Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee Awarded $100 Million for Early Childhood Education of Syrian Refugees
Chicago, Illinois, December 20, 2017 — The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today awarded a $100 million grant to Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee (IRC) to educate young children displaced by conflict and persecution in the Middle East.
The Foundation’s Board, deliberating among four finalists in 100&Change, MacArthur’s global competition for bold solutions to critical problems of our time, decided to award additional grants of $15 million to each of the other three finalists, based on the strength and potential impact of their proposals. The Foundation remains committed to helping the finalists attract the additional support their critical work requires.
Sesame Workshop and IRC will use the $100 million grant to implement an evidence-based, early childhood development intervention designed to address the “toxic stress” experienced by children in the Syrian response region—Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. The project will improve children’s learning outcomes today and their intellectual and emotional development over the long term. Read more
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