Tranishia James

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Tranishia James is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her interests are in cultural issue, eliminating racial disproportionately and disparity in the child welfare system, trauma informed social work practice and assisting at-risk adolescents with attaining higher education. 

 

As a Practicum Education Consultant with the California Social Work Education (Cal-SWEC) program, Tranishia works with first and second year students training them to become professional public child welfare social workers and is involved in recruiting child welfare candidates. 

 

Prior to coming to UCLA, Tranishia worked with children and families in L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for 10 1/2 years. She was a supervisor in Emergency Response (child abuse investigations); as well as a Coach Developer, teaching skills development trainings for Supervisors and Children’s Social Workers. While at DCFS, Tranishia also worked as a Practicum Instructor training/supervising UCLA and USC social work interns. 

Latoya Small

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Latoya Small’s scholarship is informed by her work in clinical social work practice and community-based research.

Her research focuses on health disparities, specifically, the intersection of mental health, treatment adherence, and HIV among women and children in the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa. Her global research addresses the urgent need for theory-driven, empirically-informed, and sustainable psychosocial HIV treatment approaches for youth living with perinatally acquired HIV in South Africa.

In the U.S., Dr. Small examines how poverty-related stress, parenting, and mental health interact and relatedly impact adherence in HIV medical services among Black and Latina women in urban communities. An extension of her work includes mental health and discrimination facing transgender women of color.

Dr. Small takes a collaborative approach in her scholarship, recognizing that traditional intra-disciplinary boundaries can impede the development of effective and sustainable research interventions. Her work aims to produce accessible, evidence-informed interventions that bolster youth development and women’s health.

Jody Heymann

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Dr. Heymann established and will continue to lead the first global initiative to examine health and social policy in all 193 UN nations. This initiative provides an in-depth look at how health and social policies affect the ability of individuals, families and communities to meet their health needs across the economic and social spectrum worldwide. In addition to carrying out award-winning global social policy research, Heymann carried out some of the original studies on the risk of HIV transmission via breast milk to infants in Africa, the impact of HIV/AIDS on tuberculosis rates in Africa, and how labor conditions impact the health and welfare of families globally.

She has authored and edited more than 200 publications, including 15 books. These include Changing Children’s Chances(Harvard University Press, 2013), Making Equal Rights Real (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Lessons in Educational Equality (Oxford University Press, 2012), Protecting Childhood in the AIDS Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2012), Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder (Harvard Business Press, 2010), Raising the Global Floor (Stanford University Press, 2009),Trade and Health (McGill Queens University Press, 2007), Forgotten Families (Oxford University Press, 2006), Healthier Societies (Oxford University Press, 2006), Unfinished Work (New Press, 2005), Global Inequalities at Work (Oxford University Press, 2003), and The Widening Gap (Basic Books, 2000).

Deeply committed to translating research into policies and programs that improve individual and population health, Dr. Heymann has worked with government leaders in North America, Europe, Africa and Latin America as well as a wide range of intergovernmental organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, the World Economic Forum, UNICEF and UNESCO. Central to her efforts is bridging the gap between research and policymakers. She has helped develop legislation with the U.S. Congress as well as with UN agencies based on the implications of her team’s research results. Dr. Heymann’s findings have been featured on CNN Headline News; MSNBC; Good Morning America; Fox News; National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” “Fresh Air” and “Marketplace;” in The New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Business Week; Inc; Portfolio; Forbes India and USA Today, among other internationally and nationally syndicated programs and press.

Hector Palencia

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Mr. Palencia graduated with a B.A. in English and a Religious Studies minor from the University of California, Irvine. From there he was granted an M.A. in Systematic Theology (with honors) from Berkley’s Graduate Theological Union, with another Masters degree in Social Welfare from U.C.L.A.

Mr. Palencia put his graduate studies to work in the practicum of gang resistance diversion programs, Mr. Palencia has numerous professional qualifications in addition he has presented on Social Welfare and Gangs, Criminalization of Homelessness, Working with Trauma in Youth, and Gang Round Table Discussions.

Mr. Palencia’s work history demonstrates a compassion borne out of his spiritual endeavors and a capacity for working with marginalized young offenders. He comes to UCLA from El Rancho unified where he served as one of the mental health liaison’s responsible for district wide mental health services which included coordinating services with partnering agencies as well as responding to crisis and working specifically with tier three students. For 4 years, he was with the East Whittier City School District overseeing middle school diversion programs, created partnerships with community agencies to meet needs not being addressed for students, and he became successful in writing numerous grants including the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant initiative. In his career, he has worked in hospice and as drug and alcohol counselor handling at-risk youth case loads.

 

 

Meredith Phillips

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Phillips studies the causes and consequences of educational inequality. She specializes in the causes of ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in educational success and how to reduce those disparities. Her current research projects focus on technologies and strategies for improving students’ math achievement; understanding students’ access to advanced course-taking opportunities; and survey methods involving children and adolescents. She teaches courses on statistics, research methods, and education policy.

Phillips co-founded EdBoost, a charitable, educational non-profit whose mission is to reduce educational inequality by making high-quality supplemental educational services accessible to children from all family backgrounds. Phillips also co-founded and is the faculty director of the Los Angeles Education Research Institute (LAERI), a Los Angeles-based research-practice partnership that collaborates with L.A Unified.

Phillips’s research has been supported by funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the College Futures Foundation, among others. She served on the National Academy Committee on Developing Indicators of Educational Equity and the National Academy Committee on the Evaluation Framework for Successful K-12 STEM Education. She is a past recipient of a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, as well as the dissertation award from the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM). She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University and her A.B. from Brown University.

Google Scholar Citations

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Long-Term Consequences of Early Access to Educational Opportunity
Author: Miller, Carrie E., Meredith Phillips

Leaks in the College Access Pipeline: Examining Summer Melt in a Large Urban School District
Author: Miller, Carrie E., Meredith Phillips, Caitlin E. Ahearn

Does Virtual Advising Increase College Enrollment? Evidence from a Random-Assignment College Access Field Experiment
Author: Phillips, Meredith, Sarah Reber

RECENT REPORTS

Twelfth Grade Math and College Success
Author: Wainstein, Leonard, Carrie Miller, Meredith Phillips, Kyo Yamashiro, Tatiana Melguizo

Twelfth Grade Math and College Access
Author: Wainstein, Leonard, Carrie Miller, Meredith Phillips, Kyo Yamashiro, Tatiana Melguizo

 

Michelle Talley

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Michelle Talley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker whose main area of focus is working with youth and families as it relates to Public Child Welfare. Other areas of interest are issues dealing with domestic violence, substance use, education, and attachment in youth and families.

Ms. Talley has also worked as a mental health clinician dealing with children impacted by abuse and neglect within their family nucleus. Most of the children and families worked with were also dealing with substance use/abuse, criminal issues, education, poverty, and mental health issues in which adversely impacted their family dynamics. Ms. Talley has also worked as an adoption social worker with Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. The focus was to locate families and individuals who were interested in providing a permanent home for children in the Child Welfare system.

Aurora P. Jackson

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Dr. Jackson’s scholarship examines the interrelationships among economic hardship, parental psychological well-being, parenting in the home environment (including involvement by nonresident fathers), and child developmental outcomes in families headed by low-income, single-parent mothers with young children.

Dr. Jackson’s research on current and former welfare recipients has been funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the William T. Grant Foundation, the National Center on Minority Health Disparities, and a visiting scholarship at the Russell Sage Foundation.

Her work is published in American Journal of Community Psychology, Child Development, Children and Youth Services Review, Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Social Service Research, Race and Social Problems, Social Service Review, Social Work, and Social Work Research.

SELECTED BOOKS & PUBLICATIONS

Minority Parents’ Perspectives on Racial Socialization and School Readiness in the Early Childhood Period
Anderson, A. T., Jackson, A. P., Jones, L., Kennedy, D. P., Wells, K., Chung, P. J. (2015). Minority parents’ perspectives on racial socialization and school readiness in the early childhood period. Academic Pediatrics, 15, 405-411.

Nonresident Fathers’ Involvement with Young Black Children: A Replication and Mediational Model
Jackson, A. P., Choi, J. K., Preston, K. S. J. (in press). Nonresident fathers’ involvement with young black children: A replication and mediational model. Social Work Research.

Single Mothers, Nonresident Fathers, and Preschoolers’ Socioemotional Development: Social Support, Psychological Well-Being, and Parenting Quality
Jackson, A. P., Preston, K. S. J., & Thomas, C. A. (2013). Single mothers, nonresident fathers, and preschoolers’ socioemotional development: Social support, psychological well-being, and parenting quality. Journal of Social Service Research, 39, 129-140.

Nonresident Fathers’ Parenting, Maternal Mastery and Child Development in Poor African American Single-Mother Families
Choi, J. K., & Jackson, A. P. (2012). Nonresident fathers’ parenting, maternal mastery and child development in poor African American single-mother families. Race and Social Problems, 4, 102-111.

Fathers’ Involvement and Child Behavior Problems in Poor African American Single-Mother Families
Choi, J. K. & Jackson, A. P. (2011). Fathers’ involvement and child behavior problems in poor African American single-mother families. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 698-704.

Single Parenting and Child Behavior Problems in Kindergarten
Jackson, A. P., Preston, K. S. J., & Franke, T. M. (2010). Single parenting and child behavior problems in kindergarten. Race and Social Problems, 2, 50-58.

Poor Single Mothers with Young Children: Mastery, Relations with Nonresident Fathers, and Child Outcomes
Jackson, A. P., Choi, J. K., & Franke, T. M. (2009). Poor single mothers with young children: Mastery, relations with nonresident fathers, and child outcomes. Social Work Research, 33, 95-106.

Parenting Efficacy and the Early School Adjustment of Poor and Near-Poor Black Children
Jackson, A. P., Choi, J. K., & Bentler, P. M. (2009). Parenting efficacy and the early school adjustment of poor and near-poor black children.Journal of Family Issues, 30, 1399-1455.

Low-Wage Employment and Parenting Style
Jackson, A. P., Bentler, P. M., & Franke, T. (2008). Low-wage employment and parenting style.Social Work, 53, 267-278.

Employment and parenting among current and former welfare recipients.
Jackson, A. P., Bentler, P. M., & Franke, T. M. (2006). Employment and parenting among current and former welfare recipients. Journal of Social Service Research, 33, 13-26.

Single mothers’ self-efficacy, parenting in the home environment, and children’s development in a two-wave study.
Jackson, A. P. & Scheines, R. (2005). Single mothers’ self-efficacy, parenting in the home environment, and children’s development in a two-wave study. Social Work Research, 29, 7-20.

Maternal gambling, parenting, and child behavioral functioning in Native American families.
Mumper, S. L. & Jackson, A. P. (2007). Maternal gambling, parenting, and child behavioral functioning in Native American families. Social Work Research, 31, 199-210.

Laura Alongi Brinderson

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Laura Alongi is a licensed clinical social worker whose interests lie in mental health issues with children, adolescents, and their families. She is also interested in parenting education and training, and the early childhood bonding process.

As a practicum consultant with the California Social Work Education Center program, a statewide program that trains social workers to become professional public child welfare workers, she works with first- and second-year students, and is involved in recruiting promising child welfare candidates.

Alongi has worked as a social worker in community mental health clinics including South Bay Child Guidance, the Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center, and Aviva Children and Family Services. She worked primarily with emotionally disturbed children and their families, both in individual/family and group modalities. She was also a supervisor for several years, and was involved in program development and administration when she served as a program director for the Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center.

Currently, she has a small private practice, and provides supervision and consultation to new and unlicensed social workers.

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