Are you a first-generation student in your junior or senior year of high school, or who has graduated? Our Pathways Program helps you apply to and complete your Social Services - Social Work Associates Degree at CCRI and transfer to Â鶹Դ´ to complete a Social Work undergraduate and graduate degree (BSW and MSW).
The Center for First Generation Social Work Student Success Pathways Program aims to provide you, as a first-generation student, with opportunities for success that you wouldn't otherwise have access to. You will be in pursuit of an affordable, sustainable, and supportive education, and as you progress in your degree pursuits you will be acquiring the knowledge and skills that are foundational to the field of social work and in servicing marginalized, oppressed, and racially scarred groups.
One Day Only – Wednesday, October 15, 2025. Take Advantage of Apply to Â鶹Դ´ for Free Day! Join students from across Rhode Island on October 15 and apply free to Â鶹Դ´. Open to all RI residents and includes undergraduate, graduate, Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS) and transfer applications.
Join us on Saturday, November 1 to learn how Â鶹Դ´ supports student success both inside and outside the classroom! Meet our dedicated community, tour our beautiful campus, and experience our new in-demand majors and state-of-the-art facilities.
First-generation students who are attending a Rhode Island public high school as a junior or senior are eligible to participate in the Pathways Program. We will be recruiting through RI high schools, so interested students should speak to their school counselor and ask them to contact our Program Director, Stefan Battle, about their interest. Counselors who would like to recommend a student for the program, please reach out to us.
Although the Pathway program is focused on the recruitment of high school students, non-high school first-generation students can benefit and receive the opportunities and support from the program. Interested in getting your questions answered?
If you participate in Pathways you will commit to applying to the CCRI Department of Human Service area of study, Social Services – Social Work (SOWK) program. Although students recruited for Pathways are expected to begin their undergraduate experience at CCRI, you may choose to begin your undergraduate experience at Â鶹Դ´ in the BSW program. You will benefit from either the or the Hope Scholarship at Â鶹Դ´.
Please Note: You are not able to use both scholarships.
During your academic experience in CCRI's Social Services – Social Work Associates Degree Program, you will take part in monthly Center support meetings and will be assigned a Fellow for a mentor relationship. The meetings and mentorship are intended to support and assist you as you navigate your social work academic program. More importantly, the group experience and mentor relationship will also support your social needs as a first-generation students.
Upon completion at CCRI, you will receive your Associate’s degree and commit to transferring to Â鶹Դ´â€™s School of Social Work Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program.
When transferring to Â鶹Դ´, you will be strongly encouraged to double major in the Africana Studies and BSW programs because many of your future clients may be from traditionally underrepresented populations. When you become a junior in the Â鶹Դ´ BSW program, you may apply to participate in the BSW to Master of Social Work (MSW) accelerated program. If you are not accepted into the accelerated program, or if you would rather not pursue the accelerated track, you are then expected to apply to the MSW program.
While studying at Â鶹Դ´, the expectation will continue for you to participate in the Center's monthly support group meetings and your mentor and mentee relationship. Enrolled in the Africana Studies and BSW Programs combined, you will learn the experiences, histories, and the social complexity of the people you will serve. Together, the two disciplines will support your intellectual thirst and commitment to giving back as a helping professional.
During your senior year at Â鶹Դ´, you will be expected to do a research project with a Center Fellow or another member of the Center for First Generation Social Work Student Success team. You will be expected to fill out the necessary forms to conduct a research project through the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process. You will collect and analyze data, and compete a write-up of your findings. The final write-up of the research project will be published in the Center's twice yearly online journal - Storytelling: A Journal of Lived Experiences and Research. A Center for First Generation Social Work Student Success spring symposium will be held to showcase students' research in the spring of each academic year.
The School of Social Work at Â鶹Դ´ is a center of excellence for lifelong learning in social work and human services in Rhode Island and southeastern New England.
