Duke University has received a $10.5 million award from Bukhman Philanthropies, a London-based foundation focused on improving the mental health and well-being of children and young adults. The award will support the university’s Center for Child and Family Policy and groundbreaking research on some of the most pressing issues facing children and families today.
Founded in 1999, the Center for Child and Family Policy is part of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke and is regarded as one of the nation’s most respected sources for child and family policy research. The center’s approach to pursuing research directed toward solving real-life problems facing children and families has led to significant contributions to public health and policy.
“I’m so pleased that the Bukhman Philanthropies chose to support the innovative and visionary work of the Center for Child and Family Policy,” said Duke President Vincent E. Price. “Their generous gift will not only enable the center to scale up proven programs that directly help children, but it will shine a spotlight on this work so other universities can apply these practices to their own work in family policy.” The gift will support several new center-based research projects, spanning from three to five years.
They include the following:
- Conducting a multi-phase research initiative aimed at scaling early relational health - a principle that young children thrive when their earliest relationships are safe and nurturing - to promote intergenerational family and infant well-being
- Developing a professional learning framework for middle and high school ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers that promotes adolescent well-being through literacy instruction for students with immigrant and refugee backgrounds
- Conducting a youth-centered research initiative dedicated to redesigning how artificial intelligence-driven mental health tools can equitably serve student populations
- Developing, piloting, and testing a digital book-building platform designed to strengthen connections among multilingual learners, their families, teachers, and peers through co-created storytelling to improve students’ literacy and emotional well-being
“This gift is a testament to the more than 25 years of quality work our researchers have been doing at the center to improve the lives of children and families,” said Jennifer E. Lansford, S. Malcolm Gillis Distinguished Research Professor of Public Policy at Duke and director of the Center for Child and Family Policy.
Daria Bukhman said that the work of Duke’s Center for Child and Family Policy aligns well with the goals of Bukhman Philanthropies.
“We are excited about the opportunity to support these rigorous, thoughtfully-designed, and innovative research initiatives that we believe will lead to improved outcomes for today’s children and families, as well as future generations,” Bukhman said.