Kirsten Lodal: Living a Life of Purpose and Meaning

When she was a sophomore at Yale, Kirsten founded National Student Partnerships, now named LIFT. LIFT is a growing movement to combat poverty and expand opportunity in the United States. LIFT recruits and trains a diverse corps of students who make a rigorous and sustained commitment to service while in school. LIFT’s student advocates work side-by-side with low-income community members, first helping them address immediate needs (e.g., employment, housing, health care, public benefits, and/or education), then providing comprehensive, long-term support designed to help families break the cycle of poverty. Simultaneously, these student advocates gain the direct exposure, insight, and compassion necessary to be lifelong advocates for systemic change on poverty policy, regardless of the professional path they ultimately pursue. Join us for a conversation about Kirsten’s journey, and about how LIFT has provided meaning and purpose not just to its participant’s lives, but also to Kirsten’s.