Nordic Region

J.P. Morgan is committed to building vibrant communities, preserving our environment and promoting an inclusive culture across the globe that benefits people not only today, but for generations to come.

Globally, J.P. Morgan, through the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, provides grants to charities in three areas of focus: Education, Community Development and Arts & Culture. We prioritize our funding efforts to focus on responding to the deepening social need in the communities we serve. Across the Nordics our commitments include:

• Stella Foundation
• Fryshuset

Stella Foundation

In Sweden, the Stella Foundation (Stella) runs a mentor program for young women between the ages of 16-20. The strategy is for the young women to develop their self esteem and identify potential career opportunities, through support from motivated and committed professional women as role models.  The aim is that by giving them this self-belief they will have the courage to pursue their career rather than allow other external factors or stereotypes define their choice. 

A donation from J.P. Morgan will support the scaling up of this highly effective, and much in demand, program.  The focus will be to support the growth of the infrastructure of Stella together with developing monitoring and evaluation criteria to ensure continued assessment of both the charity as well as the mentoring program.

Fryshuset

Fryshuset is a globally renowned youth centre. It was founded in 1984 as a result of joint efforts by the Stockholm YMCA and a Swedish entrepreneur. Fryshuset’s vision is based on the conviction that encouragement, confidence, responsibility and understanding are necessary to enable young people to develop their innate abilities and find their way into society. Today, Fryshuset runs several school and vocational training programs, seminars and conferences, courses in theatre, music and sports as well as hosting events for young people. Fryshuset established the Lugna Gatan program to create safe and peaceful neighbourhoods by generating positive impacts on young people’s lives and attitudes in marginalised areas of Stockholm. Local unemployed young people between 20-30 years old with large social networks are recruited to work as Lugan Gatan “hosts” to reach out to marginalised youth, build relationships, provide positive role models and prevent conflicts.

The aim is to diminish the gap between these young people and mainstream society. The hosts also encourage local young people to engage in different Lugan Gatan projects on a voluntary basis to take part in positive activities and help their local neighbourhood stay safe and clean. Nonetheless, the current scope of Lugan Gatan cannot provide opportunities at a sufficient scale to effect sustainable change in young people’s attitudes. Experience from Lugan Gatan shows that a key component to addressing this complex issue is opportunities for meaningful work and education to enable these young people to start building a new life with better values and a greater sense of responsibility towards their local community.