of gun violence, food security, access to affordable childcare and housing, and home ownership. Meghan lives with her husband and two rescue dogs in the City of Albany.

In this episode, we were joined by Lex Bhagat, Director of the Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library. We discuss how the library is making a difference in the community, particularly regarding the wi-fi expansion #KeepAlbanyConnected campaign aimed to bridge the digital divide. 

We were joined by alumna Julia Duff '16, the Executive Director of the Spina Bifida Association of NYS. She discusses the organization's evolution from a local to a statewide chapter, the agency's growth and future goals, and the impact of UAlbany SSW interns on SBANYS's service delivery and success. 

We were joined by Interim Dean and Professor, Vicky Rizzo. She speaks about her social work journey, vision for the SSW, goals as President of the NASW-NYS Chapter, and also shares some fun facts. 

Bio:

Victoria M. Rizzo, LCSW-R, PhD, Interim Dean & Professor, School of Social Welfare, University at Albany, SUNY has dedicated her career to demonstrating the value of social work in health care settings and community-based organizations through her research, teaching, and workforce development activities. Dr. Rizzo’s research examines the impact of social work, and interprofessional interventions that include social workers, on health care utilization, health, and behavioral health outcomes for older adults coping with chronic illnesses, elder abuse, and care giving. She also examines the implications of the findings of her work for health care policy and the financing of the provision of social work services to older adults and their caregivers. Dr. Rizzo has extensive experience as a health care social worker and has conducted research with colleagues at Kaiser Permanente Health Care Systems, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and the Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA) in New York City. Various foundations, including the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, the Garfield Foundation of Kaiser Permanente Health Care Systems, the John A. Hartford Foundation, and the Commonwealth Fund, have funded her research. Since earning her Ph.D. in 2002, Dr. Rizzo has provided funding and mentoring to doctoral students in social welfare and social work and has served on more than 30 dissertation committees in multiple disciplines, including social work, economics, nursing, education, and engineering.

Dr. Rizzo is the President (2022 – 2024) of the National Association of Social Workers – New York State Chapter (NASW-NYS) Board of Directors, a distinguished scholar and fellow of the National Academies of Practice (Social Work Academy), a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and a John A. Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar.

Lynn Rothenberg graduated from the School of Social Welfare in 2008 after a career as a professional journalist. She recently completed a book-length manuscript that addresses her experience as a mother of a child battling addiction and its consequences.