CWEL Turns 25

On June 8, 2022, the School of Social Work and the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center celebrated 25 years of the Child Welfare Education for Leadership (CWEL) Program.

Following welcoming remarks from Pitt Social Work Dean Betsy Farmer, Helen Cahalane, principal investigator of the Child Welfare Education and Research Programs, opened the program by stressing the importance of the child welfare partnerships that exist across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the commitment to strengthening the public child welfare workforce.

Cahalane also acknowledged the other colleges and universities across the state that partner with Pitt and help to mentor and develop the next generation of child welfare professionals: Bryn Mawr College; Pennsylvania Western University, California; Pennsylvania Western University, Edinboro; Kutztown University of Pennsylvania; Marywood University; Millersville University of Pennsylvania; Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania; Temple University; the University of Pennsylvania; West Chester University; and Widener University. To date, there have been 1,613 CWEL graduates across
all programs.

Cahalane also was honored with the Wilbur I. Newstetter Award in recognition of her distinguished commitment and service to the School of Social Work as leader of the Child Welfare Education and Research Programs for more than 16 years. This award is named after the first dean of the School of Social Work, who served from 1938 until 1962.

The Raymond R. Webb Jr. Lecture was given by Virginia “Ginger” Pryor, principal associate at Abt Associates Inc. Pryor has more than 30 years of experience leading child welfare and social services policy and system improvement initiatives. Her talk, “The Power of Hope: Leading and Serving in Child Welfare,” touched on the role of child welfare workers in creating an ecosystem of hope with “community sitting in the center.” According to Pryor, this ecosystem should include “folks with lived experience—our community leaders, other family members, the church—working in partnership or codesigning with state government, federal government, the children’s bureau, national partners, our philanthropic partners. ... [A]s a leader, we have to learn how to humble ourselves to go into communities.”

The event also included a tribute to Professor Emeritus Edward Sites, who shared his memories of the creation of the CWEL program.