The Saporta Report reports…

The Decatur-based Task Force for Global Health has received a five-year $28.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish a support center for neglected tropical diseases.

The grant will enable the newly-established Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center to collaborate with other partners around the world to address gaps in research. The center will coordinate with partners to implement the research agenda for these diseases, while ensuring the quick translation of new solutions into the program policy.

The Gates grant will be officially announced on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Fisher writes in…

Not sure if you saw this in last week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle but there was a front page article about the “Philanthropy 400″ (I guess the nonprofit version of the Fortune 500). Thought is was awesome that the highest ranking nonprofit in the state, Task Force for Global Health, is headquartered in downtown Decatur (note that it beat out the American Cancer Society). Even more impressively, it is the 4th highest ranking nonprofit in the entire country. They bought the building at 325 Swanton Way a few years ago (corner of Swanton & W. Trinity) and they are currently under construction with an expansion project – I guess we now know why. Very cool to have an organization with such a worldwide reach and meaningful mission located right here in Decatur. Here is the link to the full article.

You can learn more about the Task Force for Global Health on their website.  We covered their recent expansion plans HERE back in May.  The picture above is pre-construction.

I took these pics a while back, not knowing whether this was old news or not, but this month’s Decatur Focus (not yet online) notes that the Task Force for Global Health will be expanding their location on Swanton Way starting this summer.   So I guess that means it’s pretty topical!  If I had just hunted on the Task Force’s website a bit, I would have found this…

On Monday, April 18, the Board of Directors for The Task Force for Global Health hosted a groundbreaking for the expansion of the organization’s headquarters building in Decatur. Dr. William Foege, Founder of the Task Force and Emeritus Member of the Board addressed the history and evolution of the Task Force. Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd, Georgia State Senator Jason Carter, and DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader also addressed the assembly.

Here’s a close-up of the banner which shows a drawing of the new addition, which will replace the current parking deck along Trinity Place.

As the city works to build up the less-developed Trinity, this is certainly a step in that direction. After the jump, a pic of the existing parking deck, hidden by trees along Swanton Way.  And in case you’re curious, the current parking deck along Trinity looks like this.

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