New York, NY, October 27, 2016 – Silvia Mazzula, Associate Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has been selected to provide a field scan on behalf of RISE (Research, Integration, Strategy and Evaluation) for Boys and Men of Color, with colleague Josephine Serrata, Director of Evaluation and Research at Casa de Esperanza’s National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities (NLN), to understand the key interventions and policies that improve life outcomes for Latino boys and men of color.

“It is an honor to be part of an initiative that invests in boys and men of color in the United States,” said Professor Mazzula.

Professor Mazzula and colleague’s team will review academic literature and community based initiatives to identify interventions that have been found, or show great promise, to expand opportunity for Latino boys and men. This is the first step in a larger grant- making effort to inform evaluators and researchers working with boys and men of color. The consulting agreement runs through Dec. 16, 2016.

In addition to her position at John Jay, Mazzula is a former National Institute on Drug Abuse funded research fellow at Columbia University’s Child Psychiatric Epidemiology Group and Former President of the Latino Psychological Association of New Jersey.  Her research focuses on racial and cultural competencies in research and practice, the intersection of racial cultural psychological processes and mental health, and Latina/o Psychology. She is a co-principal investigator for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study on children’s responses to 9/11 with colleagues at Columbia University (PI, C. Hoven) and principal investigator of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant award to advance the work of the Latina Researchers Network to increase the number of diverse scholars in advanced research careers.

Professor Mazzula has received several grant awards including awards from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention, and Training in Psychology and the City University of New York.  Mazzula has received several accolades including Distinguished Teaching Award by John Jay College of Criminal Justice (2015), Emerging Researcher Award by the New Jersey Psychological Association (2013) and the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, Health Disparities Research Loan Repayment Program Award (2012-2014). She earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University and completed her clinical training at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School-RBHC Newark Campus

About RISE: RISE (Research, Integration, Strategy and Evaluation) for Boys and Men of Color is a 3-year, $10 million initiative launched in coordination with members of the Executives’ Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, including The Atlantic Philanthropies, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Marguerite Casey Foundation. The program is co-directed by Penn GSE and Equal Measure. RISE has awarded nearly $400, 000 in grants for field scans.

About NLN: The National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities (NLN) is the national institute on domestic violence focusing on Latin@ communities, a project of Casa de Esperanza. The NLN provides training and consultations to practitioners and activists throughout the US, as well as in Latin America. The NLN organizes national and regional events and engages in federal and state public policy advocacy, and conducts research on issues that affect Latin@s in the US and abroad.
 

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations.  In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.