Alum gets into the business of helping people

JULIA PAOLITTO/YH David Lewicki, TC ¹97, brings an unconventional approach to community service in New Haven.

After graduating from Yale two years ago, David Lewicki, TC '97, chose a path that most don't: he decided to work in New Haven. As a student, Lewicki had dedicated much of his time and energy to community and volunteer efforts, forming a strong attachment to New Haven. In 1997, Lewicki and Jonathan Ready, SY '94, founded Urban Solutions, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening urban neighborhoods and finding people jobs.

Lewicki, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, "midwestern Wonderbread" boy from Columbus, Ohio, is a distinctive character and has a unique approach to life. He said that he came to Yale "to improve his cultural literacy." When he got here, he found his home on the lightweight crew team. But he also took an interest in New Haven, contributing to the founding of the Student Athlete Outreach Committee in his sophomore year and spending summers in the Elm City with the National Youth Sport Program.

Lewicki was no typical Yale student. Whereas most Yalies tolerate New Haven for the sake of attending Yale, Lewicki was attracted to Yale because of New Haven. "Here you find things every day that make you uncomfortable," he said. "I like to confront situations that make me uncomfortable, and the city still makes me uncomfortable."

As Operations Director of Urban Solutions, Lewicki's vision for the company is also unusual. The organization employs teenagers and young adults to revitalize local neighborhoods. The program is partially subsidized by grants from organizations like the Echoing Green Foundation, but Lewicki's vision is to develop it into a self-sufficient business. "Why is it only for-profits that get to make all the money?" he questioned. "There are these assumptions that non-profit-type organizations shouldn't make money, we should always be knocking on people's doors begging for money. Nobody questions for-profit companies as long as they're making money."

Lewicki explained the aim of his organization is different. He is an anomaly: he wants to stake out a position for himself as a community activist in the spirit of an aspiring entrepreneur. "We want to make money, we want to be wildly successful, and we want, in doing so, to make substantive changes in the systems that perpetuate poor communities," he said.

His goal in founding and operating Urban Solutions is to question the image of those people and organizations dedicated to community and nonprofit endeavors. "As an organization, we don't want to be a regular non-profit and perpetuate this idea of individuals making remarkable personal sacrifices to those less fortunate," he said. "There's a real inequality in that type of service model. Urban Solutions is not about what I'm doing, what a good person I am."

People working in a community toward social improvement often fit the stereotype of either the volunteers or philanthropists. There is almost an expectation for a volunteer to be a martyr, sacrificing personal success to improve the lot of others. A philanthropist, on the other hand, writes large checks to worthy organizations, safely ensconced behind a mahogany wall of financial stability. Though Lewicki eschews both these models, he seems to be a combination of the two. He emphasized that while the young adults working for Urban Solutions think of him as a boss instead of a benefactor, he said he still feels strongly about living in the neighborhoods he wants to improve. "I would feel like a hypocrite if I were doing the work that I'm doing and living in Guilford," he said.

Lewicki is adamant that his work is not about his own image or motivations, but about encouraging others. He said he would never want his own moral or philosophical commitment to prevent others from doing good work. "I keep meeting students who say `what a great thing' when they find out what I'm doing," he said. "For me it really sucks if that is their first reaction, because I wish what I was doing were more commonplace and not so noteworthy. It's not so easy for bright, talented, compassionate people to make a career in nonprofits--or not as easy as it should be."

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