Laura Rice

The social work field is one that has a long-standing history of mistrust towards American Indian communities. The Buder Scholar curriculum helped me gain a better understanding of this history and how today’s social worker can blend social work approaches with a community’s cultural strengths to help empower Native communities to make their own positive change. The Brown School’s curricula taught me a lot about the components and merits of Evidence-Based Practices, while the Buder Center helped me also appreciate the potential role of Practice-Based Evidence and Community-Based Participatory Research in Indian Country.  While attending the Brown School as a Buder Scholar, I also gained skills in how to be a more effective advocate for Indian Country. I completed my practicum at Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Social Services immediately following my coursework at the Brown School. After I graduated in 2010, I began working there as an Indian Child Welfare Social Worker. I continued to work as a micro-practice social worker until this year. I am now working at the University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships and Research as a Project Coordinator for a child development and mental health grant program for a tribal community.

The Brown School and the Buder Scholar program have both contributed to my success at this agency. The Brown School provided me with a solid background in grant writing and program evaluation, while the Buder Scholar program emphasized the importance of cultural competency when serving Native communities from both the macro-practice and micro-practice levels. Last academic year, I taught two introductory social work courses at Haskell Indian Nations University. Talking to Native American students about the potential for them as future social workers to help Indian Country in ways that are effective and respectful of culture made me realize how much I truly enjoy what I try
to do every day.