For Immediate Release: June 12, 1997

Carnegie Corporation's Program, 1983-1997
HIGHLIGHTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

NEW YORK, June 12 -- The twin preoccupations of Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy were education and peace, and these great themes have also permeated Carnegie Corporation's programs under David A. Hamburg, who steps aside as the foundation's eleventh president on June 12.

"Carnegie's personal philanthropy reflected a unique combination of ideas, institution building, and social action, the spirit of which the Corporation has tried to uphold during the past fourteen years," Hamburg observed in his last annual report essay, "A Perspective on Carnegie Corporation's Program, 1983-1997," published today.

In the essay, Hamburg provides a detailed accounting of his stewardship of the foundation since 1983, when he set forth new program directions in the context of drastic changes in the American family and society and, more broadly, the Cold War and the worldwide transformation in science and technology.

The essay further lays out a "democracy agenda" for national and international attention in the future, focusing on the need for "communities of the world" to reconcile their differences and cooperate in creating systems for the prevention of mass violence.

During the period 1983-97, the foundation developed grant programs to improve the education and healthy development of children and youth, improve the superpower relationship and prevent deadly conflict, strengthen human resources in developing countries, especially Africa, and promote democratic processes in the United States and abroad, appropriating approximately $622 million for grants and special projects for these purposes.

Across all of these programs, the common thread is the "prevention of rotten outcomes," in Hamburg's phrase. "From child and adolescent development to international relations, the underlying logic is the same: Prevention begins with anticipation, even with long-range foresight, in which research can identify risk factors and point to steps that can be taken to counteract or avoid an undesirable outcome, and pivotal institutions can cooperate in shaping behavior away from risk factors and dangerous directions."

Thus the Corporation supported research and projects to clarify the positive conditions for ensuring healthy child and adolescent development, to make this knowledge widely understood throughout the country, and to strengthen the capacity of key institutions, beginning with the family and schools, to meet the developmental and educational needs of children from the prenatal period to age fifteen.

"So, too, in seeking to avoid deadly conflicts leading to mass violence, the Corporation sought ways that governments, intergovernmental organizations, and the institutions of civil society could foster the conditions under which different human groups can learn to live together amicably."

Hamburg added that "one of the great privileges of a foundation like Carnegie Corporation is the opportunity to stimulate, support, and facilitate the work of scientists, scholars, and other experts of the first rank. This, in turn, opens up the possibility of playing a kind of brokerage function, fostering mutually beneficial contact between policymakers in various sectors -- government, business, the media -- with independent experts in major problem areas." The Corporation has facilitated such interchanges through the work of its grantees and the use of its convening function.

Sounding a major theme of his presidency, Hamburg said that "pivotal institutions such as the family, schools, community-based institutions, and the media have the power to shape attitudes and skills toward decent human relations or toward hatred and violence." Ethnic prejudice and hatred exist all over the world, he said, but there are also stunning examples of tolerance, cooperation, and friendship between different groups. What are the conditions under which the outcome can go one way or another? "If we could understand such questions better, perhaps we could learn to tilt the balance toward cultures of peace."

To counteract the ancient human tendencies toward ethnocentrism and prejudice, it will be necessary in child development "to put deliberate, explicit emphasis on developing prosocial orientations and a sense of worth based not on depreciation of others but rather on the constructive attributes of oneself and others," Hamburg declared.

On the international level, "we must seek ways to expand favorable contact between people from different groups and nations. Some measure of comprehension of a strange culture is vital. At a deeper level, joint projects involving sustained cooperation can provide, if only on a small scale, an experience of working together toward a superordinate goal."

Hamburg noted that "human societies have been remarkably inattentive to the possibilities for breaking down antagonisms between groups or, preferably, preventing these conflicts from arising in the first place."

While there is little precedent for well-organized international efforts to help substantially with the process of democratization, Hamburg said "the challenge becomes vital and the opportunity precious" if democracy can be seen as a powerful and constructive mechanism for resolving "the ubiquitous ongoing conflicts of our highly contentious species."

The power of technological advance and global economic integration to change social conditions is another critical issue for the democracy agenda, said Hamburg, recalling that new opportunities brought by the industrial revolution also produced severe disruptions that had much to do with the emergence of communism, fascism, and the Nazi catastrophe.

Warning that the frustrations and uncertainties of a complex, rapidly changing world can trigger scapegoating of highly visible groups like minorities, immigrants, and government officials, he said such groups have already become the targets of irrational, hateful, or extremist responses, which can have serious implications for democratic societies throughout the world.

The concepts of governance appropriate to the mid-twentieth century have not been easily adapted to the internationalization of information, capital, and labor occurring in the late twentieth. "On topic after topic, old notions of governance are challenged." The question is, "Are there some minimal, essential functions that government must perform -- functions about which there is broad agreement?"

The drastic changes under way also raise educational questions, in which people must learn to adjust their knowledge and skills to new circumstances, prepare for the unpredictable -- indeed, prepare for change itself.

Human resources are central to the task of upgrading development opportunities everywhere. Fundamental for development is the growth of knowledge, skill, and freedom. "Knowledge is mainly generated by research and development; skills are mainly generated by education and training; freedom is mainly generated by democratic institutions." Without these"essential ingredients," many countries could slide down a slope of degradation -- become an incubator of hatred, violence, and terrorism as well as a source of accelerating environmental damage and massive refugee flows.

In closing, Hamburg expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to lead Carnegie Corporation's efforts during these fourteen years. "By the same token, I relish the opportunity of passing the baton to my distinguished successor, Vartan Gregorian, and pursuing my substantive work with enthusiasm." Hamburg will continue leading with Cyrus Vance the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict and write books.

Hamburg thanked the Corporation's trustees, who have been "highly collegial, constructive, and forward looking. They have been deeply engaged in the work of the foundation while providing important oversight and policy direction." He also acknowledged the work of the staff, which "has been highly effective in program development, finance, and administration -- receptive to good ideas and innovations while applying high standards of appraisal and fair procedures in decision making."

During the year ending September 30, 1996, Carnegie Corporation of New York made 335 grants and 8 appropriations totaling $59 million. The 1996 annual report contains the president's essay and detailed descriptions of the foundation's activities for the year. The Corporation was founded in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie "for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." The Corporation's capital fund, originally donated at a value of $135 million, had a market value of $1.37 billion on December 31, 1996.