New Orleans, LA—The NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), recently selected Oriel Romano of New Orleans, Louisiana, for the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program-Youth (MFP-Y). As an NBCC MFP-Y Fellow, Romano will receive funding and training to support her education and facilitate her service to underserved minority populations, with a specific focus on transition-age youth (ages 16–25).
The NBCC MFP-Y is made possible by a grant awarded to NBCC by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in September 2014. The Foundation is contracted by NBCC to administer the NBCC MFP-Y, as well as training and collaboration activities, such as webinars, that are open to all National Certified Counselors (NCCs). The goal of the program is to reduce health disparities and improve behavioral health care outcomes for racially and ethnically diverse populations by increasing the number of available culturally competent behavioral health professionals.
The NBCC MFP will distribute $8,000 education awards to Romano and the 29 other master’s-level counseling students selected to receive the fellowship award. Romano is a graduate of The State University of New York at Fredonia and is both a student and graduate of Loyola University New Orleans, in Louisiana, where she is pursuing a master’s in clinical mental health counseling. Upon graduation, Romano intends to work with transition-age minority youth in the New Orleans community. She plans to serve New Orleans locals as well as the influx of unaccompanied minors from Latin American countries and the Middle East who are resettling in the city. In addition, Romano plans to continue researching racial identity development at Loyola University New Orleans. She plans to use her research and clinical experience to become a leader and educator in multicultural pedagogy and competence within the field.
The NBCC Foundation has also awarded 23 $20,000 doctoral fellowships through the Minority Fellowship Program and 34 master’s-level fellowships of up to $11,000 through the MFP-Addictions Counselors (MFP-AC). The Foundation plans to open the next NBCC MFP-Y application period in fall 2018. To learn more about the NBCC MFP and its fellows, please visit http://www.nbccf.org/Programs/Fellows.
ABOUT THE NBCC FOUNDATION
The NBCC Foundation is the nonprofit affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), based in Greensboro, North Carolina. NBCC is the nation’s premier professional certification board devoted to credentialing counselors who meet standards for the general and specialty practices of professional counseling. Currently, there are more than 64,000 board-certified counselors in the United States and more than 50 countries. The Foundation’s mission is to leverage the power of counseling by strategically focusing resources for positive change.