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<p><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>Ford Hall Forum<br>
at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Suffolk</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place></span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial'><br>
<br>
presents<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Paul Polak</span></b><br>
with <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Jasmine Waddell</span></b><br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Out of Poverty:<br>
What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail</span></b><br>
<br>
Thursday, September 24, at 6:30-8:00 pm<br>
C. Walsh Theatre, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Suffolk</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place><font
color=black><span style='color:black'><br>
<br>
</span></font>(<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Boston</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">MA</st1:State></st1:place>) <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Ford
Hall Forum at Suffolk University</span></b> presents <b><span style='font-weight:
bold'>Dr. Paul Polak on “Out of Poverty: What Works When Traditional
Approaches Fail,”</span></b> moderated by <b><span style='font-weight:
bold'>Dr. Jasmine Waddell</span></b>. Thursday, September 24, at 6:30-8:00 pm.
Followed by an open discussion and book signing. Admission is free and open to
all. C. Walsh Theatre, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Suffolk</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, <st1:address
w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">55 Temple Street</st1:Street>, <st1:City w:st="on">Boston</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">MA</st1:State></st1:address>. Wheelchair accessible and
conveniently located near the Park Street MBTA station. For more information,
call the Ford Hall Forum at 617-557-2007 or visit www.fordhallforum.org.<br>
<br>
“What makes poor people poor? What can they do about it? And why have
traditional international aid programs fallen so short of their promise? These
questions drove Dr. Paul Polak to work with thousands of farmers in countries
around the world — including <st1:country-region w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Cambodia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Ethiopia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vietnam</st1:country-region>,
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region></st1:place>
— to help design and produce low–cost, income–generating
products that allow individuals to create their own wealth and build better
lives. Innovations such as the $25 treadle pump and $3 small farm
drip–irrigation systems have already generated enormous sums of money and
helped to raise millions out of poverty. <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Dr.
Paul Polak</span></b>, writer and founder of International Development
Enterprises, joins<b><span style='font-weight:bold'> Dr. Jasmine Waddell</span></b>,
Senior Officer for Research and Learning for the US Regional Office of Oxfam America,
to discuss how innovative entrepreneurial practices are empowering individuals
to address poverty at its roots.<br>
<br>
Background information:<br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Paul Polak</span></b>–founder of
Colorado-based non-profit International Development enterprises (IDE)—is
dedicated to developing practical solutions that attack poverty at its roots.
For the past 25 years, Paul has worked with thousands of farmers in
countries around the world—including <st1:country-region w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Cambodia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Ethiopia</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Myanmar</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Nepal</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vietnam</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Zambia</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region></st1:place>–to help design and
produce low–cost, income–generating products that have already
moved 17 million people out of poverty.<br>
<br>
Before establishing IDE, Paul practiced psychiatry for 23 years in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Colorado</st1:State></st1:place>. To better
understand the environments influencing his patients, Paul would visit their
homes and workplaces. After a trip he made to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region>,
he was inspired to use the skills he had honed while working with homeless
veterans and mentally ill patients in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Denver</st1:City></st1:place>
to serve the 800 million people living on a dollar a day around the world.
Employing the same tactics he pioneered as a psychiatrist, Paul spent time
“walking with farmers through their one-acre farms and enjoying a cup of
tea with their families, sitting on a stool in front of their thatched-roof
mud–and–wattle homes.”<br>
<br>
Paul’s ability to respond with innovative solutions–such as the $25
treadle pump and small farm drip–irrigation systems starting at
$3—helped IDE increase poor farmers’ net income by $288 million
annually. IDE received a $14 million grant from the Bill & Melinda
Gates foundation in 2006. In 2004, Paul received Ernst & Young’s
“Entrepreneur of the Year” award in the social responsibility
category. And Paul was named one of the Scientific American “top 50”
for his leadership in agriculture policy in 2003.<br>
<br>
[Source: <a href="http://www.paulpolak.com/html/paul.html"
title="http://www.paulpolak.com/html/paul.html">http://www.paulpolak.com/html/paul.html</a>]<br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Jasmine Waddell</span></b> serves as Senior
Officer for Research & Learning in the US Regional Office at Oxfam <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
She completed her B.A. with honors in political science from <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Brown</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>,
then earned her M.Phil. in Comparative Social Policy and her Ph.D. in Social
Policy from the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Oxford</st1:PlaceName> as a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> Rhodes Scholar. After
pursuing her doctoral research on anti-poverty policies in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region>, Jasmine served as a National
Institutes of Child and Human Development (NICHD) Postdoctoral Research Fellow
at the Wellesley Centers for Women at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Wellesley</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
She also served as a Lecturer at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Boston</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, where she taught
a seminar on the sociology of human rights. Jasmine spent a year in Corporate
and Foundation Relations and was involved with raising over $2M for programs at
the Lynch School of Education at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Boston</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. She is
actively involved in various national and local organizations including the
Association American of Rhodes Scholars (AARS), South Africa Partners, and the
AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts.<br>
<br>
The <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Ford Hall Forum</span></b> is the
nation’s oldest continuously operating free public lecture series. The
Forum promotes freedom of speech and fosters an informed and effective
citizenry through the public presentation of lectures, debates, and
discussions. Its events illuminate the key issues facing our society by bringing
to its podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers, including some of
the most controversial opinion leaders of our times. These speakers are
presented in person, for free, and in settings, which facilitate frank and open
debate.<br>
<br>
The Forum began in 1908 as a series of Sunday evening public meetings held at
the Ford Hall, which once stood on Beacon Hill in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Boston</st1:City></st1:place>. While the original building no longer
exists, the public conversations have continued throughout the Greater Boston
area with the generous support of foundations, corporations, academic
institutions, and individuals. As the Forum marks its 100th Anniversary, it is
embarking on a new partnership with the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Suffolk</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of Arts &
Sciences. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Suffolk</st1:City></st1:place>
is now housing the Forum’s administrative offices just a block away from
where the original Ford Hall once stood.<br>
<br>
Ford Hall Forum programs are made possible through the generous contributions
from individual members as well as corporations and foundations, including The
Boston Foundation, The Boston Public Library, Citizens Bank, Boston Private
Bank & Trust Company, CBT Architects, Digitas, The Fred and Marty Corneel
Fund, Fidelity Investment, Helen Rees Literary Agency, Houghton Chemical
Corporation, Iron Mountain, Jackson & Company, Levine, Katz, Nannis +
Solomon, PC, Louise Farrell Studios, The Lowell Institute, Massachusetts
Cultural Council, Nellie Mae Education Foundation, The Pfizer Foundation,
Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation, Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye LLP,
Suffolk University, The WAND Education Foundation, WBUR, and the WGBH Forum
Network.<br>
<br>
For more information on the Ford Hall Forum, contact Executive Director Alex
Minier, 617-557-2007, <a href="alex@fordhallforum.org"
title="outbind://18-000000003EFF1B4379CBC8449672E893F3A4299524956800/alex@fordhallforum.org">alex@fordhallforum.org</a>
or visit www.fordhallforum.org. Information about <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Suffolk</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>’s
partnership with the Ford Hall Forum can be obtained by contacting Mariellen
Norris, (617) 573-8450, <a href="mnorris@suffolk.edu"
title="outbind://18-000000003EFF1B4379CBC8449672E893F3A4299524956800/mnorris@suffolk.edu">mnorris@suffolk.edu</a>.
<font color=black><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial'>### <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial'><br>
--submitted by marycurtinproductions<br>
c/o Mary Curtin<br>
<st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">PO Box 290703</st1:Street>, <st1:City
w:st="on">Charlestown</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">MA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">02129</st1:PostalCode></st1:address><br>
617-241-9664, 617-470-5867 (cell), <a href="mailto:marycurtin@comcast.net"><font
color=black><span style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>marycurtin@comcast.net</span></font></a><br>
"dedicated to staging insightful entertainment, particularly in
non-traditional venues"<br>
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