The Atlantic Philanthropies has made a $5 million grant to the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities that will help support the center's goal of finding effective ways to address problems facing youth, President John Hennessy said Friday.

"Stanford University is delighted that The Atlantic Philanthropies will make a major investment in the Gardner Center, reflecting that organization's admiration for John Gardner and his many contributions to American society," Hennessy said.

The grant will provide core support for the center and sustain outreach efforts, said Alan Ruby, a senior vice president at The Atlantic Philanthropies in New York.

"We are supporting the John Gardner Center because John Gardner was one of the great people of the 20th century," Ruby said. "Gardner was passionate about making the lives of young Americans richer in spirit and more purposeful by being engaged in making their communities better and safer places."

Gardner, 89, died Saturday at his home on campus from complications related to cancer.

When the center was established in September 2000, its namesake, John Gardner, said that informed Americans had finally awakened to the importance of youth development.

"If you want to train leaders, you have to start early," said Gardner, a consulting professor in the School of Education. "If you want to keep kids out of prison, you have to start early. But it isn't easily done." The center's mission is to conduct research, educate the public and persuade diverse groups such as schools, law enforcement and government to work together to seek more effective solutions to the problems facing youth.

Milbrey McLaughlin, the center's executive director and the David Jacks Professor of Education, said the grant honors Gardner's special ability to bring people together to work toward a common goal.

"With this gift, the center will be able to take on a national role in generating knowledge and connecting diverse people and organizations to advance their work with children and youth," she said. "It also enables the center to maintain a strong core team, and deepen and extend its early promising projects" in the Bay Area.

In Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning (YELL), middle and high school students work with the School of Education to assess their communities' strengths and needs. The findings are analyzed and shared with school staff, city councils and school boards, and used to develop youth-related policies. The process teaches the participating students research, leadership and communication skills.

In another initiative, the Youth Budget Project analyzes the sources and uses of funding for youth activities in Redwood City. The information obtained will enable city and county leaders to assess how to meet the needs of different populations more effectively. Eventually, the research will become a model for other communities working with youth.

Richard W. Lyman, university president from 1970 to 1980, said the grant honors Gardner's legacy.

"John Gardner always endorsed listening to the voices of the people in the community, young and old, not only for the wisdom that they have about they places they live and other people who live with them, but because they must feel confident that they are recognized as true stakeholders in the decisions being made about these places and their institutions," he said.

"Nobody had a stronger belief in society's potential, in the potential of institutions, than John Gardner," said Gerhard Casper, university president from 1992 to 2000. "The commitment to renewal that he displayed throughout a life of action and reflection continues to be a great encouragement to his alma mater. The new program will focus people once again on one of John's central themes: Think possibilities, rather than obstacles."

The grant is contingent on the university raising matching funds and will be distributed over four years, starting July 1.

John W. Gardner

• John Gardner, founder of Common Cause, engineer of President Lyndon B. Johnson's 'Great Society' program, dead at 89 (2/17/02)
  
  
• John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities
  
  
• Grant to create center to study effectiveness of programs for youth (9/20/00)
  
  
• School of Education
  
  
• Atlantic Philanthropies