As a senior researcher for NU’s Institute for Policy Research, Jody Kretzmann helps build communities around the world. On Thursday night he told student volunteers to re-evaluate the way they view the communities they help.

“We need to look at the gifts each person has to offer the community,” Kretzmann said. “Instead we are just interested in how you are deficient. This is a strategy that makes sure you will never succeed.”

Kretzmann illustrated his point by showing the Wisconsin welfare agency’s interview form, which focused on the applicant’s problems.

“People belong to communities when the people around them think they are valuable,” Kretzmann said. “There are whole series of people not considered part of the community. We tell people, ‘You’re too poor,’ or ‘You’re too old.’ One of the leading causes of death among senior citizens is uselessness.”

The role of community service, Kretzmann said, is to “understand marginalized groups as people with something to contribute.”

Kretzmann also urged students to change the role of young people in American culture.

“Young people are too often characterized by their problems,” he said. “It’s important to think of teens as capable of contributing to society.

“Teen-agers are only regarded as useful when they go with their wallets to the mall.”

Oasis, a Northwestern community service group, brought Kretzmann to present volunteer strategies. He urged students to build bridges between Northwestern and other communities.

“As young people, you should explore as many worlds as you can,” Kretzmann said. “You should try to get beyond Northwestern boundaries.”

Students in Oasis said they try to incorporate Kretzmann’s message in their work.

“Oasis emphasizes the relationships with people,” said Meg Rauen, an Oasis member and Education sophomore.

Rauen said volunteer work should be used to strengthen ties between Evanston and NU.

Many of those in attendance were former students in Kretzmann’s class, Intro to Community Development.

“His message deepens the way I think about community work,” said Brian Garfield, a Weinberg freshman. “I think we realize that the old way of doing things didn’t work.”