Jessica Posner ’09

Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), a grassroots nonprofit organization directed by Kennedy Odede ’12 and Jessica Posner ’09, has been awarded the 2018 Conrad N. Hilton Foundation's Hilton Humanitarian Prize. Selected by a distinguished panel of independent international jurors, SHOFCO will receive $2 million in unrestricted funding, joining 22 other notable organizations that have received the Hilton Humanitarian Prize over the last two decades. Based in Kibera—one of the largest slums in Africa—SHOFCO was founded by Odede as a teenager in 2004 with 20 cents and a soccer ball. The organization describes its mission as catalyzing large-scale transformation in urban slums…

Wesleyan alumni Jessica Posner '09 and Kennedy Odede '12 appeared on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams on Jan. 17 in a report titled “Couple’s School becomes Lifeline in Kenyan Slum.” Watch the report, hosted by Rock Center Special Correspondent Chelsea Clinton, online here. Posner and Odede are co-founders of Shining Hope for Communities, an organization working to combat gender inequality and extreme poverty in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. In August 2009, Shining Hope for Communities founded The Kibera School for Girls, the first tuition-free school for girls in Kibera. By providing a superior education, daily nourishment, uniforms, and schools supplies all free of…

Six Wesleyan students and one alumna spent part of their summer in Nairobi, Kenya as volunteers in Shining Hope for Communities Summer Institute. The institute brings college undergraduates and recent graduates together with students from the Kibera School for Girls. Institute participants provided tutoring and mentoring during the mornings and helped run a summer camp at the school in the afternoon. The volunteers also worked on other Shining Hope projects, including the Johanna Justin-Jinich Community Clinic, a clean water project, toilet access project, community center, and a garden project.Shining Hope for Communities was founded three years ago by Kennedy Odede ’12…

On Nov. 1, Jessica Posner ’09 met with Wesleyan President Michael Roth and Rob Rosenthal, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, and the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, to share her “Do Something Award.” On July 19, Posner was declared the top world-changer among all Americans under 25 by VH1. She received a trophy and a $100,000 award for Shining Hope for Communities, an organization she co-founded in August 2009 with Kennedy Odede ’12. Shining Hope created the first free school for girls in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum. The award ceremony is featured online here.

Jessica Posner ’09 was declared the top world-changer among all Americans under 25 in the 'Do Something Awards,' at a live broadcast on July 19 from the Hollywood Palladium on VH1. She received $100,000 for Shining Hope for Communities, an organization she co-founded that last August with Kennedy Odede '12 and that created the first free school for girls in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum. A Denver resident, Posner was selected among five finalists by voting on the Internet. She also has started a gardening program, a library, an Internet-ready computer center and introduced ecologically friendly latrines. In August, Shining Hope…

A student-created health care clinic in Kibera, Kenya, named for Johanna Justin-Jinich, receives grant from Newman’s Own Foundation Last year, two students from Wesleyan founded the first tuition-free school for girls in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum, located in Nairobi, Kenya. This year, they’ve teamed with three more Wesleyan students and medical experts to create a health care clinic on the same site. The Johanna Justin-Jinich Memorial Clinic of Kibera will be the first community-driven clinic in Kibera that specializes in women's health. The student-created Shining Hope for Communities non-profit organization will preside over the clinic’s construction and daily operation. Johanna Justin-Jinich…

SHOFCO Recipient of Hilton Humanitarian Prize

Kenyan School, Founded by Posner ’09, Odede ’12, on NBC Rock Center

Students, Alumna Mentor Children in Summer Institute in Kenya

Posner ’09 Brings “Do Something Award” to Wesleyan

Posner ’09 Receives $100,000 “Do Something Award”

Students to Create Health Care Clinic in Kenya Slum