Grant, William T., Foundation

Foundation History

The William T. Grant Foundation was founded in 1936 in New York City by William T. Grant, the head and founder of the retail chain store that bore his name. Grant was convinced that a foundation could serve as an instrument of social progress that would enable him to enhance the mental health of children and young people, a goal to which he was committed. In his foundation's first annual report, Grant expressed the hope that the foundation would assist in developing “a cumulative body of knowledge which will have comprehensive social value.” He firmly believed in the importance and efficacy of scientific research, and felt sure that it could help guide young people to lead happy and productive lives as well as assist in establishing new programs of training and education that would help bring about that result.

Since its inception, the foundation has maintained the mission set for it by its founder, but with a flexibility to implement insightful, innovative, and effective responses to the changing needs of children and youth. In particular, the foundation's funding of research on children and young people has been responsive to four conditions: (1) the changing conceptions of core child-and adolescent-related issues in the social, behavioral, and health sciences; (2) the changing social and cultural [Page 520]context of childhood, adolescence, and families in the United States; (3) new technologies that have allowed for more sophisticated methods of observation and measurement; and (4) the particular interests and areas of expertise of the foundation's leaders. The foundation's responses to these different conditions have led to it playing important and pioneering roles in the development of knowledge and understanding of several fields of study, including

• Research and training in child psychiatry
• The effects of social and economic factors on family mental health
• Parent-infant attachment and early socialemotional development
• Day care and preschool education
• The physical basis for cognitive processes (“the neurosciences”)
• The impact of stress and coping on schoolaged children
• The impact of violence on children and youth
• The school-to-work transition
• The effects of family-focused antipoverty policies and programs on children and youth

In its long history, the foundation has supported, and continues to support, rigorous research that deliberately and simultaneously advances theory and practice, the identification and nurturance of talented young scholars, and the development of new ways to advance child and youth research, including linking research to social policy and practice.

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