Cornelia Grumman
Encyclopedia
Cornelia Grumman, a Pulitzer Prize
winning journalist, is the Executive Director of the First Five Years Fund (FFYF - http://ffyf.org/). The First Five Years Fund is an education initiative committed to improving the lives of at-risk children by leveraging cost-effective investments in early learning. A project of the Ounce of Prevention Fund (http://www.ounceofprevention.org/), FFYF is supported by five major family foundations: the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
, the Irving Harris
Foundation, the George Kaiser
Family Foundation, and the Children's Initiative, a project of the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation. [1]
in 1981 with hopes to pursue a career in hotel and restaurant management; she even attended a cooking school in Paris, France beforehand to prepare. However, after meeting professional journalists at Duke through the DeWitt Wallace Center's Visiting Media Fellows program, she decided to reorient her ambitions, and pursue journalism. She graduated from Duke University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in public policy. [2]
After graduating, Grumman became a reporter for the Raleigh News & Observer. Her first major assignment was to take a Greyhound bus from one end of the state to the other and write about what she saw and whom she met. On this journey, she found herself impassioned by the types of stories that could not be found in press release, government reports or police blotters.
"I was hooked," she wrote, in an autobiographical sketch for "Meet the Tribune Editorial Board," a section published in the December 32, 2000 Chicago Tribune. "I wanted to see more of the world and to understand the connection between individuals, particularly those with faint voices, and the government institutions designed to serve them." [3]
In 1989, she worked in China as a stringer for The Washington Post, covering the student democracy movement that unfolded in Tienanmen Square. Grumman went on to earn her master's at Harvard University
's John F. Kennedy School of Government
. [duke piece] "The Kennedy School enhanced my journalism by teaching me the broader context of issues," she said in an interview. [3]
By 1994, Grumman had returned to her home state of Illinois
as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune
. She concentrated on issues about education, juvenile justice, Illinois politics and the death penalty. In 2000, she joined the Tribune's editorial board. [2]
Through public education, federal advocacy and coordinated outreach, the First Five Years Fund hopes to garner increased support for early learning activities that are:
▪ Integrated from birth to age five, with special focus on infants and toddlers;
▪ High-quality and comprehensive in scope; and
▪ Focused first on serving those children most at-risk
"Early learning is one of the smartest public investments that we can make. Children shouldn’t be playing catch-up when they enter kindergarten, and yet so many do. This emphasis on early learning services for babies and toddlers is because by the time a child turns three, a majority of their brain growth has already occurred. If we want greater school success later and a better-skilled workforce, we need to ensure the proper development of our most at-risk children at these earliest ages. Our goal then, is to support high-quality learning programs, such as Early Head Start, followed by preschool, for these earliest learners so that even the most at-risk children arrive at kindergarten ready to learn." Cornelia Grumman, First Five Years Fund.[4]
Grumman currently runs the early childhood blog, The Starting Point. [5]
, they have two sons, Blair and Elliot. They currently reside in the north side of Chicago.
in 2003 for her series of Chicago Tribune
editorials "Restoring Justice," that she wrote on capital punishment. Her editorials called on government officials to improve procedures for eyewitness identifications, address serious inequities in death-sentence convictions related to race and geography, narrow the eligibility for death penalty and acknowledge the problems with executing the mentally retarded, the mentally ill, and juvenile offenders. "With the authority to impose the death penalty comes a responsibility to get it right," she wrote in her October 3, 2002 editorial, "The Future of Capital Punishment." She fervently added, "Now's the time to get it right. Get it right or get rid of it." [2]
In 2001, 2005 and 2006, Grumman also received Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism for editorials on children and family issues. She received a 2001 Studs Terkel award for her coverage of disadvantaged communities and three Herman Kogan awards for editorials about the criminal justice system.[1]
The Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx)
George Kaiser and J.B. Pritzker on Capitol hill (http://ffyf.org/who-we-are/ffyf-supporters-speak-on-early-education/67)
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning journalist, is the Executive Director of the First Five Years Fund (FFYF - http://ffyf.org/). The First Five Years Fund is an education initiative committed to improving the lives of at-risk children by leveraging cost-effective investments in early learning. A project of the Ounce of Prevention Fund (http://www.ounceofprevention.org/), FFYF is supported by five major family foundations: the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
, the Irving Harris
Irving Harris
Irving B. Harris was an American businessman and philanthropist. With his brother, he co-founded the Toni Home Permanent Company, which was sold to the Gillette Safety Razor Co...
Foundation, the George Kaiser
George Kaiser
George B. Kaiser is an American businessman. He is the Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation. He is among the top 100 richest people in the world and one of the top 50 American philanthropists.-Early life and career:...
Family Foundation, and the Children's Initiative, a project of the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation. [1]
Education and early career
Grumman enrolled at Duke UniversityDuke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
in 1981 with hopes to pursue a career in hotel and restaurant management; she even attended a cooking school in Paris, France beforehand to prepare. However, after meeting professional journalists at Duke through the DeWitt Wallace Center's Visiting Media Fellows program, she decided to reorient her ambitions, and pursue journalism. She graduated from Duke University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in public policy. [2]
After graduating, Grumman became a reporter for the Raleigh News & Observer. Her first major assignment was to take a Greyhound bus from one end of the state to the other and write about what she saw and whom she met. On this journey, she found herself impassioned by the types of stories that could not be found in press release, government reports or police blotters.
"I was hooked," she wrote, in an autobiographical sketch for "Meet the Tribune Editorial Board," a section published in the December 32, 2000 Chicago Tribune. "I wanted to see more of the world and to understand the connection between individuals, particularly those with faint voices, and the government institutions designed to serve them." [3]
In 1989, she worked in China as a stringer for The Washington Post, covering the student democracy movement that unfolded in Tienanmen Square. Grumman went on to earn her master's at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
's John F. Kennedy School of Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...
. [duke piece] "The Kennedy School enhanced my journalism by teaching me the broader context of issues," she said in an interview. [3]
By 1994, Grumman had returned to her home state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. She concentrated on issues about education, juvenile justice, Illinois politics and the death penalty. In 2000, she joined the Tribune's editorial board. [2]
First Five Years Fund
The First Five Years Fund's goal is to expand high-quality early learning services to one million additional children from birth to age five, with half of that expansion serving infants, toddlers and their families.Through public education, federal advocacy and coordinated outreach, the First Five Years Fund hopes to garner increased support for early learning activities that are:
▪ Integrated from birth to age five, with special focus on infants and toddlers;
▪ High-quality and comprehensive in scope; and
▪ Focused first on serving those children most at-risk
"Early learning is one of the smartest public investments that we can make. Children shouldn’t be playing catch-up when they enter kindergarten, and yet so many do. This emphasis on early learning services for babies and toddlers is because by the time a child turns three, a majority of their brain growth has already occurred. If we want greater school success later and a better-skilled workforce, we need to ensure the proper development of our most at-risk children at these earliest ages. Our goal then, is to support high-quality learning programs, such as Early Head Start, followed by preschool, for these earliest learners so that even the most at-risk children arrive at kindergarten ready to learn." Cornelia Grumman, First Five Years Fund.[4]
Grumman currently runs the early childhood blog, The Starting Point. [5]
Personal
Today, Grumman is married to journalist James Warren (journalist)James Warren (journalist)
James C. Warren is an American journalist who served as the managing editor for features at the Chicago Tribune until he left the paper in 2008. He previously was the Tribune's Washington bureau chief from 1993 to 2001, and he appeared on CNN's "The Capitol Gang" as part of that job...
, they have two sons, Blair and Elliot. They currently reside in the north side of Chicago.
Awards
Grumman received a Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in 2003 for her series of Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
editorials "Restoring Justice," that she wrote on capital punishment. Her editorials called on government officials to improve procedures for eyewitness identifications, address serious inequities in death-sentence convictions related to race and geography, narrow the eligibility for death penalty and acknowledge the problems with executing the mentally retarded, the mentally ill, and juvenile offenders. "With the authority to impose the death penalty comes a responsibility to get it right," she wrote in her October 3, 2002 editorial, "The Future of Capital Punishment." She fervently added, "Now's the time to get it right. Get it right or get rid of it." [2]
In 2001, 2005 and 2006, Grumman also received Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism for editorials on children and family issues. She received a 2001 Studs Terkel award for her coverage of disadvantaged communities and three Herman Kogan awards for editorials about the criminal justice system.[1]
External links
The Buffett Early Childhood Fund (http://www.buffettearlychildhoodfund.org/)The Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx)
George Kaiser and J.B. Pritzker on Capitol hill (http://ffyf.org/who-we-are/ffyf-supporters-speak-on-early-education/67)