UMBC’s Interfaith Fellows and Bridge Builders Programs were mentioned in the Interfaith America article, “Working Toward Interfaith Harmony in the US: Advancing Religious Pluralism on College Campuses.” 

In February 2024, UMBC was awarded a $30,000 Advancing Religious Pluralism Grant by Interfaith America to "further interfaith cooperation and learning on campus." UMBC is using the grant to develop two programs: the Interfaith Fellows Program and the Bridge Builders Program, a program co-sponsored with the Center for Social Justice Dialogue.

The article includes descriptions of the two programs: “On the East Coast, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), has developed two bedrock programs that will expand their interfaith offerings. The Interfaith Fellows Program equips students with practical skills and knowledge to help them develop leadership skills and invites them to create programs to shape UMBC’s interfaith community, while Bridge Builders is a cohort-based “difficult dialogue” program that has begun to shift campus conversations around religion and world events and inspired increased collaboration between student organizations on campus.”

Matt Hoffman, director of the new Center for Religion, Spirituality, & Pluralism, serves as team leader for these initiatives. “So far, we have seen tremendous student response to these programs,” Hoffman shares. “Our Interfaith Fellows will be putting on a series of events this semester during Interfaith Week, April 21 through 25, to showcase their learning and personalized approaches to interfaith work. Graduates from the Bridge Builders cohort from the fall are already finding ways to incorporate dialogue work into their engagement on campus, including an upcoming interfaith shabbat event in April. Our second cohort of the Bridge Builders program just launched with eight new students.”

Look for announcement about the Center in the near future.