Welcome to our website!
This has been a great year for the Moritz Center for Societal Impact (MCSI)! Our inaugural Good Neighbors Program awards have just followed up our inaugural Projects for Societal Impact awards, and we could not be more delighted. Please celebrate the awardees of ten wonderful new programs with us!
The Good Neighbors Program Awards will impact people in our local communities in incredibly positive ways, just as we’d hoped. What could be better? Children and youth and our aging neighbors feature heavily in these programs. We have programs too that will make the way smoother for people in poor health, for students who are trying to beat the odds in getting university degrees though they grew up in especially challenging situations, and for families of veterans who have faithfully served this country and now need our support. Some programs will help alleviate loneliness, some will uplift caregivers and service providers when they need it most, and some will bring the joy of music and art and even gardens into people’s lives. Each of these programs, informed by therapeutic interventions, the arts and humanities, technology, social, recreational, or other activities, involve collaborations with members of our local community–our University of Texas neighbors–to promote wellbeing and quality of life!
A few months ago I invited you to celebrate our newly announced inaugural Projects for Societal Impact (PSI) awardees. Their incredible research has already started or will start in the summer of 2024. Each project has a unique focus on health, behavioral health, housing, or homelessness. They epitomize what the Moritz Center of Societal Impact (MCSI) stands for—seeking solutions to critical social problems and making a meaningful impact. The beauty of this work is that researchers, students, and community partners will work collaboratively so the lives of people, locally and even globally, will be improved.
Check out our other major initiatives too, like the Texas Heart Galleries! Each month, another region of Texas is blessed by the opening of its local Heart Gallery. Children in foster care are being adopted at much higher rates, and families are having their dreams come true. How wonderful is that?
The Moritz Center for Societal Impact is changing lives, quite dramatically. The programs that are now in place exemplify the spirit originally intended by John David and Leslie B. Moritz and Steve Hicks School of Social Work Dean Allan Cole when he first conceptualized our Center. All of our dreams for the Center are coming to fruition.
Thank you for your interest in MCSI. Please keep following this website and our other social media. Watch out for our announcements in Fall 2024 for the next calls for proposals and for the dates of symposia you can attend to hear about the successful outcomes of our programs.
We will also announce exciting new initiatives. We are on a roll now!
Warmest greetings,
Jeanette R. Davidson PhD ACSW,
Director, Moritz Center for Societal Impact
University of Texas at Austin
