In a meeting held from New York on April 18, 2020, former President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea held a virtual convening of students, government leaders, and health experts from around the world for the 12th annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) meeting. The meeting had originally been slated for Edinburgh, Scotland.
According to a press release, “Since its launch in 2007, CGI U has brought together 10,000 college students from around the globe to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges – building “Commitments to Action” that address challenges on their campuses, in their local communities, and around the world.”
President Bill Clinton, who brought Agenda 21 into U.S. government agencies through his “President’s Council on Sustainable Development”, spoke about “the importance of testing and contact tracing – tracing those who test positive and their contacts throughout their communities – in controlling the spread of the pandemic and future outbreaks, and the possibility of building a national AmeriCorps-style program to support the U.S. public health infrastructure”.
He also talked about the ” importance of building up and properly funding the National Stockpile, and working collaboratively with the World Health Organization (video here (link is external)).”
Governor Andrew Cuomo and Governor Gavin Newsom were present for the meeting. Cuomo spoke about what “prepared him to respond to a challenge of this magnitude”, and the “important role of government” during a pandemic, (video here (link is external)). Newsom talked about about the “impact that collective action to practice safe social distancing has had in helping flatten the curve and build capacity to handle the pandemic” (video here (link is external)).
Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan spoke with Chelsea Clinton about the importance of unified leadership, “both at the global level and local level”, in responding to the pandemic (video here (link is external));
19th Surgeon General of the United States Vivek Murthy spoke with Chelsea Clinton about rebuilding the national health infrastructure with a “Marshall Plan” of “investment” (read “taxes”) (video here (link is external)).
In addition to this year’s COVID-19 challenge, some previously developed commitments by the CGI U Class of 2020 include:
- A commitment by Morgan Askew of Brown University to design and implement an anti-bias curriculum around substance use for emergency room physicians in Providence, Rhode Island, partnering with three hospitals to provide information on the topics of opioid crisis, racism & addiction, patient recovery, and the biochemistry of addiction;
- A commitment by Zaniya Lewis of George Washington University to provide free college and career readiness skills to high school students from underserved communities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region;
- A commitment by Eddy Alvarado of Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo to create technologies using artificial intelligence andreal-time environmental sensors that predict the appearance of diseases in farms to increase the productivity and climate change resilience of poor farmers in rural Dominican Republic;
- A commitment by William Mun and Ashley Vargas of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) to provide a platform for artists of color at FIT by creating a committee of students to curate an annual exhibit featuring artists of color, and host a film screening featuring work by students reflective of inclusivity and empowerment;
- A commitment by Francisco Garcia of Arizona State University to create 12 civically engaged community-based murals in the city of Phoenix, decreasing unwanted graffiti, beautifying low income neighborhoods that are neglected, and providing an after-school program for students.
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