Ten years ago, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) recognized the need to coordinate and focus dozens of outreach and service programs so the anchor institution could have a more significant impact on and commitment to its surrounding community in West Baltimore. Thus, the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) — now the Office of Community and Civic Engagement (OCCE) — was born.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Ray Lewis holds up local youth Blair Pinnacle, re-creating a moment from 2019 when the former Raven hoisted then-second-grader Pinnacle at the groundbreaking ceremony for UMB’s Community Engagement Center on South Poppleton Street.
“When I think of these last 10 years, for me, it is what I would call a decade of difference,” Rev. Alvin Hathaway Sr., DMin, PhD, president and CEO of the Beloved Community Services Corporation and former Union Baptist Church pastor, said during an Oct. 16 event at UMB’s Community Engagement Center (CEC) celebrating the office’s anniversary.
(See a photo gallery below.)
Hathaway, who has been connected to the University for over 30 years, said the last decade shows just how much UMB is invested in its neighbors.
“A decade of difference means that this [CEC] understands four key ingredients for community engagement,” he said. Those four ingredients, Hathaway explained, show UMB recognizes the humanity of the community; respects the community personality; has built a relationship with the community that is not transactional; and has formed a relationship that has shown results.
“And so, when you see this community center, you see that it has embodied all four of those elements that we see in scripture of that person there, known as the Good Samaritan,” he said.
During the celebration, community members, UMB employees, community partners, and more packed the CEC’s multipurpose room to celebrate the office’s 10th anniversary and look ahead at a future of continued partnership.
In 2014, OCE was formed under the leadership of former president Jay A. Perman, MD, and was followed one year later by the creation of UMB’s first Community Engagement Center, which has offered programs for adults and children for nine years. In 2021, the center moved from its original 3,000-square-foot location to a newly renovated 20,000-square-foot facility on South Poppleton Street.
“What’s the mission of UMB? To improve the human condition,” UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, said during his remarks at the event. “But we traditionally interpreted that as health care, legal services, social services … education and research. And we looked internally, and I think it’s very clear to me and most of us at UMB, that the community is an important part of our mission, just like these other parts are a critical part of our mission. So, we are committed to that — that is now ingrained in us.”
Twelve-year-old Blair Pinnacle, a local community member, has been impacted firsthand by OCCE and the CEC. Spending time at the center has helped him learn to socialize and be around others.
“It taught me how to work together with people, and how to talk to people that I don’t know, how to make more friends, and how to treat people,” Pinnacle said.
Pinnacle also has built a relationship with Baltimore Ravens legend and UMB Foundation Board of Trustees member Ray Lewis. As Lewis, who also spoke at Wednesday’s celebration, took the stage, the audience was reminded of that as a photo was projected showing a much younger Pinnacle held aloft by Lewis at the new CEC’s groundbreaking ceremony in 2019 as the two smiled broadly. Lewis said UMB has been a catalyst for change in the city and is the first to step up and address community needs.
He also spoke about the importance of setting the right example and leading the way for kids like Pinnacle. That means building relationships, getting them connected to the right programs and resources, and keeping them from getting caught up in trouble on the street, all while coming from a place of love.
“And a lot of times that you see the people that’s doing so much good — sometimes it’s overshadowed by the people that’s doing so much bad,” Lewis said, adding that evil never takes a break, and those doing good can grow weary. “But today is a celebration, because God said that this day had to be today.”
Over the years, OCCE has offered health and wellness programs, educational workshops, youth engagement programs, community resource navigation, collaborative partnerships, and more.
And it continues to evolve, now focusing on public health disparities, unemployment, and housing insecurity, with programs expanding and new partnerships forming to help address the root causes of systemic inequality.
The office’s name change — which became official Oct. 1 — honors the meaningful partnerships and collaborative work the office is known for, Danielle Harris, LCSW-C, director of community engagement operations, said, as well as reflecting the University’s evolving mission to support and collaborate with community members as active leaders and agents of civic change.
“The addition of civic engagement to the title also underscores the office’s deepening investment in partnerships to advance UMB’s mission to prepare UMB students and community members to become lifelong contributors to their communities, both professionally and personally,” Harris said.