As fall 2026’s first full week of classes wrap up, Retrievers across campus—newly minted and returning—are finding their place. In addition to learning to navigate to the right classroom, they are bringing their unique strengths and voices to this ever evolving community. 

This year’s incoming class of over 2,000 Retrievers boasts a median GPA of 4.0. Among them is Rodney Oglesby, an aspiring musician and a Gates Scholar. Oglesby was one of 750 students awarded this high honor among a pool of over 61,000 applicants nationwide. 

“We are thrilled to welcome another impressive entering undergraduate class, with a 15 percent increase in enrollment from Baltimore City, and, overall, students representing 42 countries,” says Dale Bittinger, M.P.P. ’16, assistant vice provost for strategic undergraduate engagement, partnerships, and pathways. “They are academically talented and engaged and we look forward to all they have to offer to our campus community.” 

Joining Oglesby is Saad Bin Waqas, a new student who traveled nearly 7,000 miles from his home in Pakistan to address the UMBC community at this year’s Fall Opening Meeting. At just 16, this Sondheim Scholar and geography and environmental studies major is looking forward to planting some roots after growing up in a military family. 

“After moving from place to place for much of my life, I am really excited to have a new place I can call home,” shared Waqas. 

A place to flourish

Junior Sabirah Burt is joining UMBC as a transfer student from Howard Community College. Her aspirations to ultimately become a physician’s assistant are shaped by her own experience grappling with a medical condition. If you had asked Burt a few months ago to describe herself, she’d say “ticking time bomb.” In June 2025, she was rushed to the hospital for an agonizing headache. Medical professionals eventually discovered she had an active brain bleed and underwent emergency surgery. 

“I believe graduating with a public health degree from here will allow me to flourish when continuing my education and applying to graduate school in the future,” she said. “After going through my tough experiences last year, it’s made me even more passionate to pursue medicine, now more than ever before, and help those lying in hospitals wondering if it will be their last day.” 

Strengthening connections—early

Some new Retrievers got a jump start to the year and arrived on campus over the summer to dive into work-integrated learning (WIL)—an educational approach that prepares students for a rewarding career after college by pairing what they are learning in the classroom with hands-on, authentic work experiences. In July, more than 100 incoming first-year and transfer students spent a night on campus, connected with an instructor and teaching assistant, and spent a day participating in service on site at five different community partner locations. 

WIL students will participate in service with the same sites throughout their full first year at UMBC, deepening engagement and strengthening connection to their peers and faculty as well as to the campus and community.

“I believe a program like this is an excellent cohort building model. I was able to have individual conversations with all of them, learning what they cared about going into their unique UMBC journeys,” says Emily Passera, the senior program coordinator for community-engaged learning through The Shriver Center at UMBC, who led a group of students to Patterson Park in east Baltimore and will teach the same students in a first-year experience course called UNIV 101. 

A community for all 

With a full lineup of events, this year’s Welcome, Retrievers efforts ensured that students started to find their place from the minute they stepped onto campus. Student volunteers (“Haul Stars”) were on hand to keep things moving as they helped new students with their belongings and offered directions. 

Students weren’t the only ones getting in on the fun. Retriever Fest gave families the opportunity to meet with campus partners and learn more about everything UMBC has to offer—while enjoying refreshments and picking up some swag. Jake Diaz, inaugural assistant vice president and dean of students in the Division of Student Affairs, had a ball welcoming new students. 

Throughout the weekend, students continued to enjoy Retriever 101 events, like First Night, an Student Events-Board-sponsored takeover of The Commons with inflatables, prizes, games, and plenty of other activities that cemented the first night as one students will remember for years to come. 

Events like the Taste of UMBC, Your Story Belongs Here, and the annual New Retriever Photo bonded students and filled their camera rolls. The first weekend concluded with Convocation, the official opening of the fall semester. President Valerie Sheares Ashby addressed the new students, reassuring them that UMBC is where they’re meant to be. 

“…I want to make sure you hear this from me: You belong here. You have come to an institution that wants you here and believes that you can be successful here, even if you are not yet completely sure of that yourself.” 

UMBC has been designated as one of only three institutions in Maryland dually recognized with Carnegie R1 status—among the top 5 percent of research universities in the nation—and the Carnegie Community Engagement classification, which recognizes universities who systematically share knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity in order to contribute to the public good. Following an extensive full campus self-study demonstrating increased depth, breadth, and integration of engagement, this week UMBC was classified as a Carnegie Community Engaged Campus for a second six-year period.

“As a public university for the public good, community engagement is at the heart of UMBC’s mission to provide world class education and research that directly supports our students, community, and partners in an inclusive environment,” says Provost Manfred H. M. van Dulmen. “The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification is an acknowledgement of the dedication and excellent work of the UMBC faculty, staff, and students to engage and serve the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland.”

Community engagement at UMBC flows from the university’s vision of a culture of inclusive excellence, explains Joby Taylor, Ph.D. ’05, assistant vice provost and co-leader of The Shriver Center for Public Service and Community Engagement. Taylor and Preminda Jacob, associate dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, co-chaired the reclassification study with the conviction that: “Community engagement extends our vision and practice of an inclusive culture out into the world beyond our campus through relationships and partnerships focused on mutual collaborations that matter and make a difference…locally, regionally, and globally.”

This community engagement classification re-affirms UMBC as a place where people and relationships are centered. At a time when the impact of higher education is in question, UMBC’s commitment to inclusive excellence as seen through this reclassification offers a powerful counter narrative about the roles of universities in a critically important moment. 

“It speaks to how learning and knowledge can be transformational, not just transactional,” says Taylor, noting his belief that higher ed can be oriented toward positive social change, supporting holistic and lifelong learning with civic purposes, as well as professional pathways and economic mobility. 

President Valerie Sheares Ashby echoes these sentiments, noting during the self-study that, “At UMBC, we do not just talk about equity and social justice, we make it happen in real, tangible ways that improve people’s everyday lives.”

On January 31, the CASH Campaign of Maryland, a nonprofit working to promote the economic advancement of low-to-moderate income individuals and families in Baltimore and across Maryland, kicked off the 2025 tax season with a press conference at UMBC promoting free tax prep services in the Baltimore area, including services offered on the UMBC campus. 

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman, U.S. Congressman Kweisi Mfume, and new U.S. Congressman Johnny Olszewski, Ph.D. ’17, public policy, spoke at the event, applauding the reach of the CASH Campaign and the UMBC student volunteers who make time to help their fellow Marylanders.

UMBC student Riaz Chaudry, a senior in financial economics, who has volunteered at the UMBC free tax prep site since his first year and now serves as the student president and site coordinator, also spoke about his experience. 

Chaudry says that when he arrived on campus, he explored many student clubs and other ways to get involved. Volunteering to help prepare taxes for low-to-moderate income Marylanders was the activity that most inspired him, because he felt the immediate impact of giving back to the community.

“It’s rewarding knowing that I am making a difference in people’s lives,” he says. 

Tax prep comes to UMBC

UMBC’s role as a free tax prep site started close to a decade ago, when Trisha Wells, theassistant vice provost for administration and finance for the Division of Professional Studies, says she and a few other UMBC community members who had volunteered as tax preparers at other sites came together to apply to open a UMBC site. The CASH Campaign supported the group with the application process, while UMBC partners such as Residential Life, the Division of Information Technology, the Career Center, and the Shriver Center worked to get space, computers, and more volunteers. The partnership continues with the CASH Campaign, which trains UMBC’s volunteers every year to be ready to prepare tax returns.

In the first year, the UMBC site prepared 115 tax returns, and now averages around 400 per year. Hundreds of trained student volunteers have participated in the efforts, which have saved clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

This year, any individual or family in Maryland with a household income of $67,000 or less qualifies for the free tax prep services. Wells says a wide diversity of people have come to the UMBC site over the years, including retirees and people self-employed with jobs such as drivers and home health aides. The services not only save clients tax preparation fees—they often educate people about tax credits they didn’t know they qualified for.

Helping Marylanders save their earned money

The press conference was held on “National Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day,” to raise the visibility of a tax credit designed to help low-to-moderate income individuals and families save money on their taxes.

Chaudry says he remembers helping a client last year file a 2023 return, and also amend her 2022 and 2021 returns. Thanks to the earned income credit, Chaudry says the client received a refund, which she was planning to use on unpaid bills. “Delivering the news to her, I could see that she was immediately relieved,” he says. “This is one of the most rewarding feelings as a volunteer.”

Wells agrees that helping clients get better tax refunds is a great part of the job. She also loves how the effort brings together UMBC staff, community, and students, and how the student volunteers learn and grow throughout the tax season.

“Many of our students have graduated, but still come back to volunteer when they can. It is that rewarding!” she says.

When Patricia Mengue Bindjeme, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, went to classes, her professors would sometimes point out how engineers’ decisions can have life-or-death consequences. But the message really hit home this past summer when Mengue Bindjeme interned at the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), working on the Baltimore Red Line Project, a recently revived transportation project to create faster and more convenient links between the eastern and western parts of the city. 

“I saw people talking about the journeys they had to make coming from West Baltimore to work at someplace like Johns Hopkins,” she says. “That’s a lot of travel.” Mengue Bindjeme realized how engineers working to ensure the safety, availability, and reliability of transportation could make huge differences to people’s everyday lives. “Having another person’s life in my hands is nerve-racking,” she says. “But the change I can make for someone else is really beautiful and impactful.”

Real tasks and real things

Mengue Bindjeme secured her internship at MTA through the Maryland Public Service Scholars (MPSS) program, a 12-week summer fellowship program funded by the state of Maryland and administered by the Shriver Center at UMBC. The goal of the program is to provide students across Maryland the opportunity to develop as future leaders in the state’s public and social sectors.

Mengue Bindjeme was one of five UMBC students who completed the program this past summer. The others were Tasnim Rushdan, a senior global studies major; Aziza Mattaka, a junior global studies major; Dionne Cole, a senior biology and social work major; and Samantha Fu, a junior psychology and public policy major.

The students wrapped up the fellowship with real-world experience on their résumés. “From day one, I was having real tasks and learning real things,” says Rushdan, who worked as an international affairs fellow at the Maryland Office of the Secretary of State. The international division of the office was small—with just two full-time employees—so as an intern Rushdan was immediately involved in important work such as reviewing agreements, organizing meetings, and writing memos for Maryland Secretary of State Susan C. Lee and Governor Wes Moore. 

Rushdan helped organize the Pan African City Exposition to facilitate discussions with international delegates around ideas for improving economic development and making housing affordable. She also met with embassy officials, business leaders, and students from around the world. 

Mattaka worked in the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, working with victims of crime on their compensation claims. “Sometimes when I’d call people, they would go into their stories,” she says. “It really put into perspective my privilege, but it was also rewarding to be in a place to assist.”

Pursuing the same mission

The students faced challenges throughout their fellowships, from the sometimes heavy nature of the work, to the pressures to balance their schedules, produce deliverables, and present in front of the leaders of Maryland government.

They found support from program staff, the mentors they were matched with in their workplaces, and from each other. Each Friday, all the program participants met together and attended workshops to talk through their experiences and learn new skills for success. 

“We realized that, even though we come from diverse backgrounds, we were there for the same mission. We’re facing many of the same challenges, and we’re all in it together,” Rushdan says. 

Clockwise from top left: Samantha Fu, Patricia Mengue Bindjeme, Aziza Mattaka, Dionne Cole, and Tasnim Rushdan.

“I made lifelong friends who are supporting me, and really wanting me to succeed,” says Fu,  who worked at LET’S GO Boys and Girls, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering economic success in underserved communities through STEM education and workforce development. 

Throughout the summer, the MPSS scholars pushed themselves out of their comfort zones and discovered how much they had to contribute. 

“Before the program, I was afraid of public speaking,” says Fu. “By the end of the program, I was able to confidently present a grant proposal in front of a panel of nonprofit leaders. My group and I even won the grant proposal competition.”

Confident and capable

Cole, who worked at the Maryland Department of Health drafting policy recommendations for behavioral health care access for prison populations and others in the criminal justice system, says she feels much more confident after the summer. “Fear paralyzes us. But it’s like, no, we’re actually capable. You just have to look through the fear and realize, ‘Oh, snap, I could actually do this.’”

The group also ended the summer more confident of their commitment to public service.

“The public service sector truly is limitless and it affords any individual the opportunity to make a difference in their own way,” Cole says. 

“Public service calls everyone,” Mattaka adds. “We are a collective, and society works better if we have people willing to develop the skills of leadership and empathy to do these jobs. Those are the skills we cultivated a lot this summer.”

Ian Stockwell ’03, information systems and financial economics, M.A. ’06, economic policy analysis, and Ph.D. ’14, public policy, has spent his 20-plus-year career analyzing healthcare operations. One major inefficiency he sees in the U.S. healthcare system is an overreliance on clinical medicine when other interventions, such as support accessing healthy food and safe housing, are also needed. 

“We have a health system that under-invests on social needs,” Stockwell says. “It is failing a lot of people.”

Now an associate professor in information systems at UMBC, Stockwell recently launched a new project, supported by a five-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, to address this shortcoming. He is partnering with a major Medicaid health plan to build a machine-learning-powered system to help identify patients with social needs—factors, such as food insecurity or financial stress—that impact an individual’s ability to maintain their health. The system will also help determine how best to connect these patients with social support systems on a long-term basis.

The system will use multiple individual- and community-level data sources to predict which members use the emergency department to fulfill social or non-urgent needs. It will also identify the hurdles that frequently prevent individuals from engaging with a community-based social needs organization.

The dream outcome, Stockwell says, is that the system provides robust support to healthcare providers for effectively engaging with people with social needs. “We could then take the infrastructure that we build and work to propagate it through the healthcare system. Ultimately, we want to use what we create to help people by shrinking disparities in health outcomes in this country.”

The study team brings together researchers from multiple departments and colleges at UMBC, including Tera Reynolds, James Foulds, and Osman Gani from the Department of Information Systems; Sameera Nayak from the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health; Lucy Wilson from the Department of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems, and Joby Taylor, Ph.D. ’05, language, literacy, and culture, from the Shriver Center.

“As a career-long UMBCer, I’m excited that this project helps broaden the footprint of NIH funding at the university. It also pushes the boundaries of what an interdisciplinary collaboration can mean,” Stockwell says.

For nearly two decades, UMBC faculty and students have been deeply engaged in story-driven research. The UMBC community’s contributions to this humanities-centered scholarship has included documenting the stories of former workers of the historic and now-defunct Sparrows Point steel mill in Baltimore County, and projects such as “A Place Called Poppleton,” which chronicles the history and culture of Baltimore City’s Poppleton neighborhood.

UMBC’s commitment to highlighting storytelling research continued this summer as the university co-hosted the first state-side edition of the 11th International Digital Storytelling Conference—a four-day event showcasing an expansive range of storytelling-focused projects and initiatives. The conference was a collaborative effort in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, StoryCenter, and Montgomery College, who previously partnered with UMBC on digital storytelling projects.

A commitment to community storytelling 

The multi-day conference included workshops, presentations, storytelling tours, and site visits to partner institutions illuminating the impact of digital storytelling. Julissa Gómez Ruvalcaba, M.A. ’23, applied sociology, was one of the featured presenters at this year’s conference, her work adding to UMBC’s ongoing research of Latinx immigrant communities in Baltimore. During a site visit on the first day of the conference to the Creative Alliance, a non-profit art space in Baltimore City, Ruvalcaba discussed her capstone research project that included an ethnographic study of the city’s Latinx community. 

Ruvalcaba shared that she felt a sense of “culture shock” when originally moving to Baltimore to study at UMBC. She is from a predominantly Mexican community in Northern California and took note of the drastically smaller Latinx population in Baltimore City, which, according to the 2020 Census, makes up about eight percent of the city’s population. 

“I became curious about how Latinx people understood their cultural identity and how they expressed themselves while living in a city that is predominately Black and white. That was the starting point to my thesis.”

That curiosity culminated in “Nest Making,” a short film that Ruvalcaba created documenting the Latinx community living in Highlandtown, a neighborhood in Southeast Baltimore that Ruvalcaba says is often referred to as “Latino Baltimore.” During the conference, Ruvalcaba held a screening of the film, which captures Ruvalcaba’s year-long research journey of examining how Latinx people are building their homes and communities in Highlandtown as they express parts of their culture and heritage.

“Digital storytelling is a medium that I’m really excited about. I thought about how to make my research accessible to all, including my family who may not understand all of the research jargon,” says Ruvalcaba. “Showing your story in a way that’s visually engaging, along with audio, captures [many] of the senses, which is something that I want to show people that can’t really be shown on paper.”

Digital storytelling history at UMBC

Bill Shewbridge ’80, history, a professor of practice in media and communication studies, attended a StoryCenter workshop in 2004 and was excited to bring the practice back to UMBC. The university’s cultivation of storytelling research grew following a series of several StoryCenter workshops organized in 2006 by UMBC’s New Media Studio, the university’s multimedia production hub. Faculty and staff learned about digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool and have since brought the practice into the classroom. 

“Over the years, UMBC has become an active participant in a growing international community of the digital storytelling practice through conferences and collaborative projects,” explains Shewbridge. “[Bringing] the international conference to our region grew out of discussions had at the 2018 conference in Zakinthos, Greece, so it was in the works for a long time.”

UMBC’s Digital Storytelling and Civic Agency in Higher Education working group, which Shewbridge leads, collaborated with Loughborough University in England, Montgomery College, the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology, and StoryCenter to bring the international conference stateside for the first time. 

“It was a great experience to be able to share our work in the Baltimore region with this very special group of colleagues,” says Shewbridge. 

That sentiment was echoed by Charlotte Keniston, MFA ’14, intermedia and digital art, associate director of UMBC’s Shriver Peaceworker Fellows program. “What’s significant about UMBC hosting the conference is that it represents nearly 20 years of digital storytelling work that’s been happening here on campus,” she noted.  

Keniston, who co-chaired this year’s conference, has championed digital storytelling research since she was a student at UMBC: “I have been using digital storytelling, teaching it, and facilitating others in using it since my start at the university. There are hundreds of students who have used it in the classroom, and dozens of faculty who teach it in their curricula as a way to engage students in reflection.”

For more information on storytelling research happening at UMBC, review a collection of UMBC’s digital storytelling projects here. 

This time of year, students, faculty, and staff are rushing about preparing travel plans to meet with friends and loved ones. Kitchens are brimming with the scents of family recipes and the sounds of laughter as sneaky hands try to taste the Thanksgiving dishes before they debut on the table. Coming together to sit around a table with family and friends is a simple but very powerful way of making a pure human connection we try to recreate all year long.

The act is so powerful, it becomes an act of thanks in itself as we indulge in loving company, conversation, and familiar (and sometimes new) dishes.

It was through this extending of hands and pulling together as a community that on Saturday, November 10th our UMBC family, represented by the Shriver Center, Transportation Services, Off-Campus Student Services/Veteran Services, and alumni, joined forces with Tabrizi’s Restaurant, and a myriad of community partners to serve more than 220 military veterans experiencing homelessness. All came together to share the power of a community meal to value each others’ experiences, stories, and memories. Because in the end, it is not what we share or how we share, but more importantly that we take the time to share with as many at the table as possible.

Turning a meal into a movement

Michael Tabrizi, owner of Tabrizi’s Restaurant and wedding venue in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, understood the power of this exchange year-round from interactions with the vast number of homeless people around his place of business. Thinking about how he could provide the power of a shared meal, three years ago Tabrizi hosted a “Homeless Restaurant Week,” inviting those experiencing homelessness to the restaurant in lieu of hosting traditional restaurant week meals. He then started A Chef’s Table Foundation with an aim of one day opening a restaurant that provides training opportunities for homeless individuals. Last year, he hosted a Thanksgiving meal for military veterans experiencing homelessness. He served 162 veterans with limited transportation.

“All I wanted is to make the homeless people feel some dignity, hope, and believe that there is still much good in the world. The homeless feel forgotten; not acknowledged as a person, a life, a human being, and that is very sad,” said Tabrizi to Food Newsfeed. “I hope this will restore some respect and dignity. I owe that to them.”

When Hannah Schmitz, assistant director of applied learning and community engagement at the Shriver Center, heard about this vision she knew that it was an opportunity to do what the Shriver Center does best – leverage the resources of the university to connect with the community.

“I was speaking with Michael Tabrizi one night while I was at his restaurant and he mentioned these events and that transportation is the greatest barrier for getting people in poverty to come to the dinners. I kicked into work mode and thought about the resources that UMBC has and how we could potentially partner,” says Schmitz. Over the past two years she has volunteered as the event coordinator, managed volunteers, worked with organizations serving military veterans who are homeless, and spearheaded fundraising for gifts and raffle prize donations.

Serving humanity

The call was heard far and wide. Along with other members of the Shriver Center, Daniel Teage ’09, health administration and policy, associate director of transportation services, and Joe Regier, executive director of UMBC transit and community connections, provided UMBC shuttles to transport veterans from various locations. “Many people assume that UMBC Transit is just about buses and shuttles but they are really committed to community engagement and bridging the campus and community through transit,” explains Schmitz.

Antonio Silas, director of off-campus student services/veteran services, was also on board to engage UMBC’s student veterans and students from military families to greet, serve, and dine with the guests. And Winston Zhou ‘19, visual arts, volunteered his talents as a photographer.

“My mom is a retired Marine and my dad and step-dad are both former Marines, as well,” reflects Donnya Stagg ’19, global studies, who volunteered as a server. “Military personnel give up a lot and often don’t get much in return. I wanted to help veterans see how appreciative people are of their sacrifices. Giving my time at the dinner was one small way I could do that.”

Mary Slicher ’73, sociology, executive director and co-founder of Project PLASE (People Lacking Ample Shelter & Employment), was happy to participate in this special Thanksgiving meal. The Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training; The Baltimore Station; and Loch Raven VA Community Living and Rehabilitation Center also participated. Under Armour donated hundreds of clothes, hats, and shoes, making it possible for each guest could choose up to three items.

“There are vets who did not have a great transition out of the military. There are some who did not retire but who did a tour in Iraq but did not finish or finished and did not have the support, resources, and help that we have today,” Donovan S. Garrett ’19, business technology administration; undergraduate assistant for Veterans Student Services and the Adult Learner Network; and six- year active duty Air Force veteran, currently in the reserves., “It was so nice to be able to sit with another vet and have the time to connect and to listen to their experience and reestablish a human element, a bond, build understanding — that is the most important thing about a shared meal.”

Photos by Winston Zhou ‘19 for UMBC Magazine.

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

• Kimberly Moffitt, American Studies, on The Marc Steiner Show
• Thomas Schaller, Political Science, Op-Ed in The Baltimore Sun
• Eric Ford, Shriver Center, Advises Prospective College Students on Paths to Success in College Express
• Preminda Jacob, Visual Arts, Examines Visual Culture and Indian Politics in Scroll

Read more at UMBC Insights!

Everyone needs a place where they can feel safe. When people don’t feel secure, it is harder for them to experience love, belonging, and fulfillment. Enter Safe House of Hope. Founded in 2007 by Denene Yates ‘10, health administration and policy, Safe House of Hope is a place where women exploited through human and sex trafficking can feel safe. Yates feels uniquely connected to the women she now serves. She says she grew up without much love and support, and now, as a mother of seven, she understands the value of having a place of safety. Yates says starting this non-profit has been one of unexpected turns and discoveries – an adventure she never imagined.

She took her first steps on this path when she got involved with You Are Never Alone (YANA), an organization that provided advocacy for women who had been victims of prostitution and sex trafficking. At first, she helped the group manage their budget, but she found herself drawn to YANA’s mission – she wanted to help the women YANA served gain the life-changing opportunities they had so long been denied.

“This is an epidemic, a big money industry,” Yates points out. It’s chilling to consider, but Yates explains that there are currently 27 million slaves worldwide – more than any other time in history – and that last year alone, the human trafficking industry made $33 billion.

Unfortunately, despite its critically needed mission, YANA struggled to support itself as an organization, and was faced with closing its doors. Sad to leave something she felt so passionate about, Yates was determined to keep YANA’s mission alive. After some time spent studying at UMBC, the fire inside was rekindled and the idea for Safe House of Hope was born.

UMBC helped turn her idea into a reality. She worked with her professors to design independent study courses that would allow her to transform the research and work of building an organization into college credit. She also found invaluable resources in the university’s Public Health Department, which emphasized the importance of prevention and improving health care systems. Yates even turned to UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurships and the Shriver Center for guidance and support as she worked through the process of becoming an established 501c3.

“I would not be here today if it weren’t for UMBC’s helpfulness in regards to providing resources, skills, and means to start this organization,” explains Yates. Now, Safe House of Hope is not just established – it’s flourishing. In fact, in 2013, the organization moved to its very own building on Curtis Avenue in Baltimore.

With its own facility and more space, Safe House of Hope has been provided with the opportunity to expand its services. Not only does it maintain its own building, but Safe House of Hope also has an emergency shelter, six beds, a drop-in center, a 24/7 talk line, a street outreach team, host families (families trained to have a client to live with them for a period of time), and a whole faculty of staff who work on community outreach activities such as Zumba, GED classes, and Bible studies. This year, Yates hopes to expand drop-in centers to three other communities with known street prostitution.

Yates considers herself part of a group of abolitionists determined to end modern-day slavery and encourages others to join her in this aim. She always tells her volunteers and those considering joining her team, “with just 10 hours of your time each month, we can change lives.” Not only does Yates believe this, she knows it. She has seen women’s lives altered before her very eyes – they find themselves homes, get jobs, and become self-sufficient. Because Yates knows that change is possible, she won’t stop fighting to make it happen.

While Yates does admit that starting a business – particularly one with work that can be so emotionally demanding – is challenging, it is this belief in the potential for change that pushes her to keep moving forward. It’s common for her clients to feel so stuck they won’t even want to think about tomorrow. But with hope in her eyes and passion in her voice, Yates explains that Safe House of Hope exists to “help people to dream again and to realize those dreams.” And being a part of that, she says, is worth every single second.

– By Jessie Orsburn

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