Twenty Years of the Clinton Foundation Headquarters in Harlem
Floor Speech
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 20-year anniversary of the Clinton Foundation opening its headquarters in Harlem, USA. For the past two decades, the Clinton Foundation has been at the heart of the Harlem community, empowering local businesses and working to improve the neighborhood. This is, as you know, Mr. Speaker, an iconic neighborhood in the United States, and it is the center of the African diaspora in the United States, if not the world.
Throughout their time in Harlem, the Clinton Foundation has helped facilitate the microfinancing of 136,000 low-income women entrepreneurs. It has created sustainable models to help foster entrepreneurship, and it has undertaken critical projects to address inequalities in this community.
From 2002 to 2013, the foundation operated the Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative, offering technical and managerial support to local entrepreneurs. However, the work did not stop at the boundaries of Harlem. In fact, in 2013, the foundation expanded their mission of unlocking opportunity and addressing inequality across our country and the world.
Due to the extraordinary work of the foundation, 430 million people in more than 180 countries have benefited from the Clinton Global Initiative. Twenty-one million people now have access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications, 1.2 million children's books have been distributed to under-resourced communities across the world, and 71 megawatts of clean energy projects have been facilitated in small island nations.
In the face of the pandemic, the Clinton Global Initiative also launched Action Network which brings together leaders from business, government, and philanthropic sectors to take action and address inequalities facing historically excluded groups.
Now, as we look to the challenges of the next 20 years, we know that the Clinton Foundation will continue to sharpen their focus on partnership building, expanding upon new horizons, and empowering more and more communities.
I want to commend the Clinton Foundation on their prodigious work of the past 20 years and their strong presence in the village of Harlem and thank former President Clinton and former Secretary Clinton for their continued dedication to furthering humanity and prioritizing historically excluded and underserved communities.
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