Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors

Education: Teaching Financial Literacy to America's Youth

Financial literacy among high school seniors is still declining, according to a 2008 survey by Jump$tart, a coalition that works to improve financial literacy. The survey found that students have less knowledge than in previous years about issues like understanding credit-card finance charges; how investments held in stocks, bonds and savings accounts differ; and how fixed-rate mortgages and inflation are connected.

Health: Improving Access to Dental Care for Low-Income Children

Discussion during last year’s reauthorization of the federal program that provides health insurance, including some dental coverage, for low-income children helped highlight the need for increased coverage. This will likely lead to further consideration of major improvements in oral health care when the program’s reauthorization is taken up in 2009, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.

Global Development: Combating Poverty by Closing the Microcredit Gap

New developments in the microfinance field provide initial evidence that the microcredit gap is beginning to be addressed. These include the entrance of venture-capital giant Sequoia Capital and financialservice technology provider IBM, and two significant microfinance institutions opening new branches dedicated to lending to the smallto medium-sized businesses trapped in the gap.

Education: Supporting First-Generation College Attendees

First-generation college students continue to struggle. Only 45 percent of first-generation college students usually graduate, compared to 60 percent of their peers whose parents had attended college, according to a new study this year by the College Board, an organization that helps students transition successfully to higher education.

Arts & Culture: Promoting Renewal in New Orleans

The culture of New Orleans has begun to show signs of renewal. Up to 75 percent of musicians have now returned to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, according to the 2008 State of the New Orleans Music Community Report. Support is still needed, however, to keep the music playing; musicians are not making as much as they used to and require assistance with equipment and other costs.

Environment: Improving Energy Efficiency in Low-Income Homes

This remains an urgent priority – for environmental but also economic reasons. Rising energy prices mean that for a typical recipient of the federal government’s Low–Income Heat and Energy Assistance Program, home heating in the 2008/2009 winter will cost 40 percent more than the prior winter, 60 percent more than the 2006/2007, winter and 90 percent more than the 2004/2005 winter, according to analysis conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Global Health: Providing Safe Water and Sanitation to Save Children's Lives

Worldwide, 2.5 billion people still lack access to improved sanitation, 1.2 billion of whom have no facilities at all, according to a report marking 2008 as the Year of Sanitation by the World Health Organization, the United Nation’s agency dedicated to public health.

Poverty Reduction: Increasing Accses to Financial Services for the “Unbanked”

The divide between the rich and the poor continues to grow. New Census data demonstrates that for the first time, poverty and income of typical working-age households have worsened despite six consecutive years of economic growth.

Sustainability: Developing Local Food Systems to Save Energy, Promote Health and Create Jobs

From 2007 to 2008 gas prices have jumped by up to $1 a gallon across the United States, dramatically increasing the costs of transporting food long distances for processing and distribution, which local food advocates say already adds up to an average of 1,500 miles on its way to your dinner table.

Conflict Resolution: Facilitating Trust-Building to Prevent Violent Conflicts

New resources raise the profile of negotiation as a viable method for preventing conflicts, including publications that focus on women’s roles in the public discourse on war and peace, a guide to actual conflict mediation and an ambassador’s memoir on peacebuilding and conflict. More information is available from the Alliance for Peacebuilding and the U.S. Institute for Peace.