6 Powerful Stories of Impact from 2018
Sidonia Chikuse, a farmer in Malawi, knows firsthand the challenges faced by a typical farmer: high costs, erratic rainfall from a changing climate, and lack of negotiating power with larger market players.
To address these challenges, Sidonia joined the Clinton Development Initiative’s program focused on income generation through agriculture by creating economic opportunities for farming communities. Through the program, she improved techniques and skills needed to be a successful farmer, and treat farming as a business.
Now that Sidonia feels economically empowered, many others in her village look up to her example. “All because of the guidance I got from the Clinton Foundation. I have money and I know how to budget for it. I am a farmer and a role model to some people in my village,” she said on inspiring others in her community, “When I joined the Clinton Foundation farmers club, my life transformed.” She has reinvested some of her profits into setting up a small convenience store outside her home that sells essential goods to the community. She has installed solar panels and a generator to supply the shop with power, and charges cell phones and other electronic devices for the community to provide her family with additional income. With increased access to the top agricultural resources, Sidonia can provide her family, her community, and herself with the tools they need to write their best life stories.
In 2010, after watching reports of the irreversible damage caused by a catastrophic magnitude seven earthquake in Haiti, William McNulty was ready to mobilize. He rounded up a team of fellow U.S. Marine veterans, firefighters, and doctors to travel to Port-au-Prince to provide much-needed relief.
The success of that mission gave William and his co-founder, Jake Wood, the momentum they needed to form Team Rubicon, an aid organization that enlists veterans to provide humanitarian and disaster relief efforts. Since 2010, Team Rubicon has been on the frontlines of the most heartbreaking disasters across the world. The organization has deployed more than 10,000 veterans to over ten countries, with an initial response time of 24 hours or less.
Will is a Presidential Leadership Scholar (PLS) from the class of 2015, and his family has a long history of serving our country. “When I first began PLS, Team Rubicon was just Team Rubicon USA,” he said. “Team Rubicon Global has now launched in five countries, and I think a little bit of that has to do with what I learned through my experience in the program.” Will has said that the PLS program encouraged him to consider his own leadership potential. He attributes some of his success in advancing Team Rubicon to PLS modules focused on strategic partnerships, vision, and communication.
“Veterans lose three things when they take off the military uniform: purpose, a sense of community, and a sense of identity,” William says. Through his work with Team Rubicon, he has helped provide a strong sense of purpose, community, and identity for those transitioning from the military.
The opioid epidemic is impacting every community across America. Every 12.5 minutes, someone in the United States dies from an opioid-related overdose. If current trends continue, we could lose well over half a million people to opioid addiction over the next 10 years. That’s why in April of 2018, the Clinton Health Matters Initiative (CHMI) launched a program to equip the nation’s faith leaders to effectively address substance use disorders in their communities. CHMI has convened faith leaders for a sustained series of meetings to discuss the impact of substance use disorders on communities and the role that faith leaders can play in the response.
Dr. Basem Hamid is a neurologist and pain specialist as well as a resident scholar at the Islamic Society of Greater Houston and Imam at the Shadow Creek Muslim Community Center. Dr. Hamid has been able to recognize the scope of this epidemic from a medical perspective as a doctor and a religious perspective as an Imam.
Through this program, Dr. Hamid has been mobilized to communicate with community members about this issue using language they understand: “Addiction is not a problem that is limited to one faith community—it crosses all the borders. We have common goals and if we come together, yes, we can make a difference, we can impact people’s lives. This is the essence of each faith—to make a difference in people’s lives, to have an impact on their life, and this is something we were able to achieve by coming together.”
In 2007, President Bill Clinton launched the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) to mobilize a new generation of young leaders on college campuses around the world. Each year, CGI U hosts a meeting where students, university representatives, topic experts, and celebrities come together to discuss and develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges. Throughout the year students develop Commitments to Action: new, specific, and measurable initiatives that address pressing challenges on campus, in local communities, or around the world.
Five years ago, Daquan Oliver came to CGI U with an idea. He wanted to develop an after-school program to provide students in underserved communities with the skills needed to become promising entrepreneurs. “My CGI U commitment derives from a promise I made at the age of 14 — that despite all obstacles, I would become successful, and help children like me become successful as well,” Daquan said of his 2013 Commitment.
Since then, Daquan turned this idea into action to create various entrepreneurial skill-building programs and eventually founded his own nonprofit organization, WeThrive. WeThrive is an organization that provides low-income middle and high school students with entrepreneurial mentorship and training. WeThrive seeks to break the cycle of poverty that starts with low expectations and limited opportunities by giving kids who haven’t had a chance just that: a chance.
“Our students are brimming with promise and we are there to help make their entrepreneurial dreams a reality,” Daquan says. Through his efforts with WeThrive, Daquan is able to pay it forward across his community and provide empowerment and support to the students who need it the most.
Davina Layne knows firsthand the unique challenges that women often face in business settings — from pitching small business ideas to navigating the male-dominated energy sector.
For too long, women have been a critical but underrepresented resource in the international landscape of renewable energy. According to a recent study, women represent only five percent of board executives across the global power and utility sectors. To address this significant gender gap, the Clinton Climate Initiative launched the Women in Renewable Energy (WIRE) Network in 2016. The network provides an online and offline mentorship program for women working in the renewable energy sector. The WIRE Network seeks to connect dozens of women to effective mentors to share career advice, technical expertise, support, and more.
In addition to working full time with both USAID’s Caribbean Clean Energy Program and the Caribbean Tourism Organization, Davina has found ways throughout her career to uplift and empower other women.
Several years ago, Davina co-founded a startup retailing natural chemical-free hair care products with a goal of empowering women in her native Barbados to redefine notions of health and well-being. Building on that experience — as well as a desire to connect with other women business leaders — Davina recently participated in the Caribbean Startup Summit.
Through the WIRE Network, Davina is able to further connect with other women leaders and entrepreneurs, sharing knowledge, opportunities, and support. She recently told Barbados News: “It was a wonderful experience to be surrounded by such talented and inspiring ladies who are leaders in this and related fields. I am even more inspired than before to stay on top of my game.”
Too Small to Fail, the Clinton Foundation’s early childhood initiative, promotes early brain and language development by supporting parents and caregivers with tools to talk, read, and sing with their young children from birth. Today, almost 60 percent of children in the United States start kindergarten unprepared, lagging behind their peers in critical literacy skills.
This year, Too Small to Fail began a partnership with San Francisco General Hospital, to engage doctors, nurses, and staff with our “Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing” campaign, and to help families understand the vital role they play in supporting their children’s early brain development. The idea behind the campaign is simple: Parents should feel motivated to talk, read, and sing to their babies, even if their children can’t yet respond or understand. Our collective goal is to educate parents on the developmental significance of language skills and to provide families with the tools they need to engage with their children.
We have been able to prove, refine, and evaluate the model for how hospitals and clinics across the country can actively address early brain development as a public health issue. And our recent evaluation findings from University of California, San Francisco show that it works: When pediatricians relayed information and tools to parents and caregivers about the vital role they play in their children’s early brain and language development, four out of five — 80 percent — reported talking, reading, and singing more often with their children.
We’re proud to partner with six hospitals and 17 communities across the United States to encourage parents and caregivers to regularly engage in language-rich interactions with their children from birth so that they are better prepared for success — in school and beyond. Our hope is that this type of early intervention that addresses the medical and developmental needs of children becomes the standard of care so that parents and caregivers feel empowered and informed and that every child has the opportunity to live up to his or her full potential.
