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living classrooms

support living classrooms

as they inspire a new generation

Did you know that the Living Classrooms Foundation has managed the Center Dock Marina in Baltimore for 28 years? It's true!

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The program worked so well that Forest City, the Yards' developer, brought them into D.C. to be the manager/operator of the Yards Marina. As part of the program, the marina is used by Living Classrooms' educational and workforce development programs, acting as a job training site for under-served young adults. The Yards Marina is also home to Living Classrooms' historic education vessel and "living classroom," the HalfShell, serving over 3,000 students annually through Living Classrooms' Shipboard Environmental STEM Education Program.

  

 

More information about The Living Classrooms Foundation

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​Living Classrooms Foundation is a regional nonprofit organization serving youth and families in Washington, DC and Baltimore and the surrounding metropolitan areas with innovative hands on education, job-training, and health and wellness programming. Our mission is to strengthen communities and inspire people to achieve their potential through hands-on education and job-training, using urban, natural, and maritime resources as “living classrooms.” The organization was founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1985 with a philosophy based on the concept that students -- especially those in need of extra guidance -- placed in small classes in challenging settings respond to real-world applications of academics and the “work world” far more readily than they do in traditional classrooms. In 2001, Living Classrooms expanded into Washington, DC to meet the needs of some of the National Capital’s most disadvantaged residents.  We place a special emphasis on serving youth and families in poverty, adjudicated youth, and adult ex-offenders.

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We are serving some of DC's most disadvantaged communities, which have suffered from decades of low educational achievement, high poverty, unemployment, crime, and recidivism rates, gang activity, and chronic health problems. Using proven hands-on training methods in our established after-school and supplemental education programs, health and wellness programs, violence prevention and reduction initiatives, clean and green projects, and job training focused on teen and adult ex-offenders, we provide results-oriented programming that helps youth and families remove barriers to success and build a bridge to a successful future. These programs are an effective intervention for poverty, and help create systemic solutions to effect much-needed change in parts of DC, namely Wards 6, 7, and 8, and surrounding Prince George's County.

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