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Philadelphia Inquirer

Phila. rates highest among top 10 cities for deep poverty

Associate Professor Roberta Iversen explains the inability to get jobs as the root cause for poverty.

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Sep 26

#ThrowbackThursday to our party at The Post! We had so much fun welcoming new and returning students to #PennSP2 🎉 🎉🎉

@pennsp2studentlife

#ThrowbackThursday to our party at The Post! We had so much fun welcoming new and returning students to #PennSP2 🎉 🎉🎉

@pennsp2studentlife ...

Sep 24

#PennSP2 alumna Jessica (Jesse) Aldrich Strassman, DSW'24, is a therapist, researcher, and adjunct professor at Samuel Merritt University. As a new graduate of our DSW program, Jesse traveled to Greece this summer for Harvard's FXB Center for Health and Human Rights 2024 course on migration and refugee studies.

In this #SP2AlumniSpotlight, Jesse discusses her time at SP2 and her path to studying the experiences of displaced populations.

🔵What accomplishments have been most meaningful to you, and why?

By far the most meaningful and impactful accomplishment was the completion of my dissertation. I am grateful for the opportunity to collect oral histories with forcibly displaced survivors, grown children, and grandchildren, of World War II’s ethnic German community living in the U.S. This population has not been studied in the U.S., and most have never been able to tell their stories prior to my research. It was an honor to sit with them and hold space for them to speak about unimaginable war-related experiences so we can better understand the intergenerational impact of trauma narration from sociopolitically complex populations. This experience inspired me to better understand today’s forcibly displaced populations and the impact of their experiences on mental health.

This past summer I was accepted at Harvard University’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights/ National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) intensive summer course on migration and refugee studies held in Greece. This interdisciplinary course brought together thirty-two international students devoted to understanding and advancing humanitarian refugee policies and practices. As the only clinical social worker in the group, I was reminded of the power of an interdisciplinary team to advance today’s complex social justice issues and felt prepared to contribute a social work perspective deepened by my professional work and my time at SP2. The most impactful experiences came from hearing directly from those who had experienced forced displacement or migration and renewed my commitment to qualitative research in this area.

Read the full interview at the link in bio!

#PennSP2 alumna Jessica (Jesse) Aldrich Strassman, DSW`24, is a therapist, researcher, and adjunct professor at Samuel Merritt University. As a new graduate of our DSW program, Jesse traveled to Greece this summer for Harvard`s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights 2024 course on migration and refugee studies.

In this #SP2AlumniSpotlight, Jesse discusses her time at SP2 and her path to studying the experiences of displaced populations.

🔵What accomplishments have been most meaningful to you, and why?

By far the most meaningful and impactful accomplishment was the completion of my dissertation. I am grateful for the opportunity to collect oral histories with forcibly displaced survivors, grown children, and grandchildren, of World War II’s ethnic German community living in the U.S. This population has not been studied in the U.S., and most have never been able to tell their stories prior to my research. It was an honor to sit with them and hold space for them to speak about unimaginable war-related experiences so we can better understand the intergenerational impact of trauma narration from sociopolitically complex populations. This experience inspired me to better understand today’s forcibly displaced populations and the impact of their experiences on mental health.

This past summer I was accepted at Harvard University’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights/ National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) intensive summer course on migration and refugee studies held in Greece. This interdisciplinary course brought together thirty-two international students devoted to understanding and advancing humanitarian refugee policies and practices. As the only clinical social worker in the group, I was reminded of the power of an interdisciplinary team to advance today’s complex social justice issues and felt prepared to contribute a social work perspective deepened by my professional work and my time at SP2. The most impactful experiences came from hearing directly from those who had experienced forced displacement or migration and renewed my commitment to qualitative research in this area.

Read the full interview at the link in bio! ...

Sep 23

#PennSP2 alumnus Harvey Finkle, SW’61, spent nearly half a century capturing social change movements through documentary photography and photojournalism. Now, he is working on a series of retrospective books of his work on topics including mothers, immigrant communities, Deaf culture, readers, and the Philadelphia Mummers. Finkle’s images of disability rights activists were the subject of an Art@SP2 exhibit in the Caster Building this past spring.

Read more from @PennGazette at the link in bio.

📷: Harvey Finkle
1. Mother and daughter, Philadelphia
2. Mother and daughter, Ghana
3. American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) rally at Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC
4. Immigrant factory worker (Philadelphia, 1992)
5. Boy from Burma in school auditorium (Philadelphia, 2017)
6. Reader in Philadelphia

#PennSP2 alumnus Harvey Finkle, SW’61, spent nearly half a century capturing social change movements through documentary photography and photojournalism. Now, he is working on a series of retrospective books of his work on topics including mothers, immigrant communities, Deaf culture, readers, and the Philadelphia Mummers. Finkle’s images of disability rights activists were the subject of an Art@SP2 exhibit in the Caster Building this past spring.

Read more from @PennGazette at the link in bio.

📷: Harvey Finkle
1. Mother and daughter, Philadelphia
2. Mother and daughter, Ghana
3. American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) rally at Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC
4. Immigrant factory worker (Philadelphia, 1992)
5. Boy from Burma in school auditorium (Philadelphia, 2017)
6. Reader in Philadelphia ...

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