Claire Heckerman’s quest for a better world is as indelible as the seven letters engraved on her wrist: imagine. As a board member of the University’s chapter of Invisible Children, she strives to raise awareness about Uganda’s youngest war victims.

In high school Kartik Telukuntla organized a supply drive for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and was involved in efforts to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

Earlier this year, these two service-oriented sophomores co-chaired UM’s inaugural Miami Poverty Conference, hosted by the William R. Butler Center for Volunteer Service and Leadership Development. Nearly 150 participants from UM and other South Florida colleges and universities dedicated one of the most beautiful Saturdays in February to facing some ugly realities in their own backyard.

Telukuntla, a political science and biology major, pitched the idea after reading of Miami’s “tremendously high” poverty rate. The Florida native saw these shocking statistics as a call to action.

The issue of poverty also hit close to home for Heckerman. “I grew up kind of poor,” the international studies and anthropology major explains. “I’m not bitter about it at all, but that perspective made me want to get involved.”

Both she and Telukuntla credit the ambitious event’s smooth orchestration of multiple panels, workshops, and keynote addresses to the teamwork of their student executive board—Monika Aneja, Joana Ochoa, Reginald Sainvil, Pravin Patel, Daniella Suarez, Esther Lamarre, and Sumit Mehta—their service and leadership advisors Keith “Fletch” Fletcher and Franklin McCune, and many other volunteers and presenters.

Faculty from disciplines such as political science, education, and sociology; Miami-Dade County Judge Steven Leifman, a noted advocate of mental health services for the incarcerated; and a panel of HIV-positive individuals living in a local homeless shelter helped paint a detailed portrait of poverty’s vicious and complex cycles. Community organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Daily Bread Food Bank offered attendees options for channeling their newfound knowledge into service.

“We really wanted people to do something once they left the conference,” Telukuntla says.

A week before the event, he and Heckerman presented their own action plans at the second annual Clinton Global Initiative University, to which they were invited along with President Donna E. Shalala and 13 other UM students. Heckerman’s goal is to develop a child sponsorship program on college campuses and educate more students about the plight of Africa’s child soldiers, while Telukuntla is keeping his focus local by organizing UM students to volunteer in area homeless shelters.

“There’s a lot that can be done in Miami,” he says, “and a lot that needs to be done. The best way to tackle this problem is to inspire more people to join you.”