In The News

Artist Ron Donoughe devoted a year to setting up his easel outdoors and painting each of Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods. After his work was exhibited at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and published in a book, “Pittsburgh: 90 Neighborhoods,” he faced the unpleasant prospect of selling each scene separately. Now the collection is on permanent exhibition at the Heinz History Center because three local foundations (led by Maxwell King) purchased the paintings and gave them to the Strip District museum.  

Americans should work harder at breaking out of comfort zones, traveling to unfamiliar neighborhoods and being open to listening to opinions that differ from their own, several speakers emphasized Friday during Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership's annual meeting.

Maxwell King writes that "if Trump does want to turn his concern from campaign caricature into something real that actually helps the poor and the dispossessed - the large percentage of our population left out of American prosperity for decades - then he must dedicate his presidency to this goal."

Released over the summer, the city's Big Burgh app helps connect homeless individuals to medical care, meals and other useful services. In the short period of time that the city’s Big Burgh mobile app, aimed at helping the homeless find resources, has been available, it has far exceeded usage expectations. This project was funded in part by Foundation donor Terry Serafini.

Application Verification Inc., a 2015 UpPrize awardee, is providing volunteer background screenings for a project of United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Good Neighbor Center through a one-year pilot program. The pilot program was formally announced on Thursday by United Way and The Forbes Funds.

The Pittsburgh Promise is reminding graduates who had earned scholarships but not used them that they could still use access the funds by applying for an eight-week pilot program to ease them back into school — or at least get excited about it again.

With the 2016 UpPrize on the horizon, awardees from last year's contest, have signed a formal agreement to move forward with a system that eases criminal background check compliance for nonprofits.   

The Forbes Fund, a supporting organization of The Pittsburgh Foundation, hosted UpPrize for the first time in 2015 to fund innovative solutions to better serve vulnerable populations in the region. Finalist Application Verification Inc., received funding to further develop its cloud-based background-screening product, ProVerifyTM, with input from United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Maxwell King, president and chief executive officer of The Pittsburgh Foundation, admires Kane’s work and hopes to attend today’s hearing. “I admire him as a person. I admire him as a tough, creative individual. I admire him as a representative of Pittsburgh who isn’t fancy and pretentious. Here’s this working man. He’s the creator of wonderful, engaging art. “I also love the fact that he was undiscovered and unsung until the second or third Carnegie International he went to. Then he became a sensation. To me, he speaks of the best qualities of Pittsburgh,” Mr. King said.

By the time the Pittsburgh Promise's “Night of a Million Possibilities” gala had ended Nov. 10, a philanthropic dream team of the city's boldest names left little doubt as to just how committed they were to turning that dream into a reality. “Tonight, we celebrate a total of $8.8 million in new funding for the scholarship fund,” announced executive director Saleem Ghubril, with wife Patti. “The words ‘Thank You' just fall short of what my heart feels for every one of you.”