NOTE FROM THE STAFF
At the June gathering of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s Civic Courage Journaling Project, participants discussed their responses to the following prompt:
“With all the divisions in U.S. public life, there are many people who say we need more civility and consensus-building around the issues that affect our lives. Others say some issues are just too urgent for civility and consensus-building. Based on your own experiences and values, how do these perspectives on civility and consensus-building resonate with you?”
What emerged from the conversation was a sense shared among the participants that the most important issues affecting our lives, including structural racism and climate change, require genuine and lasting shifts in people’s outlooks, relationships, and practices. Quick wins for tenuous majorities are not sufficient, because they can be reversed all too easily. For the participants, civility and consensus-building are important not so much for their own sake but as components of organizing and advocacy processes that could achieve and support significant changes for a more just and sustainable world in the long run.
The participants’ orientation to long-term societal transformation hinges on their having agency: the belief that real change is possible, and that they can work with other people to make it happen. Individual and collective agency is one of the most important themes in all of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s initiatives. As we begin the 2021-2022 academic year and many members of the UMBC community return to campus, we are looking forward to working in new and familiar ways to support and strengthen the agency experienced by everyone directly and indirectly touched by our programs and initiatives. We hope to see you soon, safely and in person.
Best,
David Hoffman, Romy Hübler, Markya Reed, and Tess McRae
Center for Democracy and Civic Life Staff
FEATURED NEWS
Markya Reed Joins Center for Democracy and Civic Life Staff
On July 1st, Markya Reed ‘18; M.A. ‘23, Applied Sociology, joined the Center for Democracy and Civic Life as a Graduate Assistant. She will support the Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s immersive experiences, workshops, and programs. She will also be a Fellow in the Shriver Center Peaceworker Program. Markya hopes to foster opportunities for cross-sector collaboration and create environments which allow all members of the UMBC community to come together and create positive change both on and off campus.
As an undergraduate student, Markya participated in and facilitated Alternative Spring Break (ASB) programs related to disability rights, food security, and homelessness in Baltimore City from 2014 to 2017; participated in the STRiVE leadership for social impact retreat in Summer 2014; and served as a STRiVE Coach from 2015 to 2018. She also served as a Senator and Vice President of UMBC’s Student Government Association. She graduated from UMBC with a B.A. in Psychology. Over the past few years, Markya has worked with immigrant youth in Baltimore City through various nonprofits and has served as a Youth Development Promoter with Peace Corps — Costa Rica. During her service, she discovered a passion for writing and spends her free time writing screenplays for small film festivals.
The rest of the team is grateful and excited that Markya has joined us. Please join us in welcoming her (back). You can reach her at markya1@umbc.edu.
2021 Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Meeting
A delegation of 31 UMBC students, faculty, and staff participated in the 2021 Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (CLDE) Meeting — an annual gathering hosted by the American Democracy Project (ADP) and NASPA — from June 3rd-5th and 9th-11th. Members of the UMBC delegation met as a team to prepare for the conference, participated in conference sessions, and led two sessions.
On June 4th, Faith Davis, Samantha Fries, Fariha Khalid, and Erin Kosloski facilitated Improving Basic Needs Access on College Campuses, in which they presented findings of a community-based participatory research project on food and housing insecurity among UMBC students.
On June 9th, David Hoffman and Romy Hübler, with colleagues Craig Berger (Kent State University) and Melissa Baker-Boosamra (Grand Valley State University), facilitated Together Beyond: Tools for Our Collective Civic Empowerment, a workshop in which participants explored concepts and practices that can help build solidarity and a sense of collective empowerment within campus communities. Breakout room facilitators included Jeff Cullen, Candace Dodson-Reed, Amelia Meman, and Tess McRae along with members of the Kent State University and Grand Valley State University delegations. ADP’s June Newsletter highlighted this session as one that had excited CLDE Meeting participants.
“This session gave me great insights into key challenges and components of being a facilitator and provided me a first-hand look of how to be a successful facilitator. Moreover, the document provided is a great way to evaluate my civic courage and examine areas for improvement." — Together Beyond: Tools for Our Collective Civic Empowerment participant
In addition, in his role as Chair of the ADP Steering Committee, David Hoffman led an activity and conversation among ADP members about the features of the thriving democracy they aspire to enact and support through their work. The discussion built on the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (CLDE) Theory of Change, a collection of insights around which the CLDE meeting has been organized for five years. David and Romy Hübler are members of the core team that has developed the CLDE Theory of Change, and have been designated as ADP Civic Fellows in recognition of their leadership roles.
After the conclusion of CLDE 2021, members of the delegation reflected on their experiences and shared ideas about how to continue to deepen and extend UMBC’s civic initiatives. Their conversation focused on this analysis of perspectives shared at the CLDE meeting prepared by David, Romy, and Tess.
Co-Creating UMBC from Day One
The Center for Democracy and Civic Life worked with Undergraduate Admissions and Orientation and the Honors College to welcome nearly 200 incoming Honors College and Scholars Program students to UMBC during their Honors Orientation from June 7th-11th.
At Make UMBC Yours on June 8th, Center for Democracy and Civic Life staff, along with SGA Executive Vice President Ekta Daryani and Orientation Peer Advisors James Bieri and Sonia Jarral, helped participants think of UMBC as a community that is created by all of its members, including new students. Participants explored how to not only experience UMBC but to contribute to and shape it in ways that align with their hopes and values.
At Life Maps on June 8th, Honors College staff Jodi Kelber-Kaye and Julie Oakes and Orientation Peer Advisor C. Lai led students through an activity in which they shared stories about formative moments in their lives, and oriented them to the idea that their stories — and their whole selves — matter at UMBC.
At Co-Create UMBC on June 11th, incoming students watched the Co-Create UMBC Tour, which highlights features of UMBC created entirely or partly by students as well as resources for student co-creators, and participated in facilitated conversations about opportunities to enact their own aspirations. Center for Democracy and Civic Life staff facilitated the session along with Brianna Malbon, C. Lai, Caleb Ruck, Dominique Henriques Melo, Ezekiel Ajayi, Logan Lineburg, Mehrshad Fahim Devin, Mokeira Nyakoe, Rehman Liaqat, Wendy Zhang, Ekta Daryani, James Bieri, Kayla Massey, and Sonia Jarral.
Mutual Flourishing
A feature in the Spring 2021 edition of UMBC Magazine describes the history and philosophy behind UMBC initiatives that build thriving relationships with communities beyond the campus, including work by the Shriver Center and the Center for Democracy and Civic Life.
“We are constantly making and co-creating UMBC. Students are not just customers floating through to get a degree, but we all have responsibility for our own community. And if we want to co-create our space, there are skills, knowledge, and dispositions that we need that are pretty much the same as what we need when we work with communities elsewhere.” — Romy Hübler
Click here to read the article.
Illustration by Rebecca Bradley.
RETRIEVER TALES
At the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, we believe that stories are everything. We’re speaking with members of the UMBC community about their stories: what brought them to UMBC, what it means to them to be here, and what they hope for the UMBC community. Each month, we’ll be releasing new episodes of the Retriever Tales podcast in this newsletter.
What experiences come to your mind as you listen to these stories? Let us know at civiclife@umbc.edu.
Jodi Kelber-Kaye, Associate Director of the Honors College, shares how UMBC’s collaborative culture has empowered her over the last two decades.
Tess McRae ‘22, Senior Intern for Civic Design and Engagement with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life (and new host of Retriever Tales), tells the story of experiences that have instilled her with a sense of agency.
Tirzah Khan ‘21, former ConnectionCorps Intern with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life (and founding host of Retriever Tales), describes the lessons she has learned by embracing her role and impact in shaping the UMBC community.
UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES & VIRTUAL PROGRAMS
Civic Courage Journaling Project Gathering
Friday, July 30, 2021 ∙ 3:15 - 4:45 p.m.
The Civic Courage Journaling Project creates opportunities for individual reflection and group conversations about personal experiences that have important, often hidden civic dimensions. Civic Courage, identified by the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (CLDE) Theory of Change as one of the capacities necessary for active and engaged citizenship, encompasses the ability to take risks, work through tension, be patient in the face of challenges, stay open and engaged, take responsibility for the foreseeable consequences of one’s actions, face changes bravely, and act in accordance with one’s core values and beliefs.
UMBC student, faculty, staff, and alumni journal bearers respond to prompts from the Center for Democracy and Civic Life by creating entries in their journals. We share the prompt via email and our myUMBC page during the week of each gathering. If you’d like to be involved with the Civic Courage Journaling Project, send us an email: civiclife@umbc.edu.
To contact the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, email civiclife@umbc.edu.