(The Hill)
Actor Forest Whitaker joined lawmakers on Thursday to announce a new initiative to help rebuild communities ravaged by conflict in Africa.
The Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI), founded by the Academy Award-winning actor, is partnering with the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) to provide grants and support services to 40 small businesses run mostly by women and young people in South Sudan and Uganda.
“The idea behind WPDI is to provide the tools that they [individuals in South Sudan and Uganda] can use to make a difference to be able to undertake projects that they set out to do in their communities, to move their communities towards a path of peace and prosperity,” Whitaker said at a breakfast event at the Capitol where he announced the effort.
The grants will focus on funding projects in USADF’s three main priority areas: agriculture, energy and youth led-initiatives. The grant funding, totaling about $500,000 and split evenly between the two countries, will come mostly from profits from other USADF programs around the African continent. Read more
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