Throughout her social work career, Shirley Moy has been centered on community development and engagement. After receiving a master’s degree in social work in 1988, she became a program coordinator with Temple University’s Center for Social Policy and Community Development (CSPCD). In this role, she managed a five-year community-based child abuse prevention project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which emphasized the importance of community engagement. The findings and best practices from this project lead to another federal demonstration project on violence intervention and prevention, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

After 10 years with Temple, Shirley moved to Ottawa, Canada, and became the evaluation coordinator for a progressive community health center for three years. This role involved establishing a comprehensive evaluation plan for the center, developing logic models and researching specific interventions, and sharing findings with a community health promotion approach. The ensuing three years were spent in Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia, and expanded her perspective of community issues on a more global level.

In 2007, Shirley returned to Philadelphia and became the associate director of CSPCD. From 2012 to 2014, she also served as the director of field education for the School of Social Work. This role allowed her to integrate the academic mission of the School of Social Work and the service and educational mission of the Center for Social Policy and Community Development. As the director of field education, she leveraged CSPCD’s network of social service partners to strategically expand the clinical social work internship opportunities, particularly related to the meaningful work being done with children, youth and transitional-age youth.

In 2018, Shirley transitioned into a different role and became the director of the Lenfest North Philadelphia Workforce Initiative, under the Office of the Vice President of Public Affairs. In 2021, Temple University created the Lenfest Center for Community Workforce Partnerships (LCCWP), which was a named center to acknowledge the commitment and contributions of Mr. and Mrs. Lenfest.

As the executive director of LCCWP, Shirley serves as the primary principal investigator on federally funded demonstration programs; state-funded training programs; and locally funded youth engagement, adult education, community and workforce development initiatives. Each of these programs involves multiple partnerships across different disciplines, and includes an emphasis on community engagement. Through this work, it is evident that this is a vulnerable population in need of expanded health, education and social services.