Among the most important benefits for Residents at International House NYC is the opportunity to earn summer fellowships made possible by generous funders. This year, 14 Residents received $10,000 each on projects that will not only enhance their academic studies and professional careers, but will help address some of the world’s most urgent challenges.

Below are the 2019 Residents and their winning projects:

2019 Employment Innovation Fellowships

Made possible by the support and generosity of Trustee Andy Darrell and the Stiftung ProEvolution Foundation, of which he is Chair of the Board and President, the Employment Innovation Fellowships seek to advance innovative methods to address youth unemployment anywhere in the world.

1. Emmanuel Akpan: Eco-Soap Bank: Empowering Youth to Recycle Hotel Soap (Cape Town, South Africa).
This project aims to save lives in Cape Town slum communities by creating sustainable jobs for HIV-positive, at-risk youth through a business that recycles hotel soap for redistribution and sales in schools and health clinics, further reducing disease and promoting overall hygiene.

2. Gabrielle Head: The Entrepreneurship Expedition (Greensboro, North Carolina, US)
This project aims to build the next generation of business professionals through facilitating a two-day event providing mentorship, trade training and other resources for aspiring African American entrepreneurs in North Carolina.

3. Samantha Mandiveyi: Youth Empowerment through Digital Journalism (Zimbabwe)
Working alongside digital media organizations in Zimbabwe, this project aims to train young aspiring students from local universities to become paid digital and media journalists.

4. Elvis Ndansi Nukam: Youth-Led Community Fish Farm (Cameroon)
With the demand for consumption of fish in the region, this project aims to train youth in fish farming, thereby generating income through a community youth led commercial fish farm in Misaje village, in the North West region of Cameroon.

2019 Davis Projects for Peace Fellowships

Created in 2007 through the generosity of I-House Alumna Kathryn W. Davis, a lifelong internationalist and philanthropist who died in 2013 at 106 years of age. The Projects for Peace program was started with a special grant to I-House New York, and is intended to support grassroots projects anywhere in the world which promote peace and address the root causes of conflict among parties.

1. Joseph Anicoche, Komunidad: Community Peace Hubs (Marawi City, Philippines)
2. Daniel Becerril, A Dialogue to Understand Violence Against Immigrants (Mexico)
3. Ana Maria Gonzalez. Creating a Route to Hope (Colombia)
4. Gabrielle Hanners, Peace through Psychosocial Support for Survivors of Trafficking and Child Labor (Bolgatanga, Ghana)
5. Nigora Isamiddinova, Data Analytics for Sustainable Herding (Senegal)
6. Carlos Junco, Reconciliation through Culture and Photography (Nicaragua)
7. Pavel Kounchev, WESEUM (Sofia, Bulgaria)
8. Maria Paula Lemos,Acting for Peace in a Hostile Environment (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
9. Ray Luo, Immersive Storytelling of a Rohingya Refugee Experience (Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh)
10. Pegah Malek-Ahmadi, Culture for Peace (Istanbul, Turkey)