Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 9, 2001

Volume 29, Number 18

Yale Club and Dwight Hall team
up to boost volunteerism in city

The Yale Club of New Haven (YCNH) is launching a new partnership with Dwight Hall to provide the club's members with volunteer opportunities in established nonprofit organizations in the city.

Called "The Yale Club at Dwight Hall," the program matches YCNH members with selected local service organizations in the following areas: adult education and literacy; arts, culture and music; disabilities; elderly; environmental issues; health care and awareness; housing, homelessness and hunger; and tutoring.

Dwight Hall, founded in 1886, is the umbrella organization for student volunteerism at Yale, with 70 member student organizations involving approximately 2,500 undergraduates annually in social justice and community service activities. Although primarily an undergraduate organization, Dwight Hall recently broadened its outreach to include Yale graduate students, faculty, staff and Yale alumni. The Yale Club at Dwight Hall is one example of this new outreach initiative.

The YCNH is open to Yale alumni and others -- faculty, staff and local residents -- who have an interest in Yale. Each year, the club gives more than $125,000 in financial aid scholarships to Yale students from New Haven and the surrounding communities, scholarship assistance that helps Yale continue its policy of need-blind admissions for undergraduates. For a $35 annual membership fee, club members not only support these scholarship activities, but may also participate in lectures and other activities sponsored by the club.

"In the recent past, the Yale Club of New Haven has focused its efforts on scholarship fundraising, interviewing prospective Yale undergraduates, and social events," says Edward Cantor, vice president of the YCNH, and co-organizer of The Yale Club at Dwight Hall. "This new program takes our club in a new and challenging direction, by giving our members a chance to 'give back' to the community with commitment -- not capital -- and by making our organization more relevant to New Haven. By partnering with Dwight Hall, Yale's center for undergraduate volunteer activity, we can tap into the strength and success of already established service programs, rather than 'reinventing the wheel.'"

In addition to offering volunteers opportunities to spend time in the community, the Yale Club at Dwight Hall hopes to help undergraduates achieve their own community service goals by drawing on club members' professional experiences and connections in the community. For example, if students wish to find out about the legislative process in Connecticut or the delivery of health services to an urban population, the YCNH already has members who can share their expertise in those areas.

Kathrine Burdick, general secretary of Dwight Hall, adds: "We are tremendously excited to be working with the Yale Club of New Haven to connect local members with rewarding volunteer service opportunities. ... We believe this partnership will enhance and enrich both of our organizations while contributing to the quality of life of our neighbors in New Haven; and we want to make it as easy as possible for YCNH volunteers to connect with the service opportunity of their choice."

In order to match YCNH volunteers with service opportunities, YCNH mailed a brochure and return mail card to all local members in mid-October. Prospective volunteers were asked to fill out the return mail card with their areas of interest and return the card directly to Dwight Hall. Christiana Thomas, a 1999 Divinity School graduate who is Dwight Hall's AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, serves as staff coordinator for The Yale Club at Dwight Hall; there, she assists prospective volunteers in identifying likely opportunities. Since the October mailing, several YCNH volunteers have already been placed with local organizations.

Yale alumni, faculty, staff and local residents interested in finding out more about the Yale Club of New Haven and The Yale Club at Dwight Hall should contact Christiana Thomas at Dwight Hall, (203) 432-9041.

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Campus Notes