Clinton Awards Celebrate Social Change

The Clinton Global Initiative added a new twist to this year's gathering - a new awards ceremony honoring social entrepreneurs. Kicking off the Inaugural Clinton Global Citizen Awards at Carnegie Hall last night, President Clinton and CGI members honored "the work of four people whose success in helping others has created lasting, positive social change."

• Andre Agassi, Founder, Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation
• Vicky Colbert, Executive Director, Escuela Nueva Foundation
• Fazle Abed, Founder and Chairperson, BRAC
• John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems

Honorees were selected from among hundreds of citizens and leaders from a range of fields including government, non-governmental organizations, private sector and media/ entertainment/ sports. The four chosen were "distinguished by their vision, ingenuity, demonstrated commitment to creative positive social change, and the measurable impact of the projects they initiated."

President Clinton was joined on stage by Jessica Biel, Co-Founder of Make the Difference Network, who served as Master of Ceremonies for the evening and Tom Golisano, Major Underwriter of CGI who delivered opening remarks. The awards were presented by Senator John Glenn, and Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison, Robert F. Goheen Professor of the Humanities, Princeton University, and Wangari Maathai, Founder, Green Belt Movement. The evening also included special musical performances by Tony Bennett and the African Children’s Choir.