All CLDR Certificate and Master’s students undertake a short-term partnership project in the Introduction to Community Leadership course and a full-semester partnership project Community Leadership Capstone course. A student’s Capstone Course accomplishments are effective barometers of their growth in knowledge, skills, and affective competencies and related achievement of graduate-level proficiency in the program’s learning outcomes. In Spring 2025, four CLDR students undertook the following Capstone Projects, which they describe below in their own words.
Darcie Adams
Assessing UMBC: Restorative Practices & Informal Resolution
The project was completed with community partner Vice President of Institutional Equity Tanyka Barber, and is situated within the ongoing initiative to improve UMBC’s Title IX & civil rights response and to be responsive to the needs and wants of our campus community. It strives to be aware of, sensitive to, and curious about UMBC’s history with Title IX, including (but not limited to) the contexts and histories of: Retriever Courage, the Inclusion Council, Athletics, and the DOJ report. It is a follow-up to independent study conducted during Spring 2024 with Tanyka Barber and Kaleigh Mrowka, which researched the use of restorative practices in higher education for campus sexual misconduct. I interviewed 99 people, including: alumni, undergraduate and graduate students; tenure/tenure-track, teaching, and adjunct faculty; staff from a variety of divisions and of all role levels, and; university leadership. The project culminated in a detailed 32-page report that included qualitative data and quantitative analysis of the information gathered, and a specific set of recommendations for next steps in this work at UMBC.
Michael Berardi
Harboring Wisdom: A Participatory Systems Mapping Approach to Leadership Succession
Over the course of three months, Of People And Land (OPAL) Community Land Trust (CLT) engaged in a living-systems succession inquiry grounded in Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR), systems thinking, and emergent strategy. Thirteen interviews and a participatory Ecocycle Planning workshop surfaced three core needs: 1) Redistribute leadership beyond the executive trio; 2) Capture and share institutional knowledge, and; 3) Rewrite the organization’s public story to invite new advocates, donors, and staff. The final report explores insights, offers systems-informed recommendations, and proposes next steps for a staggered, regenerative transition. The intended impact of this work is multifaceted. First, this project seeks to reflect back insights that emerged from the research process, offering a mirror for OPAL to see its own strengths, tensions, and opportunities. A core aim is to reframe leadership transition as a natural and necessary cycle of growth and transformation. One that, when approached collectively and compassionately, can be a source of renewal rather than anxiety. Additionally, by providing tangible tools and frameworks, the project also aims to encourage OPAL to adopt a strengths-based approach to increase morale, move beyond reliance on specific individuals, and cultivate a more deeply distributed and resilient structure. It’s essential for OPAL to focus on stewarding the succession while also naming and honoring the vital contributions of existing leaders. Ultimately, the goal is not to directly solve OPAL’s succession challenges, but rather to empower their team, inspire deeper reflection, and suggest emergent possibilities and next steps. The long-term aspiration is that this project supports OPAL through its planned transitions while also embedding an even deeper culture of confidence and comfort through change.
Maryam Najafi
A Partnership with the Bamyan Foundation Supporting Persecuted Hazara Communities in Afghanistan as well as the Hazara-American Diaspora in the United States
I chose the Bamyan Foundation as my community partner because, while the foundation has made a significant impact on educational access for Hazara boys and girls in Afghanistan, there are key areas the foundation needs to focus on more to align with its mission and goals. I aspire to see enhanced community engagement, stronger relationships with grassroots leaders, and improved fundraising capacity resulting from greater community trust and involvement. The research findings should provide a roadmap for the foundation to align its work more closely with community needs and leverage community assets more effectively. For the broader Hazara American community, I hope this project will foster greater unity and collaboration among the organizations serving them. By encouraging these organizations to coordinate their efforts based on their specific missions and strengths, the project aims to create a more cohesive support network for both established community members and new arrivals. This collaboration could lead to more efficient resource use and reduced duplication of efforts. Most importantly, I aspire for this project to empower community members by amplifying their voices and creating pathways for meaningful participation in the organizations that serve them. By centering community perspectives and knowledge in the research process and encouraging participatory approaches moving forward, I hope to help shift the dynamic from service delivery to genuine partnership. This shift acknowledges the historical context of Hazara experiences with organizational structures and works to build new models of collective action rooted in trust and shared power.
Laura Hare Nirschl
North Avenue & Hilton Street Business and Community Task Force: Strengthening My Community Partner through Online Marketing Tools
West Baltimore contains many vibrant communities that have all faced numerous social, economic, and environmental challenges over the years. My partner organization, North Avenue & Hilton Street Business and Community Task Force (“Task Force”), seeks to strengthen individual and community sustainability by addressing those issues in their immediate area. I undertook a project to create, personalize, and ensure the continued use of online marketing tools, such as a new logo, website, and social media presence, for my partner organization. These tools will empower the Task Force and the wider community by providing them with the means to widely and effectively promote their initiatives, events, and resources. The first step in creating the marketing tools was to identify the specific needs and objectives of the Task Force. This began by engaging with the executive director, Crystal Parker, in a discussion about the organization’s assets, needs, goals, and vision and the skill sets I could provide.
We determined that the three most important tools that I would focus on creating were: a new logo; a website, a tool that the organization had never had before; and a social media presence (we determined that Facebook would be the most useful for our organization’s population). The online marking tools that I have created will act as one of the starting blocks for improvement and change by providing my partner organization with the platforms and tools necessary to share its stories, showcase its initiatives, and amplify its voice and the voices in its community.