The Bezos Family Foundation pours $185.7M into Aspen Institute youth center

Former Chancellor of DC's Public Schools Kaya Henderson will run The Center for Rising Generations

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to drive "change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world." That includes providing an arts program, a global leadership network, an economic strategy group, and a ministers forum, among others.

It also offers a number of programs that focus on youth and young adults, including tools and platforms for them to design solutions to community challenges; allowing cultural and educational exchange among middle, high school, and college-aged students; and advancing best practices and leadership within the American K-12 and higher education systems.

On Tuesday the Institute announced a new initiative aimed at young people with the founding of the Center for Rising Generations, which it says "will complement and strengthen this distinctive portfolio and take the Aspen Institute’s current commitment to young people to the next level." 

It was also revealed that the Center is being funded by the Bezos Family Foundation, an independent, nonprofit organization, which invested $185.7 million in the project; $175 million of that money will establish a permanent endowment, while $10.7 million will be used to support initial operational costs.

The goals of the Center for Rising Generations are twofold; first, to enhance the Aspen Institute’s existing portfolio of programs that serve young people while also enabling the inclusion of young people in more Institute programs and offerings. Second, to support the development of "promising new initiatives and partnerships" with other organizations that work with young people.

The Center, which the Aspen Institute plans to hold a public launch for sometime next year, will be run Kaya Henderson, the former Chancellor of Washington, DC’s Public Schools and founder and CEO of the education technology company Reconstruction. She will also serve as an Executive Vice President of the Aspen Institute.

“As a Fellow and former trustee of the Aspen Institute, I have witnessed its commitment to enriching the lives of young people of all backgrounds,” Henderson said in a statement.

“Every young person has the potential to be an active participant and leader in their community and beyond. This extraordinary investment from the Bezos Family Foundation will enable the Aspen Institute to use our many assets and relationships in service of this vision of including, engaging, equipping, and empowering the young, and I am delighted to lead this work, building on the Institute’s 75 years of promoting civil dialogue and leadership development.”