Priya Haji

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1993

Priya Haji

Free At Last

http://www.freeatlast.org

East Palo Alto, California, United States

Community Improvement & Economic Development

The Bold Idea:

Priya was originally awarded the Echoing Green Fellowship to treat the most marginalized, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach substance abusers, ideally the service provider needs to be accessible and located within the community. In a small closed community like East Palo Alto, people are more open to treatment when the role models are people with whom they identify. Free at Last provides community-based, culturally appropriate prevention, intervention, bilingual outpatient and residential substance abuse treatment services for adults, intervention services for at-risk youth, transitional housing and aftercare for alumni. Their primary goals are to break the cycle of addiction and rebuild families, provide alternatives to incarceration, prevent the spread of AIDS, foster education and economic self-sufficiency, and contribute to the health and safety of the community.

She recently started a new venture, SaveUp, to help Americans save money and reduce their debt.  SaveUp’s goal is to make saving a fun and gratifying experience.  Every time a SaveUp player saves a dollar or pays off some of their debt, they have the opportunity to win life-changing prizes.  The goal behind SaveUp is to drive economic change by guiding and encouraging people to be more financially responsible.  Studies show that 70% of Americans want to save and more and more are starting to every day.  SaveUp wants to be a part of this growing trend in savings and help people come out of the recession with more savings and less debt.

Biography:

Priya Haji is former Executive Director and cofounder of Free at Last. She spearheaded program design and development as the agency expanded in seven years from one program in 1993 to a multi-service agency with over 50 employees. As a board member she continues to act as a liaison with government agencies, foundations, and public policy groups, advocating for funding and social reform.  She is a 1996 Do Something Foundation Brick Award winner, a member of the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame, and a recipient of Free at Last's Courage to Change Award, given in September 2001. For her work with Free at Last, Priya was recognized by the DoSomething Foundation, MTV and Mademoiselle Magazine as one of America's Ten Most Outstanding Young Leaders.

She is currently the CEO and co-founder of SaveUp, a new way to help Americans to succeed financially. She has a history of building companies with a social purpose.  Her first start-up, at the age of 16, was creating a free health clinic with her Dad (and role model) in her hometown in Texas. After receiving her MBA at Haas Business School at UC Berkeley, she co-founded and led World of Good to create a branded marketplace for fair trade and sustainable goods made by women in 55 countries around the globe. World of Good built partnerships with great retailers like Hallmark, Disney and Whole Foods and then became part of eBay in 2010 where it’s growing today. In 2007, Priya received a Social Innovation Award from the Social Venture Network for her vision to change the way the world does business, and in 2009 was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

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