Inaugural Do Good Campus Fund Recipients Include Big Impact Projects from AGNR Teams.
On April 19, Provost Rice and the Do Good Institute announced the inaugural recipients of UMD’s Do Good Campus Fund awards. As part of a suite of new campuswide investments toward expanding UMD’s impact for public good, the fund awarded more than $450,000 dollars to existing projects from faculty, staff and student groups. With help from the fund, AGNR Terps will build an outdoor play area in a Baltimore neighborhood, combat food insecurity on college campuses and help train African farmers in agricultural production and business strategies.
Collington Square Play Space: Improving Children's Play Space in Broadway East, Baltimore ($25,512)
In 2023, Landscape Architecture students in Professor Byoung-Suk Kweon’s studio class collaborated with residents of an East Baltimore City neighborhood and the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks to reimagine a long-neglected playground. Their designs were aspirational and exciting for both the students and the community. Now, thanks in part to the new Do Good grant, the project aims to build a safe and sustainable new outdoor play center for the Collington Square neighborhood while continuing to give AGNR students a high-impact experiential educational experience.
Food for Thought: Combating Food Insecurity on College Campuses ($49,962)
This Do Good project builds on a decade of work by Terps to establish a hunger-free campus through the campus food pantry, which has served more than 28,800 students, faculty and staff since 2014, and provided experiential work/learning opportunities for students. Under the guidance of Meredith Epstein, a senior lecturer in the Institute of Applied Agriculture, students will be employed to support nutritious food production, emergency food distribution, nutrition education, and communications that spread information about this model to other universities.
Roots Africa: Training Farmers in Intellectual Property Business Strategies ($8,512)
This project was granted to the School of Public Policy to support the non-profit organization Roots Africa, which was founded in AGNR and includes Extension and alumni in its leadership. Established in 2017 as a UMD student club by then AGNR undergraduate student Cedric Nwafor, Roots Africa has expanded to a network of over 600 farmers, training them in agricultural production. Roots Africa students will also soon train farmers on how to increase revenue by building capacity in intellectual property business tools, including trademarks and licensing.
“These Do Good Campus Fund projects are shining examples of how University of Maryland students, faculty and staff are committed to creating solutions for a more equitable, sustainable and resilient world,” said Provost Rice of the inaugural class of recipients. “With awardees representing all 12 colleges and schools, this program is a testament to our campus wide commitment to Do Good.”
