John Lindstrom
Westminster College
John "Covell" Lindstrom, class of 2021 at Westminster College, exhibits a strong interest in using innovative efficiency and coalition building strategies to address burnout and inefficiencies in service provision in rural communities, the root cause of which he identifies as limited resources and unacknowledged overlap in missions. Covell sees himself as a bridge-builder, a strategic connector of the resources that already exist in rural Callaway County, and someone with enough distance from each of the nonprofits' missions that he has time and energy to engage in organizing creative opportunities for nonprofits to collaborate and share resources rather than competing in their separate silos. Covell brings with him both an asset-based orientation to community development, as well as a desire for promoting sustainability and viability of service-providers in a small community where funding resources are scarce but human capital is strong. Covell's approach to addressing social issues combines community organizing principles of gathering stakeholders together and listening to their concerns and ideas before taking action, along with more traditional management strategies of working "smarter not harder" when it comes to resource sharing in small communities.
Personal Statement
Working in my small college community, I knew immediately I needed to do something to help. Communities have many nonprofits trying to help the people that they serve, but sometimes fail to realize that another nonprofit near them may have a similar mission or may have resources they can both share. Instead of working together, they compete. Growing up, I learned fast the importance of community and working together as one. I now have worked with United Way and the YMCA to see the importance of community and bringing everyone together for a common goal. My personal goal is to find new and creative ways to bring people together so we can all work towards a greater goal of making our communities a better place. Instead of us working against each other for our own specific missions, coming together and sharing knowledge and resources can help us combat this world of brokenness and make us one community.
