Jesse Ayala (lower right) and Project 40/40

PROJECT 40/40
Last November I was invited by two of my close friends to help them construct a new Non-Profit Student Organization on campus called Project 40/40.

Project 40/40 is an awareness and fundraising campaign for the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative. Through a combination of incremental, individual donations and group fundraising efforts, Project 40/40 seeks to partner UW-Madison's 40,000 student population with 40,000 HIV+ Ugandans in need of finance for their AIDS medication.

Currently I am the Director of Event Coordination, one of five executives working with a team of 17 interns this semester. My main task is executing a fundraising and awareness campaign comprised of fifteen events this semester, ranging from networking nights, to panel discussions to even a musical about the AIDS Quilt. Our focus is to demonstrate the HIV/AIDS is not a partisan issue, but rather an issue that affects all people regardless of nationality, creed, ethnicity, economic status or sexuality, thus it is everyone's responsibility to act.

Most notably on April 1, we hosted an exclusive web lecture with Jeffrey Sachs, a world renowned Economist who is currently the Director of the UN Millennium Project. He has written two books, The End of Poverty and Common Wealth, both outlining his plan to eradicate extreme poverty by the year 2025. In the sphere of poverty alleviation Jeffrey Sachs is the biggest name in the field that anyone could book. Due to his fame, we were actually featured in both of the student news publications: Daily Cardinal
Badger Herald


Myself, along with four other members of the project travelled over spring break to New Orleans to attend the Clinton Global Initiative University Kick-off Conference. This conference marked the beginning of President Bill Clinton's campaign to get University campuses world wide to make a difference on the global stage. While in attendance I had the opportunity to meet a wide range of distinguished public servants and activists, including President Bill Clinton, Lance Armstrong, Brad Pitt & Gideon Yago to name just a few.

Also while in New Orleans I had the opportunity to have dinner with Ben Seydewitz who is doing AmeriCorp in New Orleans. I visited the Seydewitz family during my vacation to the East Coast this past summer, but it was nice to catch up with Ben in New Orleans and explore Bourbon Street with a family member. For more information on the CGI U conference, you can visit www.CGIU.org.

If anyone is interested in more information or has questions about the initiative or is willing to contribute money to the cause, they can email me at jayala@wisc.edu. Our website is currently under construction, but will soon be up and running at www.Project4040.org.

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Jesse Ayala
Director of Event Coordination
Project 40/40

University of Wisconsin Chancellor's Scholars Program
2010 Class Co-Chair
jayala@wisc.edu
608.333.5468