A Champion for Children: Inspiring the Next Generation of Advocates at UMD

Karabelle Pizzigati

Karabelle Pizzigati

Karabelle Pizzigati spent her life dedicated to improving children’s chances of living healthy, safe and joyful lives. A passionate advocate for America’s most vulnerable and a developmental psychologist by training, Karabelle served as the staff director of the first congressional committee devoted to kids and families, directed advocacy for the Child Welfare League of America, and spent two terms on the Maryland State Board of Education while becoming the president of the National Association of State Boards of Education.

Over the years, Karabelle also became a huge University of Maryland Terps fan. You would often see Karabelle, a Terrapin Club president, and her husband Sam, a labor movement writer and editor, cheering on Maryland’s hoopster women and other Terp teams from their season-ticket seats.

Karabelle passed away in 2015, and Sam knew that he needed to see her life’s work continue—at the University of Maryland. By the next year, he had partnered with the Schools of Public Policy and Public Health to establish the Karabelle Pizzigati Initiative in Advocacy for Children, Youth and Families. This unique program provides students with the theoretical frameworks and tangible skills they need to become informed, effective advocates.

“Karabelle was truly looking forward to being an outrageous old lady, someone who could speak truth to power in a compelling way,” says Sam. “Unfortunately, she was not able to fulfill that future, but the program is doing a wonderful job of training young people to be powerful advocates for kids and families in a way that would make Karabelle proud.”

To support the Initiative, Sam established an endowed fund with a planned gift that included annual contributions from his IRA and a charitable bequest. Over the years the endowment has grown with continued support from the Pizzigati family and generous gifts from friends and colleagues.

Now, nearly eight years later, the Initiative stands set to announce its second cohort of Pizzigati Fellows, a select group of students who get coached and mentored by experts during ten-week paid internships with advocacy organizations that make a difference in the lives of children.

Associate Clinical Professor Brandi Slaughter directs the Karabelle Pizzigati Initiative.

“We would not be where we are were it not for the brave and tireless work of advocates that came before us,” she points out. “We stand on the shoulders of great leaders like Karabelle.”

And the future of the program is shining bright. Slaughter hopes to continue to honor Karabelle’s legacy by expanding the diversity of student fellows and adding a data-driven research component to the Initiative. But, more immediately, the program’s emphasis will be on scaling up.

“The Initiative is heading exactly in the right direction now, with a modest number of students engaged,” Sam adds. “Imagine the impact we could have if these opportunities became available to a wider span of students.”

Karabelle always said she believed a society could be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. The Karabelle Pizzigati Initiative is making sure we have a new generation of champions for the children and families who need help the most.

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