Russell Sage Foundation Trustee Hiro Yoshikawa and Former Visiting Scholar J. Lawrence Aber Win MacArthur Foundation Grant
The MacArthur Foundation has awarded a grant of $100 million to the Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee (IRC) to develop evidence-based, early education interventions for children displaced by conflict and persecution in the Middle East. Among the members of the Sesame-IRC team are RSF trustee Hiro Yoshikawa (New York University) and former RSF visiting scholar J. Lawrence Aber (New York University). Yoshikawa is co-author of the RSF book Cradle to Kindergarten. Aber is co-editor of of RSF’s Neighborhood Poverty volumes.
Both Yoshikawa and Aber are childhood development experts and co-directors of New York University’s Global TIES for Children. As part of the Sesame-IRC team, they will collaborate with regional partners in the Middle East to implement educational programs designed to address the “toxic stress” experienced by children who have lived in conflict zones. These initiatives will include producing customized educational content, such as a pan-Arab version of Sesame Street, to help boost children’s language, reading, math, and social skills...