UMB Administration and Finance partners with Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake on this pilot program.
According to the philanthropic Abell Foundation, over 80,000 Baltimore City adults never graduated from high school. This single factor can have a drastic and detrimental impact on their lives and their futures. But a new program launched by Administration and Finance (A&F) is giving University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) employees the opportunity to earn their high school diploma while working full time.
The Baltimore Excel Center is a free high school that allows individuals 21 or older to continue their education, culminating with graduation and a high school diploma. This year, UMB partnered with the Excel Center to provide an opportunity for five A&F employees to continue their education with the goal of earning their high school diploma. What sets UMB’s program apart is allowing a set number of employees to pursue their degree during working hours without any loss of income or benefits.
By offering an individualized, streamlined academic program, Excel students work through the program at their own pace. It typically takes attendees two years to earn their degree, depending on how many credits they already had.
Supporting the Whole Student
The Excel program differs from traditional GED programs in several significant ways. Unlike GED programs that “teach to the test,” Excel students take full classes in subjects like algebra, geometry, biology, English, and art history. But what really separates the Excel program are the wraparound services it provides.
To help students balance the demands of everyday life and earning their diploma, the program “supports the whole student” by providing free academic success coaches, college and career counselors, high-quality instructors, and flexible scheduling. To remove as many potential barriers as possible, the program also offers on-site child care, free parking, reduced-cost transportation to and from school, and, of course, free tuition.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, individuals with a high school diploma earn between $7,000 to $10,000 more than those without a diploma. This can cost those without a diploma over a quarter of a million dollars across their prime working years. What’s more, having a diploma often opens additional career options that wouldn’t otherwise be available. And, of course, it puts many secondary educational opportunities within reach as well.
The genesis of the program began in 2018 when A&F implemented a GED program for employees who hadn’t graduated from high school. Unfortunately, the program couldn’t provide the primary and secondary support that most adults require to fully commit to an audacious educational goal. While the program was well-intentioned, no one ever earned their GED and the program ended in the fog of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In November 2022, Nicole Palmore, MSW, was hired as the first head of the newly formed A&F Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office. At the behest of her supervisor, Dawn M. Rhodes, DBA, chief business and finance officer and senior vice president, Palmore made resurrecting the GED program a priority.
After doing some research, Palmore learned that GED programs can be exceptionally challenging, especially for those who have been out of the classroom for longer periods.
“We wanted to come up with a program that we thought would lead to people actually graduating,” Palmore said. “While the previous program didn’t succeed in its first iteration, what we learned from its demise has been invaluable. We discovered that the opportunity to attend classes was just the first step. What people truly needed was support in all the other areas of their lives, including professionally.”
The question for Palmore became how to create a program that truly creates a life-changing educational experience?
In a moment of serendipity, she read a story in The Baltimore Sun about the Excel Center, a charter high school being launched by Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake. Unlike many other programs, the Excel Center offers participants the opportunity to earn a high school diploma, not a GED.
Palmore reached out to Sherry DeFrancisci, director of the Excel Center. “She was in the process of building the program because it was their inaugural year. I let her know what I was hoping to do," Palmore said. "She was really supportive, and we've been collaborating since before the Excel Center even opened.”
The next challenge was figuring out how it would work.
Palmore took the program to Rhodes, hoping to pitch her on her vision of a more inclusive, whole-life experience. “Dr. Rhodes is big on the A&F Guiding Principles including innovation and discovery and trying to find new ways of doing things," Palmore said. "She said to me, ‘If you can figure out a way to do it, I will support it.’ ”
The first step in figuring out a way was reaching out to UMB’s Human Resource Services to make sure that the program would fit within the guidelines of the University, making sure employees could participate and wouldn’t lose any benefits. She got the go-ahead.
With that hurdle cleared, she next went to Denise Meyer, director of Environmental Services. Getting managerial buy-in was essential, and none more than from Meyers, who oversees the department where most of the potential participants would come from. Her response was simple: She would do whatever she could to support the program. From there, Palmore got the approval of every manager within A&F’s seven divisions.
With everything in place, Palmore pitched the idea on a limited basis. The response was enthusiastically overwhelming, with one woman stopping in the middle of her day to reach out to Rhodes' office to try and secure a spot (she succeeded). Within a few days, the program had five employees signed on and a waiting list established.
“Dr. Rhodes always encourages us to be brave and think big. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Don’t be limited in your thinking. And don’t ever be afraid to bring her a big idea, because she always has the mindset that to effect real change, you need to think big,” Palmore said. “But it must also be said that the five UMB employees — who are part of this pilot program — are taking a great risk, too. Many have been out of school for a long time, many have families, some have small children. As we all know, it’s difficult juggling all of life’s challenges.”
Sending a Message
According to Palmore, the program means a lot to A&F, UMB, and Baltimore as a whole. It sends a message about what’s possible, that the school truly values its employees and is going to find ways to support them and give them professional development opportunities. “But most of all, I think it means the world to the individuals because it allows them to see themselves differently and have this new academic success.”
Palmore said that along the way there have been naysayers, those who said, “ ‘There's no way this will ever happen. Universities don't just give away time like this, no matter how good a cause.’ My response was always ‘Well, at UMB, we do things differently.’ But actually, they were partially right. Most universities don’t do this. UMB is the only institution that we’re aware of that is doing anything like this.”
Palmore added, “For many people, life got in the way of being able to finish high school. It can be overwhelming when everything goes right. But life is full of challenges. Some people can overcome these challenges, but for a 16-year-old who is living in difficult circumstances, it can be all but impossible. Our five employees are undoing what for many was not only outside their control but has become their biggest regret. In signing up to continue their education, they’re creating a new future for themselves, and even their children because many of them had parents who also were not able to graduate from high school.”
Any A&F employee wishing to apply for the program can find additional details here.