SLS-7d2.1 Internship at University of Maryland

The University of Maryland has a long history, vast experience and strong organisation in service-learning and leadership education.  In 1993 President Bill Clinton visited the Stamp Student Union at the University of Maryland to launch the Summer of Service program that was the prototype for AmeriCorps, the domestic USA version of the Peace Corps.  In 1995, UMD began its America Reads program as one of the 20 pilot programs in USA.  In 2005, Community Service-Learning merged with Leadership, forming Leadership and Community Service-Learning (LCSL) Office.  In 2009, 2010, UMD was recognized by inclusion in the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.  Dr. Barbara Jacoby, Faculty Associate for Leadership and Community Service-Learning at the University of Maryland, is a pioneer in SL in USA and author of several books on SL. She was a member of the Advisory Committee on SL of PolyU.  With her help, PolyU had successfully sent one student for SL exchange at UMD in 2016.

By 2016, PolyU have already collaborated with the LCSL Office at the University of Maryland (UMD) in a number of projects, including the Global Virtual Classroom, the joint service-learning project in Rwanda, and the planning for the then upcoming joint project in Cambodia in summer 2017.  Having developed mutual understanding and respect through successful collaboration, OSL at PolyU and LCSL at UMD were able to jointly develop an internship program for a small team of 4 students from PolyU for summer 2018.  The program includes getting to know the University of Maryland, and Washington, DC, panel discussion on homelessness, study at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, reflection on leadership, etc.   The students participate in the program “A Wider Circle”, in which each of the students are assigned a topic to research on, such as US poverty compared to other developed nations, racism and poverty, mass incarceration and poverty, and unique approaches to addressing poverty by NGOs. 

The students were assigned to a number of community organisations including community kitchens, etc., in and around Washington, D.C., the capital city of USA. The three branches of the US federal government are located in the district: Congress, the President and the Supreme Court.  The city hosts 177 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organisations, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.  Yet a third of the residents in 2007 are functionally illiterate, compared to a national rate of one in five.  In 2017, residents has a personal income per capita of USD50,832, higher than any of the 52 states.  However, 15% of the residents are below the poverty level in 2019.  Part of the city is very affluent, while poverty and crime are concentrated in some areas.