Geri Mannion, Founder of Four Freedoms Fund, Wins Distinguished Philanthropic Award

In recognition of their achievements in the field of immigrant rights Carnegie Corporation's Geri Mannion and Taryn Higashi have been named the 2009 co-recipients of the Council on Foundations' prestigious Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking.

Mannion, who is Director of the U.S. Democracy Program at Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Higashi, who is Executive Director of Unbound Philanthropy, are co-founders of the Four Freedoms Fund (FFF), Public Interest Project's national collaborative fund founded in July 2003 to energize democracy by supporting and engaging immigrants and refugees. Shaped by Higashi and Mannion's vision, FFF aims to build an infrastructure in the United States that links immigrant rights groups on a local, state and national level on issues of immigration reform, civic engagement, immigrant integration and protection of civil liberties and human rights.