UB’s Social Impact Fellows prove hands-on, multidisciplinary approach can rock the house

Marissa Camacho called her experience “an incredible opportunity for UB students.” A student in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, Camacho came to the Rural Outreach Center in East Aurora to find “extremely passionate” staff offering the “intense interprofessional collaborative experience” she craved.

Reacquaint yourself with UB’s thriving Social Impact Fellows program, a hands-on, community-impact program that brings students from a variety of disciplines together for a simple but profound cause: addressing pressing social issues in the Western New York community, and doing something to help.

Camacho could do a first-person testimony to this.

Her research focuses on finding social determinants of health for rural populations, then working on changing them. So, using a transportation map that her teammate Haley Diagostino, a School of Social Work student, made for the outreach center, Camacho identified gaps in public transportation that mobile clinics could address.

The goal of her project: Work in a multidisciplinary collaboration with Diagostino and Hannah Gordon — a PhD student in global gender and sexuality studies — to create a two-pronged approach to deliver health care to rural communities that lack it. 

Camacho’s example is more evidence the Social Impact Fellows program has caught on. Through the summer fellowship, graduate students — from the School of Management, School of Social Work, College of Arts and Sciences and, for the first time, the School of Public Health and Health Professions — form multidisciplinary teams that take part in a weeklong foundation course and spend eight weeks interning with local mission-driven organizations.

They spend Mondays through Thursdays at their host site, addressing social issues through their organization. While there, the fellows learn about pertinent issues, meet with those working on or affected by these problems, and develop solutions to address them. They gather Friday mornings with UB faculty members who coach them on identifying, defining and generating solutions for social challenges.

The summer culminated on Aug. 1 with the Impact Showcase, where fellows presented their accomplishments and innovative recommendations, and highlighted the real-time impact of their work. Recognition awards for best presentation, best implementation model, social innovation and best partner organization were given to individual teams.

Michael Lynch, clinical associate professor in the School of Social Work who supervises the program, called it “truly a one-of-a-kind program that brings together students from different disciplines and different walks of life intending to create positive social change.”

“The students are stretched out of their comfort zone and are able to apply their skills and knowledge in real-world settings that positively impact the community,” Lynch said. “Students work as part of a diverse team and take an initiative from an idea to a reality.”

Partner sites are all local human service organizations, he noted. “Students’ work from the summer will translate to the expanded capacity of each site,” he said. “Some improve or expand services to clients, like the elderly or refugee youth. Others expand organizational capacity to manage donations or lessen an organization’s carbon footprint.”

Camacho, an epidemiology student, found her magic moment by combining her studies with a fellowship experience, which allowed her to work with individuals personally and at the same time explore systemic issues faced by entire local communities.

“The Social Impact Fellowship is an incredible opportunity for UB students,” Camacho said. “It’s given me an intense, interprofessional, collaborative experience I would not have otherwise had.

“Sometimes I think that each school tends to stay to themselves and there isn’t much collaboration across disciplines,” she said. “Being able to be a part of a team that includes two other UB schools has opened my eyes to the perspectives of different disciplines.”

For Ajit Pawar, a master’s student studying finance in the School of Management, the Social Impact Fellows program was “instrumental” in “shaping his journey” in a career in sustainable finance. In India, he worked with the Paani Foundation to enhance rural ecology and economy, but lacked experience in the organizational structure of NGOs, especially in the U.S. And as the son of marginalized farmers, Pawar said he was deeply committed to improving the rural economy. His diverse academic and life experiences have shaped his temperament and beliefs in maximizing benefits for the greatest number of individuals, he said.

“This summer, I had the privilege of working with the International Institute of Buffalo through the Social Impact Fellows program,” said Pawar. “It allowed me to participate in events like job fairs for refugees and the International Visitors Program, where global leaders collaborate to support refugee and asylee populations.”

Pawar was able to draw from his personal background in a marginalized farming community. He says he understands “the transformative impact” of cooperative banks tailored to community needs.

“When traditional banks initially denied me loans,” Pawar said, “cooperative banks provided crucial support that enabled me to pursue education abroad (he’s the first person from his village to travel and pursue education abroad), transcending initial financial barriers.

“Meeting and learning from upper management was a dream come true.”