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Clint Borgen April 22nd Speech at Westlake Center Mall
Thank you.
Not a bad way to spend a Saturday. I like it!
I appreciate you coming out and being part of the Borgen Project.
In a minute, I’ll be making an announcement about a certain city, that a certain organization is going to
be permanently based in.
But before we do that… Let’s talk about the greatest opportunity in the history of humankind… Let’s
talk about the Millennium Goals.
In September of 2000, political leaders from across the globe, met at a summit in New York City, and
one by one, they signed on to a plan that calls for cutting hunger in half by 2015, and completely
abolishing it by 2025.
The plan to end world hunger is now underway.
It’s called the Millennium Goals.
And for those of you new to The Borgen Project, we are the organization that is working to get the
Millennium Goals on the agenda, of the world’s agenda-setter.
We’re putting pressure on U.S. leaders to achieve the plan they already agreed to achieve. The plan
that will quite simply lift 600 million people out of hunger, over the next ten years alone.
600 million people who have names and faces.
My interest in global issues was sparked a couple of years out of high school, when I hopped a plane
to go work in the Kosovo refugee camps during the war and ethnic cleansing.
Kosovo was then a region where 10,000 people had been systematically killed and another 900,000
driven from their homes.
The atrocities that occurred there have often been compared to the Holocaust and for a young
American, life in the refugee camps was very much an eye opener.
There is a predictable transformation that occurs for every U.S. citizen that steps foot in a
humanitarian disaster, and my experience was no different.
It’s empowering to realize how little effort is needed from our leaders to improve the lives of millions of
people. But it’s deeply disappointing to realize how little is typically done.
That needs to change. Americans overwhelmingly want poverty addressed and it’s time U.S. foreign
policy starts reflecting that.
In 2006, six years after the Millennium Goals were agreed to. Six years after nearly every nation on
earth united to end world hunger, the issue preventing that from being achieved is not lack of food…
There is more than enough for every person on this planet.
It’s not corruption…There are systems in place to deal with that.
In 2006, the issue that keeps us awake at night, is the task of getting poverty on the agenda of
Congress and the White House.
The once impossible dream of freeing every man, woman and child from death by poverty is now one
very-powerful country away from becoming a reality.
With humanitarian issues, there is a tried and true process for taking an issue that is being ignored by
political leaders, and turning it into an issue that they are forced to address.
The Borgen Project is initiating that process for the Millennium Goals.
We want the plan to end world hunger achieved… and we’re setting the wheels in motion that will
make that happen.
We’re a new organization and about a year ago, we started taking a hard look at where the Borgen
Project should be based.
We considered New York, DC and LA, but there was one city that quickly took center stage in our
search.
Home of the Initiative for Global Development, the Gates Foundation, corporations that care, CEO’s
and business leaders who lobby on behalf of the world’s poor… And most importantly, a population
that backs up COMPASSION with Action… Seattle you intrigue me.
This city has quickly become the nation’s hotspot for efforts to make poverty the number one priority
of U.S. leaders and I can think of no better place for the Borgen Project to be based then right here.
Seattle you are, and will be, the permanent home of the Borgen Project.
Thank you for having me. Something very special is happening in this city and I’d love to have you
part of it… Thank you.
Not a bad way to spend a Saturday. I like it!
I appreciate you coming out and being part of the Borgen Project.
In a minute, I’ll be making an announcement about a certain city, that a certain organization is going to
be permanently based in.
But before we do that… Let’s talk about the greatest opportunity in the history of humankind… Let’s
talk about the Millennium Goals.
In September of 2000, political leaders from across the globe, met at a summit in New York City, and
one by one, they signed on to a plan that calls for cutting hunger in half by 2015, and completely
abolishing it by 2025.
The plan to end world hunger is now underway.
It’s called the Millennium Goals.
And for those of you new to The Borgen Project, we are the organization that is working to get the
Millennium Goals on the agenda, of the world’s agenda-setter.
We’re putting pressure on U.S. leaders to achieve the plan they already agreed to achieve. The plan
that will quite simply lift 600 million people out of hunger, over the next ten years alone.
600 million people who have names and faces.
My interest in global issues was sparked a couple of years out of high school, when I hopped a plane
to go work in the Kosovo refugee camps during the war and ethnic cleansing.
Kosovo was then a region where 10,000 people had been systematically killed and another 900,000
driven from their homes.
The atrocities that occurred there have often been compared to the Holocaust and for a young
American, life in the refugee camps was very much an eye opener.
There is a predictable transformation that occurs for every U.S. citizen that steps foot in a
humanitarian disaster, and my experience was no different.
It’s empowering to realize how little effort is needed from our leaders to improve the lives of millions of
people. But it’s deeply disappointing to realize how little is typically done.
That needs to change. Americans overwhelmingly want poverty addressed and it’s time U.S. foreign
policy starts reflecting that.
In 2006, six years after the Millennium Goals were agreed to. Six years after nearly every nation on
earth united to end world hunger, the issue preventing that from being achieved is not lack of food…
There is more than enough for every person on this planet.
It’s not corruption…There are systems in place to deal with that.
In 2006, the issue that keeps us awake at night, is the task of getting poverty on the agenda of
Congress and the White House.
The once impossible dream of freeing every man, woman and child from death by poverty is now one
very-powerful country away from becoming a reality.
With humanitarian issues, there is a tried and true process for taking an issue that is being ignored by
political leaders, and turning it into an issue that they are forced to address.
The Borgen Project is initiating that process for the Millennium Goals.
We want the plan to end world hunger achieved… and we’re setting the wheels in motion that will
make that happen.
We’re a new organization and about a year ago, we started taking a hard look at where the Borgen
Project should be based.
We considered New York, DC and LA, but there was one city that quickly took center stage in our
search.
Home of the Initiative for Global Development, the Gates Foundation, corporations that care, CEO’s
and business leaders who lobby on behalf of the world’s poor… And most importantly, a population
that backs up COMPASSION with Action… Seattle you intrigue me.
This city has quickly become the nation’s hotspot for efforts to make poverty the number one priority
of U.S. leaders and I can think of no better place for the Borgen Project to be based then right here.
Seattle you are, and will be, the permanent home of the Borgen Project.
Thank you for having me. Something very special is happening in this city and I’d love to have you
part of it… Thank you.
"That needs to change. Americans overwhelmingly want poverty addressed and it’s time U.S. foreign
policy starts reflecting that.. "
policy starts reflecting that.. "
