By Daniel Pearson
It can be argued that many people picture the life of a college student as similar to that of Animal House’s carefree, toga-partying fraternity.
Some students may live that life, and it's an easy stereotype for the media to use. But left behind in the sensational stories of keg party riots, binge drinking and fraternity hazing are the students who spend their time trying to make a difference in the lives of local residents.
The National Student Partnerships is one such group, and it really is unique. NSP is an organization run by recent graduates and staffed by volunteer students that helps people with virtually any type of assistance.
If someone needs help finding a job, they’ll scour the want ads. If someone needs a ride to a medical appointment, a student will drive him or her. If it’s someone with a drug problem or a victim of abuse -– neither of which they will take on themselves -– NSP volunteers refer them to the appropriate local rehabilitation center or shelter.
"There are plenty of places where people can find help, but many of them are smaller nonprofits who can’t afford to advertise their services," says Candice Ashton, a 21-year-old Columbia University senior and director of the upper Manhattan NSP office. "Many might not be in the phone book. We help link people in need of assistance with organizations and people who are qualified to help them."
Shaking a stigma
NSP was founded in October 1998 by Yale University undergraduates Kirsten Lodal and Brian Kreiter –- two friends driven by a curiosity about public policy issues. The initial idea was to act quickly for people who come searching for help getting off welfare. Within one year, NSP opened eight offices on university campuses across the country staffed by 340 volunteers –- it now has approximately 1,200 volunteers -- and managed to raise $250,000 from individual gifts and foundation grants.
The organization’s efforts also expanded to help anyone who might need help in almost any circumstance.
The group’s efforts during the last two years are reaching its first major event. NSP is hosting a conference in Washington, D.C., where it is headquartered, that is billed as a leadership and training gathering for community-minded students from around the nation. About 100 student leaders from 29 colleges and universities are expected to attend.
"That way, student leaders can find stellar leaders in their respective communities (who can then train students) to help in our offices," says Cory Sorensen, NSP's national project coordinator.
To observers, the conference is a sort of silent vindication for the group. NSP was branded in an August 5, 1999 article by Chicago Tribune reporter Cornelia Grumman as a group of people raised by affluent families with little or no job experience or training, using their parent’s connections to help people get off Welfare. This is a label the organization continues to battle from time to time.
"Everyone says we’re a bunch of predominantly white people from mostly top-50 universities coming form privileged homes," says Sorensen. "But we realize we are not social workers and don’t have 25 years of experience like (many social workers) do. But we learn from social workers and community leaders how to do this, and we get things done."
That’s the focus of this weekend’s conference. NSP has assembled a group of distinguished speakers –- nonprofit leaders, educators and community leaders –- to learn more about how to establish relationships with existing community service providers, how to spread the word of their efforts through the media, and how to broaden the reach of community service policies, says Sorensen.
National efforts
Since launching 18 months ago, NSP has helped 400 people through a variety of predicaments. In the Bronx, the Fordham University office arranged for clients to receive free psychological counseling services and mentors for their children. In Durham, N.C. through the Duke University office, NSP volunteers taught weekly classes in Internet basics for residents of West End, a predominantly underprivileged neighborhood, from Nov. 1999 to April 2000. In Richmond, Va., through the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University offices, volunteers were able to help a woman who has been convicted of a felony find employment and keep her home.
The list goes on and on, in city after city across the nation, and if NSP’s aspirations become reality another 18 offices will open on campuses across the U.S. The organization tried expanding nationally in the early stages of its development, but quickly realized that was not going to be an easy task.
Lodal and Kreiter took a three-month leave of absence from Yale to learn about what services were needed in their community, which ones were already established, and how to build relationships with those organizations to further NSP’s outreach. Taking three months from college to learn about the community is not a reality for most college students.
"We had a little reality check there," says Sorensen. "It was very eye-opening and we decided we needed to proceed more strategically."
Funds and the Internet
NSP received all of its funding through private grants until last June when the Department of Labor granted the organization $100,000. Its budget now totals about $300,000, says Sorensen. Some of that money is used to recruit students to work for NSP during the summer, when the population on campuses dwindles. Most of it is channeled into training, recruiting and spreading the word about their efforts.
NSP has spent the last year overhauling its Web site and plans to launch a new version at this weekend’s conference. Matt Obernauer, NSP's director of communications for NSP, says the group will use the site to help get its materials to people outside the organization and their respective communities, and as a message board among local offices around the country where NSP volunteers can discuss problems and solution they are tackling or have already found.
"It will also serve as a large employment contact database that can be accessed by volunteers, clients and all of our offices around the nation," says Obernauer.
Rodney Carroll, CEO of the Welfare to Work Partnership and a member of the NSP board of directors, will be speaking at the conference. When he first heard about NSP he was skeptical, but after realizing the students had a tangible plan he decided NSP was a worthwhile cause for promotion on campuses and communities across the nation.
"It’s been energizing working with them – that’s probably the best way to put it," says Carroll. "When I was in college, I remember being involved in a lot of things, and not much that helped anyone else. These are genuine people with real concerns."
Daniel Pearson can be reached at:
danielpearson@mindspring.com
