The Department of Education has given nearly $101 million in grants to train training K-12 social workers in leftist ideology, an education watchdog has found. 
Parents Defending Education unveiled its “GrantEd &#8211; Social Work”<a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/granted-social-work/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> report</a> on Wednesday, highlighting how universities taking federal dollars for their social work programs have embedded “social justice” into their curriculum. Since 2021, the Department of Education has given at least $100,964,880 in grants to 25 universities ostensibly for their “mental health” programs. Parents Defending Education said that the money is going to back programs that promote radical leftist ideology and seek to train leftist activists. 
“On the surface, these federal grants were given out to help mitigate mental health issues; in practice, the grant funds went to support programs that explicitly advance social justice ideologies based in critical race theory that include anti-racism and DEI,” the report found. “In fact, the vast majority of university social work programs that we reviewed prioritize anti-racism practices and social justice activism.”
The awards were given through the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration <a href="https://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/grants-birth-grade-12/safe-supportive-schools/mental-health-service-professional-demonstration-grant-program#home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grant Program,</a> or the School-Based Mental Health Services <a href="https://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/grants-birth-grade-12/safe-supportive-schools/school-based-mental-health-services-grant-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grant Program</a>.
Indiana University School of Social Work <a href="https://news.iu.edu/live/news/28268-school-of-social-work-will-use-57m-grant-to-help-schoo?_gl=1*1bat2v8*_gcl_au*MTE1Njk0NzQ3MS4xNzQyMzA3MzI5*_ga*MTg4MDYxNDk3OS4xNzQyMzA3MzI5*_ga_61CH0D2DQW*MTc0MjMxNjM1Ni4yLjEuMTc0MjMxNjM4MS4zNS4wLjA." target="_blank" rel="noopener">received</a> a $5.7 million grant from the Department of Education in May 2023 to expand their social worker training program and offered classes. 
At the same time, the school offered a <a href="https://iussw.sitehost.iu.edu/social_work/_documents/_syllabus/507%20Combined%20Syllabi.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">class</a> called “Diversity, Human Rights, and Social Justice,” which focuses on Critical Race Theory and white privilege. The goal of the class is for students to “to develop critical consciousness in order to gain competencies to address diversity, privilege and oppression in social work practice.”
In April 2023, Portland State University, which was <a href="https://ktvz.com/news/government-politics/2023/04/11/dept-of-education-awards-1-6-million-to-help-osu-psu-train-school-based-mental-health-professionals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awarded</a>  $1,189,801 by the Department of Education to increase the number of social workers. 
DEI principles are built into the school’s master of social worker program, the stated <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A42f35593-1dd0-3ca0-b163-1b9431eec989&amp;viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goal</a> of which is to train social workers to dismantle “ systems of oppression; builds racial equity and social, political, and economic justice.” 
It’s purpose is to “deliver a social work education that is critically informed, theoretically driven, empirically supported, reflexive, ethical, vigilant and resistive to colonial, heteropatriarchal, classist, and white supremacist agendas.”
A spokeswoman for Portland State told The Daily Wire that the university existed &#8220;to advance social mobility and meet the current and future workforce needs of the state by making the transformative power of higher education available to anyone who wants to pursue a college degree.&#8221;
&#8220;We serve all learners and strive to create a welcoming campus environment for all,&#8221; the spokeswoman added. &#8220;We don&#8217;t believe the orders will impact any of our current programs or activities because we have always operated within the law. We will continue to work with internal and external partners to evaluate any potential impacts and provide guidance as needed.&#8221;
Other social work programs with similar classes include the University of New Hampshire ($3.8 million in federal <a href="https://www.wmur.com/article/unh-grant-mental-health-services-schools/43909663" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funding</a>), the University at Buffalo ($3.5 million in federal <a href="https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2024/11/social-work-grant-address-shortage-rural-areas.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funding</a>), and the University of Washington ($4.2 million in <a href="https://socialwork.uw.edu/news/university-washington-receives-42-million-grant-includes-health-equity-component/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funding</a> with a health equity component). 
&#8220;The goal of UNH’s social work program is to prepare students for licensure and careers in social work,&#8221; a spokeswoman for the University of New Hampshire told The Daily Wire, saying that its programs adhered to the to the accreditation standards of the Council on Social Work Education.
Parents Defending Education said that more universities would be added to its report as it uncovers more grant recipients. 
Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach for Parents Defending Education, said that the Education Department should not be funding ideological social work programs. 
&#8220;School social workers did not use to spend years marinating in highly ideological courses about privilege, oppression, racial capitalism, and white supremacy, but today, in public and private universities, this is common practice,” Sanzi said. “While this is obviously disturbing, the fact that the U.S. Department of Education has been funding it since 2021 is a major red flag. How can a social worker help students become the best version of themselves if they see them as oppressors with unearned privilege?&#8221;
Under President Donald Trump, the Education Department has taken steps to slash DEI funding. Last month, the department announced that it had cut $600 million in grants with groups that trained teachers and educational agencies in “divisive ideologies.” 
Trump has also issued an executive order that directs federal funding be cut for entities pushing DEI initiatives. 

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EXCLUSIVE: Education Department Spent 100M Funding University Leftist Activist Programs