Hello, my name is Kyle Coleman and I am a dual graduate student in the Whitman School of Management and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. I am actively seeking students — of all class levels — to help grow a student-run community partnership club. The club, called The Greater Syracuse Project, connects students with local nonprofits for projects to help the organization and provide the student valuable experience. These are not just volunteering events, but rather, substantive projects that help organizations solve fundamental problems they face, by applying student expertise over an extended period. I have gotten this project off the ground, and now I need help in growing the effort — that’s why I am reaching out.

For some background, last year I was hired as a graduate assistant by the Maxwell School to start an initiative called The Greater Syracuse Project. The idea was that we, as a campus community, could do a better job of applying student talent to the problems faced by Syracuse-area nonprofits. Students could gain valuable work experience, and nonprofits could gain the expertise they desperately need — in other words, both parties could benefit from such a partnership.

Last year, we had some early successes — Newhouse students helped a nonprofit develop a social media plan, and Whitman students helped the CNY food bank with data analytics, among other efforts.   We even helped foster a partnership that could lead a nonprofit to start their own commercial bakery, to support their funding needs.

Now, I need your help. I am graduating in May, and I want this project to continue on. The iSchool was generous enough to build a website for us, the Maxwell School is supportive, my colleagues in the Whitman School have been willing to lend a hand and the nonprofit community knows our name — all of the tools are in place for success. We, as students, can be the catalyst to drive this progress — we just need to get the word out. This will be an entrepreneurial effort, as we will be establishing the structure of the club, and instituting its means of operation for years to come.

I hope that you will join me, hear me out and give this a chance — we have an opportunity to build something great together. If you are interested, please email me at kbcolema@syr.edu.

Thank you,

Kyle Coleman
Dual graduate student in the Whitman School of Management and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs