We create dynamic, innovative, student-driven internships that expand services to individuals, organizations and communities and train students to be effective civic leaders who are committed to sustainable community change.

We seek to address the following community problems in our education and service programs:

• The path to adulthood in a safe, secure family is full of nearly insurmountable obstacles if you enter the world in poverty.
• Urban neighborhoods and communities in Baltimore City have been damaged by a number of forces over the past half-century. People with wealth and important skills moved to the suburbs. Home values dropped. Availability of jobs declined as employers left. The drug trade became a "replacement economy" with devastating impact on families and neighborhoods. Crime increased. With fewer public resources, the public education system declined.
• Every year, throughout the Baltimore region, dozens of new community organizations spring up to help their communities. Unfortunately, at least that many go out of business, creating a disruption of service for those most in need.

Our programs include: 

Family Connections
A multifaceted, community-based service program that works with vulnerable families in their homes and in the context of their neighborhoods to help them meet the basic needs of their children who meet risk criteria for maltreatment.

Positive Schools Center
Partners with school districts to identify and collaborate around issues related to school climate and punitive discipline, especially when those issues result in high rates of suspensions and expulsions. The five key pillars of the Center’s school climate include leadership, positive relationships, engaged teaching and learning, welcoming environments, and health and safety.

Community Schools
A school-wide community-focused strategy to promote student achievement, positive conditions for learning and the well-being of families and communities.

Care Coordination
Support Services to adults and children who have been referred by schools, families, communities or SWCOS partners. Services include community outreach; case management; and crisis intervention.

Peace Corps Fellows
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers bring prior experiences working with marginalized communities and foreign language skills to assist with urban challenges through their graduate studies in social work.

Neighborhood Fellows
Supports organizational capacity of neighborhood revitalization organizations to accomplish their mission in the following ways: strengthened business systems and organizational structures; increasing resources for the organization through fundraising and grant writing; and assisting with advocacy around a particular campaign.

Program Management
Students work on various projects with the goal of building more sustainable organizations. Projects may include developing strategic plans, social media engagement, special events, advisory board management, meeting facilitation, grant writing, and organizational assessments. 

Public Policy
SWCOS interns work to identify and analyze social, educational, economic, and health problems that pose barriers to self-efficacy.

Social Work in Libraries
Partners with Enoch Pratt Free Library to engage social work professionals in the library system through providing referral and support services to individuals and families, organizing support groups that foster peer network building among library patrons, increasing community volunteers, and training library staff around crisis intervention, accessing public benefits and supporting youth development.