Search results for: U.S. Action

By Gara LaMarcheIt is too early to know whether the current wave of school reforms will lead to lasting improvements in student achievement. But it is not too early to note that many of these reforms have a troubling consequence: a doubling-down on harsh, ineffective zero-tolerance…

Campaign Uses Video to Spotlight the Problem, Calls for Change in the Older Americans ActWASHINGTON, March 31, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 13 million older adults are considered economically insecure, living on just $21,780 a year or less. Every day, these seniors, and millions of Boomers, have to choose whether…

by Paul KeatingThe political and economic news from Ireland continues to spin out of control seemingly in a more troubled downward spiral as the government collapses, and the citizenry hopes to change that direction with new elections.The doom and gloom cycle continues unabated, so it…

Gara LaMarche, President and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies, participated on a panel of The Settlement Summit: Inclusion, Innovation, Impact. He shared his thoughts and six suggestions on the responsibility of American foundations when working abroad, which are also applicable to grantmaking in other places…

By Maureen Kelleher.  For many Chicago middle school students, immigration reform isn’t an academic abstraction. Some of them are undocumented, or have friends and classmates who are, and they’re apprehensive about what life beyond the 8th grade holds for them. This was abundantly clear earlier…

On Saturday, August 7th at Orozco Academy in Chicago, more than 400 youth, parents, and community members came together to support comprehensive immigration reform. Let by teams of youth from each of the five Elev8-Chicago sites (Ames/Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Marquette/SouthWest Organizing Project, Orozco/The Resurrection…

Perhaps because America is a nation of immigrants, immigration has always been a fraught political issue. How immigrants define themselves and how the laws determine who is welcome and who is not have played out in various ways throughout American history. Yet immigrants are among…

A core premise of Atlantic’s approach to philanthropy, underlying our plan to spend the foundation’s assets by the end of this decade, is that addressing issues now can prevent them from becoming larger, more serious challenges later.  But investing now doesn’t always mean that change…

NEW YORK, May 19 -- The Foundation Center, the nation's leading authority on organized philanthropy, has elected two new trustees to its board: Marcia A. Smith and Valdemar Neto (known as "Maneto"). Ms. Smith is senior vice president at The Atlantic Philanthropies, a global foundation…

I’ve just returned from Denver, Colorado, where the annual conference of the Council on Foundations ended Tuesday.  A significant theme of the conference this year, which Atlantic helped to organise, was what foundations can do to advance social justice.  I was honoured to moderate a…