B2G Learning Centers

To reduce education, health and financial disparities by providing digital and technical training to heads of households in public and low-income housing in their neighborhoods, empowering them to create digital and computational learning ecosystems that can uplift their families and communities.

Our mission is

What does B2G mean?

Everyone is Born to grow, but you also have to be........

Brave to grow &

Bold to grow

to be able to learn.

Our program seeks to break cycles of poverty by equipping caregivers with practical technology skills that directly support better employment opportunities, improved access to healthcare, and stronger educational advocacy for their children, creating ripples of transformation across entire families and the broader community.

Through our program, participants build foundational digital skills that translate into real employment opportunities, such as creating and updating resumes, completing online job applications, communicating professionally by email, and using tools like Google Docs and Google Sheets to track budgets, manage household expenses, and be able to organize small side businesses. These skills increase confidence and access to higher quality, more stable work opportunities.

In healthcare, we address a critical but often overlooked barrier, as many essential services now require navigating apps or websites. By learning basic skills such as creating accounts, attaching documents, uploading forms, and scheduling appointments online, participants are better equipped to manage insurance portals, access test results, communicate with providers, and advocate for their families’ health needs.

In education, digital literacy empowers caregivers to more actively support their children by using school portals, communicating with teachers, accessing educational resources, completing online forms, and monitoring academic progress. These skills strengthen family school connections and enable caregivers to better advocate for their children’s learning and future opportunities.

Together, these everyday but powerful digital skills enable caregivers not only to navigate increasingly digital systems, but to gain agency, stability, and confidence, driving long-term change for themselves, their families, and the community as a whole

Meet our team

Nicola Patterson

Director of Advancement and Community Engagement

Undergrad Researcher UMBC, Curriculum Development and Research Collaborator

Diana Luz Ordóñez

Site Manager, Director of Advancement and Community Engagement

Marilyn Iriarte Santa Cruz, PhD

Graduate Researcher UMBC Curriculum Development for Entrepreneurship

Rose Thun & Julie

Graduate Researcher UMBC, Curriculum Development for Cyber Hygiene

Undergraduate Researcher and Curriculum Development for Entrepreneurship

Undergraduate Researcher UMBC Community Engagement

Undergraduate ResearcherUMBC, Initiated Co-designing an Community Heath App

Undergraduate Researcher and assisted with Co-designing the App

Past Collaborators
Co-founders
UMBC Faculty and Students
Founder

UMBC Graduate, HCC and Participatory Design

Associate Professor, Director of the Center for Integrated Research, Teaching and Learning, UMBC

Jamie Garganus, PhD
Individual Collaborators

WORK IN PROGRESS

Shrishti Dewangan

Research Assistant Professor UMBC HCC and Participatory Design