For the more than 1.4 million New Yorkers living with both mental health and substance use challenges, it can be hard to find integrated care in one place.
Samaritan Daytop Village is a health and human services provider that serves over 33,000 people across New York City, Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley. Since 2022, it has partnered with the Stony Brook School of Social Welfare to allow frontline staff from Samaritan’s addiction and recovery services to enroll tuition-free in the school’s Master of Social Work program. The inaugural class of nine students graduated in May 2025. The Trust is the program’s primary funder and has renewed funding to support the next class of graduates.
“Since I was a little girl, I dreamed of becoming a social worker—to be the voice someone needs when they feel unheard.”
“Since I was a little girl, I dreamed of becoming a social worker—to be the voice someone needs when they feel unheard,” said Tanairi Mastarreno, one of the May graduates. “This program finally allowed me to make that dream come true.”
Samaritan and Stony Brook also collaborated to create a leadership academy to provide members of Samaritan’s staff with professional development and mentorship opportunities. Four of the nine students who graduated this year received promotions after participating.
For Jennifer Falu, the academy changed her understanding of what it means to be a leader and opened her eyes to a new career opportunity.
“We talked about recognizing burnout, communicating effectively with compassion, and what it means to be a leader who doesn’t want people to leave and doesn’t push people out the door,” said Falu. “I’ve learned that leadership is still a collaborative effort.”
After graduating in May, Falu was promoted to assistant program director at Samaritan’s Van Siclen Women’s Shelter.
“The program pushed me to want to be in leadership. I wanted to understand social work holistically from the social services side and the administrative side,” Falu said.
The Trust has a long history of championing social work thanks to several donors who left legacy gifts for the field through funds at The Trust. These funds make The Trust one of the largest foundation funders of social work in the country.
Recent grants to Samaritan Daytop Village were made possible by our Robert and Ellen Popper Scholarship Fund, which supports undergraduate and graduate social work students with a specific interest in health care, and The Lois and Samuel J. Silberman Grant Fund, which invests in social worker education and training.
Robert and Ellen Popper’s fund continues their legacy of improving care in the region. Ellen served on the board for the Westchester Medical Center, and Robert sat on various state and local health care and social services boards. Samuel J. Silberman was deeply affected by the deprivations of the Great Depression that he witnessed as a child. His daughter Jayne, who became a social worker, once characterized him as a “businessman with the heart of a social worker.”
The Trust’s social work grantmaking focuses on strengthening the field locally and nationally, while supporting innovative programs at community organizations that demonstrate the benefits of a deeper integration of social workers across sectors.
“Social workers should reflect the communities they represent, but the cost of training and education remains a barrier for many,” said Trust Program Director Chantella Mitchell. “We’re proud to expand opportunities and support for these professionals, who are the anchors of our social safety net, as demand for their services increases.”
