Our Mission

The Schaefer Center for Public Policy was established in 1985 with a mission to bring the University of Baltimore’s academic expertise to bear in solving problems faced by government and nonprofit organizations. The center offers the following services: strategic planning, performance measurement, program evaluation and analysis, opinion research, management consulting and management training. It is through the Schaefer Center that the University of Baltimore and the College of Public Affairs meet a central component of the University’s mission of applied research and public service to the Baltimore metropolitan area and to the state of Maryland.

The Schaefer Center is committed to serving its constituency—the public sector in the Maryland region. The values we espouse in our training, consulting, educational and other activities are the values we live by: quality and efficiency. The result of this commitment can be seen in the excellence of our work. Over the past 25 years, the Schaefer Center has received hundreds of grants and contracts from various local, state and federal agencies, as well as from nonprofit organizations. For the past five years, the Center has been home to the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Fellows program, a leadership development program for Maryland nonprofit executive directors, which the Center runs on behalf of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc. The Center was instrumental in the implementation of Maryland’s Managing for Results program. Our team of professionals trained over 4,600 state managers to prepare them and their agencies to participate effectively in the program. The Center provides training for election judges (poll workers) in Baltimore City improving the effectiveness of election administration.

The Center also hosts a variety of conferences and educational programs to advance public administration and public service in Maryland and beyond.