Posted on October 1, 2008

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Awards $24 Million in Grants

The Los Angeles-based Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has announced grants totaling nearly $24 million to organizations working in some of its key program areas.

Grants to address childhood blindness and trachoma prevention include $10 million to the Atlanta-based Carter Center and $5.26 million to Helen Keller International in New York City to help eliminate trachoma in several African nations. The foundation also awarded $5 million to the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, for continued support of the Hilton/Perkins international program for children with multiple disabilities.

In the area of disaster relief and recovery, the foundation awarded $1.3 million to the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area for the Bridge to Quality Program, an initiative of the Greater New Orleans Child Care Rebuild Collaborative, while in the area of safe water development, the foundation awarded $650,000 to the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust in Uttaranchal, India. Through its early childhood education and development program, the foundation also awarded a $500,000 capital campaign grant to Special Care in Oklahoma City.

According to Hilton Foundation president and CEO Steven M. Hilton, the foundation "supports organizations that are working to alleviate the suffering of the world's most disadvantaged, with a special emphasis on children."