In The News

“We want to make it very clear that the nonprofit community is not bemoaning these changes,” said Samantha Balbier, executive director of the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership, an advocacy arm of The Forbes Funds representing more than 400 nonprofits in a 10-county region. “We are in support of people's wages being increased; it's just how is this possible without the state Legislature acknowledging the increased cost of doing business?”

The Pittsburgh Promise may be the greatest thing to happen to public schools. If it is successful here it will be copied throughout the country. Some states have already picked it up. More kids can see that if they keep their grades respectable and come to school every day, they now have a chance for an education and a good paying job, regardless of their parent’s income.  

Pennsylvanians sometimes forget there are many other places throughout the state that don’t share Pittsburgh’s pride. Advocate and blogger Sue Kerr has chosen to amplify unheard voices in hopes that those LGBT people living in less-friendly communities don’t feel marginalized. A grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation helped Kerr expand her AMPLIFY project, but she says that additional funding must be sought to print more copies of the zine.  

The payday loan industry, which is vilified for charging exorbitant interest rates on short-term loans that many Americans depend on, could soon be gutted by a set of rules that federal regulators plan to unveil on Thursday. [The Pittsburgh Foundation, along with a coalition of national community foundations, advocated for changes to the payday loan industry last year.]  

Lawmakers have until the end of the month to pass a budget. In the run-up to that deadline, nonprofits across the state are taking stock of the shock waves they still feel from last year's nine-month budget impasse. A new survey says nonprofit organizations that carry out social services in Pennsylvania still owe interest from loans taken out during a protracted state government budget stalemate. The survey released last week comes from the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership, the United Way of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

The work of Homewood-based artist Vanessa German whose exhibit “Introspective” will be on display at the August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Ave.