Contact Persons: Dick Cook, Director
Phone (410) 706-1882 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. SWCOS delivers services in three areas, innovations in working with individuals and families; innovations in community building and innovations in organizational development. SWCOS provides an array of foundation and advanced field placements, both clinical and MACO, where students apply their talents and creativity to challenging assignments while receiving customized and in-depth formal and informal training in community social work practice. 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 t · 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 Innovations in Working With Individuals and Families
Expanded School Mental Health Program - 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. Benjamin Franklin Community Middle School - Join an experienced full-time community organizer at this SWCOS sponsored program in the Brooklyn and Curtis Bay neighborhoods. Develop programs to address educational and community needs through community input, partnership development and fundraising. Involve students, parents, neighbors, community representatives, businesses and organizations in planning and implementing creative programs. Innovations in Community Building
Social Work in Philanthropy - Interns will work with Baltimore area grant makers to review proposals, provide advice and assistance to grant seekers and to assist in research for programs under consideration by the funders. Sites include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers and the Baltimore Community Foundation. 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 - Working 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. Homelessness and Low Income Housing – This involves work with the homeless in Baltimore City to address individual issues impacting homelessness, as well as policy and organizational issues. A partnership effort involves two Mutual Housing Association of Baltimore townhouse complexes, one in Northeast and one in Southwest Baltimore. MHAB is a novel housing program where residents invest in their leased homes, financially and with in-kind services. Interns will organize residents at each complex to increase community cohesion and to take a more active role in managing and maintaining their communities. This will include door to door outreach, needs and strengths assessment, resource identification and referral, leadership development and community planning. Two MACO placements and the potential for one foundation placement. My Brother’s Keeper - Working closely with program staff at this community center on Baltimore’s southwest side, the MACO intern assigned here will assist with community outreach and with fundraising. Northeast Development Alliance – The intern placed at this CDC in Northeast Baltimore will assist the organization in community organizing to assist elderly homeowners to stay in their homes, to assist with block organizing projects, and to assist a group of residents with their Neighborhood Standards Project. Innovations in Organizational Development
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. top .
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