Association of Community Services

09/19/2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Fall Fest 2025!

It was such a fun evening filled with delicious food, wonderful people, and a true celebration of the Howard County nonprofit community. 💚

One of the highlights of the night was our Vision Tree, where guests shared their vision for the future of our sector and what we need to achieve it. Your voices and ideas help shape a stronger, brighter tomorrow together. 🌳✨

We are so grateful for all who came out to support this event — and stay tuned, more photos will be shared next week! 📸

08/27/2025

Fall Fest 2025 is right around the corner and you won't want to miss it! Join us on Thursday, September 18, for an evening that blends celebration with purpose.

🎟️ Grab your tickets today: https://members.acshoco.org/event-6222422

👉 Can't attend by still want to support? Donate here: https://www.acshoco.org/donate/

🤝 Interested in sponsoring? Click here: https://www.acshoco.org/event-sponsorship/

12/23/2024

Happy holidays from ACS! We will be closed from Wednesday, December 25th through Wednesday, January 1st in observance of the holiday season. We will resume normal office hours on Thursday, January 2nd. From all of us at ACS, we wish you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season and a happy new year. We'll see you in 2025!

12/04/2024

Our training room was abuzz for yesterday's Conversation with our State Delegation! Thank you to Senators Clarence Lam and Guy Guzzone, and Delegates Jessica Feldmark, Pamela Guzzone, Terri Hill, Courtney Watson, and Natalie Ziegler for sharing their insights and answering our audience’s questions. At ACS, we pride ourselves on creating spaces like these for Howard County’s nonprofit community to connect with our elected officials so we can learn from each other and share our priorities. Thank you to all who attended and contributed to this important conversation. We appreciate you all!

If you want to see our scheduled events through the end of the year, please go to our website below. We hope to see you at an ACS event soon!

https://www.acshoco.org/events/acs-events/

12/03/2024

12/03/2024

It's Giving Tuesday and ACS would greatly appreciate your support! Your contribution has an exponential impact because our services and support aim to strengthen our entire local nonprofit sector.

For over 60 years, ACS has worked to connect, strengthen, and advocate for Howard County’s nonprofits, which provide essential services many of our community members rely upon.

Nonprofits and the services they provide are facing threats from federal policy changes and State budget shortfalls, which will challenge nonprofits’ ability to serve our community. To provide the support nonprofits need, ACS needs to do even more in 2025 – more training, more information sharing, more advocacy, more opportunities to build impactful networks and connections.

By donating to ACS today you’re investing in our ability to continue providing the resources that strengthen our local nonprofits’ ability to meet the needs of our county’s residents.

Give a one-time gift to ACS or set up a recurring gift below. And help us spread the word by sharing your support for our Giving Tuesday campaign with your friends and on your social media platforms.

Thank you for helping us to continue supporting and strengthening our vibrant, valued, and effective nonprofit community!

Donate here: https://www.acshoco.org/donate/

11/15/2024

We had a full house at yesterday's Funders Forum and it was incredible to see so many folks gathered together to engage with our panelists. Thank you to Dan Flynn of the Community Foundation, Kenitra Fokwa of the Horizon Foundation, Wally Hernandez of the Kahlert Foundation, Megan Godfrey Jackson of DCRS' Community Service Partnerships, Kim Eisenreich of DCRS' Office of Local Children's Board, and Kim Zanti of the Dept. of Housing and Community Development for sharing a wealth of information with our attendees! And as always, thank you to the dedicated members of our nonprofit community for attending this informative session. We hope you'll join us for our final sessions of the year. You can register here: https://www.acshoco.org/events/acs-events/. See you soon!

11/05/2024

Lois Mikkila, ACS’ executive director, and Debbie Burgio from The Village in Howard were guests on this month’s HoCo Community Chat podcast. Hosted by Director Jackie Scott, Dept of Community Resources & Services, the podcast is an entertaining way for DCRS to engage in conversations and provide topical information on how to live your best life. This month’s discussion was about the role of nonprofits, the challenges they face, and the importance of building connections among organizations to be effective. The full podcast episode can be found here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2199616/episodes/16032717-hoco-community-chat-november-2024-the-value-of-nonprofit-partnerships

Please take a listen and let us know what you think by posting your comments below!

10/23/2024

Wow! We're ecstatic at how many folks joined us for our Results Based Accountability training yesterday. Thank you to all those who attended, and a special thank you to our presenter, Jennifer Duncan of Clear Impact for the wealth of information. Here at ACS, we love providing opportunities like this to our Howard County nonprofit community - stay tuned for the next one, and we hope to see you there!

09/27/2024

Thank you to everyone who attended our event last week, ACS' 60-ONEderful Years! It was a truly ONEderful celebration of our community, the work we do, and the incredible work of Howard County nonprofits over the years. We saw so many familiar faces, met some new friends, and even got a proclamation from the County Executive. September 19th is officially ACS Day and we couldn't be more proud! Thank you to our sponsors, volunteers, vendors, the Columbia Archives, and everyone who made this event happen. We can't wait to see you next year!