In The News

The third biannual Youth Undoing Institutional Racism Weekend (YUIR Weekend), a two-and-a-half-day anti-racist youth organizing training sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, kick-offs Friday, October 21 and runs through Sunday, October 23 at the Hosanna House located in Wilkinsburg, PA. Fall 2016 YUIR Weekend Pittsburgh is sponsored by American Friends Service Committee in partnership with the Hosanna House, is supported by the curriculum of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, and received financial support through The Pittsburgh Foundation.

The fundraising push to buy $720,000 worth of land has been aided in part by the Colcom Foundation, with a gift of $80,000, and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which is giving $100,000. The Pittsburgh Foundation jumped in with a gift of $30,000 to aid in the nonprofit's mission of protecting water and natural resources, according to foundation spokesman Doug Root. “These areas have been identified as integral to the biological diversity and strength of Allegheny County. And land conservation is the most effective way to protect water quality,” Root said.

The mortality rate for African American infants is three times the rate for white babies and black children are four times more likely to live in poverty than white children. Black people are more likely to say they are unhappy with life in Pittsburgh and to make plans to leave. In fact, Wallace cited a brain drain among college-educated African Americans. And the more low-income students a school serves, the fewer Pittsburgh Promise-eligible students it produces.

UpPrize is sponsored by The Forbes Funds with challenge partners BNY Mellon and Bridgeway Capital. Comcast is the official media/technology sponsor.

The Pittsburgh Foundation’s extended Day of Giving raised about $5.1 million for nonprofits, including $2.1 million through the 16-hour recovery event on Sept. 21.

Rotary Club of Latrobe and Community Foundation of Westmoreland County grants funded a new kiosk and parklet on Ligonier Street. The kiosk features segments of the city's history, claims to fame and a map.

The chamber presented $2,500 to Phil Koch with the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County to kick off next year's Day of Giving.

Anyone can submit an idea, from students to budding entrepreneurs to small business owners, and winners will get cash prizes between $10,000 and $300,000 as well as technical and organizational support to execute plans. The contest began taking applications this month with a Nov. 30 final submission deadline. “It's only been two weeks in, and we've already gotten some really interesting, solid ideas,” said Kate Dewey, president of The Forbes Funds, the nonprofit consulting arm of The Pittsburgh Foundation and a founding partner of UpPrize. 

The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments — which have partnered on grant programs for nearly 30 years — now support the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh grant program twice each year; the program provides funding for local artists, residences and organizations. In the spring, 13 applicants were awarded $202,480 in grants. Germaine Williams, senior program officer for arts and culture at The Pittsburgh Foundation, says the program is important given Pittsburgh’s history with jazz, theater and dance.

 “When the White House pitched us at the end of July on this idea of what if these two universities helped President Obama host a conference to discuss these ideas, we were of course thrilled,” said Rick Siger, CMU’s director for strategic initiatives who is helping pull the conference together. But they could not do it alone, and the universities reached out to local companies, as well a dozen of Pittsburgh’s largest charitable foundations for advice and financial assistance.