The efforts of Shawn Humphrey and his students to fight poverty are earning attention far beyond the University of Mary Washington campus. This spring Humphrey was chosen as one of 30 people to serve as mentor at the three- day Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU), which was held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “I got the opportunity to communicate with some really incredible people,” Humphrey said. Among them were a young woman from Afghanistan and a man from the Maasai tribe in Kenya. “I love the idea of being able to connect with a young person who is doing incredible work,” he said. “You can’t buy that.” CGIU was launched in 2005 by former President Bill Clinton to bring together global leaders and activists to develop and implement solutions for some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as public health, human rights, and poverty. The 2012 session, held for three days in late March, brought together about 1,000 students from around the … [Read more...]

La Ceiba La Ceiba is a collegiate microfinance project that provides financial, social, and educational support to small- business owners in Honduras. Founded by Humphrey and his students, La Ceiba operates on the premise that the path out of poverty begins with bottom-up market-based initiatives that create stable wage-earning employment. La Ceiba partners with the UMW Department of Economics and Students Helping Honduras.   Two Dollar Challenge (TDC) In 2006, Humphrey gave his Principles of Macroeconomics class the challenge to live for one week on only $2 a day, an everyday way of life for many in the world. For his 2008 Economic Development class, the challenge became the “Living on $2 a Day” project to raise seed capital for the La Ceiba microfinance initiative, and it caught on across UMW. Today, the “$2 a Day Challenge” has spread to about 20 campuses. Participants choose a cause, select a partner, set a monetary goal, and live on $2 a day for one week; TDC provides … [Read more...]