PBHA Seminar Promotes Non-Profits

Two students from the Kennedy School of Government led a seminar last night on starting non-profit organizations.

The seminar was sponsored by the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) and the Black Student Caucus at the Kennedy School.

"The seminar is part of PBHA's effort to provide information about careers in public service," said Lisa A. Tomlinson '99, president of PBHA.

One of the current missions of the Black Student Caucus is to provide resources for students considering non-profit work, said Patrice E. Ford, the community service liaison for the Black Student Caucus.

The caucus was established to address specific concerns within the black community at the Kennedy School.

Both seminar leaders had successfully started their own non-profit organizations, and discussed the lessons they had learned along the way.

"Be bold. Be creative. Believe in what you're trying to do. Belief is more important than anything," said Dufirstson J. Neree, one of the two seminar leaders.

Neree, who is of Haitian descent, began doing public service in a Haitian community when he was in high school.

Later, Neree established a credit union after noticing the local need to "anchor the community and spark economic growth."

Saru Jayaraman is one of the founders of Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE), a program which works with girls of color in grade schools.

WYSE started as an initiative to educate students in San Fernando Middle School about teen pregnancy. It has since become a nationwide non-profit organization with six sites and will soon be opening a seventh at Harvard.

Jayaraman stressed the importance of eventual self-governance in non-profit organizations.

"Slowly, slowly, slowly we're letting the girls run the entire organization," Jayaraman said.

She also said she believed strongly that people should not start non-profit organizations until they are absolutely sure there is no other similar organization already established.

"In a world of scarce resources, I think people need to be responsible about what they're starting. You don't just go off and do what you want because you think that's how you're going to save the world," Jayaraman said.

She advised that cooperation was a more effective method of service.

"Talented people should think about whether our privilege and energy is better spent starting our own organizations or going and helping a local grass roots community-based organization," she said.

Neree, on the other hand, said he believes in going out and saving the world in one's own way.

"What makes non-profit so special is that each individual has the opportunity to start a program to do exactly what they want to do," Neree said.

Jayaraman and Neree ended the seminar by creating a hypothetical non-profit organization and outlining the procedure for achieving non-profit status.

"It is such a pain. It's long and drawn out. It's only worth it if you believe that there isn't anything similar already out there," Jayaraman said.

The panel was mostly attended by undergraduates already involved in community service and interested in forming their own non-profit organization.

"My highest career goal right now is to start a charity, both non-profit and for-profit, but concretely I'm not sure how to do it," said Dahni-El Y. Giles '99.

Having acknowledged the difficulties of starting a non-profit organization, Jayaraman said she was happy to be given the chance to hold the seminar.

"It's nice to establish a connection between graduate students and undergraduates around important issues," Jayaraman said.