Are you involved in the Entrepreneurship Program at UMBC or do you have an interest in being an Entrepreneur?  If so, you are eligible to apply for the two scholarships offered by the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation! 

These scholarships are for students who demonstrate a strong interest in entrepreneurship and will be awarded for the 2026-2027 academic year.

1. The Joseph and Frieda Faiman Eisenberg/VPC Endowed Scholarship

Provides a $500 scholarship award to need based students interested in becoming an entrepreneur and are associated with the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University.  Students who are interested in careers in video production or broadcasting will be encouraged to apply.

2. The PNC Scholars/Fellows Program

Provides awards up to $2,000 to outstanding UMBC students interested in becoming an entrepreneur. These awards can be used either as an academic scholarship or seed venture funding.

Apply in Scholarship Retriever!  Be sure to submit a complete application-- including a personal statement and your resume!

Applications are DUE BY March 2, 2026!

For more information, go to: Scholarships – Alex. Brown Center For Entrepreneurship and Innovation – UMBC

This week marks the final celebration of Black Disability History! Thank you for all the paws and engagement throughout the month. We hope you continue exploring and learning about these amazing Black disabled inventors, activists, and changemakers—and keep celebrating their legacies long after Black History Month ends.

Spotlight: Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer rose from the Mississippi Delta to become one of the most powerful voices of the civil rights and voting rights movements, and she did so as a disabled Black woman.

Born in 1917 to sharecroppers, Hamer survived polio as a child, leaving her with a permanent limp. In 1961, she was forcibly sterilized without her consent: a racist and ableist practice known as a "Mississippi appendectomy" (a practice used to control the Black population). In 1962, after attending a civil rights meeting, Hamer became determined to fight for Black voting rights. When she attempted to register to vote, she was denied due to an unfair literacy test, harassed by police, and fired from the plantation where she had worked for nearly two decades. The following year, she was arrested in Winona, Mississippi, and brutally beaten in jail for attempting to desegregate a bus station restaurant. The attack left her with permanent kidney damage, vision impairment from a blood clot behind her eye, and worsened leg injuries.

Undeterred, Hamer co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and delivered a historic testimony at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, exposing the violent suppression of Black voters and helping pave the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. She also fought for economic justice, founding the Freedom Farm Cooperative and helping secure housing and resources for Black communities. Long before "intersectionality" was coined, Hamer embodied it — confronting racism, sexism, ableism, and economic injustice simultaneously. 

Sources

• Fannie Lou Hamer | American Experience | Official Site | PBS

• How Fannie Lou Hamer's disability informed her fight for voting rights

• Michals, Debra "Fannie Lou Hamer." National Women's History Museum. 2017. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/fannie-lou-hamer.

• Sterilization of Women of Color: Does "Unforced" Mean "Freely Chosen"? - Ms. Magazine

• Unwanted Sterilization and Eugenics Programs in the United States

This award is supported by an endowment created by Dr. Marilyn Demorest, Professor Emerita of Psychology and former Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, to "support the advancement of all UMBC faculty members in their academic success at UMBC." 

We're looking for a guy that...

Is clean in common areas (laundry, kitchen, etc.)

Not loud past like 11pm-12am (not a huge deal)

No drug use in the apartment

Willing to be a part of a cleaning schedule (nothing crazy)

Pls let me know asap if you're down

Hi everyone!

Hope to see you there!

Free Farmer's Market

Apartment Community Center 2-2:45pm

5 Minutes walk from UMBC Bus stop.

5 Minutes walk to Giants, Dunkin, Liquor store.

Good Morning, Retrievers!

If you are a UMBC student experiencing food insecurity, sign up on our intake sheet to schedule a meeting with our social work intern. Through the Spring 2026 semester, students in need can contact us at retrieveressentials@umbc.edu for more information.

If you find that you require additional resources, don't forget to visit The Essential Space on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday every week from 11am-5:30pm. Even though we are closed on Thursdays, make sure to come visit us at our Free Farmers' Market at The Apartment Community Center on Thursdays from 2pm-2:45pm.

Have a great day!