The HAND Foundation's mission is to advance the philanthropic sector, prevent child sexual abuse, build a global middle class and prepare and engage the Next Generation

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The HAND Foundation's Community Newsletter

Child Poverty: 7 Lessons

The official child poverty rate in the United States today stands at 20 percent; it is the second highest among the world's developed countries. That means that almost 15 million children live in poverty in the United States. The Century Foundation formulated seven "lessons" about childhood poverty in the U.S. following its Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative conference last June:

1. The Stress of Childhood Poverty Is Costly for the Brain and Bank Accounts

About 90 percent of a child’s brain development occurs before the age of five. In the first few years, as many as 700 neural connections form per second. Toxic stress interferes with these connections and affects a child's neurological development, leading to lifelong problems. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard has shown that there is a 90–100 percent chance of developmental delays when children under age 3 experience six to seven risk factors (such as poverty, single-parent households, or low maternal education) as defined by a report by University of Maryland’s Dr. Richard Barth.

2. Child Poverty Is Not Distributed Equally

While children are the poorest age group in America, the youngest children are the poorest of all. 20 percent of children under age 18 are poor, compared to 23 percent of children under age 5. The numbers are even worse for African American and Hispanic children. 42 percent of African American children under age 5 are poor, meaning that the odds of an African American child being born poor are just about the same as the same child’s odds of graduating college. 36 percent of Hispanic children under age 5 are poor (read more).

Humans of New York

Humans of New York (HONY), a widely popular blog, recently inspired a social media fundraising campaign that garnered over $1.4 million for Mott Hall Bridges Academy in one of New York City’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods. It all began in mid-January when HONY founder, Brandon Stanton, posted a photo of Vidal Chastanet and asked him who inspired him the most. Vidal mentioned his principal, Nadia Lopez, stating, "When we get in trouble, she doesn't suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter."

Stanton’s interest in Principal Lopez and her Brownsville, Brooklyn school grew as he became more involved. Throughout late January, Stanton visited the school, sat in on staff meetings, and posted about the academy’s educators and their hurdles (read more).

Safeguarding the Internet

Over the past two decades, the Internet has evolved from an obscure Defense Department project to a global communications phenomenon. Now, a group of foundation leaders want to change the focus of the Internet to make it a force for good. This group includes big names from the foundation world including the Ford, Knight, MacArthur, Mozilla, and Open Society Foundations. These foundations have come together to form a partnership to figure out how to make the Internet into a tool for social justice. The effort, called NetGain, was formally announced at an event hosted by the Ford Foundation in New York on February 11th.

As of now, the group is still working out the details, including how long the collaboration will last and what support each institution will provide (read more).

The Philanthropy Top 50

America’s biggest donors gave $9.8 billion to nonprofits in 2014. Foundations and higher education received the most money, but a number of donors also fund scientific research. Some of these philanthropists are tech entrepreneurs who are giving while still building their businesses.

Sean Parker, one of the people who helped start Napster and the founding president of Facebook, donated $550 million and took the No. 5 spot on the Philanthropy 50 list for 2014. His donation went to the Sean N. Parker Foundation (read more).

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