MPSS Overview

Mission

The Maryland Public Service Scholars (MPSS) programs exist to empower individuals in our state to become impactful leaders in the government and nonprofit sectors. Through dynamic partnerships and programs emphasizing exploration, exposure, experience, and elevation, MPSS equips young leaders with the technical skills, knowledge, and community-centered mindset to drive meaningful, equity-focused change.

Vision

MPSS envisions a future where purpose-driven public service leaders collaboratively drive equity and well-being across Maryland’s diverse communities, creating a thriving state for all.

Program Objectives

  1. Foster clear and inclusive pathways into public service in Maryland, ensuring opportunities are clear and accessible to individuals from all backgrounds.
  2. Equip Maryland’s emergingpublic servants with robust leadership, technical, and interpersonal skills to drive positive change.
  3. Foster an equity-focused and systems-aware mindset among emerging leaders to address systemic disparities in Maryland.
  4. Promote community-centered and cross-sector collaboration for socially responsible public good.
  5. Sustain a connected network of graduates dedicated to impactful public service.

 

Image description: Group of MPSS fellows posing in front of the Baltimore City skyline

Values

  1. RELATIONSHIPS We invest in relationships by showing up for one another, creating authentic connections, and acknowledging our shared humanity.
  2. EQUITY We are committed to structural and narrative change, ensuring our work is culturally responsive and co-created with the communities we serve.
  3. RECIPROCITY We believe that mutual support, appreciation, and openness are essential for individuals and communities to thrive.
  4. AUTHENTICITY We act with integrity, ensuring our work is guided by our core values and informed by evidence of what works.
  5. ACCOUNTABILITY We hold ourselves to a high standard of excellence and take responsibility for the results of our work.
  6. SERVICE We are dedicated to serving the public good, co-creating solutions with our community that put their needs at the forefront and make a tangible, positive difference.

 

Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation 

In 2017, the Shriver Center received funding from the American Association of Colleges and Universities to create a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center. TRHT is a comprehensive, national and community-based process to plan for and bring about transformational and sustainable change, and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism. At its core, TRHT will unearth and jettison the deeply held, and often unconscious, beliefs created by racism – the main one being the belief in a “hierarchy of human value.” 

Through THRT, the Shriver Center is working to become an anti-racist organization, disrupting the historical and present repercussions of racism by:

  1. Working against the impact of systemic inequities and individual prejudices and towards educating ourselves and community stakeholders on combating racial oppression;
  2. Utilizing a meaningful community-engaged framework that is inclusive, person-centered, restorative, and culturally responsible;
  3. Focusing on the human affective and relational work of race equity by creating positive spaces for dialogue, relationship-building, mutual respect, trust, and shared accountability. 

As part of the Shriver Center at UMBC, Maryland Public Service Scholars strives to integrate these principles into its work, both internally and with external stakeholders.

Image description: Bouquet of red, orange, white, and yellow flowers on banquet table, surrounded by hexagonal program logo centerpiece elements. Photo taken at start-of-summer Kickoff event.