Andrew Carnegie Foundation

What if the secret to getting teenagers off social media is other teenagers? In Episode 3 of #DIYCivics, Baratunde Thurston sits down with Ben Forman, a young leader from Boulder, Colorado, who is making a documentary called Disconnected about social media addiction and building a collective action initiative to get students offline, together. His argument: this isn’t an individual problem, so the solution can’t be individual either. “It’s almost impossible to convince 400 individual teenagers to go offline. But if you can convince the entire football team — if you do it in community — it makes it a whole lot easier.” ❓ What would it look like to tackle screen time as a community instead of as a personal challenge? ----- About this series: Ben is one of 500 Carnegie Young Leaders for Civic Preparedness, a C&S program funded by Carnegie that empowers young people ages 14–24 to create civic solutions that move our country forward.

🇺🇸  Announcing the 2026 Class of Great Immigrants, Great Americans! As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we are recognizing 25 naturalized citizens from 21 countries whose talent, skills, and achievements have enriched and strengthened America. In honor of our founder, Andrew Carnegie — an impoverished Scottish immigrant who rose to become one of the world’s wealthiest men, established one of the first philanthropic foundations in America, and devoted himself to doing “real and permanent good in this world” —  we applaud the 2026 Class of Great Immigrants for their contributions as naturalized citizens. Meet the 2026 #GreatImmigrants: 🇸🇦 Iman Abuzeid, Cofounder and CEO, Incredible Health  🇰🇪 Sunil Amrith, Professor of History, Yale University 🇮🇳 Nikesh Arora, Chairman and CEO, Palo Alto Networks 🇮🇳 Mahzarin Banaji, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University 🇮🇳 Sanjiv Chopra, MD, MACP FRCP ( London ), Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School 🇧🇪 Ingrid Daubechies, Professor Emerita of Mathematics, Duke University 🇦🇷 Hernan Diaz, Author and Essayist 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Jane Fraser, DBE, Chair and CEO, Citi 🇩🇪 Johannes Fruehauf, Founder and Chairman, LabCentral, and President and CEO, BioLabs 🇺🇾 Gabriela Hearst, Fashion Designer 🇦🇫 Abbas Karimi, Paralympic Swimmer 🇮🇳 Reshma Kewalramani, MD FASN, President and CEO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals 🇰🇷 Jeong H. Kim, Engineer, Entrepreneur, and Professor, University of Maryland 🇨🇳 Ling Ma, Author and Professor, University of Chicago 🇷🇴 Cristian Măcelaru, Music Director, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre National de France 🇸🇻 Guadalupe Maravilla, Visual Artist 🇳🇱 Joel Mokyr, Professor of Economics, Northwestern University 🇯🇵 Hiroshi Motomura, Professor of Law, UCLA 🇭🇺 Gregory Nagy, Professor of Classics, Harvard University 🇦🇷 Antonio Neri, President and CEO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise 🇲🇽 Cristina Rivera Garza, Author and Professor, University of Houston 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 James A. Robinson, University Professor, Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago 🇲🇾 Hock Tan, President and CEO, Broadcom 🇯🇴 Omar M. Yaghi, Professor of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley 🇨🇦 Michelle Zatlyn, Cofounder and President, Cloudflare 🔗 Learn more about this year’s class and explore our database of more than 790 naturalized citizens who have made contributions across America: https://lnkd.in/dqDMCphG #ImmigrantStories #Immigration

Andrew Carnegie called war “the foulest blot that has ever disgraced the earth.” He spent his final years working ceaselessly to prevent World War I, pleading with presidents, petitioning kings, and using his fortune to build institutions dedicated to resolving conflict and fostering peace. Today our International Program continues this work to advance peace by ending armed conflict and supporting the conditions needed to understand and resolve global security challenges. Learn how at https://lnkd.in/daK5mrdu #Philanthropy

What happens when a young person just shows up and asks? This is episode 2 of #DIYCivics. Baratunde Thurston sat down with Nyra Govan, a 20-year-old from Saint George, South Carolina, who approached her town council with a straightforward request: her community needed a space to get physically active, and she wanted to use a public building to make it happen. They said yes — and gave her the building for free. She has since built free health workshops, dance classes, boxing, pickleball programs, and more, designed to lower every barrier to movement. What could your community build if someone just showed up and asked? ----- About this series: Nyra is one of 500 Carnegie Young Leaders for Civic Preparedness, a C&S program funded by Carnegie that empowers young people ages 14–24 to create civic solutions in their own communities. #CivicEngagement

Andrew Carnegie dedicated our foundation to the goal of doing “real and permanent good in this world,” and deemed that its efforts should create “ladders upon which the aspiring can rise.” 115 years later, we continue our founder’s mission, supporting organizations that help individuals achieve upward mobility and greater civic participation, and that increase trust in public institutions, elections, and government. Learn how at https://lnkd.in/epiS3C8R

Andrew Carnegie’s goal of doing “real and permanent good in this world” starts with our talented staff, now including: 🔹 Anna Khandros — Program Officer, International Program 🔹 Alejandro Rovira — Designer, Multimedia and Visual Communication 🔹 Jonathan Tepperman — Vice President, International Program Please join us in giving a warm welcome to our newest team members!

When basic needs aren't met, where does civic engagement begin? This is episode 1 of #DIYCivics. Baratunde Thurston sat down with Sofia Nunez, a young leader from Birmingham, Alabama, who worked with a local food ministry in the Wylam neighborhood to grow fresh produce and give it away for free — in direct response to federal SNAP cuts affecting 23,000-plus people in her city. "The first step is making sure you're alive, and you have food, water, shelter. If a community needs food first, that's still civic engagement,” she says. “Because once food happens, then you can start talking about voting, policy, all of it." What's the first step toward civic engagement in your community? ----- About this series: Sofia is one of 500 Carnegie Young Leaders for Civic Preparedness — a C&S program funded by Carnegie that empowers young people ages 14–24 to create civic solutions in their own communities that move our country forward.

As I gear up for another Thompson family graduation tomorrow, I'm reflecting on my panel at the Social Innovation Summit in Atlanta earlier this month, where I joined leaders across philanthropy, the private sector, and national service to discuss shaping the AI future for young people.   The discussion was moderated by brilliant City Year Corps member, Nina Prakash, who kept us focused on the rising leaders and young learners who will inherit the decisions we make today about how we invest, who we hire, and which ideas we reward. This is not a moment to think in isolation about academic knowledge, workforce skills, or civic leadership. We need experiences like City Year that support all three, and scalable solutions where the pieces are designed to work together. It's in those spaces that young people can explore not just 'the how' but find 'their why', and to paraphrase Jim Balfanz, armed with their ideals and instincts, young people will always deliver.   Grateful to Jim and City Year for convening this conversation, to Lyndsay Harris Kyei of ServiceNow for the private-sector lens, and to Nina for her grounding voice.   #SIS2026 #FutureOfWork #Carnegie | Andrew Carnegie Foundation

What does civic leadership look like for the next generation? Writer and comedian Baratunde Thurston sat down with five young leaders who are answering that question where they live. One throughline: they didn't wait for someone else to act. Sofia Nunez helped build a community garden in Birmingham when food benefits got cut. Nyra Govan got her town council to donate a building for free health programming in rural South Carolina. Ben Forman is helping teenagers get offline, together. Imre Huss built a civic tech platform to make local elections easier to navigate in Cleveland Heights. And Ryan Gans got 200 college students to discuss the hardest political topics — respectfully. How are you growing the next generation of doers? ----- About this series: These five leaders are part of Carnegie Young Leaders for Civic Preparedness — a C&S program funded by Carnegie that empowers young people ages 14–24 to create civic solutions that move our country forward. #CivicEngagement #CivicParticipation #Philanthropy