The ONE Campus Challenge is a college competition designed to mobilize students, faculty and alumni in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.
It’s no secret: college students are a powerful political force. So in 2007, ONE launched the ONE Campus Challenge to propel this group into action.
The ONE Campus Challenge (OCC) is an intercollegiate competition designed to mobilize students in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease. Through life-saving actions, creative challenges and educational events, college students, professors, alumni and friends join together and urge political leaders to support smart and effective programs that save lives and improve futures for generations to come.
Last year alone, ONE Campus recruited and educated more than 10,000 advocates, met with Members of Congress more than 200 times, sent more than 5,000 letters, made 1,000 phone calls, and took 20,000 other poverty fighting actions. And the numbers just keep growing.
The Challenge Stages
The ONE Campus program is broken into a series of action-oriented challenges. Every three weeks, a new challenge is revealed -- from signing up new members to hosting a big event -- and ONE Campus students get the chance to craft a successful campaign, spread the word about issues of extreme poverty and disease and put their ideas into life-saving action.
Each challenge winner will receive a ONE prize pack and 500 bonus points. The 2nd place winner will receive 250 points and the 3rd place finisher will receive 100 points.
Stage 1
Campaign 1: 1% for the New Year
January 23rd - February 3rd
In the coming weeks, President Obama will announce his budget for FY2013. As you know, less than 1% of the total US Budget helps save millions of lives in the developing world. Send a strong message to President Obama that you care about the funds his Administration allocates to the 150 Account. Download our toolkit here to get started.
Stage 2
Campaign 2: Saving Lives Through SMS
February 6th - March 2nd
We’re partnering with Hope Phones, an organization that collects old cell phones to refurbish and give to health care workers on the ground – in this case in Kenya. Help us collect 35,000 phones this month - get started by downloading our toolkit here.
Stage 3
Campaign 3: Water Pressures
March 5th - March 23rd
World Water Day is on March 22nd, and your challenge is host an event on campus and demonstrate how important clean water is in the developing world. Get started by downloading our toolkit here.
Stage 4
Campaign 4: Global for the G8
March 26th - April 13th
The G8 Summit – a meeting of leaders from eight of the world’s largest economies – will be held at Camp David on May 18th. The U.S. can lead the way in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in the area of agriculture – so send President Obama a video message asking him to take these difficult issues head-on. Download our toolkit here to get started on your video PSA!
Meet the One Campus Team
Meet the team responsible for planning and implementing the ONE Campus program. Got questions? Feel free to contact us here!
Mike Fazzino is responsible for OCC program coordination, the annual ONE Power Summit, member recruitment and student leadership structure. Mike was the founder of Sacred Heart University's ONE Campus Chapter and has a particular passion for development in Sub-saharan Africa and Latin America. He graduated in May 2010 from Sacred Heart University with a dual major in political science and business administration. He also studied human rights law at the London School of Economics. A former student ambassador with Product (RED) and a Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation finalist, Mike is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in public policy.
Erin Finucane is responsible for managing ONE's organizing efforts on college and university campuses. Previously, Erin worked at the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Disease, where she managed GN's grassroots campaign and campus outreach program. Prior to her work with the Global Network, Erin was a Fellow with the United Nations Foundation's Better World Campaign, where she implemented 2008 presidential election strategy and conducted extensive research on a variety of UN issues. Erin has a master's degree in International peace studies (concentration: development) from Trinity College, Dublin, a certification in mediation from Mediation Northern Ireland, and a B.A. in Political Science from La Salle University in Philadelphia.
Matt Higginson leads ONE efforts to organize colleges students and young people across the nation. He joined ONE in March 2007 to manage the ONE Vote '08 project in Nevada. Prior to that, he worked on a variety of local and statewide campaigns and elections in NV. Matt graduated from Brigham Young University in 2004, with a degree in international relations that emphasized Middle Eastern and Chinese studies, including Arabic and Mandarin language studies. Prior to moving back to his home town of Las Vegas, Matt worked in the U.S. Senate for Senator Harry Reid.
Living Proof plays a big part in this year’s ONE Campus challenges. But what is it all about?
Living Proof is about telling the story of the incredible progress being achieved by some of the world's poorest people, backed by governments like ours. It's not about saying everything is great; it's certainly not about saying all aid works. But it is about telling the stories that are too often ignored - the individuals transforming their communities and countries, and the smart aid investments that are helping them realize their goals.
ONE is a grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa, by raising public awareness and pressuring political leaders to support smart and effective policies and programs that are saving lives, helping to put kids in school and improving futures. Cofounded by Bono and other campaigners, ONE is nonpartisan and works closely with African activists and policy makers
