About the Action Center

Global Engagement

With 30 years of experience working in the world's toughest places, Mercy Corps understands that a well-informed, mobilized constituency in the developed world is critical to realizing our mission of alleviating suffering, poverty and oppression. The solutions to the most complex global challenges require skilled and scaled advocacy to help the world's poor. Targeted policy reform, including government aid spending and fairer trade agreements, as well as responsible corporate practices and consumer preferences, can save many lives. The Action Center and actioncenter.org are the cornerstone of Mercy Corps' efforts to radically alter the way people think about the world, and their role within it.

Each night, more than 1 billion people around the world go to bed hungry. Yet hunger itself is a symptom of wider problems. The Action Center explains and illustrates some of the root causes of poverty, such as unsustainable agricultural practices, inefficient markets, war and conflict, weak health and education services, climate change, and poor governance. By helping people understand these underlying issues, the Action Center seeks to generate the public will necessary to create lasting change, through actioncenter.org, an online platform for action with national reach, as well as real world hubs for activism in lower Manhattan and Portland, Oregon.

Inside the Action Centers

The museum-quality multimedia exhibits at the Action Centers in Lower Manhattan and Portland, Oregon provide real world hubs for activism, where visitors can deepen their understanding of how climate change, conflict, and issues like land rights contribute to the cycle of hunger and poverty in the developing world.

Designed by Ed Schlossberg and his expert team at ESI Design, the Action Center attracts visitors of all ages and walks of life – with an emphasis on students, their parents and their teachers. Located in Battery Park City just west of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan and in downtown Portland, the Action Centers welcome thousands of visitors each year.

From Education to Action

The Action Center uses a wide range of interactive multimedia content to bring to life the daily experiences of communities and aid agencies as they strive to improve lives around the globe. Beyond providing information to visitors, the Action Center challenges them to analyze pressing global issues and commit to taking meaningful action.

Briefing Area – A video hosted by actress and comedienne Tina Fey introduces visitors to the issues of hunger and poverty.

Training Towers – The interactive training towers present case studies of specific challenges, and offer a behind-the-scenes look at how local residents and aid agencies like Mercy Corps work together address them.

Global Status Wall - A large projection screen using sophisticated Google mapping software enables visitors to scan the globe and drill down to explore poverty hotspots.

Video Field Dispatches – Community members and aid workers from around the world file firsthand reports of what they are doing to combat global poverty.

Information Hub - News feeds, field reports and other constantly updated information sources inform visitors about how the effects of hunger and poverty are being addressed.

Action Stations - Choose from hundreds of ways to address the root causes of hunger and poverty, whether you have a minute, an hour or a lifetime to give.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided more than $1.5 billion in assistance to people in 106 nations. Supported by headquarters in North America and Europe, the agency's global programs employ 3,500 staff worldwide and reach more than 16.4 million people in more than 35 countries. Over the past five years, more than 89 percent of the agency's resources have been allocated directly to programs that help people in need. For more information, visit www.mercycorps.org.