New executive director takes helm for LPIRG

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on March 24, 2022.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group appoints University of Lethbridge graduate student Sydney Chertoff as their new Executive director. Chertoff has worked with LPIRG since 2020 in various roles and took on the new role earlier this month.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group welcomed Sydney Chertoff as their new Executive Director earlier this month.
LPIRG is a student-funded, student-directed, not-for-profit organization that provides resources to undergraduate students of the University of Lethbridge, to engage with environmental and social justice issues.
Chertoff said LPIRG is funded through a student levy that people can opt out of, and they also work towards getting grants and donations.
She said the LPIRG board of directors consists of seven undergraduate members, and they get voted in, with the newest group elected earlier this month.
“They will start in May and they overlap with our current board to the end of August, so they can show them what’s going on,” said Chertoff.
She said they do consensus-based voting for all of their issues and also have two Community Board members.
As for their projects going on at the moment, Chertoff said they have one called “fresh food box”.
“We’re sourcing food from Fork in the Road Farms and we use a pay-what-you-can model for folks around the city,” said Chertoff.
She said they are doing this to help those who are either not comfortable with leaving their homes due to restriction changes, or who are financially strapped, among other reasons. But they are only able to provide fresh produce in limited quantities to people.
“We’ve done it two months in a row and we have funding for one more month so hopefully we’re looking to expand that eventually,” said Chertoff.
She said that since she has been involved with LPIRG in 2020, they have organized workshops as part of their “building community in crisis” project.
She said she was the coordinator of that project and she had speakers with various expertise to offer a six week workshop. Participants had the opportunity to pay what they could.
“It ranges from educational workshops to on the ground actually engaging with these projects,” said Chertoff.
Chertoff said her new role is one she sees as support to students as well as taking care of the bills and being there for the members of the board.
“When one of the board members, even students in our community or community members come forward, I can be the person that they talk to who brings it to the board and then I help them secure what they want,” said Chertoff.
She said they have a space in the students union building and she wants to make sure students know they are there to help them with their projects and to provide them access to some resources.
Some of those resources involve financial assistance to fund research projects that align with LPIRG standards.
“Anyone in the community can apply for those grants,” said Chertoff.
For more information, to donate or apply for grants visit https://www.lpirg.org/

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