The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest independent foundations in the U.S. With $6.3 billion in total assets as of Dec, 31, 2013, the MacArthur Foundation had authorized more than $228.4 million in grants with operations in the U.S. and more than 50 countries worldwide in 2013 alone. Since 1978, the Foundation has made grants totaling an astounding $5 billion.
The Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions that are committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. The foundation also “selects the MacArthur Fellows, works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society.”
Founders and quiet philanthropists John D. (1897-1978) and wife, Catherine T. (1909-1981) MacArthur spent the majority their lives in Chicago and Palm Beach. Both of the MacArthur’s were extremely successful in their business and philanthropic endeavors. John MacArthur developed and owned Bankers Life and Casualty Company among other businesses and considerable amounts of property in Florida and New York. Catherine MacArthur held positions in many of his companies and served as the director of the Foundation.
The first decade of the Foundation posed many challenges. There were many debates over assets, good value responsibility, grant-making strategies, staff assembly and relationship establishment. The second decade saw a rapid expansion and held a lot of experimentation. Assets grew and John MacArthur’s real estate holdings were liquidated to fund new projects and ventures— mostly geared towards the Chicago area. During the third decade, the Foundation made their values clear, established a mission: committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world, as well as deepening many other investments and holding many successes.
MacArthur’s Four Programs
Through the support it provides, the Foundation makes grants and loans through four programs. According to their website, “The Foundation fosters the development of knowledge, nurtures individual creativity, strengthens institutions, helps improve public policy, and provides information to the public, primarily through support for public interest media.”
The first of the programs focuses on international issues including human rights, international peace, justice, security, conservation, sustainable development, and many more. MacArthur grantees work in more than 60 countries and have offices in India, Mexico, Nigeria and Russia.
The second program addresses issues inside of U.S. borders including community and economic development, housing, juvenile justice reform, education and many more. This program also focuses a great deal on policy research.
MacArthur’s third program, Media, Culture, and Special Initiative, supports public interest journalism, including analytical and investigative news reporting and documentary films. Through this program, the Foundation awards grants to more than 300 theaters, museums, and music organizations in Chicago. The program also works to strengthen American democracy through “discovery grants” in an effort to advance innovative approaches to important social problems in various fields.
The final program, The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted $625,000 fellowships to talented individuals who have displayed an immense amount of originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.
2015 Recipients Announced
Recently, nine nonprofit organizations received the MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions grants for 2015. The grants ranged from $350,000 to $1 million. These awards have been given out since 2006 and are aimed at organizations that previously received help from the MacArthur Foundation. An interesting fact about this great organization is that the MacArthur Foundation does not seek or accept nominations for the awards.
– Eastin Shipman
Sources: MacArthur Foundation 1, MacArthur Foundation 2, MacArthur Foundation 3, ABC News
Photo: Mac Found
Improving Education in Zambia a Priority
The Cost to End World Hunger
World hunger and its devastating effects can be eradicated with a fraction of the United States Federal Budget. Discussed below is a breakdown of leading facts and figures about the current state of world hunger, including the cost to end world hunger.
The cost to end world hunger…
— $30 billion per year is needed to end world hunger
— $737 billion per year is the amount Congress spends on Defense
How much does it cost to end world hunger?
– Leen Abdallah
World hunger can be eradicated.
A price has been set and estimated by the United Nations to solve this crisis – $30 billion a year. It may seem like a large sum of money, but when compared to the U.S. defense budget – $737 billion in 2012 – $30 billion seems more attainable. The $30 billion expense is manageable, especially when the U.S. would be joined by other investors in global poverty, but the U.S. has the capacity to be the leader on this issue.
An article published in the Los Angeles Times in 2008 states that providing a substantial amount of money directed specifically towards agricultural development could result in high-yields and trigger a second Green Revolution.
Helping the world’s poor is not merely the right and moral thing to do; it also benefits the private sector. Businesses have already thought of a solution: public-private partnerships. The business community works with the U.S. government to sustain agricultural development in poor countries so as to better tackle the problems that businesses face abroad in these underdeveloped and developing nations. These provided funds would not only increase food production but they would ensure that food prices are much more affordable.
Aside from benefits to the private sector and the economy, tackling the global hunger crises presents a better image for the U.S. as a “humanitarian superpower.” Furthermore, the U.S.’ involvement in humanitarian projects would present more American corporations as “respectful partners” within the global community.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has allied with corporate sponsors to support global development. For example, USAID works “with the Schaffer Global Group on a factory in Mali, with Heinz to help Egyptian tomato farmers and with Coca-Cola on clean water projects in a dozen countries.”
Much has been and continues to be done; yet, the U.S. possesses the capacity to do more. There are 870 million people who are under-nourished and the U.S. has the potential to end their hunger.
Source: LA Times, Know Your World:Hunger Facts, USGovSpending
Poverty in Russia a Growing Concern
In 2008, there were approximately 18.5 million people in Russia living below the poverty line.
Moreover, since the economic crisis poverty rose by 1.1 percent leaving about 13 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The income inequality gap is currently the most pervasive issue with economic growth not lifting all socioeconomic classes.
President Vladimir Putin has realized that the Russian government is not doing enough to support the impoverished people living in his country. One problem is that social services are not strong enough to support the growing amount of people living in poverty in Russia.
Concurrently, more billionaires live in Moscow than in either New York City or London. The global crisis in 2008 crippled the Russian economy and shrunk it by 9.5 percent.
“The official poverty rate has gone up by precisely six million people. All of the gains in fighting poverty during the period 2000-2008 have been utterly wiped out,” writer Dmitri Butrin said.
There are immense disparities between the rural poor and the urban elites living in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Yet the Kremlin remains politically unaffected by the increase in economic instability due to the tightly controlled Russian media. The problem is mainly in the integrated global economy.
Rising oil prices in 2010 brought reprieved the Russian economy and boosted economic fortitude. However, oil prices fell steadily for several months which is causing the ruble to collapse; the Russian poor are in a much worse position than before.
Russia also has serious budget problems contributing to the economic slump. One-third of the budget is committed to defense and the military industrial complex. Mr. Putin’s commitment to putting up a strong front to the West over the Ukraine is taking priority to the current economic problems facing the poor.
“For Putin the priority is the army, the secret service and the bureaucracy. And also financing pensioners, the main supporters of the regime,” Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader and former deputy prime minister.
Mr. Putin is not swaying from his plan of investing 20 trillion rubles into rearmament. Former economic advisor, Alexei Kudrin stated “I have the impression that at all levels of power, including the first person (Putin), there isn’t an objective assessment of the challenges before Russia.”
Vladimir Putin is not assessing his priorities with the poor populations of Russia in mind. In this case, geopolitical concerns are taking precidance and this is hurting the people in the lower socioeconomic classes.
– Maxine Gordon
Sources: The Guardian, Yahoo News
Photo: Motor City Times
Mothers2Mothers Fights Poverty
“We can’t end poverty if we fail to save the lives of our world’s mothers.” – Liya Kebede
According to the Foundation for AIDS Research, 70 percent of all people living with AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa, including 91 percent of the world’s HIV-positive children. One organization called mothers2mothers is dedicated to educating and providing proper healthcare to mothers living with HIV.
Pediatric AIDS is preventable, but nearly 700 children are infected with HIV each day. Most of these children acquire HIV from their mothers during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Up to 40 percent of children born to HIV-positive mothers will contract the virus; however, mothers2mothers hopes to provide numerous opportunities to infected mothers, ranging from education to healthcare. With medical interventions during pregnancy, that percentage of children infected with HIV could shrink to two percent.
It can be difficult getting proper treatment in sub-Saharan Africa, where many medical centers are understaffed or miles from villages. Many women live in fear due to the stigma of HIV and do not get the treatment they need to save their lives or the lives of their children.
Mothers2mothers’s slogan is “Empowered women nurture healthy families.” The organization focuses on empowering and educating women and expecting mothers in the hope to alleviate the stress of HIV and provide proper care. One wing of their organization involves Mentor Mothers, who are mothers living with HIV. Mentor Mothers work alongside doctors and nurses by becoming part of the healthcare team in the health center. Mentor Mothers serve as counselors and confidantes to other mothers living with HIV and educate women on how to protect their children from HIV.
So far, mothers2mothers has discovered that women involved in mothers2mothers are more likely to take antiretroviral drugs that prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV; infants are better protected and are given an early diagnosis test to determine their health status.
Mothers2mothers plans on expanding and hopes to reach even more women than the 1.9 million women they currently serve. Mothers2mothers provides life-saving opportunities to women living with HIV as well as children.
Mothers bring children into this world, and children are the future. By saving the lives of mothers, the world can begin to see a healthier, brighter future that moves out of poverty and disease.
– Alaina Grote
Sources: Mothers2mothers, Aid for Africa
Photo: LGTVP
Growing Poverty in Hong Kong
According to a study conducted by Professor Maggie Lau of the City University of Hong Kong in the Department of Public Policy research shows that poverty in Hong Kong is vast.
Dr. Lau’s study aims to focus on various socio-economic groups in order to understand how poverty affects these different groups. The groups include lone parents, couples with children, those without children, single adults and the elderly. The research conducted on these different demographics serves to specify which groups in particular are facing the highest levels of poverty.
Recently, Hong Kong fell in the rankings for being a “livable city” due to the high cost of living and large population. With a widening inequality gap, the wealthier are accruing more while the poor are falling more deeply into poverty. Aid in the form of government services is relatively nonexistent.
“Some of the poor are moving from temporary poverty to chronic poverty and intergenerational poverty,” according to Liu Yuanchun, director of the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China.
Chronic poverty is linked to structural poverty meaning that they do not benefit from economic growth. This type of poverty is described as “chronic” because the affected populations are entrenched in poverty for the majority of their lives.
“This means that understanding the manifestations, attributes and social dynamics of chronic poverty to develop additional national and international interventions is crucial.” The underlying cultural and social context of poverty in Hong Kong must be understood in order to develop policies that are effective.
Poverty is becoming institutionalized in the city center where social services and government intervention is lacking. About one out of seven million of the inhabitants of Hong Kong are living in poverty.
The dynamic and rich culture that Hong Kong attracts money and professionals from all over the world. However, it’s falling in terms of its livability standards— there are other city centers that offer many of the same features flike Singapore and Tokyo.
The prices of property were raised to astronomical levels in 2003 when the price of housing went up over 300 percent. Although small government in business is a popular staple of life in Hong Kong, government intervention needs to be more urgent or people will begin moving to other places to do business.
– Maxine Gordon
Sources: Poverty and Social Exclusion in Hong Kong, China Daily 1, China Daily 2, Market Watch, Chronic Poverty Research Center
Photo: Daily Mail UK
MacArthur Foundation Quietly Leads Way
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest independent foundations in the U.S. With $6.3 billion in total assets as of Dec, 31, 2013, the MacArthur Foundation had authorized more than $228.4 million in grants with operations in the U.S. and more than 50 countries worldwide in 2013 alone. Since 1978, the Foundation has made grants totaling an astounding $5 billion.
The Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions that are committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. The foundation also “selects the MacArthur Fellows, works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society.”
Founders and quiet philanthropists John D. (1897-1978) and wife, Catherine T. (1909-1981) MacArthur spent the majority their lives in Chicago and Palm Beach. Both of the MacArthur’s were extremely successful in their business and philanthropic endeavors. John MacArthur developed and owned Bankers Life and Casualty Company among other businesses and considerable amounts of property in Florida and New York. Catherine MacArthur held positions in many of his companies and served as the director of the Foundation.
The first decade of the Foundation posed many challenges. There were many debates over assets, good value responsibility, grant-making strategies, staff assembly and relationship establishment. The second decade saw a rapid expansion and held a lot of experimentation. Assets grew and John MacArthur’s real estate holdings were liquidated to fund new projects and ventures— mostly geared towards the Chicago area. During the third decade, the Foundation made their values clear, established a mission: committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world, as well as deepening many other investments and holding many successes.
MacArthur’s Four Programs
Through the support it provides, the Foundation makes grants and loans through four programs. According to their website, “The Foundation fosters the development of knowledge, nurtures individual creativity, strengthens institutions, helps improve public policy, and provides information to the public, primarily through support for public interest media.”
The first of the programs focuses on international issues including human rights, international peace, justice, security, conservation, sustainable development, and many more. MacArthur grantees work in more than 60 countries and have offices in India, Mexico, Nigeria and Russia.
The second program addresses issues inside of U.S. borders including community and economic development, housing, juvenile justice reform, education and many more. This program also focuses a great deal on policy research.
MacArthur’s third program, Media, Culture, and Special Initiative, supports public interest journalism, including analytical and investigative news reporting and documentary films. Through this program, the Foundation awards grants to more than 300 theaters, museums, and music organizations in Chicago. The program also works to strengthen American democracy through “discovery grants” in an effort to advance innovative approaches to important social problems in various fields.
The final program, The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted $625,000 fellowships to talented individuals who have displayed an immense amount of originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.
2015 Recipients Announced
Recently, nine nonprofit organizations received the MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions grants for 2015. The grants ranged from $350,000 to $1 million. These awards have been given out since 2006 and are aimed at organizations that previously received help from the MacArthur Foundation. An interesting fact about this great organization is that the MacArthur Foundation does not seek or accept nominations for the awards.
– Eastin Shipman
Sources: MacArthur Foundation 1, MacArthur Foundation 2, MacArthur Foundation 3, ABC News
Photo: Mac Found
Malaria No More
Every 60 seconds, a child dies from a preventable and curable disease that claims the lives of 453,000 children per year—90 percent of those in Africa.
Malaria is considered one of the top three causes of death for children worldwide. But there’s one nonprofit that’s taking on the challenge to slow down the clock and lower its global threat to about half the world at risk. Malaria No More is dedicated to bringing an end to malaria deaths by engaging leaders, rallying the public and delivering lifesaving tools and education to families across Africa.
With the rate of 13,000 children losing their lives to a mosquito bite everyday, it is a critical time for this nonprofit to do its work efficiently and effectively. They do this through two sectors: lifesaving commodities and health education.
Malaria No More has covered over five million people with mosquito nets in at least 17 African countries, which to date is the surest way to prevent malaria. In Senegal, the organization conducted the first universal coverage of mosquito net distribution. In Cameroon, they inspired over 500,000 people to sleep under mosquito nets with their education campaign.
In the Fall of 2013, Malaria No More launched a campaign to deploy rapid diagnostic tests and artemisinin-based combination treatments to reduce malaria deaths in children. Rapid-diagnostic tests help expand the world’s ability to confirm malaria cases in remote settings and ensure that people get the right treatment where they need it. Likewise, artemisinin-based combination therapies act as a powerful treatment for malaria with a full course costing just one dollar to buy and deliver, curing a child one to three days time.
In addition to these lifesaving commodities, Malaria No More offers health education, which plays a vital role to preventing, diagnosing and treating the disease. For example, their NightWatch initiative has reached at least 20 million Africans by engaging mobile platforms and African leaders, from international music icons to local sports heroes, to deliver lifesaving health education.
Malaria No More works on the ground to make sure that every family in Africa has timely access to the resources they need, whether it’s providing mosquito nets to sleep under at night or the one dollar full-course treatment.
Other solutions the nonprofit suggests include indoor residual spraying to help kill mosquitoes and reduce the rate of malaria transmission in addition to the development of more vaccines for malaria and support via government funding.
Though foreign aid represents less than one percent of the U.S. federal budget, all efforts make an impact on the ground. Bridging the current funding gap and helping countries deliver lifesaving resources will help bring down the rate of malaria deaths. Since 2000, malaria mortality rates have fallen about 60 percent among children under the age of five, but there’s still much more work to do.
Thanks to technology behemoth Google, Malaria No More is closer to reaching their goals. In December 2014, Google made a huge move toward fighting against malaria by announcing a $600,000 grant to help fund a mobile phone project to combat the disease.
So how does it work? Since many Africans communicate via mobile phones, there’s no better way to collect data and send them vital information that details preventative measures that can save those in targeted areas from one of the most deadly diseases. Malaria No More will partner with a Nigerian startup called Sproxil, which helps fight the counterfeit drug market by putting codes on authentic medicines. Anyone who purchases these can now text the codes to verify the drugs.
In addition, texting codes allows Malaria No More to receive data on what drugs people are taking in remote areas as well as track the spread and treatments for the disease.
– Chelsee Yee
Sources: Malaria No More, Geek Wire, Fighting Malaria
Photo: Malaria No More
Senate Subcommittee on Immigration Renamed
As the 114th Congress settles into a regular routine, committee and subcommittee chairs are being announced. Notably, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) was announced as the chairman for the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.
Sen. Sessions expressed his desire for stricter immigration control in the past, saying that immigration reform is a term “reserved for proposals which benefit everyone but actual American citizens.” He also pushed back against President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
The Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, renamed the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest after Sen. Sessions took over, is a subset of Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Its jurisdiction encompasses immigration, citizenship and refugee laws and the immigration functions of the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On Jan. 26, 2015, Sen. Sessions released a 25-page guide entitled the “Immigration Handbook for the New Republican Majority.” The handbook covers executive amnesty, immigration economics and effects on welfare, concluding with questions about the immigration debate in the U.S.
The subcommittee handles refugee policy in the U.S., which is a foreign policy issue that receives little floor time in the House and Senate and even less funding and support. Refugee programs run through a complex system of departments and offices, including USAID, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs. The sheer number of hoops to jump through for funding, visas or support can be daunting for both advocates and refugees themselves.
Immigration debate in the U.S. took a rare humanitarian turn last year when reports revealed the staggering number of minors crossing over the Mexican/U.S. border out of Central America. Many of these minors are fleeing extreme poverty, violence and illegal economic activities.
Sen. Sessions’ subcommittee will likely decide the outcome of the dangerous journey many take to flee poverty and violence.
– Caitlin Huber
Sources: Politico, U.S. Senate 1, U.S. Senate 2, Breitbart
Photo: ProPublica
Education in Lesotho in Need of Improvements
Lesotho, a former British colony landlocked within South Africa, is lacking in a variety of statistical measures ranging from poverty to education. While new standards implemented in the past 15 years have brought about improvements in many of these areas, more remains to be done.
In 2010, 56 percent of residents in Lesotho lived on less than $1.25 a day, nearly one in ten infants died before the age of five, and 41 percent of the nation’s wealth was held by those in the top 10 percent of the national income bracket.
By 2013, economic circumstances had changed very little. Life expectancy was 48 years, GDP per capita was approximately $1,125, the nation had the third highest rate of HIV in the world, and 12 percent of the population remained orphaned.
While Lesotho’s education statistics fare slightly better than economic ones, Lesotho lags behind other nations. Moreover, in contrast to most developing nations, an educational gender gap exists that favors females over males in the early grades.
According to the World Bank database, in 2012, 82 percent of female children in Lesotho completed primary school, compared with only 64 percent of male children.
The gender gap appears to close in secondary school. In 2011, 75 percent of both males and females progressed to secondary education.
The gap seemingly widens again once the population reaches the labor force, this time in favor of the male population. According to the World Bank, the male unemployment rate in Lesotho stood at 3.6 percent in 2013, compared with 28.3 percent for females during the same period.
Beginning in the year 2000, the government of Lesotho has made efforts to reform the education system, offering free primary education for all students aged 6 through 13.
While implementing free and compulsory education for all students is an important first step, education officials are wary of the fact that a need for well-trained teachers, textbooks and better school infrastructure must not be overlooked.
The Education Act 2010 addresses these areas of concern, and makes special efforts to integrate orphaned, impoverished and HIV-affected children into the education system.
– Katrina Beedy
Sources: BBC, Lesotho Government, African Online News, World Bank 1, World Bank 2, World Bank 3, World Bank 4, World Bank 5, World Bank 6, World Bank 7, World Bank 8, World Bank 9,
Photo: Encyclopedia Britannica
Manifestations of Poverty in Surat, India
The city of Surat, located in the state of Gujarat near the western coast of India, has seen rapid population growth and development in recent years. Although India has also gradually seen a significant drop in poverty, overpopulation in regions like Surat contributes to the perpetuation of poverty.
According to reports from The Guardian, Surat ranks fourth in the world in terms of speed of development. A 2011 census placed Surat’s population at approximately 4.5 million, up from 2.8 million in 2001. As a result of the quick spike in population, many of Surat’s inhabitants now live in unsanitary conditions and face a dire economic situation.
Aside from the issues that arise from overpopulation, Surat may soon face harrowing consequences as a result of global climate change. Due to its proximity to India’s western coast, Surat is expected to face recurrent flooding sometime in the next few decades. Rapid urbanization has compounded the risks of flooding, blocking outlets for runoff. Higher temperatures associated with global climate change are expected to further exacerbate monsoon rains and flooding. With stagnant water and higher temperatures, conditions would be ripe for mosquitos, increasing the risk of malaria and other diseases.
The city has begun to implement proactive measures such as creating flood plans, building weather stations and hiring new “resilience” staff in order to better prepare for disaster. Along with increased urbanization, Surat faces high rates of unemployment and poverty.
Across India, unemployment disproportionately affects women. In 2013, only 27 percent of the female population aged 15 and over was active in the labor force, whereas 80 percent of the male population 15-years-old and over was working during that same period.
In Surat, financial instability prompts some women to turn to non-traditional methods of income, including surrogacy. According to a study carried out by the Centre for Social Research, 88.6 percent of surrogate mothers interviewed in Surat reported that poverty drove them to surrogacy. Another 94.1 percent of respondents cited unemployment as the main reason.
The study notes that cheap medical services coupled with lax regulations make Surat and other regions in India a popular destination for those seeking surrogate mothers. Whereas surrogacy costs can range between $59,000 and $80,000 in the U.S., these rates can be as low as $10,000 to $35,000 in India.
While non-traditional work provides some financial stability. Changes in climate and a growing population are causes of concern when considering sustainable poverty reduction methods.
– Katrina Beedy
Sources: Census 2011, The Guardian, Counterview.org
Photo: BBC News