Jaileene Arriaga is getting her master's in social work at the UConn Hartford Campus.

“So when I signed up for the program, initially my first thought was, I am going to need to really work on my Spanish speaking skills,” UConn Master of Social Work student Jaileene Arriaga said.

Arriaga is one of the first participants in the Connecticut ¡Adelante! program.

“So, when I saw a program like Adelante come up, it felt like the stars aligned for me because for me, it felt like I wasn’t accomplishing my purpose if I came into the field and didn’t try to work with a Spanish-speaking population,” Arriaga said.

Arriaga is Puerto Rican and grew up learning both languages, but English always dominated and she knew she needed to improve her skills if she wanted to be a bilingual social worker.

“My vocabulary, clinical vocabulary, was very limited in Spanish, probably almost non-existent,” Arriaga said.

Through Connecticut ¡Adelante!, a new Master of Social Work program at UConn, Arriaga is able to sit in a classroom and learn materials in both languages.

“I can't even tell you the amount of words I have learned. It has been very invaluable to have that sort of opportunity,” Arriaga said.

The goal of the project is to increase the number of bilingual social workers trained to meet the mental health needs of Latino children and families in Connecticut.

In the classroom, students learn mental health practices, expand their vocabulary and build-up their bicultural skills.

“To be bicultural is to be aware and acknowledge other's needs, not just our own, and the western and the traditional views and to be able to understand where the people we serve are standing,” UConn Assistant Professor Lesly Sanchez-Villar said.

“In Hartford specifically, we do have a huge Puerto Rican population, but there is also Mexican, Dominican, so many other cultures and we don’t all have the same needs just because we are part of the same community,” Arriaga said.

All students must complete nearly 500 hours of field work each year while getting their masters. Sanchez-Villar said students are placed with agencies and school districts that have high Spanish-speaking communities.

“Because there are just not enough social workers who are bilingual to support these families and their needs,” Sanchez-Villar said.

Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Professor Lisa Werkmeister-Rozas said the young population within the Latino community is the fastest growing.

"Over 23% between the ages of 5 and 17, so right there you have a population that is in need when we talk about individuals, families, children's groups,” Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Professor Lisa Werkmeister-Rozas said.

Connecticut ¡Adelante! aims to increase eightfold the number of students prepared to help those adolescents.

The program is funded through CT Health Horizons, a higher education program designed to address statewide shortages in social work. Participants are eligible to receive up to $10,000 in scholarships.

The program is accepting applications for the fall semester. The deadline is April 1.