Contact Persons: Dick Cook, Director
Phone (410) 706-1882 Ann-Marie Bond, Assistant Director
Phone: (410) 706-1880 Location: Louis L. Kaplan Hall - Room 1E21 and a number of community sites The Social Work Community Outreach Service links the School of Social Work with community partners in Baltimore and Maryland to accomplish shared goals. Using innovative practice models in work with marginalized populations, SWCOS students and faculty deliver clinical services to individuals, families, groups, as well as community organizing services to neighborhoods and communities and management services to community-based nonprofits. SWCOS provides an array of foundation and advanced field placements where students apply their talents and creativity to challenging assignments while receiving customized and in-depth formal and informal training. MISSION
The Mission of the University of Maryland's Social Work Outreach Service is to create innovative models of social work education and service 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. VISION
The Social Work Community Outreach Service is the outreach arm of the University of Maryland School of Social Work. SWCOS concentrates its efforts in vulnerable communities and with people who have been marginalized to: · identify and build the capacities of individuals, families, communities, and community-based organizations to solve their problems;
· demonstrate that the problems our society faces are solvable by creating, implementing, evaluating, and publicizing model solutions;
· demonstrate to the larger society that all of its members have something valuable to contribute to the problem-solving process;
· remind people that inclusion and participation of all in problem solving will lead to more effective solutions;
· inspire people to enter this exciting struggle for social justice and to create new professional roles in this struggle; and
· inspire and strengthen the profession to take a stronger role in the solution of society's problems.
FIELD PLACEMENT AND SERVICE SITES
West Baltimore Project - Working with an experienced field instructor, SWCOS interns provide services to individuals, families and communities in Southwest Baltimore. Intern services include counseling, advocacy, and outreach for residents in Washington Village/Pigtown neighborhoods. At Paul's Place Outreach Center, individuals and families are helped to meet basic needs and to achieve self sufficiency. At Washington Village /Pigtown Neighborhood Planning Council, individuals are assisted with job readiness and placement, including services to address addiction problems. Housing issues are addressed through a partnership with Southwest Visions. Community organization interventions are provided to the community to increase resident participation and to address safety and environmental concerns Baltimore City Public School Mental Health Programs - Under the supervision of experienced field instructors, interns provide school mental health services in elementary and middle school settings to children and to their families. Strengths-based interventions include play therapy, whole class interventions and family therapy. In addition, interns team with school staff, parents and community leaders on projects that benefit the school and the community, such as after-school programs and playground development neighborhood improvement, tenant organizing and home ownership. South Baltimore Community Building - Working in collaboration with the Brooklyn Curtis Bay Coalition and other community partners, SWCOS interns work on a variety of community building tasks including block and neighborhood organizing, public safety, improving local schools, increasing the range of services available to the community, improving a public park, and improving housing opportunities. East and South East Baltimore Partnership- Working with several community organizations, SWCOS interns provide community organizing, advocacy, outreach, resident engagement, project development, fundraising and clinical case management services for residents in East Baltimore. Sites include Isaah Wellness Center at Apostolic Towers, Baltimore Resettlement Center, Casey Family Services, St. Michael's Outreach Center, and the Southeast Community Organization. Community Training and Leadership Development - Working on community building in East and Southeast Baltimore, the project aims to strengthen the community leadership efforts in a number of community-based organizations, build organizational capacity, and to assist in fundraising. Working city-wide with grassroots community leaders, this project provides training and assistance in alternative dispute resolution approaches and skills. Neighborhood Fellows - Workin with Healthy Neighborhoods, Inc., faculty and students work to strengthen the assets of at-risk neighborhoods. Approaches include block organizing, activities to prevent predatory lending, and outreach to constituencies who have been less involved due to cultural or language barriers, and strengthening education in the neighborhood. Sites include Patterson Park CDC, Southeast CDC, Belair Edison Neighborhood Initiative, St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center, Reservoir Hill Improvement Council among others. Grassroots Nonprofit Resource Mentoring Project-The Resource Mentoring Project assists faith-based and community organizations to build their capacity in order to sustain themselves and to achieve their missions. This includes working with client organizations to assess their capacity and need. Students work with client organizations in a number of roles including: grant writing; fundraising; organizational strategic planning; program assessment; community relationship development; marketing; and board, staff, and policy development. In addition, SWCOS partners with agencies and community organizations in Baltimore and throughout the state. These include: Baltimore Freedom Academy; Challengers Independent Living, Inc.; Annie E. Casey Foundation; Catholic Campaign for Human Development; Advocates for Children and Youth; Citizens Planning and Housing Association; Baltimore Community Foundation, East Baltimore Development, Inc., East Harbor CDC, Maryland Center for the Arts and Technology, Reservoir Hill Community Council, South and Southeast Community Development Organization, SECO Southeast CDC; Baltimore County Office of Community Conservation; Brooklyn and Curtis Bay Coalition; Rebuilding Together Baltimore; Adopt a House Development Corporation, Mercy Southwest Alliance/Hollins Market Neighborhood Parnership; Office of Public Housing Programs; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, University of Maryland Law Clinic, and the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers. top .
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