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Learning
Leadership, Contributing Locally
Each January, about two
dozen Smith students in the Phoebe Reese Lewis Leadership
Program (LLP) team with a local organization to study its
business model, determine areas of potential improvement
and make recommendations for more effective operation. In
return, the program participants gain essential real-world
skills in business analysis, leadership and public presentation.
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Excerpted from a
letter sent to the Lewis Leaderhips Program from
the Board of the MANNA Soup Kitchen
January 9, 2008
Dear Lewis Leadership
Program students and representatives:
A
year ago the MANNA Soup Kitchen had the good fortune
to be selected as a case study project for the Smith
College Lewis Leadership Program. We were impressed
by the thorough and thoughtful work the students
did as they engaged with our program and considered
what we could do to improve it. Their final report
presented challenges, suggestions, and guidance that
have had a huge impact on our work during the past
year.
We are pleased to report
that MANNA has accomplished many of the goals we set
a year ago. In the process we overcame some unanticipated
difficulties and took advantage of new opportunities.
Here are a few of the things we have done that can
be attributed directly to the recommendations of our
Smith student consultants:
- Designed
and distributed a new brochure
- Raised
public awareness through press releases,
newspaper features, and media coverage of
our holiday dinners
- Increased
fundraising
- Expanded
the volunteer base by active recruiting and
through holiday dinners
- Increased
salaries and year-end bonus amounts for staff
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There
were many firsts for MANNA in 2007, including participating
in Shelter Sunday, providing holiday dinners for
the community on both Thanksgiving and Christmas
Day, and exhibiting at Smith’s S.O.S. Fair.
We
are still working to accomplish goals related to
expanding our board and improving coordination of
volunteers, but without a doubt in many ways 2007
has been the MANNA’s
best year ever. We are grateful to all of you and to
Smith College for providing the invaluable service
that the Lewis Leadership Program offers small non-profit
community organizations like ours. The program connects
the Smith community to the greater Northampton community
in a meaningful way and offers Smith students real-world
experience that truly can make a difference.
With deep gratitude and
best wishes for 2008 and beyond,
The
Board of The MANNA Soup Kitchen |
In January 2007, 20 students
in the LLP worked with MANNA, the only soup kitchen in Northampton,
which provides meals in St. John’s Episcopal Church
and the Edwards Church in downtown Northampton several times
a week. The students developed a business plan for the soup
kitchen, and made recommendations that led to positive changes
for the organization (see accompanying letter).
Early this year, two dozen students
teamed with MassBike, a statewide organization with a Pioneer
Valley chapter that promotes bicycle riding and safety. The
students worked with the local chapter devising ways to expand
its scope, making its mission more accessible to the public,
and concocting strategies to increase bicycle usage locally.
“We decided to try to
work with a local environmental group to dovetail with Smith’s
efforts to become more ‘green,’” said Alice
Hearst, associate professor of government, who directs the
program. James Lowenthal, associate professor of astronomy,
is the president of the local chapter of MassBike, and helped
with this year’s LLP, said Hearst.
The leadership program requires
students’ participation in two concurrent January sessions.
Students in the program’s second year work with a local
organization.
Since the LLP began its annual
partnership with local agencies six years ago, applications
for participation have steadily increased, said Hearst, and
nearly tripled this year. “I think this program has
one unique feature that attracts students: the opportunity
to put their skills into action," she said.
Past LLP partners include the
Academy of Music; the Northampton Center for the Arts; and
Friends of Children, an advocacy organization in Northampton
for at-risk youth.
Program alumnae attest to the
value of what they’ve gained from their participation
in the LLP. “The skills I learned have really served
me well, as part of an organization, as an aspiring executive,
and as one who tries to lead from among junior staff,” wrote
Trista Kendall ’06 recently, who worked with the Academy
of Music as a participant in the LLP during her senior year.
She now works for Frameline Distribution in San Francisco,
the world’s largest distributor of Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender
films. “Here’s a heartfelt ‘thank you’ for
giving this Smithie the tools to analyze an organization,
articulate what I see in it, and articulate what I’d
like to see.”
Whatever path they may take
after leaving Smith, LLP participants will take valuable
applicable skills into the workforce. “The Lewis Leadership
Program has been a great resource for me,” said Elizabeth
Ratchford ’09, who took part in the program last year
and this year. “This program has taught me so much
about how to work in a team. I can’t say enough about
how important it is to have these sort of leadership programs
for women." |
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