MacArthur awards to nonprofit institutions

[January 19, 2011]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Eleven organizations have been named recipients of the 2010 "Award for Creative and Effective Institutions" by the MacArthur Foundation and will receive grants of up to $1 million.

• Action Research & Training for Health, Rajasthan, India. Promotes sexual and reproductive health, neonatal and child health, and health systems and policy in India's predominantly rural Rajasthan state.

• Arms Control Association, Washington, D.C. Works to reduce the threats posed by the world's most dangerous weapons through analysis, research and outreach.

• Bay Area Video Coalition, San Francisco. Works at the intersection of film, digital media and technology to help artists and film producers create civic-minded media projects that reach broad audiences and that educate and inspire action.

• National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities, Chicago. Supports the well-being and political and social empowerment of immigrants in the U.S. and in their home countries through public dialogue, policy work and transnational organizing.

• REDRESS, London. Fights for justice for torture survivors by holding perpetrators and complicit governments accountable, monitoring compliance with international law and helping victims gain greater involvement in national and international justice processes.

• The Royal Society for Protection of Nature, Thimphu, Bhutan. Bhutan's only national non-profit focused primarily on the conservation of the country's famed environment and biodiversity.

• Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Chicago. A leader in fighting poverty and advocating for low-income people across the U.S., through policy development, litigation, public education, information sharing, legal work and media outreach.

• The Social and Economic Rights Action Center, Lagos, Nigeria. A leading African organization that protects the internationally-recognized economic, cultural, and social rights of marginalized people through advocacy, mediation and litigation.

• The Sociedad Mexicana Pro Derechos de la Mujer, Mexico City. Protects the rights of Mexican women -- with a focus on the reproductive rights and health of rural indigenous women -- through leadership development, advocacy and grantmaking.

• The Urban Institute's Tax Policy Center, Washington. A joint project with the Brookings Institution. Provides non-partisan, credible information on tax policy and the outcomes of different tax proposals.

• The W. Haywood Burns Institute, San Francisco. Works to improve the well-being of low-income youth, youth of color and their communities by reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system.

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Source: The MacArthur Foundation

[Associated Press]

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