Reducing Poverty In The United States: A Study Of The Ford Foundation's Inner City Activities

The Ford Foundation,one of the largest foundations in the United States,has made a significant contribution to addressing American social problems,especially urban poverty.The Ford Foundation was established on January 15,1936.Since the founding charter stated that resources should be used for "scientific,educational and charitable purposes,all for the public welfare".In the 1950s,after Edsel and Henry died,their bequests turned the Ford Foundation into the largest philanthropy in the world.The Ford Foundation has restructured its organizational structure,and hired a panel of experts,led by H.Rowan Gaither,to explore how the foundation could best put its greatly increased resources to use.Ford Foundation become an international philanthropy dedicated to the advancement of human welfare through reducing poverty and promoting democratic values,peace,and educational opportunity.The reducing of urban poverty in the United States is a typical case of the Ford Foundation's focus on social improvement in the United States.The Ford Foundation began to care about urban poverty in the United States after completing the reform and restructuring.Since the World War ? to the 1970s,the inner city poverty in the process of American urbanization is becoming more and more prominent.Therefore,the Ford Foundation spends a lot of money on colleges and universities in major cities to conduct academic research and social surveys on urban poverty in the United States to explore the root causes and best solutions to this problems.The Ford Foundation launched the "Grey Area" program,adopting an integrated management strategy that combines with communities,and a demonstration program to address poverty in six cities with severe poverty problems in the United States.When the Ford Foundation's demonstration project achieved certain results,it was affirmed by the government and society.This model was also adopted by the Johnson administration as a prototype of the federal government's "War on Poverty" project.After more than ten years of theoretical and practical exploration,Ford Foundation also supported the establishment of the first community development company in the United States,introducing non-profit organizations with broad public participation to revitalize poor communities,and formed a more mature urban poverty management model.The successful experience of the Ford Foundation is of great significance to the healthy growth of Chinese non-profit organizations.At the same time,there is also a strong reference for reducing urban poverty.