The cornerstone of the Community Campus is the UMB Community Engagement Center (CEC), which opened in 2015 to deepen our relationships with our closest neighbors.

In the past four years, the center has recorded nearly 40,000 visits from men, women, teens, and children who engage with our services and programs. Each visit is a symbolic act of trust. The CEC is where we help our neighbors find jobs, give children a safe place to learn and play, host health and fitness programs, and connect neighbors with resources that help them succeed.

Having outgrown our current 3,000-square-foot space, the CEC will soon move to a 20,000-square-foot historic building on Poppleton Street that is being renovated, where services and activities can be expanded to meet growing community demand. It also will house the UMB Police Athletic/Activities League (PAL), and serve as a home to UMB’s nationally recognized CURE Scholars Program, which prepares West Baltimore middle and high school students for competitive and rewarding research, STEM, and health care careers.

The Community Campus encompasses additional UMB-affiliated programs and buildings. The Graduate Research Innovation District (the Grid), opened in 2017, occupies a portion of the renovated Lion Brothers Building across the street from the new CEC. UMB is one of the building’s anchor tenants, connecting students, employees, entrepreneurs, and neighbors in solving persistent problems of health, equity, and justice. The University of Maryland BioPark is Baltimore’s largest biotechnology cluster. More than 40 biotech companies, research institutes, and clinical facilities share the 14-acre park, while some 1,000 employees actively build the city’s science community and innovation economy.

For more information, please download our Community Engagement Center Brochure.