President Carter, First Lady Carter, & Presidential Libraries: The Carter Center

The mission of the Americas Program is to enhance the quality of democracy and make it more meaningful to citizens across the region. The program aims to strengthen regional capacities to promote democracy, transform and prevent conflicts, and improve democratic governance.

The Carter Center, in partnership with Emory University, is guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering; it seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.

While the program agenda may change, The Carter Center is guided by five principles:

1. The Center emphasizes action and results. Based on careful research and analysis, it is prepared to take timely action on important and pressing issues.
2. The Center does not duplicate the effective efforts of others.
3. The Center addresses difficult problems and recognizes the possibility of failure as an acceptable risk.
4. The Center is nonpartisan and acts as a neutral in dispute resolution activities.
5. The Center believes that people can improve their lives when provided with the necessary skills, knowledge, and access to resources.

The Carter Center collaborates with other organizations, public or private, in carrying out its mission. 

Major Accomplishments

• Leading a coalition that has reduced incidence of Guinea worm disease from an estimated 3.5 million cases in 1986 to fewer than 1,100 today, making it likely to be the first disease since smallpox to be eradicated
• Observing 93 elections in 37 countries to help establish and strengthen democracies
• Teaching techniques that have helped more than 8 million small-scale farmers in 15 African nations to double or triple grain production
• Furthering avenues to peace in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Liberia, Sudan, Uganda, the Korean Peninsula, Haiti, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Middle East
• Helping to establish a village-based health care delivery system in thousands of communities in Africa that now have trained health care personnel and volunteers to distribute drugs and provide health education
• Strengthening international standards for human rights and the voices of individuals defending those rights in their communities worldwide
• Pioneering new public health approaches to preventing or controlling devastating neglected diseases in Africa and Latin America
• Advancing efforts to improve mental health care and diminish the stigma against people with mental illnesses.

FAQs: Where is The Carter Center located? 

The Carter Center is located in a 35-acre park approximately 1.5 miles east of downtown Atlanta. Four circular interconnected pavilions house offices for the former president and first lady and Center staff. The complex also includes the nondenominational Cecil B. Day Chapel and other conference facilities. In addition, the Center also owns the nearby Kirbo Building.

The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, which adjoins The Carter Center, is owned and operated by the National Archives and Records Administration of the federal government. The Center and Library are known collectively as The Carter Presidential Center. Click here for directions.

The gardens of The Carter Presidential Center, which includes both The Carter Center and The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, are open to the public. Click here for an illustrated brochure of the Center's beautiful gardens (PDF).

Overview of the Carter Center’s efforts to advance human rights and alleviate unnecessary human suffering in more than 70 countries. At work in many of the poorest regions in the world, The Carter Center brings hope to those who need it most.