Community Leadership   

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GRANT WRITING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: Grant Writing for Social Change is designed to build students’ skills to write and secure grant funding successfully for 501(C)3 organizations. The class will meet weekly for 2.5hr sessions for 5 weeks. It will require writing, editing, critical thinking, and meeting deadlines, and all students are welcome, regardless of their experience in this area. In this five session class, students will learn the fundamentals of grant proposal writing including: ethics in fundraising, finding and vetting funding opportunities, analyzing grant opportunities, usually referred to as Requests for Proposals (RFPs), organizing, writing and submitting compelling proposals, and the do's and don'ts of teaming with organizations. Throughout the class students will choose one project to develop throughout the five weeks we work together. The steps of this applied project will be to: identify, write, and submit a grant proposal for a real nonprofit organization. All assignments will be written exercises that will receive feedback from the instructor and contribute to the ultimate class goal of submitting an actual proposal by class end. For this course-long project, students can choose to either 1) select a real nonprofit organization to work with (needs to be an organization you are already connected with) choose the grant, meet with the organization, write a proposal with them, and actually submit the proposal to the funder or 2) select a grant opportunity and complete the entire process for a well known nonprofit without actually meeting with the organization or submitting it. Essentially you may choose to learn the entire process fully in “practice mode” without submittal and in-person meetings or in “working professional mode” with ending in the submission of a proposal. Please consider your availability, time commitments, and readiness to meet with working professionals before deciding. We’ll discuss more in class!

This Course is eligible for 1-credit of elective credit in the Master of Professional Studies in Community Leadership upon approval of the Graduate Program Director. To transfer credit upon completion of course contact GPD Sally Scott at sjscott@umbc.edu.

This course is open to the general public, in addition to UMBC students, staff and faculty.

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COMMUNITY ORGANIZING: Community Organizing is a practice that supports community development, community cohesiveness, community leadership, and builds community capacity to define, embrace, and create culture and belonging; giving people agency over what they value. The practice of Community Organizing identifies community leadership, builds facilitation skills, planning skills, resource development, increases connections to people and places, and most importantly teaches how best to engage in public discourse so that many perspectives are heard, understood, and valued. The course will provide students with some practical skills for organizing, while also engaging in the framework of traditional organizing and cultural organizing.

This Course is eligible for 1-credit of elective credit in the Master of Professional Studies in Community Leadership upon approval of the Graduate Program Director. To transfer credit upon completion of course contact GPD Sally Scott at sjscott@umbc.edu.

This course is open to the general public, in addition to UMBC students, staff and faculty.

DIGITAL STORYTELLING FOR COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP: This course will guide students through the process of creating a digital story and also give them the tools to facilitate digital storytelling workshops themselves. Digital stories are short-format videos in which the creator narrates a story from their own life; they are often connected to broader themes and can be used to tell the story of a person, organization, community, or movement. Digital storytelling uses simple digital technology, such as cell phone photography and audio recording, and user-friendly, free video editing software. Take a look at some DIGITAL STORY VIDEO examples.

No previous digital video or photography experience is necessary. In this course, students will create one 3-5 minute digital story and develop a sample curriculum for facilitating a workshop in a community or organization of their choice.

Students need to have access to a laptop during each of the class sessions and for homework assignments in-between classes. Either a Mac or PC will work.

This Course is eligible for 1-credit of elective credit in the Master of Professional Studies in Community Leadership upon approval of the Graduate Program Director. To transfer credit upon completion of course contact GPD Sally Scott at sjscott@umbc.edu.

This course is not limited to UMBC students and is open to the general public.

Programming as Inclusive Process: This course will guide students through the steps of program development and implementation that reflects community culture and priorities. "Programming as Inclusive Process" seeks to help students develop programming which connects multiple communities through shared activities and spaces, and addresses the importance of creating programs and events which respond to community needs, feedback, and assets. The course will equip students with an understanding of the concept of inclusive programming and the value of community engagement to create sustainable community programs and events.

This Course is eligible for 1-credit of elective credit in the Master of Professional Studies in Community Leadership upon approval of the Graduate Program Director. To transfer credit upon completion of course contact GPD Sally Scott at sjscott@umbc.edu.

This course is not limited to UMBC students and is open to the general public.

ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: This course will address the fundamentals of Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), how to practically implement ABCD in students' daily professional practice while developing a community of practice using ABCD, as well as, becoming ABCD practitioners in the field. Working through an ABCD process, participants can move towards whole-community mobilization through mapping the capacities assets of individuals, associations, and institutions while building relationships. The class will meet weekly for 2.5hr sessions for 5 weeks, with socially distanced and carefully managed in-person sessions. This Course is eligible for 1-credit of elective credit in the Master of Professional Studies in Community Leadership upon approval of the Graduate Program Director. To transfer credit upon completion of course contact GPD Sally Scott at sjscott@umbc.edu. This course is not limited to UMBC students and is open to the general public.

BUDGETING FOR COMMUNITY IMPACT: Have you heard the saying, Put your money where your mouth is? If not, it is a saying that means to follow through on something you said. Organizations say a lot through their marketing, their grant proposals, and ultimately through their vision, mission, and values. But there's one major way to see if they're really walking the walk or just talking: their BUDGET! An organization's budget is their accountability to the things that they say. This course will teach students how to align their values and their intended impact with their budgets so that they can stand in integrity.

This Course is eligible for 1-credit of elective credit in the Master of Professional Studies in Community Leadership upon approval of the Graduate Program Director. To transfer credit upon completion of course contact GPD Sally Scott at sjscott@umbc.edu.

This course is not limited to UMBC students and is open to the general public.