Historically Black University Teams Up With the U.S. Army to Train Social Workers to Deal With Soldiers’ Substance Abuse and Family Problems

Blacks make up about 14 percent of all troops in the U.S. Army. But the Army has very few black social workers to deal with the problems affecting African-American troops. The Army believes that more blacks who need help with substance abuse or family problems will seek assistance if there are larger numbers of black case workers.

As a result, the Army has entered into a four-year program with Fayetteville State University, a historically black educational institution in North Carolina, to train black social workers. At a satellite campus at Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio, Texas, Fayetteville State University faculty are training active duty Army personnel striving for a master of social work degree. Military personnel in the program must study for two years and do 900 hours on internship training to earn their degree.

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