<p>Eleven Brown students were selected to attend the Clinton Global Initiative University conference, which took place March 30-April 1, 2012, in Washington, D.C.</p>

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Eleven Brown students were selected to attend the Clinton Global Initiative University conference, which took place March 30-April 1, 2012, in Washington, D.C. The annual meeting brings together students, national youth organizations, topic experts, and celebrities discuss solutions to pressing global issues. Each student who attends must make a Commitment to Action, an initiative to improve a specific community in the world. Below are the projects and organizations that the Brown students will be working on as their Commitments to Action:

    Improving a community somewhere in the world: Seven of the 11 Brown attendees, from left: Leland Lazarus, Marielle Alvino, Saeed Hassan, Mariana Carvalho, Laila Handoo, Khalil Fuller, and Flo Schalliol.
    Improving a community somewhere in the world Seven of the 11 Brown attendees, from left: Leland Lazarus, Marielle Alvino, Saeed Hassan, Mariana Carvalho, Laila Handoo, Khalil Fuller, and Flo Schalliol.
  • Brijesh Patel ’12: WaterWalla, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving access to clean water for people living in India’s urban slums. The group uses a variety of innovations in business, technology, and education to deliver a life-improving products and knowledge to those in need.
  • Fatima Dema ’12: To design and implement educational programs focused on raising awareness and prevention of cardiovascular disease and its associated risk factors in communities throughout Albania.
  • Leland Lazarus ’12: To open a school for the Chinese immigrant population in Panama. Chinese-Panamanians own 60 to 70 percent of all small retail businesses throughout the country, and a school would provide them an opportunity to learn Spanish and Panamanian culture.
  • Khalil Fuller ’14: NBA Math Hoops aims to improve math literacy among urban youth by creating innovative, fun, and effective educational tools that harness the power of the NBA. Their classroom kits provide a supplemental curriculum for middle school students that is centered around a fast-paced basketball board game. They will launch nationally in 500 schools next Fall. NBA Math Hoops is a Big Picture Learning initiative that was born at the MET School in Providence.
  • Lan Mei ’14 and Qian Yin ’14: Strait Talk is a nonpartisan dialogue program that seeks to transform international conflict by connecting young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the United States and empowering them to strive for peace. An annual symposium gives young people the opportunity to develop and implement their own projects to promote peace in the Taiwan Strait region.
  • Florian Schalliol ’14: Parikrma Humanity Foundation is a nonprofit in Bangalore, India, that is redefining education for the poor by focusing on creating an integrated model for education, nutrition, family care, and health care that allows children from the poorest backgrounds to have equal access to the best opportunities in life.
  • Saeed Hassan ’14, Mariana Carvalho ’15, and Laila Handoo ’14: The School Fund is a nonprofit that connects funders around the world with students in the developing world unable to afford school fees. The organization allows people to sponsor a child via the website from 13 countries across the globe, with the goal of bringing transparency and accountability to the sponsor-a-child model.
  • Marielle Alvino ’15: To build a textile center (“maquicentro”) in a Callalli village in the Andean highlands of Peru to help improve women’s technique in hand and machine weaving. These resources will give weavers an advantage to seek a fair price for their products and empower this community through a microfinance system that will give them both the means and knowledge to revitalize the community sustainably.