ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2020
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In the three months the application was open in 2020, 15,159 young leaders applied to join the Class of 2020 on 1,458 campuses across 135 nations. 80 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 1,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2020 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT KRIZZIA SOTO-VILLANUEVA, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2020.
University of Puerto Rico | Puerto Rico, United States | Advancing SDG 2 & UNAI 9
" I am excited to be a Millennium Fellow because I cherish any opportunity to gain resources and connections that will help me take my social impact to a higher level. Through the Fellowship, I can grow from and with other young leaders who are interested in making a change in the world. Eradicating food insecurity is one of the most important steps in a more just and sustainable world, and I am thrilled to meet others like myself who will work tirelessly for this cause. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Los Gandules Food Initiative
Los Gandules Food Initiative focuses on food security for homeless and underserved communities. Using social media and community outreach, Krizzia will pinpoint communities, families, and people in need. Following this information, Krizzia will travel to different municipalities in Puerto Rico as a sort of mobile soup kitchen. Through her volunteer work in organic community farming projects and through work in her own organic garden, Krizzia will gather ingredients to cook whole meals. These meals (as well as whole foods that were not used in cooking and other food items that are donated to the project) are then delivered to those who are experiencing homelessness and/or food insecurity on the island. The project focuses on providing warm sustenance and other fresh and non-perishable food items to as many people as possible, sourcing these foods from sustainable community farming efforts. Krizzia will measure the impact of this project in number of meals served and number of grocery bags delivered. Los Gandules Food Initiative aims to serve 350 meals and deliver 125 grocery bags of sustainably sourced fresh produce and non-perishable food items.
About the Millennium Fellow
Krizzia Soto-Villanueva is a senior Anthropology and Foreign Languages student at the University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras. Her passion for social change stems from widespread socioeconomic inequality on the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Having worked in adult literacy, rural education, and community archaeology, her most fervent cause is helping end food insecurity worldwide through sustainable food systems. Krizzia's personal interests include agroecology, forestry, local gastronomy, and ethnobotany. She plans to pursue graduate studies in Community Sustainability, Rural Sociology, and Sustainable Food Systems.
