Wednesday, January 16, 2013


President Clinton Hosts Second Annual Health Matters: Activating Wellness in Every Generation Conference

Clinton Health Matters Initiative announces 31 pledges with total investments in disease prevention reaching over $100 million, impacting more than 25 million people across the United States

La Quinta, CA—Today, President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation hosted the second annual Health Matters: Activating Wellness in Every Generation Conference at the La Quinta Resort & Club. The event brought together more than 400 stakeholders from the worlds of health care, public policy, business, education, individual wellness, and sports to identify strategies to promote and improve individual healthy lifestyles in the home, the community, and the workplace.

The Health Matters Conference highlighted some of the 31 pledges with total investments in disease prevention reaching over $100 million, which will impact more than 25 million people across the United States.

Throughout the conference, panels focused on key issues including access to healthy lifestyles, healthy communities, and mental health and addiction. Conference participants included President Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Commissioner Ray Kelly, Jillian Michaels, Senator Christopher Murphy, and Barbra Streisand.

“I am grateful to all of this year’s participants in the Health Matters Conference, especially those who made pledges to improve health and wellness throughout the United States. These pledges of more than $100 million will impact more than 25 million people,” said President Clinton. “I look forward to their implementation.”

Pledges announced today include:

The Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai pledged to create a campaign for awareness, advocacy, prevention, and change. This expands on the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center's leading expertise in women's heart disease treatment research to emphasize and empower women with the information they need to advocate for their own heart health.

BD & Direct Relief International’s Pledge will foster innovative approaches to reduce health disparities in two ways: first, the Pledge will address immediate resource needs related to diabetes through the deployment of medical supplies, and second, the Pledge will contribute towards sustainable change by developing a knowledge-base for future solutions.

The City of Coachella’s Pledge begins with incorporating a Health Element into its General Plan, which will act as the blueprint to plan and implement community wellness capital and programmatic activities needed to support residents’ and city workers' health, well-being, and equity. The Health Element is expected to be adopted by June 2013, and programmatic and capital projects will commence subsequently thereafter for a period of twenty years.

Gary Mendell pledges to create the first national entity devoted to providing a coordinated and comprehensive response to the disease of addiction.

GE pledges to develop a GE-hosted employer summit or similar event to challenge other Fortune 500 corporations to make a commitment to the health of their employees and the communities in which they work. GE will convene national learning laboratories for similar efforts across the country to showcase, replicate, and implement lessons learned in community healthcare transformation efforts.

HumanaVitality® provides 1.6 million people with reputable tools, resources and incentives designed to help them make healthier choices. HumanaVitality pledges to bring the same techniques and education to nearly 812,000 Humana beneficiaries nationwide as of January 1, 2013. The idea: lay out a customized, supported path to better health; and reward them for the healthier decisions like physical activity or healthier food choices.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation pledges to advance CHMI’s goals over the next year by encouraging healthy eating habits for their employees, patients and those who visit our hospitals. Their efforts will include developing comprehensive healthy eating vision statements and action plans for our hospitals; and working with their contracted food services vendors to achieve measurable progress in increasing their offerings of fruit and nutritionally-dense, minimally processed foods and reducing consumption of high-calorie snacks and beverages.

Verizon pledges to partner with the Clinton Health Matters Initiative to drive a co-branded public awareness and engagement strategy through the Health Matters initiative to support the Verizon/NBCU Healthy mPact campaign; evaluate the technology needs of healthcare facilities and related organizations within the communities identified by Health Matters for coordinated support and to contribute to community health IT makeovers; help identify relevant Verizon healthcare efforts and resources from wireless and enterprise business units, Verizon Foundation, retail outlets, and human resources and drive these efforts into the Health Matters initiative that support the program in meaningful ways; and provide the technology infrastructure to support the Health Matters initiative web portal that may include network connectivity, cloud storage, and application development.

To view more pledges, please visit www.clintonfoundation.org.

Based on the success of last year’s conference, the Clinton Foundation launched its newest initiative, the Clinton Health Matters Initiative (CHMI), in November 2012. CHMI is a national initiative building on the Clinton Foundation’s work on global health and childhood obesity that will work to improve the health and well-being of people across the United States by developing and implementing a variety of evidence-based individual, systems, and investment strategies. CHMI is supported by its partners GE, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, the conference’s presenting sponsor, and Verizon. Each partner will leverage their unique expertise to promote healthy lifestyles across generations. By working directly with individuals, communities, corporations, and national organizations to help them take action to contribute to the health of others, CHMI will advance community health by closing gaps in health disparities and focusing efforts in underserved areas. CHMI will also activate individuals to lead healthier lives by providing an online platform to connect people with local, scalable solutions led by healthy change agents. Since its launch in November 2012, CHMI has generated 25 pledges from corporations, non-governmental organizations, and individuals that will lead to more than a $50 million investment in health and wellness and impact more than 17 million people.

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Monday, January 14, 2013

 
President Clinton announces Clinton Foundation to provide solar power to Mission of Hope in Haiti

New York, NY—Today, President Clinton announced that the William J. Clinton Foundation will provide the Mission of Hope Housing Community in Leveque, Haiti with approximately 40 solar streetlights and will work with staff to solarize a school being constructed in the community. The Clinton Foundation will also work with the Mission of Hope agricultural team to explore the opportunity to install a solar drip irrigation system.

As part of a trip to Haiti commemorating the third anniversary of the earthquake, President Clinton toured the Mission of Hope Housing Community, a successful housing resettlement program in Haiti, where 314 families have already moved.

The solar streetlights that the Clinton Foundation will provide are particularly important for these communities, as Mission of Hope has relocated 168 deaf families from Cite Soleil to the Leveque community. The lights will provide these families with better security and constant visibility in an otherwise dark area.

Mission of Hope is committed to seeing the next generation of leaders empowered with a sound education through their school programs. The Clinton Foundation will procure the streetlights from Enersa, a Haitian solar manufacturer that has installed over 3,000 solar streetlights throughout Haiti.

On this trip to Haiti, President Clinton also visited the Government of Haiti Memorial to the earthquake, and met with President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.

About the Clinton Foundation in Haiti
The Clinton Foundation has been actively engaged in Haiti since 2009, focusing on private sector investment and job creation in order to create long-term, sustainable economic development. After the devastating earthquake in 2010, President Clinton formed the Clinton Foundation Haiti Fund and raised $16.4 million from individual donors for immediate earthquake relief efforts. Since 2010, the Clinton Foundation has spent a total of $28 million in Haiti, including relief funds as well as projects focused on restoring Haiti's communities, sustainable development, and capacity building. The Clinton Foundation has now refocused its efforts in Haiti from emergency planning, putting emphasis on private sector investment and job creation as well as capacity building and education. In 2012, the Clinton Foundation concentrated on the four priority sectors of energy, tourism, agriculture, and apparel/manufacturing, working to bring new investors, develop and support local organizations and business and improve Haiti’s business environment to facilitate economic growth.


About the William J. Clinton Foundation
Building on a lifetime of public service, President Bill Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote health and wellness, and protect the environment by fostering partnerships among governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private citizens to turn good intentions into measurable results. Since 2001, President Clinton’s vision and leadership have resulted in nearly 5 million people benefiting from lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment; more than 15,000 U.S. schools building healthier learning environments; more than 51,000 micro-entrepreneurs, small business owners, and smallholder farmers improving their livelihoods and communities; and more than 248 million tons of CO2 being reduced in cities around the world. And President Clinton has redefined the way we think about giving and philanthropy through his Clinton Global Initiative, whose members have made more than 2,300 commitments that are improving the lives of nearly 400 million people in more than 180 countries. For more information, visit clintonfoundation.org, read our blog at clintonfoundation.org/upclose, and follow us on Twitter @ClintonTweet and Facebook at Facebook.com/BillClinton.


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Wednesday, January 9, 2013


    Top 10 Vodkas by Gayot

 

The word Vodka comes from voda, the Russian word for water. But as our top ten vodka list shows, the spirit is now made and enjoyed around the world. We feature vodka from France, New Zealand, and even Switzerland, known for its neutrality, is making this neutral spirit. Find your favorite on our Top 10 Vodka list, and suggest changes to it in our forum. We're always happy to taste new vodkas!
 
Reyka Vodka

Number 1

Reyka Vodka is from Iceland

Origin: Iceland; $25
Reyka comes from Iceland; so does Björk. We dig Björk, so of course we figured we'd best try Reyka. It's great vodka. Not The Sugarcubes' "Life's Too Good" great, but a damn sight better than Björk's soundtrack for "Dancer in the Dark." Clean and markedly smooth, Reyka is produced with glacial water that scientist types have declared "impurity free." That kind of clarity is most mixable, the key attribute of any vodka in this cocktail-crazy world in which we live.

CLICK HERE FOR LIST


President Clinton Announces Program and Featured Attendees for Second Annual Health Matters: Activating Wellness in Every Generation Conference

Conference will Anchor New Clinton Health Matters Initiative; Tenet Healthcare Corporation to Serve as Presenting Sponsor

President Bill Clinton; Chelsea Clinton; Dr. Deepak Chopra, Founder, The Chopra Foundation; Tom Colicchio, Chef and Owner Craft Restaurants & ‘wichcraft; Eduardo Garcia, Mayor, City of Coachella, California; Lorena Garcia, Restaurateur, TV Host and Author; Ray Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department; Jillian Michaels, Fitness Expert and Wellness Coach; Senator Christopher Murphy, U.S. Senator, Connecticut; Dr. Dean Ornish, Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute; Gary Player, International Ambassador of Golf; Stephen Pougnet, Mayor, Palm Springs, California; Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Chief Medical Editor, NBC Universal; and Barbra Streisand, Actress and Philanthropist, among key participants.

Conference Kicks Off the Humana Challenge PGA TOUR event, in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation, January 15th in La Quinta, CA.


NEW YORK, JANUARY 9, 2013 – Today, President Bill Clinton announced the program and featured attendees for the Clinton Foundation’s second annual Health Matters: Activating Wellness in Every Generation conference. The event will bring together more than 400 stakeholders from the worlds of health care, public policy, business, education, individual wellness, and sports to identify strategies to promote and improve individual healthy lifestyles in the home, the community, and the workplace. The conference will be held on Tuesday, January 15, at the La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California.

Based on the success of last year’s conference, the Clinton Foundation launched its newest initiative, the Clinton Health Matters Initiative (CHMI), in November 2012. CHMI is a national initiative building on the Clinton Foundation’s work on global health and childhood obesity that will work to improve the health and well-being of people across the United States by developing and implementing a variety of evidence-based individual, systems, and investment strategies. CHMI is supported by its partners GE, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, the conference’s presenting sponsor, and Verizon. Each partner will leverage their unique expertise to promote healthy lifestyles across generations. By working directly with individuals, communities, corporations, and national organizations to help them take action to contribute to the health of others, CHMI will advance community health by closing gaps in health disparities and focusing efforts in underserved areas. CHMI will also activate individuals to lead healthier lives by providing an online platform to connect people with local, scalable solutions led by healthy change agents. Since its launch in November 2012, CHMI has generated 25 pledges from corporations, non-governmental organizations, and individuals that will lead to more than a $50 million investment in health and wellness and impact more than 17 million people.

Health Matters immediately precedes the Humana Challenge PGA TOUR event, in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation, formerly the Bob Hope Classic. The conference highlights the tournament’s commitment to health and well-being, and builds on the work of the Clinton Foundation, which has a mission to improve global health, strengthen economies, protect the environment, and promote healthier childhoods and health and wellness.

Conference participants include President Clinton; Reed Alexander, Actor and Celebrity Food Chef; Dr. Kelvin Baggett, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Tenet Healthcare Corporation; Don Berwick, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; Dan Buettner, Founder, Blue Zones; Carolyn Caldwell, CEO, Desert Regional Medical Center; Dr. Deepak Chopra, Founder, The Chopra Foundation; Chelsea Clinton, Board of Directors, William J. Clinton Foundation; Tom Colicchio, Chef and Owner Craft Restaurants & ‘wichcraft; Tim Finchem, PGA TOUR Commissioner; Eduardo Garcia, Mayor, City of Coachella, California; Lorena Garcia, Restaurateur, TV Host and Author; Dr. Glen Grayman, President, Desert Healthcare District and Health Assessment Resource Center; Vinod Gupta, Managing General Partner, Everest Financial; Kay Hazen, Vice President, Desert Healthcare Foundation; Carolyn Jackson, CEO, St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital; Ray Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department; Michael McCallister, Chairman of the Board, Humana Inc.; Gary Mendell, Addiction Health Advocate; Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, Director, Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center; Jillian Michaels, Fitness Expert and Wellness Coach; Senator Christopher Murphy, U.S. Senator, Connecticut; Dr. Dean Ornish, Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute; Gary Player, International Ambassador of Golf; Christy Porter, Founder and Executive Director, Hidden Harvest; Stephen Pougnet, Mayor, Palm Springs, California; Mike Roberts, CEO, LYFE Kitchen Restaurants; Dr. David Satcher, Director, Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine and 16th Surgeon General of the United States; Kristin Armstrong Savola, 2x Olympic Gold Medal Cyclist; John Schwarzlose, President and CEO, Betty Ford Center; Susan Siegel, Corporate Vice President GE and CEO, GE healthymagination; Ryan Sistare, Renaissance Hotel Complex General Manager, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Chief Medical Editor, NBC Universal; Barbra Streisand, Philanthropist and Actress; Andrea Thomas, Senior Vice President of Sustainability, Walmart; Haile Thomas, Youth Advisory Board,Alliance for a Healthier Generation; Dr. Peter Tippett, Chief Medical Officer, VP of Innovation, Verizon; and Casey Wasserman, Chairman and CEO, Wasserman Media Group.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013



The Chopin Billboard  
   
We are proud to present our 48-foot bottle of Chopin towering above Los Angeles, a city that kindly voted Chopin its favorite vodka.

William J. Clinton Foundation 2012 Year-End Report

 
Clinton Foundation reaches significant milestones including nearly 5 million people benefiting from HIV/AIDS treatment, more than15,000 schools enrolled in Healthy Schools Program in the United States, progress made in economic development in Africa, Latin America, and in the fight against climate change globally, recovery in Haiti, and more than 2,300 commitments made through the Clinton Global Initiative.

New York, NY—The William J. Clinton Foundation today announced broad accomplishments in 2012 in the areas of global health, childhood obesity and health and wellness, economic opportunity, and climate and energy.

Building on a lifetime of public service, President Bill Clinton established the Clinton Foundation with the mission to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote health and wellness, and protect the environment by fostering partnerships among governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private citizens to turn good intentions into measurable results.

Since 2001, President Clinton’s vision and leadership have resulted in nearly 5 million people benefiting from lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment; more than 15,000 U.S. schools building healthier learning environments; more than 51,000 micro-entrepreneurs, small business owners, and smallholder farmers improving their livelihoods and communities; and more than 248 million tons of CO2 being reduced in cities around the world. And President Clinton has redefined the way we think about giving and philanthropy through his Clinton Global Initiative, whose members have made more than 2,300 commitments that are improving the lives of nearly 400 million people in more than 180 countries.

Some highlights — explained further in the accomplishments by initiative below — include:

  • Providing more than 47,000 cataract surgeries in Peru.
  • Reducing prices from $15 to $5 per child for the rotavirus vaccine in developing countries.
  • Launching the new Clinton Health Matters Initiative, which works to improve the health and well-being of people across the United States.
  • More than 160 new Commitments to Action made by Clinton Global Initiative members that, once fully funded, will be valued at more than $2.4 billion and positively impact nearly 22 million lives.
                                              2012 Clinton Foundation Accomplishments

Alliance for a Healthier Generation (AHG)

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, founded by the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association, is leading the charge against the childhood obesity epidemic by engaging directly with industry leaders, educators, parents, doctors, and kids. The Alliance works to positively affect all the places that can make a difference in a child's health including homes, schools, doctors' offices, and communities. Alliance initiatives address both the macro- and micro-level changes necessary to combat the childhood obesity epidemic. The goal of the Alliance is to reduce the nationwide prevalence of childhood obesity by 2015 and to inspire young people to develop lifelong healthy habits.

2012 Alliance Highlights:

  • The Alliance’s landmark agreement with the American Beverage Association has contributed to a 90 percent reduction in calories from beverages shipped to schools between the 2004-2010 school years, according to a 2012 report published in the American Journal of Public Health released this year. As part of the Alliance’s agreement with the American Beverage Association, the vast majority of full-calorie soft drinks have been removed from schools, and the beverages available to students through school vending machines and cafeteria a la carte lines are now nutritious, age appropriately portioned, and no or low calorie.
  • This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Journal Preventing Chronic Disease published two peer-reviewed research papers on the findings from a cohort of 1,300 schools that enrolled in the Healthy Schools Program between 2007 and 2009 and were followed through 2010. Findings include:
    • Schools serving students from lower-income families and students at high risk for obesity were just as likely and — in some cases — more likely to adopt health-promoting policies as schools that served students from higher-income families.
    • Schools accessing and participating in more training and one-on-one support made the most progress in implementing policies and programs that support healthy eating and regular physical activity among students.
  • A focused analysis of a sample of 21 randomly selected schools that enrolled in the Healthy Schools Program in 2006 also showed promising indications that when schools implement the program, students’ average BMI, diet and physical activity improve:
    • Children’s average BMI decreased significantly, bringing more kids into a healthy weight range, between 2007-2008 and 2009-2010.
    • Decreases were found primarily among middle school students, and decreases were similar for both genders and across ethnic groups.
    • Elementary and middle school children drank significantly fewer sugar-sweetened beverages in the 2009-2010 school year than in the 2007-2008 school year
    • Schools that improved their competitive food and beverage policies saw the largest declines in average BMI.
    • All students reported spending more time in physical education in 2009-2010 than in 2007-2008.
  • The Alliance collaborated with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation on a new book featuring month-by-month, smart and simple tips from moms, dads and kids on tough topics like eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages, getting kids to eat more vegetables and increasing physical activity and it is available at no cost, in both English and Spanish. President Clinton wrote the book’s foreword, and Susan Dell narrates the book.

Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI)

The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) is implementing programs that create and advance solutions to the root causes of climate change — while also helping to reduce our reliance on oil, saving money for individuals and governments, creating jobs, and growing economies. CCI, in partnership with the C40 Climate Leadership Group (C40), focuses on helping large cities reduce their carbon emissions. Other programs aim to increase energy efficiency through building retrofits; to increase access to clean energy technology and deploy it at the government, corporate, and homeowner levels; and to reverse deforestation by preserving and regrowing forests.

2012 CCI Highlights:

  • In April, the State Government of Gujarat announced that CCI 's work on a solar park in India is generating electricity from the first 214 mega-watts. This is the first stage in a 1000 mega-watt solar park. CCI's role has been to act as overall and financial advisers to the state and national governments for the project.
  • In Latin America, the C40-CCI Hybrid & Electric Bus Test Program completed bus testing in participating cities Bogota, Curitiba, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and is supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). This landmark program builds the business case for investment in clean bus technologies on a regional scale. It aims to reduce the carbon footprint of public transportation in Latin America, and develop a market for fuel efficient, low-carbon buses in the region.
    • Final results establish that hybrid and electric bus technology is more fuel-efficient and produces fewer local air pollutants and greenhouse gases than conventional diesel buses, while key findings of the program’s economic analysis demonstrate the lower life-cycle cost of low carbon buses.
  • In 2012, C40 added 5 new member cities from around the word: Oslo, Vancouver, Venice, Singapore, and Washington, D.C. Representing megacities as well as innovative smaller cities, the new additions bring total C40 membership to 63.
  • In Arkansas, CCI operates the Home Energy Affordability Loan (HEAL) program, which helps local businesses and their employees reduce their energy use and related utility expenses through energy efficiency building retrofits. In 2012, CCI HEAL’s residential and commercial retrofits resulted in a reduction of 2,742 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. CCI has completed 234 deep residential retrofits and 4 commercial energy retrofits including L’Oreal, USA, the Arlington Hotel, Hendrix College, and Friendship Community Care.

Clinton Development Initiative (CDI)

The Clinton Development Initiative (CDI) works to give smallholder farmers in Rwanda and Malawi the tools they need to increase their harvests and incomes and support their families and communities. In close collaboration with farmers and nongovernmental organizations, and at the invitation of the governments of Malawi and Rwanda, these programs provide access to better farming inputs and more stable markets – and ensure that communities can ultimately sustain themselves. CDI in Malawi is supported financially by the Salida Capital Foundation, and CDI in Rwanda is a partnership between the Clinton Foundation and the Hunter Foundation.

2012 CDI Highlights:

  • CDI is in its fifth season operating its successful Anchor Farm Project, and operates five commercial farms in western Malawi – up from one farm in previous years – growing soya, maize, and groundnuts. CDI currently works with 21,000 smallholder farmers near the commercial farms to grow additional soya.
  • Smallholder farmers in the Anchor Farm Project are experiencing an average increase in yield (kilograms/hectare) of 150% through CDI’s work and sales. Prices for their soya have increased by 167% through direct links with processors negotiated by CDI. As a result of both productivity and market access improvements, smallholder profitability was 567% higher in 2012 than in any year since the project has been in operation.
  • This year, CDI was the only commercial farm operator to successfully fulfill its contract with Senwes, Limited, the second largest agricultural services company in South Africa. The contract gives smallholders a guaranteed base price and an increase in price if Malawi soya market prices rise.
  • CDI made its first seven sales of certified carbon credits generated by the planting of trees in its Trees of Hope project in Malawi. The majority share of the revenue from the sale of carbon credits will be paid out directly to the farmers in the project; the remainder will be used to expand the project to additional smallholder farmers and community groups.
  • In Rwanda, the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI) is making significant progress in the development of two agro-businesses, which are currently under construction:
    • A large soybean and sunflower edible cooking oil factory, which will have the capacity to process 200 metric tons of grain daily. The factory will employ over 200 permanent staff members and will create a market for soybean and sunflower for more than 100,000 smallholder farmers.
    • A coffee roasting factory, which will add value to Rwandan coffee and increase revenues to smallholder coffee farmers.

Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative (CEO)

The Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative (CEO) promotes economic growth in economically distressed and emerging communities by enlisting Americans with business expertise to help local entrepreneurs compete and succeed. CEO believes that enabling entrepreneurship is one of the strongest ways to create lasting economic growth in underserved communities because it creates jobs, promotes development, and generates wealth in those communities. By creating, implementing, and scaling sustainable models to support entrepreneurship, CEO strives to help entrepreneurs develop the strategic, management, and operational capacity to compete in the marketplace and contribute to their communities.

2012 CEO Highlights:

  • CEO works with Inc. magazine and community organizations across the country to connect small businesses within underserved communities with highly successful entrepreneurs to serve as their Mentors. Mentees participating in the program experience an average increase in workforce of 16% during their enrollment in the program, and 92% of these participants credit in CEO’s mentoring program for helping them to overcome key challenges they have faced as a result of the recession.
  • More than 600 volunteers across nine major U.S. cities have committed to long-term relationships with entrepreneurs as Mentors and Advisors.
  • In 2012, CEO completed the New York Metropolitan Area pilot of a new mentoring program for high-growth small businesses in underserved communities in partnership with UBS Wealth Management Americas. Leveraging the unique assets and infrastructure of UBS, the program provides its participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to support business expansion and job growth.

Clinton Foundation in Haiti

The Clinton Foundation has been actively engaged in Haiti since 2009, focusing on private sector investment and job creation in order to create long-term, sustainable economic development. After the devastating earthquake in 2010, President Clinton formed the Clinton Foundation Haiti Fund and raised $16.4 million from individual donors for immediate earthquake relief efforts. Since 2010, the Clinton Foundation has spent a total of $28 million in Haiti, including relief funds as well as projects focused on restoring Haiti's communities, sustainable development, and capacity building. The Clinton Foundation has now refocused its efforts in Haiti from emergency planning, putting emphasis on private sector investment and job creation as well as capacity building and education. In 2012, the Clinton Foundation concentrated on the four priority sectors of energy, tourism, agriculture, and apparel/manufacturing, working to bring new investors, develop and support local organizations and business and improve Haiti’s business environment to facilitate economic growth.

2012 Clinton Foundation in Haiti Highlights:

  • President Clinton hosted targeted investor missions in energy, tourism and apparel/manufacturing, bringing high-level delegations to Haiti to discover the country’s potential and explore opportunities for investment. The Clinton Foundation facilitated high level visits to Haiti from over 85 leaders in international business and philanthropy to expand investment opportunity in Haiti.
  • The Clinton Foundation provided $500,000 to support agriculture and green technology initiatives throughout the country, working on projects that support reforestation, improve agriculture methods, develop new products, and train Haiti’s energy students and professionals.
  • The Clinton Foundation is providing support and technical assistance to non-profit and social business partners in Haiti to support capacity building and provide access to training, financing, and new markets. This year, the Clinton Foundation also provided pro-bono support and capacity building to the Center for Investment Facilitation.
  • Working with corporate foundation partners, the Clinton Foundation Haiti Fund allocated over $1 million to school construction and education programming while continuing its commitment to work with the Government of Haiti to support their Back to School Initiative.
  • The Clinton Foundation signed an MOU with the Qatar Haiti Fund and the Government of Haiti for $5 million to provide housing to communities affected by the 2010 earthquake.

The Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative