Ken Marfilius, Associate Teaching Professor in the School of Social Work and Faculty Director of Online Programs and Strategic Initiatives in the School of Education, has been awarded a $5,000 Engaged Communities Grant from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Engaged Humanities Network (EHN) to support a new collaboration between Syracuse University and the Camden Life Center (CLC) in Camden, NY.
The project, Communications for Community Resilience, brings together Marfilius as Principal Investigator, co-PI Xiafei Wang of the University of Kentucky College of Social Work, and community partner Jessica Perusse, Director of the Camden Life Center, which over many years has forged a strong relationship with Syracuse by hosting M.S.W. internships and performing collaborative research and evaluation work with the University.
Rural communities like those served by CLC face persistent barriers to accessing mental health, addiction recovery, youth and family support, and food access services. These challenges are compounded by geographic isolation and limited access to culturally responsive information about help and services. Communications for Community Resilience aims to address those gaps by leveraging expertise in social work, trauma-informed practice, and community-engaged pedagogy to strengthen the CLC’s public outreach capacity.
Working across three phases—collaborative planning, student co-creation, and public dissemination—the project will engage Syracuse University students from social work, education, communications, and related disciplines in applied, community-based learning.
Under faculty supervision and in close partnership with CLC staff, students will develop social media content, graphic design materials, newsletters, and community updates that reflect local strengths, reduce stigma, and increase awareness of available services. All activities will be guided by community-defined needs and grounded in trauma-informed, strengths-based, and culturally responsive approaches.
The project team will participate in the 2026-2027 Engaged Communities Cohort, meeting regularly with other grant recipients across the University to share resources and collaborate throughout the year.
About the Engaged Humanities Network
The Engaged Humanities Network in the Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences is a collective that supports collaborative, publicly engaged research, teaching, and creative work to build more just and interconnected communities.