The Verne LaMarr Lyons Memorial Scholarships are awarded to master’s degree candidates in social work who demonstrate an interest in or have experience with health/mental health practice and have a commitment to working in African American communities. The 2026-2027 recipients are:
Olivia Dulany, Hunter College
Dulany graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Psychology and a concentration in Africana Studies. She joined Teach for America following graduation, teaching high school English and Social Studies in Hawaiʻi, and earned a Master's Degree in Education and certification in Special Education through that experience.
Dulany has since taught across grade levels, subjects, and academic settings, most recently as an elementary school teacher in New York City. Her passion for working with youth and social-emotional learning led her to pursue her MSW at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, where she has interned with the NYC Department of Education and will receive clinical training at the Mt. Sinai Harlem Health Center.
Acutely aware of how systemic inequity in the education system impacts Black and Brown youth, Dulany is committed to becoming a clinician whose practice is grounded in cultural humility and trauma-informed care.
Zinnia Moreno, The University of California, Los Angeles
Moreno is a current MSW student at UCLA specializing in Social and Economic Justice. She earned her B.A. in International Development and African American Studies from UCLA and has spent the past ten years working alongside youth, families, and communities impacted by foster care, incarceration, domestic violence, and ableist structures.
Moreno is the oldest of five children and comes from a multicultural African American and Hispanic family. Her practice has been grounded in trauma-informed care, relationship building, and a commitment to ensuring that young people and families have access to the tools and supportive pathways needed to create meaningful change. As an advocate and community organizer, she has worked in pursuit of abolition, disability justice, and racial birth equity.
In her future career as a social worker, Moreno is committed to bridging direct practice, community knowledge, and policy advocacy to build more just and equitable systems — and to reimagining structures of safety in ways that promote healing, autonomy, and community wellbeing.
Debbie Long, North Carolina Central University
Long is a Master of Social Work student whose practice is rooted in abolitionist values and informed by Black queer feminist thought. They approach social work as both a practice and a creative act — one that requires being, doing, and building in ways that affirm dignity, challenge harm, and imagine new possibilities for care.
Deeply invested in learning, growth, and the ongoing process of becoming, Long brings a passion for people and transformation to their academic and professional journey. They are committed to engaging individuals and communities with intention, humility, and critical awareness of the systems that shape lived experience.
As both an emerging social worker and artist, Long is drawn to innovative, community-centered approaches that honor lived experience and expand what social work can look like in practice. They view their MSW education as a space to deepen their tools, sharpen their vision, and continue building toward meaningful impact — contributing to broader shifts toward equity, healing, and justice.
Azania Lane-Majestic, Bryn Mawr College
Lane-Majestic is a trauma-informed social advocate and master’s candidate at Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, where she is pursuing clinical social work with a focus on Black maternal mental and physical health, wellbeing, and justice. She practices at the intersection of social work, anthropology, and maternal health.
Lane-Majestic was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a Black American father from West Philadelphia and South African mother from Cape Town, leading her to develop a Pan-African ethos in her practice. She earned her degree in Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies with a minor in Anthropology from American University in Washington, DC. Prior to returning to her studies, she served as Art Education Coordinator for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and as Program Manager for Children’s Windows to Africa, both based in Pittsburgh.
Through her clinical training and graduate studies, Lane-Majestic seeks to transform unjust systems impacting families, develop techniques for culturally competent maternal mental health care, and provide vital care for communities affected by poverty and disenfranchisement.