CAMPUS NEWS Katie Jo Flint, a student in the Nonprofit Leadership Program, unloads donated food at the Northlands Rescue Mission in Grand Forks.
Putting Theory to
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SUCCESSFUL UND NONPROFIT PROGRAM LETS STUDENTS RUN IMPORTANT COMMUNITY BENEFITS
ROM DRESSES ARE FOR PROMS, RIGHT? YOU BET! But at the University of North Dakota, these gala gowns also are a valuable teaching tool in the Nonprofit Leadership Program (NLP). Now in its fourth year, the program’s annual Prom Dress Sale encourages students to collaboratively organize, mount and run a community benefit. “It’s a terrific hands-on activity for our students,” said NLP founder and coordinator Heather Helgeson. “It’s all about learning teamwork, leadership skills and connecting with community needs.” As part of their Nonprofit Leadership Student Association (NLSA) co-curricular activities, students have to solicit donations of prom dresses and other formal wear items; collect, sort and store the donations; find a place to conduct the sale; prepare the sale venue; perform all the advertising and marketing tasks to promote the sale; and track and manage both the collection and distribution of the proceeds. It adds up to a big commitment of time, talent and effort. Proceeds from this annual event benefit NLSA and a different area nonprofit organization each year. A portion of this year’s sale proceeds benefitted the BackPack Food Program, now called Kids+, which helps Grand Forks area K-5 students in need, by sending weekly bags of food (six meals, plus snacks) to take home on weekends during the school year.
The Kids+ program, proctored in Grand Forks by the Northlands Rescue Mission, also is supported by NLSA students with annual fund solicitation efforts and food drives. “The Prom Dress Sale and Kids+ are our two core external programs,” Helgeson said. “These are two programs that our students consistently go back to because of their social and community importance. Kids+, for example, has a measurably successful track record and very broad impact.” More than 50 UND students have gone through these programs. “Students find these kinds of learning experiences attractive. They’re not just sitting in classrooms reading theory. This is about direct community involvement,” Helgeson said. “I’m a huge proponent of hands-on learning because I see what it does for students. “Moreover, through participation in these programs, UND is positively visible in the community. and that benefits the whole University, not just our program.”
ABOUT THE UND NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP PROGRAM:
NLP offers both an 18-credit Certificate Program and a 21-credit Minor. This program is accredited by the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (formally American Humanics), a national organization that establishes competencies, and is affiliated with nonprofit leadership programs in colleges and universities. AR — Juan Pedraza, University Relations
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Ἅ lu m n i R e v ie w | Summer 2012