On January 30th, the White House honored as Champions of Change 14 leaders in American Diaspora communities with roots in the Horn of Africa. Three of the honorees were Buckeyes. Abdi Roble is the founder and Executive Director of the Somali Documentary Project and Visiting Scholar at OSU’s Center for African Studies. Sagal Ali (BA in English from OSU) serves as a Program Lead with the Ready to Read Corps of Columbus Metropolitan Library where she works to educate low-income families on how to prepare their children for school and a better future. Ilhan Dahir, an OSU undergrad, is the founder and president of Interfaith Service Youth Corps. Watch the White House press conference (Sagal speaks at 14:30, Ilhan speaks at 32:50, Abdi speaks at 1:15:35) or read Abdi’s essay.