YEAR IN REVIEW

Working on such diverse issues as exposing human rights abuses in cyberspace and reducing the influence of money in American politics, seven organizations in three countries are named recipients of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

Following a MacArthur-supported campaign by Conservation International, Indonesia creates a six million-square kilometer manta ray sanctuary that is one of the only places on the planet tourists can reliably encounter oceanic and reef manta rays.

States implementing an analytic cost-benefit model pioneered by the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative achieve policy successes by focusing limited public resources on social programs with anticipated returns of as much as $38 for every $1 invested.

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The U.S. immigration system significantly fails children who come to the United States alone in search of safety, stability, and protection, according to a MacArthur-supported report by the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law and Kids in Need of Defense.

Through the Partnership to Strengthen Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education, MacArthur and its philanthropic partners announce $15.8 million in grants and a commitment of an additional $13 million in the next year for innovative projects that will increase the participation, quality, and relevance of secondary education for economically disadvantaged and marginalized children in developing countries.

During the past three years, over half of all U.S. adults have had to make at least one sacrifice in order to cover their rent or mortgage, according to a MacArthur survey of housing attitudes; such sacrifices included getting an additional job, deferring saving for retirement, cutting back on health care and healthy foods, running up credit card debt, or moving to a less safe neighborhood or one with worse schools.

© Digital Youth Network

Following Chicago, three additional cities – Dallas, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh – launch Cities of Learning programs to provide connected learning opportunities for youth from all backgrounds to follow their interests, learn with supportive peers and mentors, and develop critical skills as they learn video production, fashion design, poetry, robotics, computer coding, and more.

Helping to reduce significantly the carbon footprints for some of the country’s least energy-efficient buildings and make housing more affordable, MacArthur commits $25 million to support and expand innovative energy efficiency financing programs designed to meet the challenges and needs of multifamily housing in the United States.

The Urban Center for Computation and Data launches the Array of Things, a MacArthur-supported project to create data to better understand the environment, infrastructure, and activity of cities.

The Foundation names its 2014 class of MacArthur Fellows, recognizing 21 exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the future.

Photo by Ravi Ganapathy

MacArthur awards grants to 12 Chicago arts and culture organizations for artistic exchanges in 11 countries, including Brazil, China, Malaysia, and the Philippines, further enhancing the city’s global role and reputation.
 
Photo: Natya Dance Theatre by Ravi Ganapathy

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With support from MacArthur, human rights organizations in Mexico provide critical assistance – legal and political representation, forensic investigation, and documentation of each case – in the disappearance of 43 missing students in Guerrero.

Civil society organizations working to protect human rights around the world are being bombarded with persistent and disruptive computer espionage attacks, according to a MacArthur-supported report by The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.

With MacArthur support, Partners for Sacred Places launches a first-of-its-kind website that connects Chicago religious congregations with arts organizations and other nonprofits so they can share space, volunteers, and resources.

The number of youth confined in state and county facilities nationwide declined significantly in 2011, affirming the benefits of juvenile justice reforms enacted over the past decade, according to a MacArthur-supported report by the National Juvenile Justice Network and the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Effective Justice.