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FAQs | How to Apply | See What Previous Fellows Have Done What is the program and how does it work? The Peace Corps Fellows/USA program is designed to attract RPCV’s into graduate social work study at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. We think returned volunteers make good social workers. We offer a stipend of $3,000 for the first year field placement and $7,000 for the second year field placement. The stipend is tied to the placement as it is often contributed by the community organization where the placement is located. The field placements are done with the Social Work Community Outreach Service, which places students with marginalized populations. Where possible we try to make placements which take advantage of the language skills of the RPCV. If I am awarded a fellowship where will my placement be? Do I have a choice? The Peace Corps Fellows/USA program is wholly funded by student stipends. Stipends come from local organizations who would like to have a graduate student do some work for them. As long as the agency meets the school’s approval and determination that the site is appropriate for “field education” a partnership is then formed. Our fellowships are contingent upon community organizational support. Becoming a Fellow means you will be placed in an organization that is funding a slot designated for a student. In the second year in order to receive a fellowship you must move into an organization that funds fellowships in order to remain a Peace Corps/USA Fellow. Along the way you might believe that in your second year you would like to do something very specific and might even have an agency in mind. You are free to apply to that agency but then you might have to give up your fellowship if we do not have a funding partnership with that agency. What is SWCOS? (Social Work Community Outreach Services) SWCOS operates as a social service agency within the School of Social Work. “Social workers in training” get to learn and do–much like a teaching hospital or a law clinic in the school of law. The mission of the University of Maryland School of Social Work Community Outreach Service (SWCOS) is to create innovative models of social work education and services that strengthen under-served individuals, families, and communities in Baltimore and Maryland. Students, faculty, agency, and community representatives join forces in the design, implementation, and evaluation of those models. SWCOS is a unique agency for a variety of reasons. One feature is that SWCOS is able to place, supervise, and support graduate social work students in organizations that do not have the capacity that you find in large agencies. This means that students might be placed in very small organizations or programs and get the chance to be key support staff for a program. How does the fellowship program work with the school’s joint programs such as Law, Business or Public Health? The University of Maryland School of Social Work does have a joint program with the University of Maryland School of Law across the street. You get both degrees- MSW and JD. We have not yet worked out how we would do this with the Fellows/USA Program yet. We hope that we will work it in the near future. But at the moment we can only offer the fellowship for the social work portion of the education. The same is true of each of our joint programs at this point. Is there a particular program in International Social Work? We do not, at this point have a formal program in International Social Work or International Studies. But we are in the process of developing this area. We do have a course in International Social Welfare Policy and we have several educational trips and opportunities that relate to India and Latin America. We have a sister school relationship with The Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work in Southern India. In January of 2004 Dick Cook, Director of SWCOS took a group of students, as a part of a course in International Social Work, to Southern India to participate in an International Conference on World Peace and Social Work Education. They also raised and brought funds for the tsunami relief work and visited NGO’s in the area. More than half of our faculty has international experience. The Dean of the school is a widely sought after speaker all over the world. Our students have started an International Social Work Organization aimed at strengthening the international aspects of our program. Do I have to be accepted into the School of Social Work in order to be eligible? Yes. However, you may apply for both simultaneously. Are there other opportunities for additional financial support? Yes. We have some Fellows getting Americorps awards. Some get work study assistance and some receive Schweitzer Fellowships. We continue to work at getting more assistance with tuition and we are always looking for ways to get additional financial support to Fellows. Opportunities might surface even after you apply. If you apply, be sure to contact financial aid and ask to receive all the assistance you are eligible for including work study. Can I apply for the Shriver Center Peaceworker Program and the UMB School of Social Work Peace Corps Fellows/USA Program at the same time? Yes. If you are awarded the Shriver Center Peaceworker Fellowship, you will not also be eligible for the UMB award. But if you are not successful with the Shriver Fellowship, you might still be awarded the UMB School of Social Work Peace Corps Fellows/USA Fellowship. In either case your field placement would be with the Social Work Community Outreach Service. Additionally “Peaceworkers” and SWCOS Fellows will jointly do some activities around training and orientation. ATTENTION! You must apply for both programs separately. They are two complete processes of their own and in the application sense they are mutually exclusive. Remember that your application for Peace Corps Fellows/USA cannot be awarded until your application for admission to the University Of Maryland School of Social Work has been accepted. Write a brief letter containing the following information:
Send the above to: Lane Victorson- Coordinator Peace Corps Fellows/USA UMBSSW Application deadline for following fall award is March 1, however earlier applications are advised for best consideration. . | |||
