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 online resources for instructors and students.
Month of Microfinance
Month of Microfinance is a coalition of student-led and/or student-
focused groups dedicated to microfinance. Launched by TDC and La Ceiba last spring, Month of Microfinance participants at nearly 50 locations – colleges, universities, and high schools – hold events to raise awareness and funds for domestic and global microfinance and provide educational opportunities for themselves and their communities.
Students Helping Honduras
Shin Fujiyama ’07 traveled to Honduras in 2004 and left with a commitment to the impoverished people of Siete de Abril, especially the children. The next year, Fujiyama led UMW and other Virginia colleges to embrace his mission, which grew into an international nonprofit aid organization with campus chapters across the United States. In 2011, Fujiyama, a 2009 CNN Hero, and community leaders in Honduras launched the Central American Children’s Institute (CECI) to run and staff the programs in Honduras. SHH chapters continue to raise funds for the programs. Shawn Humphrey served on the board of SHH and now serves on the board of CECI.
2012 Poverty Action Conference • Oct. 5-6 at UMW
Humphrey and his students held the first annual Poverty Action Conference in spring 2009. It gives students the chance to be together and share their ideas for fighting poverty and promoting economic development. “It’s unique in the sense that it’s an opportunity to present their own work to a panel of experts and get feedback,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey and his students are organizing the 2012 Poverty Action Conference. Keynote speakers will be:
- Yale economist Dean Karlan, author of More Than Good Intentions.
- Saundra Schimmelpfennig, author of the blog Good Intentions Are Not Enough.
- Jonathan C. Lewis, founder of iOnPoverty and Opportunity Collaboration.
Students from across the U.S. are welcome to attend, present their work, and/or learn from peers and experts.