GHR Foundation - News

Mapping the Global Footprint of Catholic Childcare, Welfare, and Healthcare

9/17/2019

In May 2019, GHR partnered with UISG Roma to host the New Approaches to the Institutional Care of Children workshop. Uplifting the central tenets of GHR’s Children in Families work, the workshop explored efforts to move beyond the institutional care of children towards community - and family -based models, that enable children to live healthier, happier lives – well into adulthood.

To that end, illustrating the reach of Catholic-run institutions around the world was a focal point of the convening. GHR partnered with Goodlands, a cartography organization, to create the first global illustrations of Catholic orphanages; hospitals; dispensaries; communities and institutions for individuals with Hansen’s disease (leprosy); matrimonial advice centers; unspecified welfare institutions; re-education centers; homes for the elderly ill, infirm, and handicapped; children’s nurseries; and population from 1980 to 2016.

Mining several decades of data from the Vatican’s Annuarium Statisticum Eccleasiea, cleaning it and joining it to geodata sets of historical and current country boundaries, Goodlands created a significant number of web-based map applications, analyses, and infographics. An example of these is the above time lapse, which illustrates the global spread of Catholic orphanages between 1980 and 2016. These resources have proved crucial in developing strategies to gradually transition from institutional care for children.

Founder Molly Burhans, who led the collaboration with GHR on this project, has recently been recognized by the United Nations Environment Program for her groundbreaking work in digitally mapping the land assets of one of the world’s largest land-owners—the Catholic Church.

GHR Fellows Begin First Year at UST

9/13/2019

GHR Foundation believes education can transform an individual as it did Gerry Rauenhorst, one of our founders, a first-generation college student and a St. Thomas alum. The beginning of this school year marks a point of pride for GHR, as the inaugural cohort of GHR Fellows begins their first year at the University of St. Thomas.

A partnership between GHR Foundation and the St. Thomas Opus College of Business, the GHR Fellows program is an endowed scholarship for business majors. This highly competitive program is designed to attract future business leaders who exemplify the mission of the university and model GHR values: globally-minded, ethics-oriented changemakers who embody the entrepreneurial spirit, and seek to create enduring value for society.

Ten GHR Fellows have been selected to receive scholarships providing them with full tuition for four years, a fully funded J-Term study abroad experience, curated programming, customized social entrepreneurship opportunities and more. In offering this scholarship, the university will be able to recruit and retain excellent students who might not otherwise have access to such an opportunity.

Representing a diverse range of backgrounds, the inaugural cohort of GHR Fellows is composed of ten students with outstanding track records, of extraordinary promise, who bring with them a variety of enriching experiences, skills and stories.

Tri Nhan Pham, a first-generation student born in Vietnam and raised in Shakopee, MN, said of the program: “My goal is simple: to leave a legacy that my mom would be proud of. I am ready and excited to take on everything that St. Thomas and the GHR Fellows program has to offer.”

Learn more about GHR’s support of innovative, high-quality education at Marquette University, St. Catherine University and the University of St. Thomas by visiting our Higher Education Initiative.

GHR Foundation and OpenIDEO Launch Third BridgeBuilder™ to Identify Radical Ideas to Help Migrants, Refugees and Displaced People

7/3/2019

In collaboration with open innovation platform OpenIDEO, Minneapolis-based GHR Foundation has launched its third annual BridgeBuilder™, awarding $1 million to the best ideas that address urgent global issues in radically new ways.

This year’s challenge focus, People on the Move, will invite social innovators and individuals with experience of displacement to come together to address challenges faced by migrants, refugees, and displaced people as well as host communities. The challenge will be a collaborative process that aims to identify promising ideas that promote meaningful engagement, greater social cohesion and sustainable, community-led change.

Submissions are open from July 2nd-August 17th, with Top Ideas announced in mid-November following a refinement process using human-centered design. Top Ideas will each receive a share of $1 million in seed funding from GHR Foundation and will join a cohort of innovative organisations working to address urgent needs.

This year, BridgeBuilder launches in response to the more than 70.8 million men, women and children who are currently forcibly displaced worldwide. With more people on the move today than in the past 70 years, and with women and children disproportionately impacted, the 2019 Challenge invites social innovators and currently or previously displaced persons to design approaches that enable individuals to create a life of meaning, filled with hope and dignity, and to support host communities in being their most welcoming.

Entrants are requested to consider the following question:
How might we, as people on the move and neighbours, build bridges to a shared future of stability and promise?

In 2018, BridgeBuilder gathered 690 collaborative, principles-based, community-rooted, people-centered solutions, all building bridges in unique, innovative ways. These were narrowed down to five Top Ideas, which convened in Rome for a design-build workshop with GHR and OpenIDEO.
The 2018 Top Ideas include:

This is My Backyard (TIMBY) - Equipping indigenous peoples with mobile technology to protect land rights in Kenya
Found in Translation - Empowering bilingual women as medical interpreters to fight healthcare disparities in Boston, USA
Producers Direct - Unleashing the potential of rural youth to drive sustainable small- scale agriculture in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
War Child Canada - Investing in young peace-building entrepreneurs via cash transfers and start-up grants in South Sudan
My Choices Foundation - Facilitating women-led community transformation for families facing domestic violence in India

Amy Goldman, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of GHR Foundation, said, “The opportunity for meaningful engagement with people on the move is immense, and BridgeBuilder seeks to harness the hospitality and solidarity that lies within each of the 7 billion humans on our planet. GHR is proud to launch this third BridgeBuilder, which builds on each of our previous challenges that have sought new approaches to solve pressing global issues at the intersections of peace, prosperity, and planet.”

Jason Rissman, managing director of OpenIDEO, added, "We’ve been so inspired by the global response to BridgeBuilder the past two years. The creativity infused in the ideas has been outstanding, as has been the impact of these bold innovators on their respective communities. I look forward to welcoming the next generation of BridgeBuilders in the third challenge and continuing to grow this important movement."

To participate in this year’s Challenge, please visit: GHRfoundation.org/BridgeBuilder
Entries open July 2nd and close August 17th 2019.

Notes to Editors
Challenge Process
During the Ideas Phase, BridgeBuilder calls on the global community to share approaches that bring people together to address urgent challenges faced by people on the move. The proposals do not need to be perfect or fully polished—in fact, early entry in the Ideas phase will allow teams to iterate and improve an idea through community engagement. Throughout this Phase, participants are encouraged to include voices of people with experience of displacement in their communities to design ideas and provide feedback.
Currently and previously displaced people will help select a shortlist of submitted ideas to move into the Expert Feedback Phase, where teams will have the opportunity to be matched with experts with lived experience and from various fields to gather feedback and additional insights. After expert feedback, the Improve Phase gives each team three weeks to apply the expert feedback to their proposal, finalize and resubmit it along with a project budget.
Top Ideas will be announced in mid-November and receive seed funding and post-Challenge support from GHR, as well as connection opportunities with other BridgeBuilders and OpenIDEO.

Selected top ideas will:

Receive a share of $1 million in seed funding from GHR Foundation
Join a BridgeBuilder cohort of innovative organizations working to address urgent needs
Take part in a kick-off workshop, during which they will meet other social innovators and further design and build their approaches with tools and expertise from GHR and OpenIDEO
Receive ongoing partnership support from GHR, potential connection to other funder networks, and media exposure

Submission Guidelines
Ideas are invited from individuals and teams currently or previously experiencing displacement as well as registered nonprofit, civil society, community-based, and for-profit organizations working anywhere in the world.

Actionable and tangible: Idea must be actionable and build tangible results in the community of focus, rather than research, convenings, policy development, or advocacy.
Within scope: Idea must be implemented within a 36-month timeline and within a budget up to US$200,000.
Representative: Idea must show evidence that the voice and perspective of a person currently or previously experiencing displacement is part of the ideation, process, and project.

New York Times: These Millennials Got New Roommates. They’re Nuns.

5/31/2019

From the New York Times:

"The number of nuns in the United States has collapsed from 180,000 in 1965 to below 50,000 today. Sisters are passing leadership at Catholic hospitals and schools to lay people. Some have even begun talking about their mission here in America as being complete.

At the same time, millennials are the least religious group of people in America — only about 27 percent attend weekly religious services. Young women who aspire to lives of good works without the burden of a husband are quite able to do that now without Catholicism.

Yet for small pockets of the young, urban and progressive, the convent is calling. Their radical politics took them all the way around and back to the Catholic Church."

Read more...

Wired: Tropical forests are dying. Seed-slinging drones can save them

4/30/2019

From Wired:

"Working at full capacity, BioCarbon’s drones, flying in six-strong autonomous swarms, can plant 400,000 trees in a day, according to BioCarbon’s co-founder Irina Fedorenko.

In 2017, an old contact from Fedorenko’s time as an activist in Russia approached her, and together they secured a $240,000 grant from the GHR Foundation, a US philanthropic organisation, to set up trials in Ayeyarwady Region. “I knew that it was going to be tough,” Fedorenko says. “Environmental restoration is always a question of governance and management. It’s never a question of technology. We were ready for that.”

Read more...

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN): Dialogue can resolve all conflicts, says Onaiyekan

4/3/2019

From News Agency of Nigeria (NAN):

"Cardinal John Onaiyekan has said that effective dialogue has the potential of resolving all kinds of conflicts. He also called on well meaning Nigerians to support programmes aimed at building peace across the country.

Onaiyekan said this on the sidelines of the Graduation ceremony for fellows of the 2018/2019 Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP) Fellowship Programme on “Interreligious Dialogue and Mediation” in Abuja.

Mary Dalsin, Program Associate, GHR foundation, who spoke to NAN expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the program. She said that the impact of the program was already yielding fruitful results in some communities were the fellows were drawn from.

Read more...

GHR Welcomes Two New Board Members

3/27/2019

GHR Foundation is pleased to welcome new members, Jen Ford Reedy and Peter Mahoney, to our Board of Directors.

The GHR Board of Directors charts the strategic direction of the foundation, carrying out stewardship responsibilities and overseeing its grant making. Jen and Pete each bring invaluable experience and expertise from the public, private and nonprofit sectors and we are excited to add their unique perspectives to the exceptional group of leaders that make up our Board.

“We couldn’t be more pleased by the addition of Jen and Pete to our Board and will benefit from the valuable insights these exceptional leaders will bring during this exciting time at GHR,” said Amy Goldman, GHR’s CEO and Chair. Founded in 1965 by Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst, GHR is an independent foundation committed to building bridges across ideas, sectors and people; elevating powerful movements of faith and inter-faith communities for sustainable development; implementing systems change strategies across public, private and faith sectors to keep children in families globally; establishing a new school model to eliminate the education gap locally; and unlocking funding from industry and government to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease.

About our new Board members:

Jen Ford Reedy
President, Bush Foundation

Jennifer Ford Reedy has been president of the Bush Foundation since September 2012. The Bush Foundation invests in great ideas and the people who power them in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and 23 Native nations that share the same geography. Reedy's current community service includes board and committee work with Region’s Hospital, the Truman Foundation and Independent Sector. She is also a participant in the Itasca Project and the Minnesota Women's Economic Roundtable.

Peter Mahoney
Co-Founder, Arise Capital

Peter Mahoney is co-founder of Arise Capital, a Portland, OR-based impact investment management company which develops and manages regionally-focused impact investment products to promote positive economic development. Peter was a long-time director of Enkel Foundation, and served as its chair for three years. He currently serves on the Better Way Foundation Board of Directors and Investment Committee as well as the GHR Program & Results Committee.

Get to know our Board of Directors.

BRIGHT Magazine Sheds Light on Family Separation at U.S. Border

3/27/2019

“They Returned My Daughter, But She Never Truly Came Home” is one of Nairobi-based BRIGHT magazine’s many efforts to magnify stories that do not receive adequate attention in the global media landscape. An award-winning digital publication, BRIGHT covers fresh, relevant stories related to health, education, and social impact. Bringing marginalized narratives to the forefront, and offering human faces to the broader, more sensational stories that circulate widely in the news cycle, BRIGHT continues to push the boundaries of conventional journalism.

In October 2018, Univision produced a written story and video about the journey of Adayanci Pérez, a 6-year-old girl from Guatemala who came to the United States with her father and was immediately separated from him. They were among hundreds of families affected by the U.S Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which has since been suspended. Authorities told Adayanci that her father had gone to the doctor’s and would return the next day; in reality, he was deported home and she was placed with a foster family in Michigan. BRIGHT Magazine commissioned graphic novelist German Andino to retell the true story of Adayanci Pérez and her father, in comic form.

Focusing on “solutions-oriented stories” about social change, BRIGHT brings a rich, creative lens on social good to people who crave more nuanced perspectives on these topics. Editor-in-chief Sarika Bansal notes, “we're working to become the go-to source for stories on social change, and in the process, set the standard for this type of storytelling.”

In partnership with GHR, BRIGHT has brought special focus to the pressing issue of family separation at the U.S. border, publishing a collection of stories, told through media, that shed light on the lived experiences of migrants and the traumatic effects of child separation. In keeping with their self-reflective work, BRIGHT has also explored how journalism as a field can be more responsible in telling migration stories, avoiding exploitative techniques and aiming, instead, to forward narratives that are well contextualized, empathetic, and dignified.

NaTakallam: Learning Without Borders

3/25/2019

GHR Foundation staff hear from two NaTakallam Conversation Partners at a Community Session.

A 2017 BridgeBuilder Top Idea, language learning startup NaTakallam has forged a unique way to build bridges in a bordered world. Leveraging technology and their native tongue, NaTakallam connects refugees to remote work opportunities in the language sector, providing them economic empowerment, honing their marketable skills, and fostering global friendships.
NaTakallam began, first and foremost, with addressing the problem of being a displaced person without a job and/or a sense of purpose. Whether being barred from legal access to the local workforce, unable to find work due to a dearth of opportunities, or struggling because of cultural or language barriers, refugees and displaced individuals are at great risk of falling into depression, poverty, and desperation.

While the organization began by focusing on Arabic speaking refugees, over the past three years NaTakallam has expanded its offerings to include Spanish, Persian, Arabic and French. NaTakallam recruits, trains and hires refugees as Conversation Partners (CPs), and then connects them with students around the world for language practice. They offer a range of learning options, including one-on-one tutoring, guest speaker sessions, integrated K-12 curricula, university programs and translation services in 9+ languages. Providing students the chance to learn a new language while building a relationship with someone whose life is very different than their own, NaTakallam expands much more than just their user’s linguistic repertoire.

As NaTakallam continues to evolve and develop new programs, expanding its ability to provide displaced persons with access to income and a sense of purpose, they play a key role in fostering empathy, dialogue and intercultural understanding worldwide. With the introduction of their new community session programs, NaTakallam is now expanding its reach to include workplaces and community spaces.

GHR Foundation was fortunate enough to host a lunchtime community session event with NaTakallam at the close of their grantmaking, where staff and special guests got to hear from two CPs, who shared their stories and described their experiences working with NaTakallam. Both CPs expressed a profound sense of gratitude for the chance to share their language skills while connecting with a diverse range of people, allowing for friendships to form even across great distance.

To learn more and sign up for a special opportunity to commit to bringing Refugee Voices to your community at : https://tiny.cc/supportrefugees.

BridgeBuilder Top Ideas gather to kick-off innovative projects, collaborate on principles

12/17/2018

Top Idea team TIMBY works with a community representative at the GHR workshop.

In 2018, the second iteration of GHR’s BridgeBuilder Challenge focused on transparency and accessibility, translating the Challenge criteria and materials into seven languages. Interest and engagement grew, with more than 675 ideas and 6,000 comments on the platform. From these, GHR selected five promising, creative, and game-changing ideas to each receive a share of $1 million.

In early November in Rome, GHR hosted a workshop with OpenIDEO to enhance tangible and intangible skills that will accelerate their work and learning. For three days, our five Top Idea organizations worked alongside GHR, OpenIDEO and each other to find opportunities to learn, share and amplify their potential.

The workshop was designed to allow the cohort to learn about each other’s work and “build bridges” across projects; provide tools and knowledge that will help carry impact further; dig into the learning they hope to achieve through the projects; and foster a community of allies who will challenge and support each others' work. Drawing on the shared BridgeBuilder guiding principles which GHR developed with the help of the 2017 cohort, the group refined their ideas and forged meaningful new relationships based on values, ambition and collaboration. This year’s teams will learn alongside GHR – and each other – using principles-based evaluation over the duration of their 12-36 month projects.

Later, at a dinner with 40 funders, the Top Ideas cohort had the opportunity to pitch their ideas and engage in critical conversations around their areas of work. In the spirit of BridgeBuilder, attendees made new connections as they explored intersections in their collective work to address urgent challenges in communities around the world.

Each of our Top Idea organizations has devoted time, creativity and effort into building bridges and making the world a better place.

GHR looks forward to growing its partnership with the 2018 cohort and learning more about the power and impact of principles-based bridge building in meeting complex global challenges.