Community Partners are an integral part of the service experience at Notre Dame. Our partners serve a variety of groups in Baltimore City and County. We are lucky to work with them as part of a mutually transformative experience.
Students and faculty members engage in a variety of service causes
Students and faculty members engage in a variety of service causes
Asylee Women Enterprise

Asylee Women Enterprise (AWE) helps asylum seekers and survivors of torture and/or human trafficking to rebuild their lives and their spirits. AWE provides transitional housing, companionship, and community by offering a safe and nurturing home, as well as opportunities to connect with the larger community and to each other.

AWE provides transitional housing to asylum seekers and offers a range of services through the day program, including ESL, job readiness courses, wellness classes, case management, and a food pantry and clothing closet.

Potential ways to engage include:

  • Processing benefits applications
  • Co-facilitating classes (yoga, cooking, crafting)
  • Participating in ESL/language acquisition courses and/or activities
  • Participating in the community mentor program
  • Advocacy work

*While being bilingual is not required, it is highly desirable for volunteers at this placement.

Contact

Govans Elementary School

Govans Elementary is a neighborhood charter school, one of five in Baltimore that falls under the Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) umbrella.

Govans has over 30 community partners, including NDMU. When transitioning from elementary to middle school, students at Govans have an over 80% success rate of acceptance into their middle school of choice.

  • Govans has been designated as a Title I School, receiving financial assistance to support the academic achievement of students at or below the federal poverty line.

Potential ways to engage include:

  • assisting classroom teachers by helping students with reading, writing, and math in small groups
  • providing one-on-one math tutoring
  • assisting with the afterschool STEM program
  • assisting with Miss Murphy’s Diamond Girls, an all-girls mentoring program (M-TH 4-5, 2 days per week)

Contact

Reach out to Lindsay Chudzik (lchudzik@ndm.edu) or Kristina Pickering (kpickering@ndm.edu) for more information about volunteering.

Website

Hampden Family Center

The Family Center has served as a “hub” for community activities in Hampden for over 25 years. They provide programs and support services for all who live, learn, and work in the community, including after-school and summer enrichment programs. Adults can participate in literacy classes to brush up on their math, reading, and writing skills in preparation for the GED class and exam. Seniors can enjoy monthly lunches with their peers. In addition, they offer emergency and benefit assistance programs.

Contact

Junior Achievement

JA BizTown is a simulated city where 4th-6th graders from (mostly) Baltimore City Public Schools experience hands-on workplace, business, and personal finance challenges.  After a few weeks of in-classroom curriculum, students are selected for a job and spend a day at the Junior Achievement facility taking on the role of a real-world professional. The immersive atmosphere inspires teamwork, critical thinking, and decision-making skills for each student. JA Finance Park gives middle school students the opportunity to experience their personal financial futures firsthand. 

Volunteer shifts are M-F from 8:30-2. Volunteers can sign up for just one shift or multiple shifts.

Contact

Diana Pearson: dpearson@jamaryland.org

Tomorrows are more important than ever | Junior Achievement of Central Maryland (ja.org)

Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center & Hospital

Levindale is a 330- licensed -bed facility located in Baltimore that offers a full continuum of post-acute services to help patients regain function and vitality after a life-altering illness or injury.

Contact

My Sister's Place

An umbrella organization of Catholic Charities, My Sister’s Place Women’s Center is Baltimore City’s longest-serving day shelter and resource center serving women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty. They empower those they serve through robust services, including extensive workshops centered on the eight realms of wellness: emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, occupational, and social wellness.

Potential ways to engage include:

  • volunteering to serve meals
  • creating advocacy materials
  • volunteering at special events in October, December, and February

Contact

Our Daily Bread

An umbrella organization of Catholic Charities, Our Daily Bread is Maryland’s largest hot meal program. They serve more than a quarter of a million meals to those experiencing hunger in Baltimore City each year. The Classic Casserole Program at Our Daily Bread is the backbone of this program.

Potential ways to engage include:

  • earning service hours by making casseroles for meal services
  • volunteering to serve meals 
  • volunteering at special events in October, December, and February

Contact

Reading Partners of Baltimore

By mobilizing community, Reading Partners provides individualized instruction for students who have been identified as reading from 6 months-2.5 years below grade level. Reading Partners of Baltimore has a mission to empower children to become lifelong readers, as the ability to read transforms lives and empowers children and communities to thrive. When students can read on grade level by fourth grade, new opportunities for success in school, in their communities, and in future paths open up. In fact, whether or not a student is reading at grade level by this time is one of the biggest predictors of whether or not they will graduate from high school.

There are various public elementary schools who work with Reading Partners of Baltimore, so volunteers can select a location that best fits their transportation needs. Tutoring sessions are once a week for one hour. There is a detailed curriculum to follow tailored to the individual child a volunteer is working with.

Contact

Jake Saltzberg: jsaltzberg@readingpartners.org

https://readingpartners.org/volunteer/

St. Francis Neighborhood Center

St. Francis Neighborhood Center is the oldest neighborhood center in Baltimore providing enrichment programs and activities. Active since 1963 in the Reservoir Hill community, there is a great deal of resident buy-in because SFNC has been a staple of their community for so long. In 2009, SFNC launched The Power Project, an after-school youth development and family stability program. It is one of the only free academically-based after-school programs serving underprivileged youth in the 21217 zip code.

Potential ways to engage include:

  • Administrative Assistants
  • Fundraisers
  • Greening/Clean Up
  • Interns
  • Mentoring & Tutoring
  • Power Project & Summer of Service Assistants
  • Special Events Community Outreach
  • Volunteer Guest Speakers
  • Stoop Nights

Contact

Ann Marie Lucas: annmarie@stfranciscenter.org

Home : St. Francis Neighborhood Center (stfranciscenter.org)

St. Joseph Medical Center

UM St. Joseph Medical Center is a 218 licensed bed, Catholic acute care hospital that observes the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.

Originally called St. Joseph German Hospital, it was founded in 1864 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. The organization moved to its current location in Towson, Maryland in 1965. UM St. Joseph is a member of the University of Maryland Medical System, a multi-hospital system with academic, community and specialty service missions reaching every part of the state and beyond.

Potential ways to engage:

  • Volunteering in the Cancer Care Unit, NICU, Labor and Delivery Unit, or Nursing Stroke Unit
  • Participating in Community Service activities like breast screening in October; “my Life my Story,” which involves interviewing patients about their lives and writing about it; and  “painting with patients”

Contact

Cheryl Slaski: cherylslaski@umm.edu 

Website

Tunbridge Public Charter School

Tunbridge Public Charter School, an elementary and middle school located on York Road in the Govans neighborhood, was founded in 2010, and is operated by Afya Baltimore Inc. (ABI). They serve approximately 475 students between Pre-k and 8th grade.

Focused on educating the whole child, the Tunbridge mission is to teach Baltimore’s children to live healthy and balanced lives intellectually, socially/emotionally, and physically.

Potential ways to engage include:

  • serving as a teacher’s aide in the classroom
  • providing one-on-one tutoring
  • assisting with afterschool programs like dance, theatre, and creative writing
  • helping organize special events such as the middle school students visit to NDMU’s campus for a matinee of Sleepy Hollow

Contact

Reach out to Lindsay Chudzik (lchudzik@ndm.edu) or Kristina Pickering (kpickering@ndm.edu) for more information about volunteering.

Website

Weinberg Housing & Resource Center

An umbrella organization of Catholic Charities, the Weinberg Housing and Resource Center (WHRC) is a low barrier emergency shelter that provides homeless services to over 275 adult men and women each night in the City of Baltimore. Our services include shelter, convalescent care, breakfast and dinner, showers, laundry, case management and a variety of life skills and empowerment classes – with a focused goal of assisting residents in obtaining permanent housing.

Contact

Other Organizations and Groups with NDMU Support

…and many more!