Assistance Program
Open until funds are exhausted
Supporting MSW-level social workers across DC, Maryland, and Virginia as they prepare for the ASWB licensure exam. Request one study product, up to $100, purchased for you. Applications are reviewed as they come in and awards continue until the annual fund is spent.
There is no grant behind this program and no outside sponsor. The founder personally commits $500 each year to help MSW-level social workers in the DMV get to the exam table with the materials they need.
That number is small and it is honest. At up to $100 per person, $500 supports roughly five social workers a year. Once the $500 is spent, applications close until the fund is renewed the following year. Applying does not guarantee an award, and being turned down is not a judgment about you or your application.
Knowing where the money comes from also explains how the program runs. Each award buys one study product, ordered directly from the company, so every dollar goes to exam preparation rather than to fees or reimbursements.
The ASWB licensure exam has a documented racial bias problem — and Black social workers are paying the price.
ASWB's own commissioned study confirmed what Black social workers have known for years: the exam contains items that function differently across racial groups. The test was built on a norming sample that did not reflect the profession's diversity, and the consequences fall hardest on the people who chose social work to serve communities that look like them.
The financial barrier compounds the inequity. Quality exam prep — the question banks, practice tests, and guided courses that meaningfully improve pass rates — costs $100 to $400 or more. For a social worker carrying student debt, working in a community agency, or supporting a family, that cost is not a small ask. It is often the difference between sitting for the exam prepared and sitting for it underprepared.
The Kindness Korner was built on the belief that the profession of social work must be accessible to the people it is meant to serve. KèIra — a licensed clinical social worker holding the LICSW, LCSW-C, and LCSW — has seen firsthand what it costs Black clinicians to navigate a system that was not designed with them in mind.
This program is not a grant. It is not a nonprofit. It is a founder personally committing $500 a year — up to $100 per person — to make sure that the cost of a study product is not the reason a Black social worker does not pass. It is small. It is intentional. And it is a direct response to a documented injustice in our own profession.
You earned your MSW. You deserve to walk into that exam room prepared.
Applications are reviewed as they come in and awards are made until the annual fund is spent. You will need your ASWB exam confirmation to apply — so have that ready before you begin.
Begin your application