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Introducing the One Hen Team
(by Katie Smith Milway)
Some movements start with a bang; others emerge from a thousand different corners. Launched from somewhere on this spectrum in May 2008, today, One Hen text and website curriculum clearly has flown the coop. We want to thank all the families, schools, libraries and after-school programs that are taking its messages of entrepreneurship and youth philanthropy, adapting website activities that teach financial literacy and global citizenship, and making them live and breathe for kids. We are learning from teacher focus groups how to develop the website in ways that truly are relevant for the classroom; we are learning from students’ comments on the "Share Your One Hen Experience” space, just what inspires them. Finally, we appreciate your lesson plans and the fact you share them on the site with others. In fact, the site now receives visits from more than 40 countries. All this sharing and learning has led us to structure One Hen’s many volunteers into a management team and advisory, that can allocate our scarce resources – in time and money – manage our program, and build the organization. Please allow me to introduce:
Management Team
Monique Muri – President
Amma Serwaa - Director
Karen Schultz - Marketing Director
Sree Bala - Communications Director
Matt Pollock - Creative Director
Advisors:
Katie Smith Milway - Founder
Tracey Turner Pettingill,- Founder, Microplace
Betsy Perdue - Chairman, Women's Opportunity Network
Erika Eurkus - Sr. Director, ACCION
Eric Hogue - Director, ARCA Partners
Dan Barnicle - Director, Sapient
Interns:
Michelle Levin - Research Assoc., The Bridgespan Group
Kimberly Torrence, MBA, Fellow, MIT
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What's New:
Where is One Hen?
Around the Globe One Hen is celebrating the launch of sister sites in the United Kingdom (www.onehen.org.uk) and coming soon - Germany (www.einnehenne.de). To date students and supporters from over 40 countries have visited Onehen.org.
In the News:
One Hen keeps laying news items. Recent articles have appeared in the: BostonGlobeArticle
Outreach Partnerships
Campus Kiva is One Hen’s newest partner! College students across the USA who are members of Campus Kiva Chapters will be introduced to the One Hen story. The Stanford Campus Kiva chapter will be the first to work with One Hen to develop outreach ideas and programs for their college members to use One Hen as an outreach program to local elementary schools. Check out Campus Kiva at http://sites.google.com/site/campuskiva/
Big “Clucks” go to
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City Year Corp members who are taking the One Hen story and exercises into urban elementary schools in NYC and Boston.
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Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) volunteers are sharing the One Hen story and curriculum into communities across the county.
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Egg Breaking News: On April 24th, One Hen Inc. Director, Amma Sefadedeh, will be conducting a "Train the Trainers" session for volunteers attending the WON conference in San Francisco. This training will support WON volunteers as they use the One Hen story to introduce the power of microfinance and entrepreneurship into elementary & middle schools and community groups.
If you would like a volunteer to host a reading for your school or organization send an email to letters@onehen.org.
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Kids Can Make A Difference
Wellesley Middle School Raises $350 for One Hen Loans
(By Margaret Loofbourrow, WMS Public Service Club coordinator)
On the afternoon of February 5th, 2009 you could feel the buzz in the air at Wellesley Middle School in Massachusetts. The bell rang, and the kids rushed into the foyer outside of the auditorium. What was all the excitement about? Why the Community Service Club’s bake sale, of course! There were tables and tables of treats to choose from – cookies, brownies, tons of cupcakes (which Frances Antonelli had frosted at the middle school!) and rice crispy treats! After Katie Smith Milway’s inspirational presentation about the story of Kojo and microfinancing in January, the kids voted to hold a bake sale for the One Hen fund at Opportunity International, which sends dollars to Africa when kids donate their bead winnings on www.onehen.org . Thank you bakers, sellers and buyers! Together, we raised $350. With those funds, we have helped an Africa n entrepreneur start or improve their business - baking bread, sewing clothes, or even running a daycare. Our small loans have made a big difference!
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What’s New on the Site?
Microfinance Role Play!
Check out the new 'Microfinance Role Play' on our tab for Teachers & Librarians under 'Activities for Older Readers'. It was piloted by students at Heritage School in Highland Village, Texas. Kindergarteners through fifth graders, took part in One Hen activities during the school’s annual Author Day celebration on December 8th, 2008. Then, fourth- and fifth-grade students engaged in the role-play led by Betsy Perdue of Women’s Opportunity Network, an initiative of Opportunity International. Each student played a character in an African village who became part of a loan-trust group. They had to choose a business they would start, such as baking bread or starting a daycare, and articulate a dream they would fulfill if their business succeeded. Then they received situation cards and found out how their businesses were doing and had to discuss how, as a group responsible for making a loan repayment each month, they would help the group member’s whose business were struggling.
"I thought some of the scenarios might be over their heads", Heritage School principal Belinda Nikkel said, "But the kids really grasped them and took to heart what it would feel like and how they would respond. Especially in higher socioeconomic areas, where we take more for granted, it’s so good for kids to see that one person does make a difference. The One Hen program showed them tangible ways to think of others. That’s the lesson I’d like to see other kids at other schools pick up: It’s not all about me, and one person with the right actions can bring about change." Betsy Perdue’s game has since been used in Massachusetts at Wellesley Middle School, at a training of City Year Boston after school teachers, and with high schoolers at Newton-North. This month Betsy (below with Heritage students) posted her simulation to OneHen.org for all teachers and trainers to access. To download the PDF, see OneHen.org’s 'For Teachers & Librarians' tab and check out 'Microfinance Role Play' under Activities for Older Readers.
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Quote of the Month:
Author : Kahli , Grade 4, Gresham
Comment: Hi Kojo.
This book you wrote is my school book. And my music teacher made a song about this book. It's really cool. I love the way you talk about everything in the book. And the web sight is awesome! The "Donating the Beads" section is probably my favorite part of the sight. It's like giving someone a need. So keep it up Kojo)
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Awards - Kudos for Kojo!
Since the launch of the site in June 2008, www.onehen.org and the One Hen book have won over 12 awards as well as praise and support from pioneers in poverty alleviation including Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank. One Hen's efforts to create community around the book, One Hen and www.onehen.org site and spread the teaching of microfinance and entrepreneurship to youth and educators continues to reach across the US, UK, Canada and over 45 other countries. 2008-2009 One Hen Award List can be found at www.onehen.org under "About One Hen" section.
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In your neighborhood:
Founder and Author, Katie Smith Milway, will be on book tours and signings at the following locations:
Apr 20-24, 2009 -
Toronto, Canada
University of Toronto and local elementary schools
Sonsored by Univ. of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and the Ontario Library Association.
May 1, 2009 -
Dover, MA
Chickering School
June 12, 2009 -
Toronto, Canada
University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management.
Joint Appearance with Michael Porter on “Tackling Wicked Problems”
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Teacher's Quote:
Author: Kristi Buckman Portland, Oregon
"Thank you for sharing your story - my students in Portland, Oregon are learning about the ways we can make a difference - even as a kid. Your book was a great place to start learning about ways we can help the world, we also love the website !"
(Please send your school's story of kids making a difference to letters@onehen.org)
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Kojo's Corner:
One Hen Touching Lives where Kojo Lives!
One Hen is very excited to touch the lives of children in Ghana where Kojo lives. Over the Christmas, One Hen volunteer Amma Sefa-Dedeh presented 10 books donated by Kids Can Press to an elementary school in Pokuase - A small village in Ghana.
One Hen will be partnering with The Women’s Trust www.womenstrust.org, a small microfinance institution to introduce the One Hen curriculum to the children here some of whom are already entrepreneurs who pay their school fees with income from the small businesses they run. We are grateful to Kids Can Press for donating the books.
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