SUMMER 2002 The Magazine of The Heinz Endowments The LEEDing Edge Shaking off its polluted past, Pittsburgh is becoming a center of smart design and green building. INSIDE: Girls Count On Stage in East Liberty inside Founded more than four decades Our fields of emphasis include apart, the Howard Heinz Endowment, philanthropy in general and the established in 1941, and the Vira I. disciplines represented by our grant- Heinz Endowment, established in 1986, making programs: Arts & Culture; are the products of a deep family Children, Youth & Families; Economic commitment to community and the Opportunity; Education; and the common good that began with Environment. These five programs work H. J. Heinz and continues to this day. together on behalf of three shared The Heinz Endowments is based in organizational goals: enabling south- Pittsburgh, where we use our region western Pennsylvania to embrace and as a laboratory for the development realize a vision of itself as a premier of solutions to challenges that are place both to live and to work; making national in scope. Although the majority the region a center of quality learning of our giving is concentrated within and educational opportunity; and southwestern Pennsylvania, we work making diversity and inclusion defining wherever necessary, including statewide elements of the region’s character. and nationally, to fulfill our mission. That mission is to help our region thrive as a whole community — economically, ecologically, educationally and culturally— while advancing the state of knowledge and practice in the fields in which we work. h magazine is a publication of The Heinz Endowments. At the Endowments, we are committed to promoting learning in philanthropy and in the specific fields represented by our grantmaking programs. As an expression of that commitment, this publication is intended to share information about significant lessons and insights we are deriving from our work. Editorial Team Linda Braund, Nancy Grejda, Maxwell King, Maureen Marinelli, Grant Oliphant, Douglas Root. Design: Landesberg Design Associates About the Cover Built on the site of an abandoned rail yard, PNC Financial’s Firstside Center is a glowing icon on the shore of the Monongahela River in downtown Pittsburgh. Combining architectural grace with environmentally sensitive design, the building is helping to distinguish Pittsburgh as a leader in the international green building movement. 4 A Theater By Any Other Name The old Regent Theater rose and fell with the fortunes of its East Liberty neighborhood. Now both are making a comeback. 14 The Green Standard Volume 2 Number 3 Summer 2002 Once one of the country’s most polluted cities, Pittsburgh is emerging as a national leader in the green building movement. 26 Girls + Math + Science Catchy signage is just the first step in a regional campaign to keep girls interested in math and science. In the LEED, page 14 36 Tribute Remembering J. Carter Brown 2 Feedback 3 To Our Readers 34 Here & There feedback Pittsburgh’s “Noble Bet” (Spring 2002) Pittsburgh. But I also had to find daycare more equitable. While this has become nearly We are parents of children enrolled at the for my children — quality, affordable, early a cliché in reference to telecommunications 4 Kids Early Learning Center in Braddock. We care and education that would prepare them technology, it is critically important that your were honored to learn that 4 Kids was featured for school. Quality is always available, but, readers understand that the gap between the in the most recent edition of h magazine, and unfortunately, most of the centers that provide haves and the have-nots is still wide. are very glad that funding is continuing for the it are out of my price range. I feared that I In fact, families in low-income neighbor- quality care provided to our children. They are would be forced to quit school to stay home hoods are still behind in access to the caliber of thriving here — learning more than we even with my children. communications power that the more affluent hoped they would. They are healthy and happy. Then I came across a brochure for the among us take for granted. This is especially 4 Kids is the kind of partner most parents 4 Kids Center in Braddock. Our 15-minute fact- true for African-American children, who are would like to have in helping their children finding tour of the center turned into a 4-hour being denied a tool critical to full educational grow into good students and successful adults. learning experience for my children. And I was development in this society. A study by the We wish every parent and child could have this amazed as much as they were with the fun, wel- Consumer Federation of America, Consumers excellent opportunity. coming and learning-centered childcare facility. Union and the Civil Rights Forum on Physically, it reminded me of the center on base Communications Policy shows that households Beth Markatan in Okinawa, Japan, when my husband was in with more than $50,000 in annual incomes Erica Daye the Marine Corps. However, what amazed me are still three times more likely to have Internet Katrina Long most was the attention my children received. access in the home than households earning Kimberly Lucas I automatically assumed that this fine facil- less than $25,000 annually. Proud Parents of 4 Kids Children ity would also be out of our price range. But But with foundation support, like the we discovered that ECI funding support would consistent commitment shown by The Heinz After reading your honest analysis of how allow them to attend. My youngest was well Endowments, Pittsburgh has a unique opportu- Pittsburgh fared in one of the most comprehen- cared for while I was in school. nity to stand as a model for closing the divide. sive early care and education programs ever As a parent, and now, a social worker, I have Your story points out vividly how shared undertaken, I felt compelled to respond and seen the various levels of the ECI demonstration software applications, joint access to servers share a more scaled down, family view of the project. I have sat at meetings with the funders, housing students’ work and assignment materi- Early Childhood Initiative. After my husband’s participated in advocacy groups and brought my als, video conferencing projects across neighbor- eight-year tour of duty with the US Marine children to the center three to five days a week. hoods, computer-aided literacy training and a Corps, we returned to the Turtle Creek area What I have seen tells me that ECI is not a digital, multimedia magazine produced by with our two children to begin the task of “noble bet” any longer, but a “righteous venture” young people are enhancing the quality of so settling into the community. that has had a powerful positive impact on my many lives in Pittsburgh neighborhoods. This is My husband found a job, but, unfortunately, life and my family’s future. occurring because of well-organized partnerships it paid less than he received as an enlisted between local government, funders and non- Concetta Hillman member of the military. My own personal profit groups like ours that have the ability to Turtle Creek experiences of growing up in poverty made me implement programs at the neighborhood level. realize that I wanted something better for my 5- Nonprofits and local government officials in year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. The stress Down To The Wire (Spring 2002) other sections of the country would do well to of poverty had resulted in a mental breakdown As one of the nonprofit organizations leading visit here to see firsthand what can be accom- for my mother. My father spent so many hours the effort to create a more wired Pittsburgh plished through these critical connections. away from our family, working for little pay as community, your story on the grass-roots effort Rick Flanagan a janitor, that we never had the time to develop to make wireless technology available to groups Youth Development Director a good father–daughter relationship. that otherwise would not be able to afford it is Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. I knew that education was going to be my a great public service. ticket out of poverty, and that I needed to get You use the phrase “digital divide’’ at going on a career that would help support the several points in the story to refer to this effort family. Fortunately, I qualified for enough to make access to the Internet and to high-speed financial aid to attend the University of transmissions of video, sound and messaging By Maxwell King Executive Director Toour readers t is notoriously difficult in the nonprofit world to know the Riverlife Task Force to the expanded David L. Lawrence for certain whether a given investment is responsible for Convention Center to the creation of its own Civic Design Ispecific changes happening in the broader community. Task Force, the Endowments was expanding the idea of Occasionally, though, the connection is obvious — and design excellence to encompass principles of environmental immensely gratifying. Such is the case with Pittsburgh’s grow- sustainability. Today, the Endowments will not provide sup- ing stature as a national leader in green building, which is the port for any capital project that does not incorporate green subject of this issue’s cover story. building principles in its design and construction. In many ways, Pittsburgh’s preeminence in green design The Heinz Endowments has not been alone in this. Other can be traced directly to Teresa Heinz’s leadership of The partners include the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Heinz Endowments in the early 1990s.