Service Opportunities for Majors in
BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Community service involves applying your energy, enthusiasm, skills, and desire to make a difference to social issues that concern you. It is an excellent way to gain hands-on experience, enhance job-related skills, explore career options, and make a difference in social issues that concern you and meet real community needs. The following are just a few examples of how you can get involved in service related to the behavioral and the social sciences:

· AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES:
Be a cultural and educational mentor to children; present programs at local schools on African American culture and history; volunteer with African American cultural organizations; visit with people who are elderly in the community to do biographies and oral histories; work with political advocacy organizations that address issues of concern to the African American community; volunteer with a human rights group; get involved with diversity education efforts; run for office or get involved with the Black Student Union or other campus organizing efforts.

· CRIMINAL JUSTICE & CRIMINOLOGY:
Volunteer in jails, detention centers, and half-way houses; mentor youth who are in the criminal justice system or are considered "high risk"; volunteer with victim assistance programs such as rape crisis organizations, support services for children involved in the courts, or with battered women's programs; volunteer with the campus police; volunteer with recently released inmates and help ease their transition to life outside prison.

· GOVERNMENT & POLITICS:
Volunteer with political campaigns; work with lobbying organizations on behalf of issues that concern you; volunteer with political watch groups; help a human rights organization; become an SGA representative; get involved in local government; work with a public interest group; help elderly people and people with disabilities get to their polling places on election day.

· HEARING & SPEECH SCIENCES:
Volunteer as an interpreter for people who are deaf at Maryland or in theaters, museums, historic tours, and schools; lobby with organizations concerned with rights of people who are hearing and speech impaired; teach sign language at schools, shelters, nursing homes, or community agencies; volunteer in speech clinics.

· PSYCHOLOGY:
Volunteer at a crisis hotline; work with children in shelters, day care centers, and schools; work with people who are mentally ill; work with youth in transitional housing; volunteer in substance abuse clinics, hospitals, and prevention centers; lobby on behalf of people who are mentally ill.

· SOCIOLOGY:
Volunteer in shelters, Veterans Administration Hospitals, social service agencies; work with an organization that does social research; visit high schools and encourage careers in social sciences: volunteer in transitional homes for youth; work at a detention center or jail; work with grassroots efforts to encourage communities to be supportive of half-way houses, youth transitional homes, homes for the disabled, and homeless shelters in their neighborhoods.

Amnesty International
Washington, DC (202) 544-0200 ext. 245
Contact: Imelda Tiongson, itiongso@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org
Serves as a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.

Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History
Washington, DC (202) 865-0053
Contact: Barbara Dunn, asalh@earthlink.net
http://www.asalh@earthlink.net
Committed to education, research, and publishing African-American history and culture.

Caring Institute
Washington, DC (202) 547-4273
Contact: Richard Brennan,
rdb@caringinstitute.org
http://www.caringinstitute.org
Honors and promotes the values of caring, integrity, and public service. This institute believes that the solution of most problems is the caring of one human being for another.

Capital Hospice
Beltsville, MD (301) 572 – 2489
Contact: Rick Ransom, rransom@capitalhospice.org
http://www.capitalhospice.org
Provides for the physical and psychological needs of terminally ill patients and their families. We are now a part of the Hospices of the National Capital Region serving VA, DC and PG county with an in-patient facility in Arlington, VA.

Casa of Maryland, Inc.
Silver Spring, MD (301) 431 - 4185 ext 234
Contact: Wondwossen Workalemahu, wworkalemahu@casamd.org
http://casademaryland.org
Helps the latino and low income community of suburban maryland. Provides employment services, english classes, life skills and vocational trainings, health education services, legal services, and food assistance.

Citizenship Education Fund, Inc.
Washington, DC (202) 547-3235
Contact: Cathy Gass/Joe Leonard,
cgass@rainbowpush.org
http://www.rainbowpush.org
Promotes participation in the electoral process through research and education. Facilitates youth involvement in the public policy debate.

Community Crisis Services, Inc.
Hyattsville, MD (301) 864 – 7095
Contact: Tim Jansen, tjansen@communitycrisis.org
http://www.communitycrisis.org
A short term crisis intervention and referral service. Deals with entire range of human issues including suicide, drug abuse, domestic violence, homelessness and child abuse.

DC Employment Justice Center: Workers Rights Clinic
Washington, DC (202) 828-9675 ext. 11
Contact: Carolyn Lesmeister, justice@dcejc.org
http://www.dcejc.org
Provides legal advice and representation to low income workers on employment matters.

DC Street Law Project
Washington, DC (202) 662-9615
Contact: Richard Roe, roe@law.georgetown.edu
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/clinics/dcstreet/index.html
Brings parents and kids together through literacy, reading, singing, communicating, and playing. Helps parents to learn with their kids and practice skills that promote intellectual stimulation.

DC Jail Visitor Services Center
Washington, DC (202) 544-2131
Contact: Betty Gatewood
Assists incarcerated individuals and their families with pretrial defendants in the D.C. superior court.

Division of Parole and Provision: State of Maryland
Frederick, MD (301) 631 - 3060
Contact: John Arney, jarney@dpscs.state.md.us
http://www.dpscs.state.md.us
Protects public safety, reduces financial and social impact of crime, provides useful and effective alternatives to jail, and emphasizes humane and less expensive modalities for the treatment of offenders on parole or probation.

Family and Child Services: Domestic Violence
Baltimore, MD (410) 281 – 1334
Contact: Patricia Thompson, pthompson@fcsmd.org
http://www.fesmd.org
Serves women and children who have been victims of domestic violence and treats men who have battered their wives/girlfriends. Volunteers are needed to help with data entry (knowledge of Database and Access necessary).

Guide
Hyattsville, MD (301) 779-7010 ext. 203
Contact: Scott Birdsong, scottb@guideprogram.org
http://www.guideprogram.org
Provides psychological services and mental health counseling.

Help Center
UM Campus (301) 314-4357
Contact: Shanna Manger
http://www.jointcenter.org
Provides peer-counseling services to students, as well as free pregnancy testing, information and referrals, and walk-in counseling.

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
Washington, DC (202) 789-3500
Contact: Luther Elliot, lelliott@jointcenter.org
Informs the nations public policy debates through research to improve socio-economic status of Black Americans and other minorities.

Junior Achievement of the Nat’l Capital Area
Washington, DC (202) 296-1200
Contact: Sheila Fishlowitz
http://www.myja.org
Offers an economic education program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Law Foundation of Prince George's County
Hyattsville, MD (301) 864-8353
Contact: Neal Conway, Neal_lawfoundation@msn.com
http://www.lawfoundationpg.org
Serves as a telephone referral service providing free legal representation and advice to low-income residents of Prince George’s County.

Montgomery County Department of Corrections and Rehab
Rockville, MD (301) 468 – 4200
Contact: Jane Sachs, jane.sachs@montgomerycountymd.gov
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov
A residential community-based correctional facility providing pre-release services for 150 adult offenders. Provides a structured environment of treatment, work release, and rehabilitation services.

Public Defender Service for DC: Mental Health Division
Washington, DC (202) 645 – 4999
Contact: Carolyn Slenska, cslenska@pdsdc.org
An independent government agency. The seven staff attorneys are appointed by the courts to represent indigent clients facing involuntary civil and/or criminal commitment to St. Elizabeth’s, a large public mental health facility.

The Equal Rights Center
Washington, DC (202) 234 – 3062
Contact: Veralee Liban, vliban@equalrightscenter.org
http://www.equalrightscenter.org
Non-profit civil rights organization that investigates complaints of discrimination in the areas of housing, employment and public housing. Provides education, outreach and civil rights training.

We Care: Adult Services, Inc.
Largo, MD (301) 925-1515
Contact: David Douglas
http://wecareadultservices.com
Services include therapeutic recreational activities, group discussions, trips, social services, personal care, nutritional counseling and more.

Community Service-Learning
1120 Stamp Student Union, University of Maryland, College Park 20742
301-314-CARE—http://www.csl.umd.edu—terpservice@umd.edu

Please Note: Inclusion in Community Service-Learning (CSL) resources is not to be interpreted as an endorsement for any agency or organization listed here. As with any off-campus opportunity, the University is not responsible for any personal injury or loss that might result from your participation. Participants are strongly encouraged to read and implement the Good Questions to Ask and PARE handouts available through CSL. Lastly, be aware of any special requirements or skills necessary to perform the service requested (i.e. construction, carpentry, landscaping) and do not feel compelled to execute tasks which are beyond your capabilities.

8/05