Retriever Essentials has received a $18,360 Hunger-Free Campus Grant to support its student staff and programming. Hunger-Free Campus is a state grant program run by the Maryland Higher Education Commission that provides funding to Maryland public institutions of higher education and regional higher education centers to support efforts addressing food insecurity among students on Maryland campuses.

The purpose of the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program is to: 

 • Address student hunger. 

 • Leverage more sustainable solutions to address basic food needs on campus. 

 • Raise awareness of services currently offered on campus that address basic food needs. 

 • Build strategic partnerships at the local, state, and national levels to address food insecurity among students.

Retriever Essentials will use the funding to cover our student stipends, including support for Michael Fakus, who co-leads the Student Leadership Board. The board works on innovative projects that fill gaps in our program, such as food literacy and cooking skills, which is addressed through the annual cooking competition that Retriever Essentials will be running again this spring in collaboration with the UMBC Alumni Association and Dining Services. The grant funds will also cover stipends for students who lead Retriever Essentials gardening initiative and who oversee the 15 Community Service and Learning Practicum (PRAC 096) students who pack up extra meals after lunch at True Grits three times per week.

Assistant Director of Retriever Essentials Ariel Barbosa, MPS '24, community leadership, shared, “We are excited about how the Hunger-Free Campus Grant expands our capacity to ensure our student leaders are compensated for their incredible work! A huge thank you to the state for providing the funding and to UMBC’s Office of Sponsored Programs for their support in the application process.” 

Please note: Retriever Essentials needs your help in providing winter clothes for students! Donations can be brought to the Essential Space’s new location in The Commons (in the former PNC offices next to the Bookstore.) UMBC and The Wisdom Institute are also hosting a winter coat drive on Tuesday, October 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Administration Circle (next to the Administration Building and the Retriever Activities Center).  

On September 28, 2024, civic scholar Harry Boyte gave a keynote address at Ball State University’s Annual Civic Learning Conference in which he placed the Center for Democracy and Civic Life's work in the context of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Boyte referenced UMBC and the Student Government Association in his remarks: “The university and its Center for Democracy and Civic Life, the Student Government, and others have been national leaders in student empowerment for public purposes. They have been exemplary models for civic as well as individual achievement. They aim at a land where everyone is free.”

Boyte’s address also illuminated some of the philosophy enacted through the Center’s work: "developing [students'] capacities for making change for public, commonwealth ends," and supporting a democracy in which politics "is far more than partisan politics, in which citizens become 'publics,' not mobs or consumers."

In addition, UMBC President Emeritus Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, gave a keynote address at the conference. Boyte also noted Hrabowski’s role in Martin Luther King’s Children’s Crusade and his work to foster a civic dimension within UMBC’s culture.

Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s Director David Hoffman, Ph.D. '13, and Coordinator for Civic Design Tess McRae ’22, coauthored “Learning Opportunities Foster Civic Agency, Social Trust,” for the fall issue of Leadership Exchange. Dr. Hoffman and McRae share how the Center has created “learning opportunities through which students develop the confidence, skills, and clarity of perspective to cultivate social norms that foster civic agency and social trust, and to challenge and change norms that inhibit agency and trust. The learning opportunities focus on ‘civic life maxims’ – brief assertions illuminate taken-for-granted assumptions and behaviors that underlie civic life and point to alternative possibilities.” 

The article also includes quotes from UMBC alumna Katie Brungard ‘24, and current student Christian Jassani, who explains, "Learning about these maxims has made me a stronger leader. I can better understand how my choices affect others. I now know how to convey messages in a more personable and effective way that makes change more likely." 

NASPA’s Leadership Exchange magazine helps prepare chief student affairs officers for the most complex management challenges in higher education today. The magazine includes news and analysis on the latest trends in student affairs, insider perspectives from leaders in higher education and management, and tips and tools for managing diverse staffs and an ever-expanding set of responsibilities.