A bilingual scholarship program that will offer up to $1 million to Spanish-speaking students at accredited graduate social work programs in Texas in the next three years has been approved by the he Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.
Baylor University, in announcing the statewide program, said it the first of its kind in Texas and possibly in the United States.
“This is a bold, forward-thinking program to encourage linguistic and cultural diversity in higher education and attract more interest in social work as a profession” said Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, vice president for diversity and community engagement at the University of Texas at Austin. The foundation is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
The university said people of color are under-represented in social work and other mental health professions, resulting in less-effective mental health services that do not meet their cultural and linguistic needs.
