WashU Brown School

We're proud to share that WashU is formally partnering with St. Louis to expand environmental monitoring and public health research in city neighborhoods affected by the devastating May 16, 2025, tornado.

“This partnership demonstrates WashU’s ‘In St. Louis, For St. Louis’ commitment to our region in concrete and tangible terms,” Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said. “Under the leadership of Dean Dorian Traube and her team in the Brown School, the Public Exchange and the researchers leading CLEAN STL are creating a model for connecting academic expertise with local leaders to effect real change.”

The agreement formalizes and expands CLEAN STL — Contaminant Level Evaluation and Analysis for Neighborhoods — a multidisciplinary initiative launched in fall 2025 to provide residents and city leaders with accurate air and soil data to support long-term recovery efforts. The project began as a pilot developed in partnership with community organizations Better Family Life, Love the Lou and 4theVille and is now growing into a multiyear collaboration with the city.

The expanded initiative represents a significant investment of university resources, with WashU committing more than $500,000 over the next two years to support the project’s first phase of growth.

WashU partners with St. Louis to expand CLEAN STL tornado recovery project Washington University in St. Louis is formally partnering with St. Louis to expand environmental monitoring and public health research in city neighborhoods affected by the devastating May 16, 2025, tornado.

WashU’s Confluence Collaborative for Community Engagement recently honored WashU Brown School assistant professor Mitra Naseh and community partners with the Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award for ongoing research to strengthen pathways for Afghan refugee and immigrant integration across St. Louis. Naseh was honored alongside key project partners Jason Baker of Monarch Immigrant Services, Blake Hamilton of the International Institute St. Louis, and Lindsay Spencer of Archway Refugee Connections.

"When newcomers to St. Louis succeed, the entire region succeeds," said Blake Hamilton, president and CEO of the International Institute St. Louis. “That’s why partnerships like these really matter so much. WashU researchers bring rigor, analysis and the ability to see patterns across systems. And community organizations bring trust, proximity and responsibility for what happens. Together, we move forward from insight to action."

Community-engaged research like this embodies the spirit of . Congratulations to the awardees, and thank you for your work to build a more welcoming St. Louis!

Read the full story at https://source.washu.edu/2026/04/naseh-receives-william-h-danforth-st-louis-confluence-award/

Congratulations to Professors Melissa Jonson-Reid, Patricia Kohl and Brett Drake, on their work published in Child & Family Social Work, which was recognized as one of the journal’s top 10 most-cited papers published in 2024.

🔗 Read the paper:

The stark implications of abolishing child welfare: An alternative path towards support and safety Scholars and advocates are at odds about how to achieve higher levels of child safety and permanency. Calls for change include the recent upEND focus on eradication of child welfare services to a rad...

Congratulations to alumna Elizabeth Waldrum, MSW ’07, on the release of her debut children’s book!

Waldrum co-authored "I Remember You: Helping Children Think About People Who Are Not Present," a thoughtful book that helps young children explore the complex emotions related to the absence of important people in their lives. The book also offers guidance for caregivers, including parents, therapists, school counselors, and educators, on having age-appropriate conversations with children ages 3–8.

📚 Now available wherever books are sold!

Supporting children in expressing feelings about people who come in and out of their lives — Et Alia Press Written by two early childhood mental health professionals for children experiencing significant losses associated with foster care, moving, deportation, incarceration, addiction, chronic illness, death, or other circumstances that cause periodic or permanent absences of meaningful people in their l

Tenants facing eviction were more likely to remain in their homes when they received free legal representation through a Kansas City program, according to a new study co-authored by Brown School assistant professor Caitlin McMurtry.

Right-to-counsel program reduces likelihood of eviction - WashU Bursky School of Public Health With rent eating up increasing shares of household income, right-to-counsel programs provide tenants free legal representation to help them stay in their homes

Looking for ways to give back? WashU Serves has released its Service Saturday volunteer schedule through 2026. Volunteer opportunities are open to WashU faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members.

➡ Sign up to volunteer next Saturday, June 13, with the East Loop Community Improvement District for its Juneteenth Celebration setup.

WashU community invited to join Service Saturdays WashU Serves has released volunteer dates and locations for Service Saturdays through 2026. These community volunteer days are open to WashU faculty, staff, students, alumni and all other community members.

Congratulations to Soobin Park, a doctoral candidate at the Brown School, on receiving a $10,000 grant from The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy to support her PhD dissertation project on “dementia care deserts.”

Park is among just 20 people receiving awards out of more than 845 applicants, a 2.4% acceptance rate.

Park receives Horowitz Foundation grant Soobin Park, a doctoral candidate at the WashU Brown School, will receive a $10,000 grant from the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy to support her PhD dissertation project on "dementia care deserts."

A few days before her 12th birthday, Melanie Goldring, AB ’17, MSW/MSP ’19, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The tenacious pr***en swiftly took responsibility for managing her condition, which would shape her entire life trajectory.

Goldring earned degrees in social work and social policy at WashU and today holds leadership positions at organizations that advocate for youth health and well-being — including diabetes education — around the world.

Read more of Goldring's story and discover how, with you, WashU empowers future-ready leaders to change the world: https://bit.ly/49GP8Rs

We are pleased to recognize this year’s Distinguished Volunteer Award recipient from the Brown School Awards of Distinction: Mary Curtis Horowitz (AB ’68), Trustee of The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy.

Watch the video to learn more about her connection to the Brown School and her lifelong commitment to social policy through expansive philanthropy and a nearly 50-year career in the publishing industry.

WashU Brown School Awards of Distinction 2026: Distinguished Volunteer Award: Mary Curtis Horowitz, AB ’68