Living Classrooms Foundation Inc

Living Classrooms Foundation is a nonprofit organization that strengthens communities and inspires 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.  Participation in Living Classrooms’ programs has grown from 100 students in a single program in 1985--building the schooner Lady Maryland -- to now over 40,000 students a year enrolled in diverse programs that take place on Living Classrooms Foundation’s campuses, in schools, in neighborhoods, on fields, and aboard ships. Living Classrooms offers a distinctive competency in experiential learning—literally learning by direct experience, or what the Foundation calls “learning by doing.”