Laying Foundations for Change

The new Isivivana Centre, a project of the Khayelitsha Youth and Community Centre Trust in South Africa, has its official opening Thursday, October 13.  The center will house a collection of activist organizations, including many Atlantic grantees. Learn more about the center >

It would be difficult to exaggerate how bleak the Irish research landscape looked. It has been totally transformed, thanks in large part to the catalytic initiative shown by Atlantic.

– Dr. Hugh R. Brady, president emeritus of University College Dublin

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September 17, 2015—Taoiseach Enda Kenny today launched “Laying Foundations for Change: Capital Investments of The Atlantic Philanthropies”

“It was primitive. The approach to health services for the aging was like fire fighting—bouncing from one crisis to another.”

– Professor Rose Anne Kenny, MD

In a region still healing from political conflict, shared spaces for culture and education promote reconciliation and opportunity.

“Before Atlantic came with this investment in bioscience and research, Queensland was largely beaches.”

— Peter Beattie, former Premier of Queensland, Australia

In 1994, Nelson Mandela had just been elected president of South Africa after serving a 27-year prison sentence. Atlantic began looking for ways to support this country on the brink of radical, hopeful change.

Atlantic invested heavily in UCSF’s Mission Bay campus—providing $290 million in grants—which helped realize many of the buildings on the site.