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Fellows in the News, December 2013
Image Courtesy of NBA Math Hoops.
Black Male Achievement Fellows Jessica Johnson ('12), Khalil Fuller ('12), and Kalimah Priforce ('13) are featured on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans' Twitter Chat
Launched by President Obama in July 2012, the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans was formed to identify nationwide efforts that accelerate and improve African American educational opportunities and career outcomes. The initiative encourages discourse around the country's most impactful ideas and ultimately connects learners and practitioners to best-practices that strengthen student achievement. In doing so, the cross-agency effort is helping to build a network that shares ideas that work more fluidly.
In November 2013, to commemorate Education Week, the Initiative began a series of roundtables on Twitter to expand the conversation around educational opportunities and supports that have reared positive outcomes for African Americans. Jessica (The Scholarship Academy), Khalil (NBA Math Hoops), and Kalimah (Qeyno Labs) were each invited to participate in the roundtable to share their experiences as social entrepreneurs with a commitment to education. Each discussed how their unique approaches help broaden pathways to education excellence for African Americans. Review the Twitter conversation here. (December 13, 2013)
Kennedy Odede (Global '10) on CNN.com
Nelson Mandela Saved My Life: "Mandela was, for me and for my continent, more than a person. He is the emblem of progress. He came through poverty and struggle yet did not allow it to embitter him. Instead he seemed emboldened by a sense of urgency." (December 5, 2013)
Bonnie Oliva and Shivani Siroya (Global '11) on PBS.org
How a Money-Tracking Tool is Helping Businesses Grow in India: "Siroya also came to realize that, in any country, a credit score helps you prove your financial reliability. So why not create a standard credit score in India that was comparable to other countries, she thought." (December 3, 2013)
Donnel Baird (BMA '12) on Forbes.com
New Skills On the Block: Green Jobs for Young Black Men: "That’s only part of it. The other mission is to create jobs locally. To that end, Baird partners with sub-contractors conducting audits and doing solar power installation and other construction, but only if they hire low-income people to do the work. He’s been teaming up with Green City Force, a Brooklyn organization which trains young residents of public housing to do energy efficiency evaluations and retrofitting." (December 15, 2013)
Karim Abouelnaga (BMA '13) on Forbes.com
A Social Entrepreneur Tries To Curb Public Schools' 'Summer Slide': "How could he motivate them to stick with it–especially in the face of cutbacks in summer education? What he came up with was the idea of pairing kids with high-achieving students older–but not too much older–than they, people who could serve as mentors." (December 1, 2013)
Ben Cohen (Global '13) on CNN.com
How a Startup from Chile Wants to Bring Water Everywhere: "In the poor, rural area of Chile where TOHL has been testing its prototypes, people in the community were previously getting their water from water trucks where it was treated heavily with chlorine and came in small quantities. The new water source has had a huge impact on the community. The community helps with the labor of installing the pipes, and the clean water improves the health of the area. " (November 22, 2013)
T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison (Global '13) on NationSwell
4 Out of 5 Black Women Are Overweight. This Group Has the Solution—and They Are on the March: "If Tubman could rally the conscience of a nation, maybe her memory could help her spiritual descendants get women off the couch and on the road toward a better life." (December 19, 2013)
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