On April 26, BCSSW hosted the 13th annual Pinderhughes Diversity Lecture, featuring pediatrician and social epidemiologist , associate professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and founding director of the Vital Village Network.
The Pinderhughes Diversity Lecture Series honors BCSSW Professor Emerita Elaine Pinderhughes for her inspiring vision, mentorship, and contributions to the field of social work. Her groundbreaking 1989 textbook, Understanding Race, Ethnicity, & Power: The Key to Efficacy in Clinical Practice, is credited by the with 鈥減roviding the rubric for culturally competent practice across the human services disciplines.鈥�
Presented in partnership with , the lecture was held in the Murray Room at the Yawkey Athletics Center. Dean Gautam N. Yadama welcomed the nearly 100 attendees by recalling this year鈥檚 series theme: 鈥淭he Challenge and Promise of Equity, Justice, and Inclusion: Prophetic Voices,鈥� noting that it directly aligns with one of the school鈥檚 core values.
Yadama also thanked YW Boston for their partnership before introducing their public policy and advocacy manager, Morgan Cowie-Haskell, who noted that the lecture was a natural fit with the organization鈥檚 mission to 鈥渆liminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, freedom, justice, and dignity for all.鈥�
Elaine Pinderhughes鈥檚 daughter, Tufts University Professor Ellen Pinderhughes, introduced Boynton-Jarrett. 鈥淢y mother was inspired to understand the power disparity in the segregated world in which she grew up,鈥� said Pinderhughes. 鈥淪o, too, was our speaker, who has always held a deeply seated conviction that all children can succeed and thrive if given the appropriate investment of time, support, and care.鈥�
Dr. Rene茅 Boynton-Jarrett
Boynton-Jarrett opened her keynote, 鈥淎n Ounce of Prevention: Building Communities of Opportunity to Mitigate Structural Inequities and Childhood Adversities,鈥� by warmly acknowledging Pinderhughes鈥檚 legacy and groundbreaking work. 鈥淭hank you for paving a pathway for so many of us,鈥� she said.
In her keynote, Boynton-Jarrett discussed how social stress acts as a driver of inequities in health and educational outcomes, the systemic forces that promote disparities in healthcare and educational opportunities, and the need for collective responsibility to foster each child鈥檚 potential.
鈥淲e know that the growth and development of children鈥檚 brains is happening at an unprecedented and foundational way in early childhood,鈥� said Boynton-Jarrett. 鈥淭he absence of an enriched environment or appropriate investments during this time is catastrophic because it fails to expose the potential that each child is born with. This vulnerability is enhanced by material hardships and socio-economic deprivation.鈥�
She decried the effects of intergenerational exposure to adversity and the 鈥渄ouble jeopardy鈥� experienced by mothers. 鈥淚f a child鈥檚 caregiver has faced major stressors,鈥� said Boynton-Jarrett, 鈥渢heir ability to provide responsive, nurturing support may be impacted. How does that exposure impact a woman鈥檚 ability to become pregnant, to experience a healthy pregnancy carried to term?鈥�
Boynton-Jarrett sees clinical solutions as a means of righting the scale鈥攕olutions that cleave to Pinderhughes鈥檚 philosophy. 鈥淲e can do things on the small level that protect and promote the dignity of those sitting in front of us. Make our screenings patient and family centered; a comprehensive process that screens not just for risk but also strengths and protective factors. A lot of this gets back to the foundations of the therapeutic alliance that Dr. Pinderhughes spoke about: openness, flexibility, warmth, and empathy. There is always something to offer,鈥� she said.
She emphasized the need for strong and intentional collaborations, the importance of community-based solutions, and how a sense of collective responsibility for all children can guide growth and change. 鈥淚f we truly want to design a healthier society that protects and promotes opportunities for every child, we have to identify the underlying structural conditions that are driving the patterns and trends. This requires a coordinated effort.鈥�
Elaine Pinderhughes closed her namesake lecture by thanking Boynton-Jarrett for her talk, noting how it drew upon her own work on the dynamics of power, race, and ethnicity in clinical social work. She introduced four of her five children present at the lecture, and reminded the audience that 鈥淧rivilege doesn鈥檛 know. And it doesn鈥檛 know that it doesn鈥檛 know.鈥�
Professor Emerita Elaine Pinderhughes (photos by Caitlin Cunningham)