Melvin Delgado

Professor Emeritus

Specialties

• Latino and other marginalized urban population groups

• Youth development-youth-led research and macro-practice

• Community-capacity enhancement

• Non-traditional urban settings

Melvin Delgado
areas of expertise:
department: Macro Practice

faculty details

Bio

Melvin Delgado is a prolific researcher and author who is interested in cities and the community assets within them. “There is a tendency to focus on urban centers from a deficit perspective,” he notes. “However, there is much that is right that social workers must never lose sight of in the work that we do.”

Delgado focuses on many of these assets in the nearly 40 books to his credit—the most recent of which include Sanctuary Cities, Communities, and Organizations: A Nation at the Crossroads (Oxford University Press, 2018), Urban Youth Trauma: Using Community Interventions to Overcome Gun Violence (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) and Community Health Workers in Action: The Efforts of “Promotores de Salud” in Bringing Health Care to Marginalized Communities (Oxford University Press, 2020). In addition, he has written more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and is the editor of the Oxford University book series on social justice and youth community practice.

Since 1999, Delgado has served as associate editor of the Journal of Primary Prevention. He is a current editorial board member for a number of journals including Drug Abuse and Substance Dependence, Social Work with Groups, Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, and Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. Delgado retired from BUSSW in 2023 and was awarded the professor emeritus title in recognition of his lifetime contributions to Boston University and the field of social work.

Education

BA (History)

University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign

MS (Social Work)

Columbia University

PhD (Social Welfare)

Brandeis University

Courses

HB 750 Organizational Structure & Culture
MP 759 Communities and Organizations: Analysis and Intervention
MP 773 Human Services Management
MP 774 Seminar: Community Planning
MP 783 Planning and Program Development

Courses

Publications

Publications

Presentations

Delgado, M. (2016). Social justice youth community practice: International rewards and challenges. Closing plenary presentations at the Congreso Internacional de Pedagogia Social, Girona, Spain.

Delgado, M. (2013). Social justice and urban obesity. Presentation at the 50th International Conference on Making Cities Livable, Portland, OR.

Delgado, M. (2012). Cultural capital and art. Presentation at the University of Michigan Symposium on
Community Practice, Ann Arbor, MI.

Delgado, M. (2012, May). Visiting professor at Instituto Superior de Servico Social do Porto, Porto, Portugal.

Presentations

Professional Activities and Certifications

Professional Activities and Certifications

Awards and Honors

2011: Who’s Who in America
2006: Boston University School of Social Work Excellence in Teaching Award
1999: Columbia University School of Social Work Alumni Hall of Fame
1996: Outstanding Contribution to the Boston University School of Social Work Alumni Award
1994: Greatest Contribution to Social Work Education Award from the National Association of Social Work, Massachusetts Chapter

Awards and Honors

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