Help Jess McCarthy-Nickila Pursue Her Education at Tulane

Hello friends, family, colleagues, and everyone in between,

My name is Jess McCarthy-Nickila, and I am reaching out for your support to help me take the next step in my educational journey. If you were unaware, earlier this month, I was thrilled to have been accepted into the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program at Tulane University. This prestigious opportunity (for real, alarmingly low admission rates) is a dream come true for me. It will allow me to have a more significant impact on the community I work with. I will be able to focus my education and research on those in our community with substance use and criminal-legal system involvement. However, before I can begin my doctoral coursework in Fall 2025, I need to complete several prerequisite courses, as my Masters is in Advanced Macro Practice Social Work, not Public Health—and that’s where I need your help.

Why I’m Asking for Support

To fulfill the prerequisites required by Tulane, I need to take five prerequisite courses to complete my Public Health Certification. Unfortunately, federal financial aid is not available for these prerequisite classes. Despite extensive efforts to find scholarships through Tulane, local foundations, and national scholarship search platforms, I have been unable to secure funding for this specific need. Tulane does not offer merit-based scholarships for this purpose.

I’m turning to my community for support because, to put it plainly, I don’t know what else to do. The costs are already accruing, and although I will continue to look for scholarships and grant opportunities, I am in a more immediate pinch. I also want to exhaust every potential avenue before resorting to private student loans, as I’m a not-wealthy-person with less than ideal credit. Through support from our community, I hope to cover the immediate enrollment fees, first tuition payments, and textbooks for the upcoming term. My goal with this fundraiser is to get $2,000; however, EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS!

My Vision and Mission

For the past six years, I have dedicated my career to substance use recovery and harm reduction, leading innovative programs like the Substance Use Response Team (SURT) in Northern Minnesota. My work focuses on creating stigma-free, person-centered interventions that bridge gaps between public health, law enforcement, and community support. Pursuing my DrPH at Tulane will allow me to expand this work on a larger scale, with a focus on substance use, overdose prevention, and the social determinants of drug use and recovery capital.

How Your Contribution Will Make an Impact

Your generous support will:

By helping me achieve this goal, you’re not just investing in my education—you’re contributing to the future of innovative public health solutions that can save lives and create healthier communities. (I know this is so cheesy, but it’s true. I love this community dearly. Duluth and the Arrowhead is my home, and everything I learn, research, and discover will be applied to help our community, so please forgive the grandiose language.)

How You Can Help

Any amount, big or small, will make a difference and bring me closer to my goal. If you cannot contribute financially, sharing this fundraiser with your network would mean the world to me.

Also, if you have tips on scholarships I might be eligible for, please send them my way. Places I have already reached out to or tried to apply with: Tulane, Minnesota Department of Health (but if I missed something, please send it my way), Duluth Superior Community Foundation (no dice), Scholarships.com, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (there is a scholarship here I am eligible for, but applications don’t open until January 5th, and wouldn’t be able to be applied to Spring term), APHA, and ASPPH (which I will likely be able to find some in for later courses, just no immediate options).

Thank You!

I am deeply grateful for your support, encouragement, and belief in me, which I have continued to receive from everyone in my life. When I say this is a dream come true, I mean it. I am the first person in my family to graduate from a university, and the potential to make it all the way to receiving my Doctoral degree makes me giddy.

Thank you for being a part of my journey!