Alumni in the News: Ferney Giraldo GPIA ’14 receives Franklin H. Williams Award

Originally from Colombia, Ferney Giraldo has spent over 10 years working in youth and family advocacy and community outreach, both in the U.S. and abroad.

From 2008–10, Giraldo served as a Youth and Community Development Volunteer in Guatemala. He worked closely with the local Mayan K’iche community, facilitating life skills education and HIV/AIDS awareness workshops for students, teachers, and community leaders. With the help of a local cooperative, Giraldo also initiated a summer sports and skill-building camp for Mayan youth. Additionally, he worked with the Ministry of Education to implement youth leadership retreats and design life-skills curricula.

The Franklin H. Williams Award recognizes ethnically diverse returned Peace Corps Volunteers who exemplify a commitment to community service and Peace Corps’ Third Goal of promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Giraldo continues to work in youth development, now for the Human Resources Department of the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Bronx. Here, he is involved with the Future Leaders and the Future Conservationists programs, mentoring and teaching underserved Bronx youth in work readiness, life skills, college preparation, and international service learning.

Giraldo has connected his students with returned Peace Corps Volunteers, to share their experiences, and with students in Cameroon through the World Wise Schools initiative. Giraldo is a recipient of a Paul D. Coverdell Fellowship at Milano, with an anticipated graduation in fall 2014.