Education and Professional Interest

                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                
Professional Interests

  • Public Child Welfare Policy,
  • Public Child Welfare Practice
  • Cultural Competence
  • Social Justice (special interest in Incarceration and education equity)
  • Organization Leadership (opportunities and involvement of women and people of color)
  • Economic Development Strategies (marketing of community resources and know how

Education

  •  Doctorate in Education  University of San Francisco
  • MSW, California State University, Sacramento
  • BSW, California State University, Sacramento
  •  Marketing Diploma, U.W.I (Extra Mural)
  • Teaching Certificate, Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College
  •  Living and working in two cultures (Jamaica and the USA) and switching back and forth for meaningful survival.

Professional Association Membership

  • Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
  • National Association of Social Work (NASW)
  • Golden Key National Honor Society (Life time member)
  • Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators (ACSWE)
  • Phi Delta Kappa
  • Society for Social Work Research (SSWR)

 

Professional Experience: 

 California State University, Sacramento, CA
Associate Professor, Division of Social Work 8/08- to present

California State University, Sacramento, CA
Assistant Professor, Division of Social Work 08/02-07/08

Sacramento County:  Social Worker, August 1994-1996         

Formulate and implement reunification plans for parents, which are specifically designed to provide services, which have a goal; the reduction or alleviation of circumstances, which led to the dependency of the child or children.

Conduct ongoing assessment of case progress towards permanence or reunification, or suggest to the court modification of existing orders as needed.
Conduct home studies to assess the suitability of prospective adoptive parents to adopt through the county of Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services.

Assist adopting parents to file petitions with the court to facilitate the adoption process.

Review requests for re-certification of adoption assistance.
Provide pre-adoption and post-adoption information to the inquiring public, on assigned days.

HELPS Foster Family Agency (FFA) social worker July 1993-June 1994     

Recruit and train present and potential foster parents as well as providing case management of assigned caseload.  Serve as liaison between foster families, County social workers, Probation officers, School officials and relatives.

Solano County CPS, Intern Social Worker: August 1992-May 1993

Conduct diagnostic assessment in the screening of children to be assessed admittance in the treatment program.  Case management of individuals and families assigned to caseload.  Develop and implement treatment plan for assigned cases.

 Vacaville Police Department Intern Social Worker: September 1990-May 1991

Assist school aged children, and their families with a variety of psychosocial problems; including but not limited to depression, anger management communication, fear, abuse (physical, emotional, drugs and alcohol) and abandonment issuers.

Ministry of Youth Child Care Division Jamaica September 1981- June 1984

Provide classroom instructions for school aged children living in group homes, children’s homes, and detention centers. Plan, coordinate, direct, and facilitate management processes related to the operation of a public child welfare placement agency for children who were wards of the court and in need of a place of safety.

Wisynco Trading Company, Spanish Town, 1984-1988

Sales and marketing representative for distribution and manufacturing company offering a full range of products.

Educational Experience:

 

Ocho Rios Secondary School                  Ocho Rios, Jamaica W.I.                                          1973

Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College
Teaching Certificate                         Montego Bay, Jamaica W.I.                                    1981

University of the West Indies        Kingston, Jamaica W.I                                             1987
Marketing (Extra Mural)

CSU, Sacramento                              Sacramento, California                                       1991
Social Work BA                                                                                           

CSU Sacramento                               Sacramento, California                                       1993
Social Work M.S.W.

University of San Francisco            San Francisco                                                        2003
(Doctorate in Education: Organization & Leadership Administration

 

 

Honors and Awards:

  • Lifetime member Phi Alpha Honor Society
  • Lifetime member Golden Key National Honor Society
  • Honors graduate BA. 1991 & MSW 1993
  • Citation for Commitment to Social Justice, First Annual Social Work Scholar in Child Welfare by Social Work Department, Humboldt State University
  • Recipient of California State University Doctoral Scholarship Forgivable Loan Award ($30,000) 2000
  • 1999 recipient of outstanding Alumni Award California State University, Sacramento.
  • Citation from Humboldt State University Department of Social Work for commitment to social justice, September 2005

Professional Association Membership

  • Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
  • National Association of Social Work (NASW)
  • Golden Key National Honor Society (Life time member)
  • Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators (ACSWE)
  • Phi Delta Kappa
  • Society for Social Work Research (SSWR)
  • Board member of the Bay Area Training Advisory Committee

 

 

WORKSHOPS/SEMINARS: (2001-2002)

  • “Guidelines for Rules and regulations affecting foster Homes” January 11, 2001 HELPS FFA
  • 5th Annual ACSWE conference in the Bahamas topic Servant-Leadership: The perfect fit for the Caribbean social worker August 8, 2001.
  • Public Lecture-  "Why African Americans like all other Americans should be interested in reparations: Needed Dialogue about Reparations" CSU, Sacramento Cooper-Woodson College February 13, 2002.

 

CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPS 2002/2003

  • SSWR Conference Washington, D.C. February 2003
  • Public Lecture CSU, Sacramento 2/20/03 Topic: Reparations an update
  • CSWE APM Atlanta GA February 2003
  • Teacher/Scholar Workshop Long Beach California 6/15-18
  • Training for Trainers UCD Center for Human Services "Fairness and Equity Instructor Seminar" 6/27-28
  • Caribbean Social Work Educators' Conference Barbados (July 28- August 1, 2003) joint paper presentation with Phil Tan & Grace Ophelia Caribbean Social Workers and Spirituality

 

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS 2004

  • SSWR New Orleans January 2004 (attend)
  • Moderator discussion based on Documentary "When we were Kings" February 16, 2004 CSUS
  • CSWE APM Anaheim, California February 26- March 1, 2004 (Chair of presentations entitled "Risk-resilience Factor Model for Foster Care Reentry and Reunification").
  • Latino Social Work Network Conference, Fresno California October 2004 (attend)
  • Windsor Girls' Home- Jamaica November 25, 2004 "Working with difficult teens" (Presented)

 

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS 2005

  • Society for Social ork Research Miami January (attend)
  • Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) New York February 26- March 1, 2005 (presenter Overrepresentation of African American in Foster Care: Causes and Solution)
  • University of California, Berkeley Equity and Fairness Symposium  April 4-5 (presenter)
  • Windsor Girls' Home St. Ann, Jamaica Working with Traumatized Children May 27
  • Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences June 13-16 (presenter)
  • Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators (ACSWE) ,  Kingston , Jamaica August 8-11 (presenter) Working with traumatized children and families and joint presentation with Philip Tan "Attitude of Caribbean students toward homosexuals"
  • Humboldt Department of Social Work First Annual Social Work Scholar in Child Welfare September 9, 2005 (presenter) Implication for policy and practice the overrepresentation of African American Children in the foster care system in California.

 

 

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS 2006

  • Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Chicago February  2006 (presenter Overrepresentation of African American in Foster Care:  Solution as offered by social workers a follow-up study)
  • Society Social Work Research (SSWR) San Antonio January 2006 (attend)
  • Carter G. Woodson guest lecturer February 2006 Sacramento State

 

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS 2007

  • National Association of Social Work (NASW)  Annual State Conference May 3-4  
  • Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences May 30- June 2 (presenter)
  • Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators (ACSWE),  Port of Spain Trinidad , June 25-30 (presenter) Working with Foster Children: Recommendations from social workers.

 

 

References: Available upon request