One Hen Author Katie Smith Milway honored in Boston and Washington, D.C. for a book that is changing the world.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) October 29, 2009 -- Media Contact:
Karen Schultz
One Hen, Inc.
650-400-0987
Karen@onehen.org
www.onehen.org

(October 29, 2009-Boston, MA) National recognition continues to grow for the impact that one book, One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, and its author, are making in classrooms across the globe.

1 2

One Hen Author Katie Smith Milway honored in Boston and Washington, D.C. for a book that is changing the world.

Welcome visit Our WebSite:

http://www.onehen.org

One Hen, recipient of the 2009 Massachusetts Best Book for Children award, and author Katie Smith Milway, a resident of Wellesley, MA, will be honored at a reception at noon on November 4th, at the Massachusetts State House in Boston. On November 6 & 7, the author and her book will be honored at a series of events in Washington, D.C., as winner of the 2009 Children’s Africana Book Award (CABA) for best book for young children. Media are welcome to attend events.

The Friday, Nov. 6th, CABA program will include Ms. Milway’s participation in an afternoon panel sponsored by the International Reading Association and moderated by Education Week reporter Kathleen Manzo at 2:00 p.m. at the Hall of the States, 444 N. Capitol St. NW, Room 333, Washington DC, 20001. To attend, please contact harrietmcguire@earthlink.net. Saturday, November 7 at 11:00 a.m., CABA will host an award ceremony with the Smithsonian at the National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue, S.W. in Washington D.C. The public is invited. Ms. Milway will be available to the media at a 10:30 a.m. Press Conference in the Museum’s Lecture Hall on Sublevel 2.

One Hen, is a book that introduces children to micro-financing, a loan program that helps budding entrepreneurs in economically challenged communities. The story is based on the life of Dr. Kwabena Darko, a successful Ghanaian businessmen who used a small loan to build a thriving poultry business. Dr. Darko began disbursing loans to others through a trust he named Sinapi Aba (which means “mustard seed”) that became part of Opportunity International, a global microfinance organization that earlier had given Dr. Darko both loans and business training.

Recently ABC News profiled One Hen describing it as "A Book That is Changing the World". To support the lessons of the book, Ms. Milway and a team of volunteers launched a website, www.onehen.org, which equips teachers with web-based and downloadable classroom resources and activities and trains teachers and youth leaders to inspire kids to global citizenship, always marrying their own success to giving back. The website, www.onehen.org, developed pro bono by Sapient Inc., offers kids interactive games, which match real loans to real micro-entrepreneurs. Students in 129 countries and all 50 states are now using the website, and what started as a volunteer educator movement has evolved to a 501(c)(3) education nonprofit, One Hen, Inc.

###

Author Katie Smith Milway, Co-Founder of One Hen Inc., and Chair of its Board of Advisors, is a partner at nonprofit consultancy, The Bridgespan Group. Prior to moving to Bridgespan in 2008, she served as editorial director and founding publisher at Bain & Co. A graduate of Stanford University and INSEAD, Katie spent a decade working in and around a dozen countries in Africa on sustainable development projects, including village banking, with organizations such as Food for the Hungry, World Relief and World Vision. She was on the founding board of ARCA Partners a new media foundation focused on needs in developing country. Her first children's book was Cappuccina Goes to Town.

One Hen, Inc. is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit that grew out of the 2008 children’s book on microfinance: One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, and the educator movement it inspired. One Hen’s mission is to help children become global citizens who succeed in school and beyond and marry their success to helping others. One Hen Global Kids, a family of enrichment books and web-based resources developed by One Hen, Inc. teaches elementary school children about world issues where they can make a difference, always building values of financial responsibility, personal initiative, global awareness and giving back.. The website, www.onehen.org, offers interactive games, which simulate real loans to real micro-entrepreneurs, all backed with real microloans from One Hen, Inc. field partner Opportunity International.

The Children’s Africana Book Awards were established in 1991 by the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association to encourage the publication and use of accurate, balanced children’s materials on Africa in U.S. schools and libraries. The jury of seven includes Outreach Council members, specialists in K-12 curriculum development and university-based scholars. Forty-seven titles were nominated by U.S. publishers and distributors for consideration. More information on the Children’s Africana Book Awards is available at www.AfricaAccessReview.org.

The Massachusetts Book Awards are a foundational program of the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Through the awards program, works of vital contemporary writing in each of four award categories -- fiction, nonfiction, poetry & children's/young adult literature -- that have been written by Massachusetts writers or about Massachusetts themes are honored.

The International Reading Association is a community of reading professionals with 75,000 members in more than 100 countries, dedicated to promoting higher achievement levels in literacy, reading, and communication worldwide. A network of 1,250 councils and more than 50 national affiliates forms the working foundation for the Association.

Opportunity International provides small business loans, savings, insurance and training to over a million people working their way out of poverty in the developing world. Clients in almost 30 countries use these financial services to start or expand a business, provide for their families, create jobs for their neighbors and build a safety net for the future. A pioneer in educational lending, Opportunity International is helping to break the cycle of poverty and transform a generation by improving access to quality education. For more information, visit www.opportunity.org.

More information can be found online at http://www.onehen.org

africa     Childrens books     entrepreneur     global citizenship     K-8 lessons     kids     Microfinance     One Hen