NSP, Dwight Hall look to coordinate programs

In the year since its founding, National Student Partnerships (NSP) has spread to over 22 campuses nationwide and received a significant amount of national press coverage. But the group's independence from the traditional Yale community service network brought about an awkward relationship last year between NSP and Dwight Hall, the umbrella organization. Brian Kreiter, DC '00, and Kristin Lodal, DC '01, founded NSP to "transition unemployed workers to work," according to their mission statement. The two formed a "think tank" of 30 people and opened their first New Haven office on Crown Street in January, after securing a $50,000 dollar grant from an organization Lodal described as a "small New York foundation." In contrast, most Dwight Hall groups receive small amounts of funds from charity events and through Dwight Hall itself, operating exclusively on the local level.

These ideological differences initially caused some friction between NSP and Dwight Hall, especially after Dwight Hall failed to approve NSP's membership bid. According to David Haskell, SM '00, "When we first went to approach Dwight Hall, they weren't sure about us since we weren't completely clear on our objectives." The fact that NSP had set up a national office in New Haven did not help ease Dwight Hall's concerns. "There was an attitude of trying to do this on our own," Haskell said. "Dwight Hall thought, `Why aren't they working through us?'"

Dwight Hall was also unsure of NSP's actual purpose. "NSP has been covered a lot in the press, but we haven't seen their work," Sabrina Baronberg, BR '01, Dwight Hall's membership coordinator, said. In addition, the group's stated goals seem to overlap with those of other Dwight Hall groups, especially Yale Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Project (YHHAP), an established Yale community service organization. "[NSP] frustrated people here who had been working hard [on community service] for so long," YHAHP co-coordinator Margie Klein, DC '01, said. "YHHAP is a lot more grassroots and NSP seemed more conservative. NSP is composed of beautiful people, and people were joining it because of the glossy image."

A meeting held on Tues., Nov. 16 between NSP's New Haven coordinators, Annie Moyer, CC '01, Haskell, and Dwight Hall's Singh, however, has opened doors for more coordination between the two groups. The NSP representatives approached and met with Singh to try "to make contacts within the New Haven community," according to Singh, who referred the NSP representatives to a number of New Haven contacts. Singh acknowledges that she felt the meeting was "a positive thing." She conceded that NSP provides valuable services to adults—a population that is not given as much attention as others in community service organizations. "There are very few student groups that work with adults," Singh said. "It doesn't have the same sex appeal as working with second graders. It's good to see that the current coordinators are interested."

Moyer and Haskell could not be reached for comment on Tuesday's meeting, but Reiter said,"I heard that the meeting was a great success."

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