From updating Dwight Hall’s fleet of cars with two new electric vehicles to envisioning innovative ways of convening students and community partners in a shared space on campus, the work of Dwight Hall’s operations team is critical to advancing public service and social justice in New Haven and communities nationwide.
Because this work happens behind the scenes, this story aims to shed light on the intentionality, responsiveness, and collaboration at the core of Dwight Hall operations.
The operations team is led by Alexine Casanova, who joined Dwight Hall as Operations Manager in October 2022. In her role, Alexine coordinates the use of Dwight Hall’s fleet of cars, spaces, and equipment; maintains administrative records; and acts as a key liaison between the Board of Directors and Dwight Hall students and staff.
“I often think of our front desk, and of Alexine in particular, as the beating heart of the organization,” said Mark Fopeano, Dwight Hall’s Director of Programming and Evaluation. Working in the main office adjacent to Dwight Hall’s lobby, Alexine is typically the initial point of contact for students and community members interested in Dwight Hall (or confused about what building they just wandered into). She is often the first to listen and respond when students and community partners express their needs.
Equity is central to Alexine’s role and the broader work of Dwight Hall operations. “We want to make sure our resources are shared as equitably as possible across all Dwight Hall groups, programs, and affiliates,” noted Alexine. Fulfilling this core value of equity, she has implemented standardized and organizational processes that have helped revive student engagement to pre-pandemic levels.
The tangible resources offered by Dwight Hall include access to the Hall’s fleet of cars and bus passes, printer and copier, space and storage, equipment rentals, student fellowships and funding, and communications support.
Less concrete–and equally valuable–resources provided by the Hall include staff-led advising and mentorship. “Sometimes the resources are the time, relationships, and thinking that go into making sure students can be set up for success before, during, and after their community-engaged projects,” described Mark.
“Dwight Hall’s increased attention on operations and the provision of resources is meant to expand interactions with staff and others who can offer guidance and support,” affirmed Johnny Scafidi ’01, Dwight Hall’s Director of Community Outreach and Engagement.
“The Hall aims to create an environment where individuals can enter and encounter people who inspire them and share a common purpose,” he continued. “We want Dwight Hall to be a place where you feel you are part of a movement–a collective of individuals and groups working towards social justice–whether they are Yalies or not.”
Cars Remain Fundamental to Student Service
Providing secure and reliable transportation is a core element of ensuring student service is accessible and sustainable, particularly when students are volunteering in locations that are outside of New Haven or where public transportation can take longer than an hour.
The demand for cars continues to grow among Dwight Hall students, institutional programs, and community partners. In the 2024 fiscal year alone, Dwight Hall cars were reserved over 1,080 times by 171 different drivers. Forty-nine unique organizations used the cars and over 36,650 miles were driven.
Given this high level of usage, Dwight Hall took exciting steps to update its fleet of cars in 2023. In line with Yale’s sustainability goals and policies, the Hall elected to replace two older cars with brand-new electric vehicles.
In a bid to further improve driver safety and comfort, Alexine tapped Dwight Hall Programming Fellow Sevi Burget-Foster ’23 to help produce short, instructional videos specific to each vehicle (in addition to the standard driver safety course every registered driver is required to complete). “A lack of familiarity with a car inherently increases risk, so we wanted to put more emphasis on safety and preparation by creating a very easy reference guide for all the basic functions of the car,” explained Alexine.
“I know how stressful it can be driving a new car in an unfamiliar city,” reflected Sevi. “I wanted to take some of that stress off student drivers by developing short introductory reference videos to Dwight Hall cars so they can feel confident hitting the road. Since Alexine knows these cars so well, she came up with a comprehensive checklist we should cover for every car, and I have been filming the videos. A visual guide makes it easier to understand how to open the trunk, manually adjust mirrors, or find the insurance and registration in case of an emergency.”
Students echo sentiments about the necessity of transportation resources. Jason Wang ’26, a member of Dwight Hall student-led member group Yale EMS, shared his experience as a frequent user of Dwight Hall cars:
“The vehicles provided by Dwight Hall have been essential to my role as a volunteer EMT with Echo Hose Ambulance Corps, a local nonprofit ambulance company in Shelton, CT. I volunteer for 12-hour shifts weekly, and the supportive community I have found there has been incredibly rewarding. Given that there are no ambulance companies within the perimeter of New Haven that employ students part-time, this opportunity would not be feasible without the assistance of Dwight Hall. The process of borrowing cars is streamlined and hassle-free, enabling me to schedule my shifts with just a few days’ notice. Dwight Hall’s resources have enhanced my ability to contribute to the community and gain invaluable experience in the field of EMS.”
Feedback like this is critical to ensuring Dwight Hall is responding to the full breadth of students’ transportation needs. With this in mind, Sevi and Ai-Li Hollander ’27, Membership Coordinator on Dwight Hall’s 2024 Student Executive Committee, organized a transportation survey that was completed by 86 Dwight Hall Fellows and member group participants. The survey found that 72% of respondents were engaging in service more than a half mile from campus, underscoring the necessity of providing transportation options for students.
The survey and the discussions that followed also contributed to a direct change in Dwight Hall policy. Given students’ safety concerns regarding commuting at late hours and the high demand placed on Dwight Hall cars during peak hours of activity, the Dwight Hall Student Executive Committee will begin reimbursing students who used ridesharing services like Uber or Lyft to get to and from their service activities when it is explicitly outlined in their transportation plan.
Overall, automobiles remain a signature resource administered by the operations team that is heavily relied upon by the Dwight Hall community. Positive interactions between students who reserve cars and Dwight Hall staff underscore the relational aspect of resource provision. “It is nice to offer something to students that really helps them, especially when they did not expect it or did not know it was going to be available to them,” emphasized Alexine.
Community Partners and Emerging Projects Utilize Resources
Like student organizations, community partners whose missions are aligned with Dwight Hall are encouraged to take advantage of resources like room reservations and communications support. As the primary facilitator of relationships between Dwight Hall and New Haven community leaders, Johnny works with organizations to assess their needs and connect them to in-kind resources at Dwight Hall or the university.
Operational support is often extended to community partners via Dwight Hall’s Emerging Projects program, which allows Dwight Hall to provide more formal support to community initiatives through organizational management, consultations and mentoring, material resources like workspaces and office supplies, and fiscal sponsorship.
Similarly, community partners can apply for funding and operational support through the New Haven Civic Innovation Prize, which is managed by Dwight Hall and awarded by Startup Yale, an annual entrepreneurship conference co-hosted with the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale, Yale Center for Business and the Environment, and InnovateHealth Yale. The Civic Innovation Prize is one of the only Startup Yale prizes that is open to non-student community members, awarding up to $15,000 to the best student-run or community-run effort or project that benefits the city of New Haven.
The resources administered by the operations team allowed the Hall to support even the students and community partners who did not win the Prize in 2024. According to Johnny, “The Prize had over 18 strong applicants, and it was very difficult to narrow it down to four finalists who pitched at the conference and two of whom split the main prize. However, being able to offer [non-monetary] resources to the other 16 projects has been incredibly meaningful.”
Another way that Dwight Hall promotes equity when providing resources to community partners is by offering a fee waiver to organizations or individuals who do not have the resources for the Hall’s room reservation fees. Alexine has worked to ensure the fee waiver process is transparent and effectively advertised to any community partners looking for a space to convene on campus.
Reserving a room in Dwight Hall provides an ideal meeting place for students, alumni, and community members. “We want community partners to feel welcome and encouraged to contact us to use our space,” emphasized Alexine. “We want our building to feel as dynamic as possible and to bring together as many community members and Yale students as we can.”
“I hope people know that whatever you need, Dwight Hall probably has the perfect room for it,” affirmed Sevi. “The Chapel is gorgeous for concerts, the Library is a cozy meeting space, the [Samuel Priest Rose ’77] Social Justice Network Room and the [Educational Network] Room are covered in whiteboards, the [Lovett] Common Room is a great conference area, and the kitchen–despite being small–has a stove, oven, and fridge.”
Beyond planned meetings and gatherings, the operations team is always thinking of new ways to encourage individuals to linger in the Hall, using it as a place to study or to meet new people. “We have worked really hard to make sure our building is accessible to wide audiences,” emphasized Mark. “We pride ourselves on the ability for conversations to happen inside Dwight Hall.”
Student and Community Feedback Improves Operations
Student and community partner feedback is essential to making sure the resources offered by Dwight Hall remain responsive to community needs. The operations and programming teams have implemented formal feedback processes like routine surveys after every car usage and feedback forms like the transportation survey to gather data on user experience. Student-led member groups also fill out a review of their activities and the ways they would like to be supported at the end of every academic year.
At the same time, informal feedback is just as valuable, particularly when it is expressed organically during Dwight Hall panels and networking events that convene both students and community partners. Equitable access to a shared space is critical to laying the foundation for these conversations.
As pointed out by Johnny, who regularly administers or participates in these types of events: “Having an environment where people feel welcomed, included, and like they are equals in the space really enables valuable input. Dwight Hall is one of those rare places where the student, the professor, the community leader, and any other guest can all feel like they have equal participatory value.”
Unaffiliated Groups Gain Access to Resources
Dwight Hall resources will become even more accessible in fall 2024 when the Hall expands its resource eligibility criteria. Traditionally, Dwight Hall resources were only available to groups who had formal affiliations with the Hall. Student organizations that needed concrete support had to formally apply to be a member group and be approved by the Student Executive Committee before they gained access to resources like cars.
However, the Hall is currently expanding the eligibility criteria to include all groups that are engaging in public service and social justice activities on campus or in New Haven even if they are not affiliated with the Hall. Ultimately, Dwight Hall hopes this expansion will inspire more students to get involved with service, advancing its long-term goal of ensuring every Yale student has at least one community-engaged experience while they are in college.
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As the start of the 2024-2025 academic year approaches, Alexine encourages students to communicate their needs and plan member group activities as early in the semester as possible. “I hope students realize that they do not have to figure out everything on their own,” she emphasized. “Please come with your questions, even if they fall outside of the stated resources Dwight Hall offers!”
While working across all pillars of Dwight Hall’s Engage, Grow, and Advance program delivery model, Dwight Hall operations embody the Engage pillar, which helps facilitate trusted partnerships with New Haven neighborhoods, organizations, and agencies through community-engaged service.
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