The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation (MCHF) has awarded Siena College $1.15 million in scholarships for students enrolled in our Criminal Justice Studies program and the new Master of Social Work (MSW) program. The grants will fund scholarships for students from New York state who demonstrate exceptional financial need.
Scholarships for criminal justice students will be awarded starting this semester. Siena’s program was launched three years ago, and is already one of the top five out of 40 majors applied to at Siena. It is also the most racially diverse program at the College with 43 percent of accepted students coming from traditionally underrepresented communities. Based on our Franciscan values, the program explores criminal justice through the lenses of social, restorative and transformative justice.
“With this generous grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, we will truly ‘walk the walk’ of the restorative justice principles that we teach here at Siena,” said Annie Rody-Wright, J.D., criminal justice studies program coordinator. “From widening our recruitment net, to offering enhanced financial support for accepted students, this grant will ensure that all eligible and promising applicants who want to attend Siena and pursue a degree in criminal justice studies have an equal opportunity to learn with us, earn their bachelor’s degree, and become the change-makers we educate them to be.”
Monies for the MSW scholarships will be awarded when the MSW program launches at Siena. The program has already received approval from the NYS Education Department, and is awaiting approval from its accrediting body, the Council on Social Work Education. Building on 50 years of the undergraduate program, the new MSW is designed to provide a workforce pipeline infused with Franciscan values to the social work field. This degree program will prepare students for a range of practice settings, helping to advance social, economic and environmental justice while working to ameliorate systemic oppression.
“The call to serve others is one of the reasons Siena students seek out a social work degree,” said Elisa Martin, Ph.D., associate professor of social work and chair of the MSW program. “The Mother Cabrini Masters in Social Work Scholarship will help remove financial barriers for students to obtain an education that will prepare them to support those in need and tackle systemic barriers that prevent people from living their best lives.”
MCHF's mission is to provide grants to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable New Yorkers, bolster the health outcomes of diverse communities, eliminate barriers to care, and bridge gaps in health services.