Two University of Mary Washington students, Erin Kelly and Courtney Hayes, were recognized at the Clinton Global Initiative University for their involvement with the Two Dollar Challenge, an educational movement started at UMW to help students better understand global poverty.
Kelly, a senior from Mechanicsville, Va., and Hayes, a senior from Leesburg, Va., were among 1,000 students in attendance at the conference held at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Clinton Global Initiative University is a yearly gathering of college students, universities and youth leaders that addresses issues in the areas of education, energy and climate change, global health, human rights and peace, and poverty alleviation. Founded in 2007 by former President Bill Clinton, the university conference is based on the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting. Each participant submits a “commitment to action” in one of the areas.
UMW’s “commitment to action,” was one of 70 selected to be announced at the conference out of 3,000 submitted. The proposal, by the Two Dollar Challenge organization, focused on the initiation of a Poverty Action Conference, of which the Two Dollar Challenge will be a part. Kelly and Hayes presented the Two Dollar Challenge at the Exchange Fair portion of the conference.
The Two Dollar Challenge, started in 2006 as part of UMW professor Shawn Humphrey’s economics class, challenges students to live on $2 a day for five days and four nights to simulate poverty. The challenge also empowers them to make a positive difference, work for policy change and raise money for a specific cause. This year, the project helped fund La Ceiba, a microfinance institution aimed at assisting villagers in Honduras to obtain small business loans.
The Two Dollar Challenge has partners at 16 universities across the country.
For more information about the Two Dollar Challenge, contact Shawn Humphrey at (540) 654-1487 or visit the Two Dollar Challenge Web site at www.twodollarchallenge.org. For more information about the Clinton Global Initiative University, visit www.cgiu.org.