NASW Foundation Announces Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial Scholarship Recipients for 2006-2007

Washington —The National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) announces the 2006 Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial Scholarship recipients.

The scholarships are awarded for one academic year to students who have demonstrated a commitment to working with, or have a special affinity with American Indian, Alaskan native, or Hispanic and Latino populations. These candidates have also demonstrated a commitment to working with public or voluntary non-profit agencies or local grassroots organizations. They are all MSW candidates.

This year’s awardees include:  

• Angela Rosa Fernandez, University of Washington
  Ms. Fernandez was raised on the Menominee Indian Reservation in northeastern Wisconsin. Angela’s passion to become a social worker was driven by her desire to give back to the community that nurtured her. She has been involved with the National Institute of Health’s qualitative study on women living with HIV. With support from the Ronald E. McNair Program and Dr. Sharon Keigher, she co-authored three papers, of which two have been published.
• Megan Hast, University of California at Berkeley
  Ms. Hast became interested in the Spanish language and Latin American culture in her undergraduate year at college, and studied in central Mexico in the fall of her senior year to immerse herself more in the culture. She moved to the border and worked in Ciudad Juarez, at Casa de la Peregrina, a house for immigrant, abused, and homeless women and their children. She is deeply committed and passionate about the work of advocating for those in critical need of social services.
• Jessica LePak, University of California at Berkeley
  Jessica LePak’s life challenges, interest and experience in health care led her on the path to becoming a social worker. Jessica discovered that the field of social work addressed the biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and cultural dimensions of individuals as well as emphasizes the need for advocacy that reach beyond a focus on the individual. She is currently an intern at the American Indian Child Resource Center in Oakland, California, where she serves urban Native American children and youth.
• Dora Lopez-Martinez, Adelphi University
  Ms. Lopez-Martinez has been actively involved and worked at a young age in Guatemala in her church. She volunteered as an interpreter for a medical group from the US that offered free medical and dental services for the poor and assisted with different types of services such as translating, sorting and distributing clothing and food. She also served as a caseworker assisting the poor in connecting to the proper resources. Her career goal in social work is to work with children and the immigrant population.
• Letisia Pena, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
  Ms. Pena interned for eight months with the Senior Program at Cristo Rey Community Center which had provided services and support to her family 30 years earlier who emigrated from Mexico. As a young child she dreamed of becoming a social worker and wanted to connect people to resources as social workers had done for her family. Cristo Rey’s Senior program specializes in the needs of the older adult Latino population by facilitating group interactions, games, exercises and sessions. Ms. Pena also served periodically as a Spanish/English translator.
• Edith Rodriguez, San Jose State University
  Ms. Rodriguez is interested in a career in public child welfare and loves working with children and Latino families. She has provided services to the Spanish speaking community such as emergency preparedness, health fairs, CPR trainings and after school programs in the bay area. Ms. Rodriguez considers herself fortunate and privileged to be able to assist low-income minority groups who struggle on a daily basis working two jobs just to have enough to put food on the table. Being bilingual and bicultural she understands the struggles that Latino families face within the social welfare system which conflicts at times with their cultural values.

The Gosnell Scholarship was established through a bequest of Consuelo Gosnell, a social work practitioner who was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and died in Texas in 1987. Gosnell was a champion of civil and human rights and worked diligently to ameliorate conditions for critically under served American Indians and Latinos in the Southwest. Gosnell practiced for many years in federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

For more information about the NASW Foundation or educational scholarships, please contact NASWF via email at naswfoundation@naswdc.org.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, DC, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 150,000 members. It promotes, develops, and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well being of individuals, families, and communities through its advocacy.