The Shriver Center’s campus-community partners include organizations that offer service site placements to UMBC students. Please find a description of some of the many service sites available on our Service-Learning Placement Chart.

The Choice Tutoring Program: As part of College Night, tutors assist Choice clients with academics and in developing positive social skills two nights per week. Clients are provided with dinner, tutoring, and a recreational activity. Tutoring takes place on campus.

Best Buddies: Best Buddies is an international, non-profit organization started by Anthony Shriver, dedicated to advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. UMBC’s chapter serves buddies in transitional classes at CCBC through creating one-to-one friendships between UMBC students and individuals with an intellectual disability. The Friendships Matches last for at least one year: each friendship match talks on the phone weekly, and meets with each other to hang out once a month. There are three group events each semester where all members of the chapter get together for a food, fun, and friendship. If a student is not prepared for this level of commitment, they become Associate Members, who attend the events and meetings as well as meet with different buddies and UMBC students throughout the year. For more information, please visit www.bestbuddies.org

“Enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships.”
-Best Buddies Mission

College Gardens After-School Program: After School Program tutors work with a small group of elementary school aged children to improve academic skills and assist with artistic, physical, computer, and other recreational activities.

The Adult Literacy Program at The Learning Bank: This program provides literacy and life skills training to a diverse population of adults. UMBC students serve as tutors.

YMCA MS-Swim Program: Volunteers a assist MS patients in motion exercises and are a part of the relaxed and friendly setting.

Project Team: This program aims to create a network of college students who wish to help positive social change through volunteerism. Students are placed as mentors of youth in the Baltimore area. For more information, please visit www.dbpt.org

University of Maryland Medical System: Volunteering at UMMS is one of the most real-life experiences you will ever encounter. If you enjoy medicine and the hospital environment, UMMS places you in the hospital department of your choice where you will get to experience a real hospital setting. This site is for anyone who has an interest in the medical profession. It’s a wonderful way to meet with hospital staff and patients. This experience will help you gain skills that are beneficial in anything you decide to do. Responsibility, caring, problem-solving, and communication, are just some of the qualities you will learn just by working at UMMS.   “UMMS has been one of the most educational experiences I’ve ever had. It has given me the chance to see a real hospital setting and to observe just how things work. I am now better aware of what exactly goes on in a hospital.” - Kavita Gadhok, UMMS Intern 2005

Be a Service-Learning Intern!
Each semester, a handful of undergraduate service-learning students are selected to serve as an intern for our campus-community partnership sites. Service interns receive a stipend and professional development such as leadership and supervision skills. It is a great way to get involved in the campus and Baltimore-area community.

For more information, please contact Clare Greene at clare6@umbc.edu.