The Latino Social Work Coalition and Scholarship Fund (LSWCSF) presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Master Teacher, Clinical Associate Professor, and Katherine and Howard Aibel Executive-in Residence Dr. Linda Lausell Bryant at the organization’s 20th Annual Leadership Awards gala on May 6, 2021.
LSWCSF President and NYU Silver alum Luisa Lopez, MSW ’18, cited Dr. Lausell Bryant’s “years of dedication and service to the coalition, our students, and the profession as a whole.” In her 35-year career-to-date, Dr. Lausell Bryant has held leadership positions in public and private sector youth services as well as academia; served on multiple non-profit boards and government-appointed panels; and mentored countless social work students and professionals.
Dr. Lausell-Bryant’s current work focuses on research and practice issues related to developing the leadership capacities of social workers and other human services professionals, and the intersection of race, ethnicity, and social justice. At Silver, she launched the Adaptive Leadership Fellowship program, developed new graduate and doctoral level courses grounded in the Adaptive Leadership framework, and is co-Founder and Director of the Adaptive Leadership in Human Services Institute, which is based at the School. She has also served as co-Chair of the School’s Action Against Racism Pedagogy Supports Work Group and is a co-author of the books A Guide for Sustaining Conversations on Racism, Identity and Our Mutual Humanity (Cognella Academic Publishing, 2017) and Social Work: A Time for Reflection and Reckoning: A Call to Action (NYU Silver School of Social Work, 2021). She will become Director of NYU Silver’s DSW Program in Clinical Social Work effective September 1, 2021, succeeding inaugural Director Carol Tosone, who is going on sabbatical in the 2021-22 academic year.
Before she joined the NYU Silver faculty in 2015, Dr. Lausell Bryant served as Executive Director of Inwood House, a nonprofit youth agency focused on improving outcomes for young mothers in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Her previous positions include serving as associate commissioner for the Office of Youth Development at the New York City Administration for Children’s Services and Deputy Executive Director at the Partnership for After School Education. Her community service includes chairing the board of the National Crittenton Foundation which fights for social, political, and economic justice for young women impacted by chronic adversity, violence, and oppression, and serving on the board of the Fund for the City of New York. Prior service includes the NASW-NYC Board and the NYC Panel for Education Policy.
At the LSWCSF gala, which was held virtually, Dr. Lausell Bryant’s award was presented by her daughter, Jasmine Bryant, an MSW student in Silver’s Class of 2022. Jasmine described the example her mother set for her and how she saw young women believe in themselves because of the long hours her mother put in as the CEO of Inwood House. Jasmine noted “This may be a lifetime achievement award, which she deserves for her countless years of dedication and passion helping not only people in need but marginalized communities, women of color who were never given a true chance, and teaching the future social workers of the world. But I know that this is just the beginning of her journey...She's everything I hope to be and an inspiration for all I hope to achieve.”
In accepting the award, Dr. Lausell Bryant expressed deep appreciation for the honor, her daughter’s introduction, and LSWCSF’s mission. “I was one of those young social work students a long time ago and I know how important it is to have people believing in you,” she said. “I am blessed to do work that aligns with my purpose and work that I love. I want to say to each of the scholarship recipients tonight that our world really needs your talent, your energy, and your dedication more than ever. We’ve got some epic struggles ahead of us. We have to speak truth to power. We have systems that need to be dismantled, that need to be reimagined and recreated. And we have people with so many talents whose talents are buried under a pile of pain and hurt, and we have healing that we have to do. I know that this work is not for the faint of heart, but I know you are not faint of heart. And even though this is a lifetime achievement award, I still have a lot of life and energy, and I pledge to work with you to get this work done.”