Media Center"Changing the Way We Care" Receives $15 Million as Finalist in MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change Competition

Catholic Relief Services, Lumos and Maestral International, thanks the MacArthur Foundation for making our initiative, Changing the Way We Care, a finalist in the 100&Change competition. Although we were not selected, the process has been truly transformational. For many years, we have been fighting for the rights of children in orphanages. 100&Change gave us the unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on the orphanage industry and draw attention to the needs of children who are too often invisible to the world.

We thank the MacArthur Board of Directors for its commitment to our vision, and for daring us to dream. With their generous $15 million award, we can do more than just dream. 

Already, we have a global network of allies to help us in our cause. We are focused on developing a program with the greatest country and global impact, and have already learned many lessons in the process. We are committed to approaches that are sustainable and scalable, and that grow from the communities where we work. We are also listening to the voices of young people who lived in orphanages and want a different future for other children.

We reached hundreds of thousands of people with our messages that we never reached before. And we are already on our way to building a louder global movement that will find safe and nurturing families for every child in an orphanage.

Our deepest appreciation goes to the MacArthur Foundation and everyone who fought with us along the way. This is only the beginning. For more information go to: changingthewaywecare.org

We also congratulate Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee (IRC) for winning the top 100&Change award, and the other two grant finalists, Rice 360° Institute for Global Health (Rice University) and HarvestPlus. The world is a better place because of your good work.