GHR Foundation's Higher Education funding promotes innovative, values-based Catholic education that creates a positive transformation in individuals, communities and the world.

Through significant annual grants, GHR invests in a small number of higher education institutions, including Marquette University’s Opus College of Engineering, which recently named a new Dean—Dr. Kristina Ropella, professor of biomedical engineering. Her new role began July 1, after more than 25 years of the college faculty.

Dr. Ropella is internationally renowned for her biosignal processing and medical imaging expertise, and has maintained industry partnerships to support innovative educational programs. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Marquette University and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University.

Dr. Ropella is playing an important role in defining key components of the Opus College of Engineering’s grant from GHR Foundation, including supporting research and innovation, entrepreneurship and industry engagement and I-Explore, a program promoting social responsibility and community engagement at Marquette.

Dr. Ropella’s leadership style uniquely positions her to maximize students’ experience by connecting with them directly, as well as by empowering faculty and engaging industry leaders. We look forward to working with Dr. Ropella as we continue to support the Opus College of Engineering’s students and engineering community. To learn more about our Higher Education Initiative, contact us.

GHR’s Children in Families Initiative is focused on supporting child protection interventions that strengthen families and respond to children without family care. Recently, GHR staff spent time working with partners in Zambia. Updates from the field include:

• Research. GHR partner Better Care Network presented preliminary findings to the working group on living situations of vulnerable children in Zambia. The research found that 17 percent of Zambian children do not live with parents, though for a majority of these children, both parents are living.
• Results. Bethany Christian Services, a GHR demonstration grantee in Zambia, has recruited 85 potential foster or adoptive families. Many of these families have completed assessments and several children have been placed in foster care.
• Connections. GHR’s Children in Families and Sister Support staff spent time in Zambia and Uganda exploring potential connections between initiatives. Program staff are exploring ways to equip sisters with the skills necessary to navigate the movement towards family care.
  

We are pleased to collaborate with organizations around the world to achieve the objectives of our Children in Families Initiative as we work to realize a more promising future for all children. To learn more about GHR’s approach to supporting children and families, contact us.

GHR recently co-hosted a conference at the World Bank focused on Religion & Sustainable Development. Attended by leaders of the World Bank, United Nations agencies and foreign aid agencies in the United States, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom, the meeting was designed to spark new action, bringing faith communities together to fight against extreme poverty.

The conference included the launch of an important new series by leading medical journal, The Lancet, which demonstrates improved health outcomes when faith-based organizations are engaged in delivering local health solutions. This is significant evidence that inter-religious collaboration delivers tangible development results.

The impact of inter-religious action was featured prominently throughout the conference, with presentations by several GHR partners, highlighting the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association’s work to eradicate malaria and the life-saving efforts of the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone, which emerged as a crucial player in the fight against Ebola.
 
GHR staff moderated a session on bringing faith-based development efforts to scale. The conference gave GHR an opportunity to enter conversations with new potential partners who can help us extend the reach and impact of our grant making. To learn more about how GHR is using partnerships to grow our inter-religious work throughout the world, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Sister Support Initiative seeks to ensure a vital future for Catholic sisters, marked by congregations that are well-led, well-resourced and powerful in spiritual witness and service. GHR is particularly focused on equipping young leaders and funding projects that support innovation.

One such program is an effort by Benedictine Catholic sisters to enhance education, formation and communication through use of web-based technology. The project was funded by GHR for three years, totaling more than $440,000, to create a program of formation and education for newer members and develop an ongoing method of communication through the use of technology.

The project began this year, and its leaders have ambitious plans. The team has already begun to:

• Test software and equipment
• Purchase video cameras, train sister videographers and create training videos
• Set up a digital library,  cloud storage, online learning tools and a Facebook page
• Purchase iPads to test training and education in pilot communities
• Conduct in-person training sessions with pilot communities at the American Benedictine Formation Conference

The project will culminate with a symposium in its third year, where participants will gather to share experiences and suggestions. Carrying into the future, the project will allow younger sisters to access to the wisdom and scholarship of more than 50 monasteries, enabling strong, supportive relationships, regardless of the physical distance. To learn more about GHR’s Sister Support Initiative, contact us.