Twenty-three-year-old Denver native Jessica Posner won VH1’s “Do Something” award on July 19th. The $100,000 prize will be given to The Kiberian School for Girls. Ms. Posner co-founded Shining Hope for Communities. The charity’s website says, “We combat intergenerational cycles of poverty and gender inequality by linking tuition-free schools for girls to essential social services in Kenya’s Kibera slum through a holistic, community-driven approach.” Ms. Posner’s bio says she lived in Kenya’s Kibera slum for ten months working with Shining Hope for Communities-Kenya. In the fall of 2007 she created and directed a play with young people in Kibera about their lives and struggles, living inside of the slum itself. During the summer of 2008 she directed and created a play with young people from different ethnic groups to work through the division resulting from Kenya’s 2007 post-election violence.
What started as Ms. Posner’s student project introducing theater to young Kiberans morphed into Shining Hope for Communities, which was responsible for opening Kibera's first free school serving Kibera’s neediest girls, focusing on those most vulnerable to a life of prostitution and sexual abuse.
The 2010 Do Something Awards ceremony was hosted by actress Jane Lynch who appears on the television show Glee. The evening was a star-studded affair, with Kristin Bell, Megan Fox, Snoop Dog, Tyra Banks, the Jonas Brothers, Stephen Colbert, Alyssa Milano, and a many other famous names in attendance. The biggest name of the night, however, was Jessica Posner, a true inspiration to us all.
Check out this video from the awards show, and let me know about a Denverite you know who has done something worthy of being in the spotlight of this blog.
Jessica Posner at the Do Something Awards
Image: Finalist Jessica Posner is honored with a Do Something Nomination award onstage at the 2010 VH1 Do Something! Awards held at the Hollywood Palladium on July 19, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Caulfield/Getty Images for VH1)
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