YEAR IN REVIEW

MacArthur announces $5.6 million in grants supporting research on how housing matters to children, families, and communities. Nine projects were chosen in a competitive process from a pool of 150 proposals, bringing the total number of studies supported to 34. 

MacArthur awards nearly $4 million in grants mostly to help ensure that the proliferation of nuclear power is matched by increased security measures, a precaution important to preventing nuclear theft and terrorism.

Several MacArthur grantees, including Enough is Enough, the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, and the Transition Monitoring Group, support Nigeria’s landmark free general election through media monitoring and logistical assistance. 

A MacArthur-supported report by the Center for Universal Education at Brookings calls for more global focus on quality education and learning for children, especially girls, in the developing world.

Expanding low-income adults’ access to Medicaid significantly increases health care use, decreases financial strain on covered individuals, and improves their health and well-being, according a MacArthur-supported study by the Harvard School of Public Health, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Providence Health & Services.

The Interrupters, a MacArthur-supported documentary, garners widespread praise for its depiction of three “violence interrupters” working for the nonprofit CeaseFire on the streets of Chicago.

Students arrive for the first day of school at ChicagoQuest, the first of three campuses of a new, MacArthur-supported school with a curriculum based on systems thinking and the principles of game design to engage kids in learning for the 21st century.

MacArthur pledges a ten-year, $176-million commitment to conservation and sustainable development and unveils a new, broader strategy for preserving ecosystems and promoting responsible development practices.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan joins MacArthur to announce the Foundation’s fourth Digital Media & Learning Competition, which in this round will provide $2 million for research and innovations in the design and use of digital badges to motivate leaning and make it more visible to peers, potential employers, and others.

The Foundation named 22 new MacArthur Fellows working across a broad spectrum of endeavors, including an architect, a sports medicine researcher, a cellist, a developmental biologist, a radio producer, a neurologist, a conservator, a poet, a technologist, and a public historian.  All were selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future.

The Bipartisan Policy Center launches the MacArthur-supported Bipartisan Housing Commission, which will craft a package of policy recommendations to address the nation’s future housing needs. 

MacArthur and the Institute of Museum and Library Services announce the first 12 recipients of a national grants competition to design and build 21st-century learning labs in museums and libraries across the country, based on research about how young people learn today and modeled after the YOUmedia teen space at Chicago’s Harold Washington Library.

MacArthur’s International Connections Fund awards $504,000 to help 12 Chicago arts and culture organizations collaborate with groups from nine other countries.