Robin Kelley

As a social worker, Robin is in love with the field and he is a strong “advocate” for social work. Over the years Robin has grown to appreciate how expansive social work can be. For almost 40 years he has worked on racial and social justice issues to aid minority and underrepresented people in the United States and abroad. This work has included serving as an investigator of women and HIV/ AIDS, human rights, gender based violence and health inequities in Tanzania and the Cook Islands. Robin was a researcher for the World Bank looking at Panama and the social as well as economic factors that have evolved in that country over the last several years. Since 2020, Robin Kelley has served as the program manager of the Minority Serving Institutions HIV/AIDS Prevention Program through the Howard University College of Medicine’s Telehealth Training Center and funded by Gilead Sciences. This program used social media to help spread HIV/AIDS prevention messages to young, minority populations at Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Universities, Pacific Islander Schools, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities using social media. Other examples of his experience on social justice issues included my work with the NMAC, formerly known as the National Minority AIDS Council and their advocacy for HIV prevention, and treatment and HIV and AIDS care. Robin also worked with a Latino organization that was awarded a national grant to focus on COVID-19 education by the CDC. He worked collaboratively with the organization’s senior management to develop a multi-site assessment plan that measured the effectiveness of educating diverse communities about COVID-19. Robin used his social work training to conduct several online focus groups with these national participants to capture their experiences and document the successes and challenges confronting those who were frontline health education/outreach workers. In addition, Robin partnered with minority researchers in Mississippi to examine the effects of the 2022 water crisis on the African American community. Robin enjoys the wonderful ways in which social work has prepared him for his work now and over the years.