CSUMB changing the social landscape

By Mark Muckenfuss

In the 12 years since its inception, Cal State Monterey Bay’s Master of Social Work program has been slowly but steadily adding to the well-being of Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties. Now, having received two major grants in the past year, that impact is ramping up.

Professor Maria Gurrola, who is chair of the social work department, said there has long been a shortage of social workers in the region. 

“There were no social workers here,” she said, looking back to the state of the region at the beginning of CSUMB’s program. “That’s one of the main reasons (for the program). The other reason is that it's very hard to keep or maintain social workers in this community.”

But that is changing. In 2024, the MSW program received two five-year state grants totaling $5.8 million, allowing the already growing program to make a leap forward in the size of its faculty and more than doubling its enrollment. 

“This year we admitted 100 students instead of 45,” Gurrola said. “Next year we’re getting 115 instead of 100.” 

That still isn’t sufficient to meet the need, she said. 

“I’m thinking if we want to get all of those positions in the region filled, it would be ideal to have 150-200 students in our cohort,” she said. “and this is just for the county offices.”

Private agencies and nonprofits also have vacancies for social workers who provide such services as individual and family counseling, connecting clients with local resources – financial, educational and other services – and support groups. They work in a wide variety of settings, from hospitals to schools to private clinics. 

A social worker might help a young single mother find nutrition and health services for her and her children, or suggest appropriate housing options to an older person with compromising health issues, or ease the transition from prison to the community for an incarcerated person. 

The state money CSUMB received is contingent upon enrolling students from underserved communities, something Gurrola said has already been a key focus.

“They are looking into diversifying the profession,” she said. “It's really emphasizing students of color. That’s a perfect fit with our mission, which is really being community-centered, and educating and growing our own.”

Students often tend to stay in the region where they have interned and earned their degrees and CSUMB is no exception. That’s especially true, Gurrola said, when students are from the surrounding area to begin with.

Daisy Cuevas grew up in Seaside and said she feels fortunate to be near a university that offers a Master of Social Work degree. 

“I’m a single mom so I needed something close by,” Cuevas said. “For my lifestyle, it just made sense to stay local and go to CSUMB. And it’s beneficial that I’m living in a community I want to work in.”

Cuevas works full time with troubled youth in the Salinas Union High School District and is a part-time student, taking her MSW courses in the evening. Now in her third year of the program (the curriculum is designed for full-time students to finish in two years), she said she eventually wants to work with middle school students as an interventionist, providing assessments and connecting students with educational, emotional and health services they may need. 

CSUMB’s program surprised her a bit, especially because of what she had heard about some programs at other schools. 

“At first I was very nervous,” she said. “The stories about a master’s program were a little scary. But the staff was really understanding and empathetic. I like that they come with real-life experience. A lot of them work in the community. They’re dealing with real issues that are happening here, which is really good to learn about because we will be going into those local jobs.”

Cristina Sotelo experienced that when she graduated from the MSW program in 2017. She had already been working in service-type roles in south Monterey County for nearly two decades, She could see there was plenty of work to do. 

“There is a huge need for clinicians who work with children and who are bilingual,” Sotelo said. 

Currently, she runs a private counseling practice in Gonzalez and typically has a waiting list. Clients sometimes wait as long as six months. This year, she is planning to open a nonprofit agency in Greenfield, providing therapy and parenting training, and also referring people to resource and support groups. 

As an alumni of CSUMB, she said the MSW program is starting to have a big impact on the needs of South County. 

“We have a student from last year working in Gonzales and we have another student from last year working in Greenfield,” Sotelo said. “We have a student placed in the hospital in King City. So, it’s creating an impact.”

Tamara McKee, director of the Alliance on Aging, said CSUMB’s MSW program “is vital to our program.”

McKee said about 50% of the agency’s clientele is Spanish speaking but it has been hard, historically, to attract and maintain volunteers who are fluent in Spanish. Interns from the MSW program have filled that gap. 

“I don’t know how we would be able to provide services without them,” she said. 

One former intern is now the ombudsperson for the agency, an example of how graduates can move directly into the field. 

First-year student Ali Garcia said with the variety of opportunities for social workers it can be hard to decide which area to pursue. He has worked with homeless young adults in the past and during the fall semester he assisted veterans who were formerly incarcerated and/or homeless. That experience has impressed him.

“I’m like, ‘Wow, this is meaningful work,’” he said. “With social work, there are so many more fields: the hospital, prisons, immigration and the community aspect of it. I grew up in Salinas. Seeing how marginalized communities struggle, it was always my goal to go back and help.” 

He’d like to see more students pursuing the degree, he said, 

“There is a big need,” Garcia said. “The proof of that is, we’re going to 100 [students] this year. We’re trying to address that.”

Gurrola said the program is changing the region. In the past dozen years, she said, 400 students have graduated with a master’s in social work. Each has put in a required 960 hours of community service as part of their degrees. 

“That’s 384,000 hours,” Gurrola said. “Social workers are earning maybe $25 to $30 per hour. That’s $13 million this program has put out into the community.”

She would like to add a doctoral degree program in the coming years. The only thing holding her back from meeting the need she sees is the resources to hire additional faculty.

“If I had a dream, it would be a great donor,” she said. “We don’t need that much, maybe $1 million or $2 million to provide for those faculty we’d like to hire.”

The ultimate goal, she said, is to create a healthier community. 

“Without these social workers, our community will function,” she said, “but we will not function at our best.”