Fund for Adult Education (U.S.)

The Fund for Adult Education (FAE) was a subsidiary foundation established and supported by the Ford Foundation. Founded in 1951, the Fund had as its purpose to aid and to encourage liberal adult education especially in political, economic, and international affairs and the humanities, with emphasis on study-discussion. However, because of the coincidence of history, the Fund became the main instrument in the establishment of an educational broadcasting system (particularly ETV) in the United States. The Fund had its own board of directors and staff, and it was both a grant-giving and an operating organization. During its early years, the Fund financed the sometimes controversial Test Cities experiment, the purpose of which was to ascertain the best ways to coordinate and stimulate adult education activities, community by community. The Test Cities Project involved individuals and institutions in thirteen United States communities in an experimental and novel educational project. Each of the participating Test Cities programs was independent of the Fund and controlled its own programs. The Fund officially ended its activities in 1961, although it continued as a legal entity (just as some of the projects to which it gave long-term grants continued) after 1961. Description

The Fund for Adult Education was established by the Ford Foundation.