Jake Harriman: Fighting the war on poverty

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Jake HarrimanU.S. Military veteran Jake Harriman pursues new mission: ending extreme global poverty.

From the front lines of the war on terror to the front lines of the war on poverty, Jake Harriman is fighting the good fight.

He is a decorated U.S. military veteran who served seven-and-a-half years as a platoon commander in both the U.S. Marine Corps Infantry and a special operations unit called Force Recon. Harriman was awarded the Bronze Star for actions he took in combat during his second tour in Iraq. During his military career, Harriman realized that peace could only be achieved if the contributing causes of terrorism (disenfranchisement, lack of education and extreme poverty) were first erased.

“We can’t just keep killing our way out of this problem,” Harriman explained.

Jake Harriman: Fighting the war on poverty

U.S. military veteran Jake Harriman talks about fighting terrorism by ending extreme global poverty.

He decided to leave the military to pursue his new mission: ending extreme poverty.

“The problem of terrorism extremism is such a complex issue; we have to start thinking about alternative methods to compliment what we’re currently doing.”

After leaving the Marine Corps, Jake graduated from the prestigious Stanford Graduate School of Business. He then created a non-profit group, Nuru International, to focus on ending extreme poverty in remote areas of the world. Working in Kenya and Ethiopia since 2009, Nuru International has helped more than 85,000 people lift themselves out of extreme
poverty.

Jake Harriman joined May Lee in our Los Angeles studio to discuss how he’s helping fight poverty in partnership with those in need.