General Blog Posts

We’d like to thank everyone who participated in National Social Worker Month this March! While the month may be over, we’ll never stop looking for new ways to express our gratitude for those who have made it their life’s work to support vulnerable children and families. To that end, we are thrilled to kick off April by announcing the winner of the inaugural Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award!

According to UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education–Human Services instructor May Orr, supervisors are the most critical factor in the transfer of learning for the staff and teams they lead. Beginning this fall, UC Davis Human Services is rolling out a new tool to help its training participants transfer what they’ve learned in class into practice at their organizations. To support the goal of increasing learning and skill development, each course offered through a county contract will now include a Supervisor Transfer of Learning (TOL) Tip Sheet. 

This past July saw UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education—Human Services host the 16th National Tribal TANF Institute. The virtual conference hosted 230 participants from 44 tribal and governmental agencies from across the U.S.  and featured an expanded schedule, with 40 workshop options. This year’s theme was “Empowering Our Spirits”, centering the importance of cultural values to provide the basis for healing, rejuvenation and growth.

Nearly 550 child welfare professionals from across the state participated in a two-day event aimed at improving the safety and well-being of tens of thousands of vulnerable children and families. Hosted by the Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services, the California Safety Organized Practice Conference took place on June 15-16, 2021, as a free virtual event.

Despite the challenges that COVID-19 brought, the Partnerships for Well-Being Institute successfully wrapped up its final day as a virtual conference on June 3, 2021. Though it was initially scheduled as a three-day in-person conference in June 2020, UC Davis Human Services quickly pivoted and revamped it into a three-part series of one-day virtual conferences in June 2020, December 2020 and June 2021. More than 1,600 people attended at least one of the virtual Institutes, breaking the record for attendance at any past conference.

As COVID-19 vaccinations become more readily available, it may seem like we are close to the end of the pandemic, but the race is not over yet. Many Americans are wary of the vaccine, and as vaccine hesitancy persists, the progress toward herd immunity slows.

As the country fights back against the spread of COVID-19, UC Davis has done its most to protect its students and staff from rising case numbers. In fact, its partnership with the City of Davis, known as Healthy Davis Together, aims to expand its shield from the UC Davis campus to the Davis community as a whole. By providing free rapid testing, contact tracing, isolation housing and masks, this initiative has successfully slowed the spread of COVID-19 in Davis by identifying and containing infection before it can spread.

Knowing how to engage people in the learning process—particularly in a virtual environment—is more important than ever before. And while some training techniques work for both in-person and remote-learning settings, many others do not transition well in a virtual learning environment.

There's no doubt that the shift from physical to virtual operations over the past year has been a challenge, but it has also enabled our services to become more accessible and inclusive.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sudden and overwhelming shift in the way we do business—providing classroom-based instruction, county-based training, state and national conferences, one-on-one coaching and other workforce development services to human services professionals throughout California and across the nation—but it did not shift our mission of changing practice and transforming lives.

Let’s keep the celebration going! Last week, we featured seven outstanding Northern California child welfare social workers. This week, we are bringing you nine more to cap off our participation in and support of National Child Welfare Workforce Institute's Child Welfare Workforce Recognition Month. 

Tiffany Salcido has more than 15 years of experience in the field of human services and social services programs. Passionate about empowering others, her experience spans various roles and programs, including clerical/reception, CalWORKs, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, Foster Care, Aid to Adoptions, Kin-GAP, CAPI, Linkages, and Welfare to Work. Salcido has also served as a staff development trainer, providing induction training and continuing education for eligibility, the C-IV automated system, and Welfare to Work programs.

In May the UC Davis Human Services Evaluation team participated in the Sonoma QMAG (short for Quality Management Advisory Group) biannual meeting for the fourth consecutive year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in lieu of convening at the North Bay Regional Center in Sonoma County as originally planned, over 30 participants attended the meeting virtually.