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

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 will open Kibera’s first accessible community health center.

Read more in the Denver Post and the Hartford Courant.

See also:

• Video: “Shining Hope for Communities: The Kibera School for Girls”
• Video: “A Conversation with Kennedy Odede ’12 and Jessica Posner ’09”
• Shining Hope for Communities website
• The Kibera School for Girls on Facebook
• Project blog written by Jess Posner ’09
• 06459 – Wesleyan’s GOLD alumni: Jessica Posner ’09
• Odede ’12, Posner ’09 Receive Award to Build School in Kenya