Anna Leversee is program manager for social sector leadership at the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact. With more than 10 years of experience in social impact programming, mental health and education, she has worked in numerous local, national and international contexts, including teaching in Medellín, Colombia, and leading educational nonprofit programs in Massachusetts. The Dartmouth sat down with Leversee to discuss her experiences with and approach to social impact, as well as her advice for students interested in pursuing careers in public service.
What initially inspired you to pursue social impact work?
AL: I think that, perhaps like a lot of people, what I ended up doing professionally was a little bit of a path of discovery, as opposed to a childhood dream and passion. I think I went [into] discovering things that gave me energy and did more of that, and that’s really what led me into social impact work.
An early experience I had stuck with me [and] turned into a guide: I took a year off between high school and college, and … [spent] a few months … in Europe by volunteering to teach English. I had a student on his second day in my class use a vocabulary word that we had learned on the first day of class, and it was such a small thing, but it was such an exciting moment to me — that I could be part of somebody learning something they wanted to learn, to go places they wanted to go in their life — so, I sort of followed that.
Having worked in both domestic and international contexts, what did you learn from teaching in places like Uruguay and Colombia, and how do those experiences continue to inform your work in the U.S.?
AL: I think it taught me a lot about the value of relationships and connecting, and that people are people everywhere. I felt really lucky working in those places, that I encountered a lot of people who were really excited to get to know me and honestly, people who thought I was cooler there than I am. So I got a much warmer reception, probably [more] than I deserved, in a lot of cases. I think it taught me that people are people, and it’s great to connect and the value of relationships. I know I made some missteps in my early days of Medellín, which I’m sure I can keep making. I got so attached to doing good work, of having my sessions carefully scheduled and having really good student evaluations, [that] I didn’t pay enough attention to building relationships with my supervisor. I was so focused on successful, high quality work; I didn’t think about that human side of things. So I think this was a teaching moment around just taking the time to connect with people and build relationships, which I think is universal and perhaps was more important.
How do you balance the tension between idealism and practicality when working with complex social issues?
AL: I remember [one moment] when I was working in community mental health. I was in the mental health center doing therapy, and a few days a week I was in a middle school … as a substance use prevention counselor. And I remember … spending a lot of time working with one student who’s just having a really hard time, and honestly, I was feeling pretty frustrated because my responsibility in this role was to serve this whole school of 600 students, and I spent so many hours with this one student who honestly is just not getting there. I remember talking to my supervisor about it, and I think some of those concerns are true … How do you balance those needs? But I remember her saying, there’s just no way to know what the difference he’ll make will be. Who’s to say that that one student won’t become a great healer because of the experience they had, and the impact that they’ll have in the world? It was sort of a reassurance, and [gave me] some trust and faith to tap into that idealism: I do the best work I can, value those moments and trust that that is enough, and that will expand and be meaningful in the world. So dealing with the practicalities and the seeming smallness of what I can control or do or contribute, but having the idealism that it is meaningful to that person, and perhaps to the world by extension.
Many students arrive at Dartmouth wanting to “do good” but are unsure of where to begin. From your perspective as a part of the DCSI, what helps students move from caring deeply about an issue to taking sustainable and truly effective action?
AL: My off-the-cuff answer is just to start somewhere. I think the weight of wanting to do good and the way of thinking [about] what’s sustainable and what’s impactful can be paralyzing for people. So, I think finding some way to start small is a great way to go about that here at Dartmouth, you know, DCSI obviously runs programming through youth education mentoring to get involved, or a number of other programs that we run could help people tap into that. I know there are lots of student organizations in COSO that are doing great work in the community, too.
Secondly, I think mentorship is really valuable. So, just talking to people, whether that’s family members, professors, staff members, friends or sort of professional networking and asking other people about their paths and seeing what resonates with you. I think that mentorship can be really valuable in charting your own course.
What are some of the most challenging aspects of working in social impact, and how do you navigate them?
AL: I think not all parts of social impact work are super measurable, and that can be hard. Even in my work here at Dartmouth, … I want to be a helpful and supportive educator, but it’s hard to know, is it working? Am I doing good work? Is it adding value to students’ experiences? Perhaps especially in places like Dartmouth, where there’s a lot of high accomplishment folks brought up in a graded system where things are really clear, it’s not that clear of what’s good and what’s enough. So, sometimes having that voice, that perfectionist piece of me that really wants to do good work, it can be hard letting go of my ego practically.
I did work as a teacher, then in a nonprofit, and then in community mental health, and very practically, those jobs don't pay very much. I think it’s good to want good things for others in the world and our world in general, but it’s also very fair to want a good, fulfilling, stable life for ourselves. And, in some of those career paths, it’s hard to make enough to feel safe and comfortable in that way. So I think that’s hard, and maybe psychologically, there can be a value system: on the one hand, social impact [is seen as] such great work, but I think there can be a real stigma against teaching, or these other professions of working with people.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
