Financing the ideas that embody Tufts' spirit of "active citizenship" can be difficult. But the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), a national conference several Tufts students attended last month, is working to change that.
Hosted by former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea Clinton, CGI U brought together over 1,100 undergraduates from around the world - providing a select group of attendees with large grants for their service projects. All student attendees were selected from a pool of applicants who proposed a "Commitment to Action," a plan addressing a contemporary issue in the international community.
"In the application process you talk about work that you have been doing, and one way that you're going to expand it or advance it in the coming years," senior Jessica Laporte, a 2014 CGI U attendee, said. "So you make a commitment to that action in the application."
In her application, Laporte, an international relations major, wrote about her commitment to fighting cholera in Haiti and asked the CGI U for seed funding, which she received.
While the monetary support is beneficial, the merits associated with attending the conference is what defined the experience for junior MahletMeshesha, who attended CGI U in 2013. She is currently the CGI U campus student representative at Tufts.
"I think that the most beneficial part of [the conference] was definitely the networking," Meshesha said. "And as hard as it is, it's a very intense three days where you want to get to know as many people as possible."
Each year, the conference features speakers who are experts in their field. These distinguished individuals give advice and provide networking opportunities to help students fulfill their Commitments to Action. Recent panel members include Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, former Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), comedic talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley.
"There are a lot of celebrities and renowned ... commitment makers and it's great hearing about their life story and how they got into the work they did," Meshesha said.
"There are special interest groups, so that if you're interested in say the environment or you're interested in educational disparities or health disparities, you can meet up with people from not only the U.S., but across the world who are looking for those things," said Mindy Nierenberg, a faculty member at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and director of the entrepreneurial leadership studies minor.
Joining a wide array of schools nationwide, and hoping to support and mentor student innovators, Tufts recently became a member of the CGI U Network, making it one of 30 schools to do so, according to Nierenberg.
"We are committed to offer $10,000 as our own commitment to CGI U," Nierenberg said. "That funding includes sending some students to the meeting, but it also includes specific funding for the projects themselves."
According to CGI U's website, 50 percent of the university's funding to CGI U goes towards student ideas and projects.
Last year, Meshesha worked with the Tisch College to enroll Tufts as a member school to the CGI U network.
"Students [and universities] who do apply are able to get funding from not only CGI U, but also Tufts," Meshesha said. "So they don't have to pay for the conference if they can't afford to, and flights and food, all of that can be included, which is a great advantage."
Over the years, many Tufts students have attended the conference and successfully enacted their Commitments to Action. One of them was HammadBassam, a Fletcher School graduate who attended CGI U meetings in both 2009 and 2010. His commitment to develop summer camps for Palestinian refugee youth successfully grew into "I Have a Dream," a camp he co-founded, which has reached over 300 Palestinian youth.
In addition to Tufts students reaping the benefits of CGI U, Nierenberg explained how the Tisch College has sought the help of CGI U to complete some of its proposals.
"One of the commitments that was selected by CGI U last year was a group of Tisch Scholars who were planning on addressing educational disparities on the Navajo reservation," she said. "This year, those students did fulfill that commitment. They went during spring break and had a college fair on the reservation. Over 150 youth, plus their family members, attended the college fair. There were 17 different colleges that were attendance."
Students looking to apply do not need to know all the details of their Commitment to Action - they only need a strong idea, Nierenberg said.
"Someone had applied with the idea to have a sexual health program in a high school, but hadn't known what high school to work with," she said. "So you don't have to already have that set to apply."
According to Meshesha, the CGI U meeting is a great forum for student leaders who have an idea and want to make change. The funding provided from the conference then helps turn these ideas into reality.
"Making change is difficult, especially with a lack of funding," Meshesha said. "The idea is the first part, but getting funding, getting the right connections and networking can be very difficult; and CGIU does a really great job at supporting students to make that change."