More Than a Space
Students experiencing food insecurity, housing instability, financial hardship, or other challenges often have to navigate multiple offices, systems, and resources while already managing the demands of college.
The new Thrive Center is being designed to make that experience different.
Our goal is to create a place where students can walk through one door and find compassionate support, practical resources, opportunities to build essential life skills, and people committed to helping them determine their next step.
The space will allow us to move beyond responding to individual crises and further develop a comprehensive approach that combines immediate support, prevention, education, skill-building, and pathways toward long-term stability.
Designed to Welcome
The Thrive Center experience begins before students walk through our doors. A bold hallway mural and distinctive entrance will create a welcoming, highly visible presence in the South Campus Dining Building -- introducing students to the Thrive Center and the areas of support they can find inside. The design reflects our goal of creating a space that feels approachable and unmistakably student-centered, where seeking support is a normal part of the college experience.
What Students Will Find Here
A Welcoming Place to Start
Students will have a comfortable and welcoming point of entry where they can ask questions, learn about available resources, and connect with the right support without having to know which office or program they need first.
Private, Dignified Support
Dedicated consultation spaces will allow students to meet privately with Thrive Center staff about food access, housing stability, financial challenges, emergency needs, and other circumstances affecting their well-being and ability to remain enrolled.
The Testudo Grab & Go Pantry
A new Grab & Go Pantry will provide convenient access to ready-to-eat food and essential items directly within the Thrive Center, complementing the services of the UMD Campus Pantry and helping students address immediate needs while connecting with additional support.
Financial Wellness & Essential Life Skills
The Thrive Center team will continue to provide practical, engaging programs designed to help students build the skills, knowledge, and confidence to thrive during college and beyond.
Connections to Campus and Community Resources
Through partnerships across UMD and beyond, students will be able to connect with services and expertise in areas such as public benefits, housing, financial aid, mental health and well-being, career development, and community resources.
A Place to Be & Belong
The Thrive Center will be a welcoming place for students to simply be -- to study, recharge, connect with others, or spend time in a space where they feel comfortable and belong.
Designed Around the Student Experience
Every part of the new Thrive Center is being planned with students in mind. The space brings together individualized support, access to essential resources, educational opportunities, and community -- making it easier for students to connect with what they need in one place.
- Welcome & Community Space
A welcoming reception area with flexible, mobile furniture will give students space to check in for services, meet with others, study, recharge, or simply spend time in the Thrive Center. - Conference & Partner Flex Space
A flexible conference and meeting space will support small-group meetings and scheduled drop-in hours with campus and community partners -- bringing more resources directly to students. - Private Staff Offices
Dedicated offices for Thrive Center staff will provide private, confidential spaces for individualized support related to food and housing security, financial wellness, emergency needs, first-generation student success, and other challenges. - Testudo Grab & Go Pantry
An in-center pantry will provide convenient access to ready-to-eat food and essential items, including refrigerated options. A microwave will allow students to heat meals on site, making the space useful for both immediate food access and everyday student needs.
What This Space Makes Possible
One place. More connections. Fewer barriers.
A dedicated Thrive Center will allow us to create a more coordinated experience for students while expanding what essential-needs support can look like at UMD.
In this space, we envision:
- A stronger sense of belonging. Creating a place where asking for help is normalized and every student is treated with dignity and respect.
- Earlier intervention. Helping students connect with resources before a challenge becomes a crisis.
- Coordinated support. Bringing services and partners closer together so students spend less time navigating systems and more time moving forward.
- Immediate access to essentials. Providing food and other necessities when students need them.
- Greater financial capability. Helping students build knowledge and confidence to make informed financial decisions during college and beyond.
- Housing stability. Connecting students experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity with individualized support, emergency options, and longer-term resources.
- Preparation for life beyond college. Expanding opportunities that connect essential-needs security with career readiness, workforce development, and economic mobility.
Our vision is not simply to help students get through a difficult moment. It is to help students build the stability, knowledge, resources, and confidence to thrive at UMD and beyond.
Help Build What's Next
The physical space creates the foundation. What happens inside it will depend on the community we build around it.
Much of the Thrive Center's work -- including direct student assistance and emerging programs -- is made possible through philanthropic support. Donors and partners have the opportunity to help transform the new Center from a physical space into a dynamic hub where students can access essentials, receive individualized support, develop practical skills, and build pathways toward greater stability and economic mobility.
A gift to the Thrive Center is an investment in students -- and in their ability to remain enrolled, continue making progress toward their degrees, and pursue what comes next.
Opportunities to Make an Impact
Stock the Testudo Grab & Go Pantry
Help provide food and other essential items that students can access when they need them.
Provide Housing Continuity
Help students experiencing homelessness maintain safe and stable housing.
Equip the Thrive Center
Support furnishings, technology, supplies, and other resources that make the Center welcoming, functional, and responsive to student needs.
Invest in Our Programs
Expand coaching, workshops, and educational resources that help students build financial knowledge, skills, and confidence.
Support Students Where the Need Is Greatest
Flexible gifts allow the Thrive Center to respond to emerging student needs and invest resources where they can make the greatest immediate impact.
Partner with Us
Every student arrives at Maryland with goals for what comes next. But pursuing those goals is extraordinarily difficult when basic necessities such as food, safe housing, and financial stability are uncertain.
Together, we can create a place that helps remove those barriers.
Help us build a Thrive Center where students can find what they need today -- and build the skills, stability, and confidence they need for tomorrow.