FALL 2006 SHIP SHAPE RiverQuest’s Explorer sets new environmental standard

The Magazine of The Heinz Endowments

INSIDE: CITY PLANTS STREAM CLEANING 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; Innovation commitment to community and the Economy; 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 Pittsburgh, where we use our region southwestern Pennsylvania to embrace as a laboratory for the development and realize a vision of itself as a of solutions to challenges that are premier place both to live and to work; national in scope. Although the majority making the region a center of quality of our giving is concentrated within learning and educational opportunity; southwestern Pennsylvania, we work and making diversity and inclusion wherever necessary, including statewide defining elements of the region’s and nationally, to fulfill our mission. character. 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 grant-making 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 Bannon, Linda Braund, Donna Evans, Maxwell King, Carmen Lee, Grant Oliphant, Douglas Root. Design: Landesberg Design

About the cover Scientists-in-the-making Rachael Carlberg and Katie Rop search for macroscopic organisms in water samples from the Ohio River. The marks on Rachael’s hand are part of a demonstration on using elevation lines to map topography. The two sixth-graders from Colfax Upper Elementary School near Pittsburgh are participating in the RiverQuest program, which offers environmental science classes aboard ship. RiverQuest has added to its fleet of floating classrooms the new Explorer, a ground- breaking achievement in marine and green design. Photo by Lisa Kyle.

4 Garden Variety With support from local foundations, urban gardens are helping to revitalize southwestern Pennsylvania communities as well as beautify them. 10 Rockin’ the Boat As the recently completed ship, the Explorer, breaks new ground in marine and environmental technologies, it also provides new educational opportunities Volume 6 Number 4 Fall 2006 for the region’s children and adults. 20 Nine Mile Rebirth The rehabilitation of Nine Mile Run is unlocking natural beauty and environmental attributes that enhance Pittsburgh and surrounding communities.

2 Feedback

3 Message

Garden, page 4 28 Here & There

Working, page 22 feedback

Our Summer issue highlighted the ways in which small grants can be used strategically to support projects that can have a major impact on individuals’ lives. We also examined efforts by Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Art to expand the city’s artwork in the public realm and collaborations among nonprofits to influence the region’s future. 2

Pittsburgh Art in Public Places started the project in collaboration with the of Bethlehem Haven, Center for Victims of As head of an organization devoted to UPMC Wellness Clinic in direct response to Violence and Crime, and POWER— encouraging people to live and work in the growing childhood obesity epidemic in Pennsylvania Organization for Women in downtown Pittsburgh, it is my belief that this the United States that is expected to alter the Early Recovery — was mentioned as an city is one of America’s hidden gems. Part of life expectancies and compromise the health example of one of the collaborative efforts the reason for this belief is the great artistic of an entire generation of children. My team that are working in our region. community that is here. Public art is a signifi- can speak firsthand about the impact these In my work with Bethlehem Haven of cant expression of the talent and potential funds make, not only on our own lives Pittsburgh, which provides housing and other in this region and an important element in as designers and educators, but also on the services for homeless women, I can attest urban revitalization. Some lasting effects of communities and partners with whom we that our decision to share a human resource beautifying Pittsburgh include strengthening work. In the past six months, our project director and related services is not only work- our neighborhoods and bringing communi- has moved from a conceptual framework ing, it has been cited for its innovation and ties together. on games and health to a real, practical and results in the Chronicle of Philanthropy Jeffery Fraser’s story “Pittsburgh Art in tangible product. and has been honored with the Pittsburgh Public Places” reveals how the Office of Public Without the Endowments funding, none Human Resources Association’s People Art transforms the visual landscape of neigh- of the initial Play:Ground researchers could Do Matter Award. borhoods in Pittsburgh by enabling artists to have taken the summer to contribute their Funding to support the development create public art that considers the people of expertise and ideas to the development of of the joint project also was collaborative, the community, their history and their hopes this game. At the same time, the constraints with the Richard King Mellon Foundation, for the future. of a small grant forced us to quickly develop the Pittsburgh Foundation and the FISA The Office of Public Art has an extremely a design approach that would form the Foundation providing three-year funding to important role in providing funding for proj- backbone of all of our activities. The limited launch the project. In addition, we received ects that will further expose our community funds, in effect, pushed us out of our studio support from the Forbes Fund that helped while, at the same time, adding to its beauty. and into the city to develop partners to move cover the cost of consultation services by We need to make sure that we all continue to forward once funding was complete. Through Dewey & Kaye. We are now looking at ways assist in the growth and development of the these partnerships, we have been able to to create a business venture through the col- artists who contribute to our city. define, co-create and develop powerful edu- laborative to provide human resources prod- John Valentine cational materials for middle school youth. ucts and services so that the joint project can Executive Director Author Malcolm Gladwell states in his eventually sustain itself with its own revenue. Downtown Neighborhood Association book The Tipping Point that, “[i]n order to Our organizations have all grown stronger Pittsburgh create one contagious movement, you often as a result of our collaboration. We share best have to create many small movements first.” practices, institutional knowledge and our Thank you, Heinz Endowments, for creating own individual strengths (and weaknesses!), opportunities that allow movements which has had a net effect of lifting up all A Smaller Slice of the Pie to happen! three organizations. However, we realize that Chris Fletcher’s article “A Smaller Slice of the Kristin Hughes and the Play:Ground Team collaborative agreements need to be well Pie” highlights the potential impact grass- Carnegie Mellon University thought out and a win–win for all partners. roots initiatives can have on a community School of Design Trust has to be engendered from the begin- and the importance of seemingly small grants Pittsburgh ning, and consistent effort, especially with in keeping those initiatives alive. The stories effective communications, must be made to and people in Fletcher’s article inspired and maintain trust among partners. That said, moved me deeply. let’s rise to the challenge — because we are Recently, I have been fortunate enough to Working As One all one in the end. receive $20,000 from The Heinz Endowments I read with interest Christine O’Toole’s article Marilyn Sullivan for a project called Play:Ground, a system of “Working As One,” in which she shines a Executive Director games designed for middle school students spotlight on our local nonprofit sector. The Bethlehem Haven to teach and celebrate a healthy lifestyle. We Human Resource Collaborative, a joint project Pittsburgh y r e v a L y r r a message B

By Teresa Heinz Chairman, Howard Heinz Endowment

3

magine, for a moment, that you want to reclaim one That is precisely what happened in the above three scenarios, of your city’s biggest brownfield sites for a model which, as the articles in this issue reveal, had much happier housing development. Unfortunately, a creek running outcomes. In each of these cases, with support and sometimes through the heart of your site is so polluted that it is a prodding from The Heinz Endowments, the people and organi- Ipublic health hazard, especially when heavy rains fill the run zations involved decided to think beyond the status quo and with sewage. Upstream, the creek has already been channeled imagine something completely different. Asked what else they through culverts and buried. City planners decide to bury could do, they responded with a question of their own: What if? the rest, reasoning that no one wants to buy homes next to What if, instead of burying the creek, we restored it as a an open sewer. natural ecosystem, and turned the ecosystem into a park? Our Logical, right? photo essay on Nine Mile Run provides dramatic evidence of Now imagine another scenario: You run a nonprofit the answer. It is impossible to look at these photos and not be devoted to using Pittsburgh’s rivers to teach children about amazed at what might have been lost had everyone gone along biology and ecology. Your programs are popular but run on a with the “sensible” alternative. razor-thin budget, and suddenly your signature boat—an old, What if, instead of using the boat as a mere platform for wood-hulled military vessel—needs to be replaced. Because teaching, we saw it as part of the curriculum, a teaching tool money is tight, you decide to replace the old boat with some- that itself embodies the very lessons we are trying to teach thing similar. young people about our relationship with the environment? A boat is a boat, right? Our story on Pittsburgh’s Voyager program, now rechristened Fortunately, sometimes people decide not to accept the obvious. When they ask, “What else can we do?” it isn’t a rhetorical question posed with a shrug of resignation. It is, rather, a challenge to imagine the unimagined.

One last scenario: You are committed to helping a struggling RiverQuest, demonstrates the power of that question. Not urban neighborhood and its residents regain their footing. You only will it remake the educational experience of children want to restore the neighborhood’s sense of pride and purpose, learning on Pittsburgh’s rivers, it has helped invent a whole and you think of cleaning up trash-strewn vacant lots and new category of environmental products: a green boat. abandoned property. But you know it won’t be long before the And what if, instead of viewing vacant lots as problems to trash comes back, so you turn your attention elsewhere. be cleaned up or deficits to be fixed, we saw them as assets— What else can you do? sources of beauty, nourishment and economic vitality for our In each of these scenarios, the reaction seems sensible neighborhoods? Our story on urban gardening offers proof of and even obvious. Given an imperfect world, we do what we how a simple change in perspective can change everything. can—which is, of course, how conventional thinking becomes Blaise Pascal wrote that the true journey of discovery begins conventional. not in seeking new lands but in having new eyes. The true joy Fortunately, sometimes people decide not to accept the of philanthropy lies in helping the people, organizations, neigh- obvious. When they ask, “What else can we do?” it isn’t a borhoods and communities we work with to discover within rhetorical question posed with a shrug of resignation. It is, themselves that capacity to see the world differently, and, in so rather, a challenge to imagine the unimagined. doing, to discover hidden realms of possibility and progress. h GARDENING ISN’T JUST

A HOMEOWNER HOBBY

ANYMORE. WITH SUPPORT

n a quiet street in FROM LOCAL FOUNDATIONS,

Wilkinsburg, a borough just east of GARDENS OF ALL TYPES Pittsburgh, a festival of food is growing ARE HELPING TO BEAUTIFY, on lots reclaimed after two derelict O REVITALIZE AND EMPOWER houses were demolished. Near a large pile of stones salvaged URBAN COMMUNITIES 4 from the houses’ foundations, garden ACROSS SOUTHWESTERN beds are bountiful with leeks, tomatoes, squash, rhubarb, beets, peppers, egg- PENNSYLVANIA. plant, beans, peas, various herbs and The money has been used for projects BY SETH R. BECKERMAN greens, and other vegetables. They are such as community gardens, a summer PHOTOGRAPHY BY surrounded on two sides by a wooden teen employment program and a partner- JOSHUA FRANZOS fence with black locust posts and pickets ship with Slow Food Pittsburgh and made of white oak and sassafras. The the Pittsburgh Public Schools to create gate sports a small leaded-glass window, vegetable gardens known as “edible suggesting the designer has a creative schoolyards” at three schools. sensibility about landscaping, gardening “Our goal is to do such a great job and, perhaps, life itself. that other schools want to replicate the Because local restaurants’ demand program,” says Schwartz, who also is for fresh produce far exceeds supply, looking to buy property to establish it’s all gardening all the time on this an urban farm. “We want to own and quarter acre set in a quiet neighborhood control and expand the community that Mindy Schwartz characterizes as of urban farmers…and replicate all marginalized and challenged, but with the benefits. “tons of potential.” Schwartz founded “Food is the platform for what we do. Grow Pittsburgh, a collaboration of It crosses cultures, brings people together, urban farmers and market gardeners and it’s the language that everyone who are helping to plant new life and speaks,” she says. “And through that hope in such communities across the language, we’re able to manifest the Pittsburgh region. real benefits of what we are going after. Last year, Schwartz wrote a business It’s good for the community and plan for the organization, funded produces energy.” through a $35,000 Heinz Endowments Schwartz’s sentiments reflect the grant, which she directed toward pro- pride western Pennsylvanians have long moting urban agriculture as a way of had in the region’s agricultural roots and revitalizing tired city neighborhoods, green spaces — thousands of acres of healing the environment and improving parks, forests and undeveloped land in individual health and nutrition. Pittsburgh and Allegheny County alone. Grow Pittsburgh has since received But Grow Pittsburgh also illustrates support totaling more than $270,000 how green is spreading, from formerly from the Endowments and, among vacant and trash-strewn lots to urban others, the Forbes and Fisher funds, the schoolyards, rooftops, artwork and newlyGARDEN Grable and Pittsburgh foundations, and established greenhouses. Green space the Garden Club of Allegheny County. expansion is fast becoming a subtext in

Seth Beckerman lives and gardens south of Pittsburgh, and has written extensively about agriculture and urban gardening in the developing world. His last story for h was about downtown Pittsburgh’s newest performance venue, the Cabaret at Theater Square. June King holds a small bunch of Salvia Victoria Blue flowers that she helps tend as captain of the neighborhood garden planted by Western Pennsylvania Conservancy volunteers at the inter- section of Kirkpatrick Street and Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh.

5 GARDEN variety as their internship focus because of their interest in promoting health education and efforts to eliminate childhood obesity. economic, cultural, educational and They recommended approval of support even faith-based developments that have totaling $45,000 to urban gardening emerged from the region’s smokestack projects they had researched, including past. Often these projects are spurred Grow Pittsburgh’s edible schoolyards. by private backing from organizations Overall, the Endowments has ranging from Pittsburgh’s largest philan- contributed more than $1.2 million to thropic group, the Richard King Mellon help fund a variety of garden projects Foundation, to the grassroots-focused that are reaping multiple benefits for 6 Sprout Fund. A Sierra Club magazine local communities, says Caren Glotfelty, article this summer quoted a report that director of the Endowments’ Environment ranked Pittsburgh No. 1 last year in a Program. One of these is shedding study of community gardens and light on the forces that contribute to farmers’ markets per capita. the departure of people from urban The Endowments’ revitalization areas, which worsens the region’s efforts in the region include encouraging sprawl problem. Rose-colored orchids frame the reclamation and preservation of “Taking property that in many cases Sue Arlott, a greenhouse assistant green space, with urban gardening as a is vacant in the worst sense — lots that at the Bidwell Training Center in component of that work. This summer, have been abandoned to weeds and Pittsburgh. Arlott, who has worked three Endowments interns learned about trash — and converting it to productive at the Bidwell greenhouses for one-and-a-half years, is also a grant making by visiting urban gardens use turns a negative into a positive,” says former student in the center’s in Allegheny County. The recent high Glotfelty. “Any kind of green is good horticulture technology program. school graduates chose urban gardening for people to be around, but productive green space suggests that something is happening in a community.” Urban gardening programs that lead to more vibrant communities also complement the Endowments’ Civic Design Task Force strategies, which encourage cultivating attractive parks and landscapes along with constructing environmentally responsible and beautifully designed buildings. In a 2001 statement issued in acceptance of the first gold medal awarded by the American Institute of Architects’ Pittsburgh chapter, Howard Heinz Endowment Chair Teresa Heinz noted the Heinz family’s long-held conviction that revitalizing urban settings requires surroundings that will draw people to the area. “Design excellence doesn’t just mean creating spaces that inspire other architects and other designers; it means creating places that inspire the people who use them,” she said. “Ultimately, it means creating places that make our cities better and more desirable places to live in. Not just to look at, or to read about in architectural magazines, but to live in.” One of the region’s most extensive urban garden projects is a key element of the Endowments-supported Green Neighborhood Initiative, a joint program of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and Conservation Consultants Inc. 7 that started about a decade ago. While Conservation Consultants focused on helping communities improve energy efficiency in homes, schools and churches, the conservancy worked with residents to identify appropriate places for estab- lishing gardens. The two groups also sponsored community meetings that ramped up residents’ understanding and awareness of energy efficiency and the relationship between green space, including gardens, and quality of life. As part of the initiative’s gardening program, which has received about $994,000 in Endowments grants so far, volunteers and residents have planted and maintained more than 150 commu- nity gardens that are now integral to the Pittsburgh landscape. “We addressed other opportunities and issues in the community, such as high-rise apartment building that urban Marc Mondor, a principal empty lots that were trashed,” says planners had plopped in the middle of architect with evolve EA in Pittsburgh, stands on the green Cynthia Carrow, vice president of the a vibrant business district. roof of a Giant Eagle grocery Western Pennsylvania Conservancy who With $100,000 in funding from the store in the city’s Shadyside was chair of Conservation Consultants’ Endowments and a matching grant neighborhood. Mondor was a board of directors when the program from the Pennsylvania Department of consultant with the supermarket chain in the renovation of the began. “It was a real community- Conservation and Natural Resources, existing building to meet green building project.” the East Liberty Development Corp. design standards. In Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighbor- created a “green overlay,” which mapped hood, increasing the number of gardens current and potential green spaces in the is one strategy of an environmentally community. Work at the neighborhood sensitive, or “green,” community design level has been strategic, with design plan that is receiving support across and development guidelines created to racial and economic lines. “We have a enhance and sustain the community’s constituency that understands what watershed and its “urban canopy” of unsustainable development is all about,” green space, which includes gardens, says Rob Stephany, director of commercial trees and parks. development for the East Liberty But urban gardening can be more Development Corp. This, after all, is the than a community development tool. It area that recently rid itself of a failed also can be art, as Stephanie Flom attests. District, Lawrenceville, Polish Hill and East Liberty city neighborhoods and the nearby towns of Wilkinsburg and Homestead. Artists in those communi- ties created public gardens using plants contributed by neighborhood residents. Demonstrating the economic devel- opment potential of gardening in urban settings is the Bidwell Training Center, which has offered vocational training on Pittsburgh’s North Side for over three 8 decades. The latest addition to its suite of programs is horticulture technology. Bill Strickland, president and CEO of Bidwell and the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, developed an interest in orchids about a dozen years ago when he received one as a gift. He visited green- houses and realized that horticulture would be a good addition to Bidwell’s vocational programs, which also include culinary arts; medical coding and billing; and technology programs in pharmacy, chemicals and information. “I combined my interest in orchids with a desire to provide life skills for poor folks,” says Strickland. Four technologically advanced green- houses were built on the Bidwell campus Artist Delanie Jenkins is Through the STUDIO for Creative with local, state and federal support as ensconced in the “honeysuckle Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University, well as private funding. About $30,000 room,” which she titled “To Flom established the Persephone Project, from the Endowments helped fund the Gather Again.” The organic sculpture was erected in an effort to connect the public to art and new horticultural technology program Pittsburgh’s Frank Curto Park the environment by promoting gardening as it evolved. Orchids grown through the as part of the Persephone as a contemporary art medium and rec- program are wholesaled to Giant Eagle Project through the STUDIO ognizing gardeners as artists. The project and Whole Foods supermarkets, while for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. was partially supported by $61,000 in food crops are sold to restaurants. Endowments funding. “We give our students the fundamen- At a Persephone site in the Frank tals and help them carve a niche in the Curto Park in Pittsburgh, overlooking the green industry,” says Gary Baranowski, Allegheny River, sculptor and gardener director of Bidwell’s horticultural tech- Delanie Jenkins created an organic nology program and a former director tribute to her grandparents in Texas. She of the city’s Phipps Conservatory. planted cotton, okra, loofa and fragrant The six-month program has attracted herbs, and erected a “honeysuckle room” individuals ages 18 to 65, with academic by setting up trellises surrounded by backgrounds ranging from GEDs to PhDs. honeysuckle plants, with two “windows” A staff of five prepares students for framing a view of the northern section jobs in greenhouse operations, interior of the city. “plantscaping,” agriculture, environmen- Magic Penny Gardens are a com- tal technology, nursery management, munity component of the Persephone landscaping, and the wholesale and retail Project, with locations in the Hill floral industries. “We place between 75 Weather, the green section of the roof is planted with several drought-resistant varieties of sedum. While engineering and 85 percent of our students in the students from the University of Pittsburgh green industry,” Baranowski says. “We will measure water flow and other are not just training better gardeners, factors of similar-sized portions of the but want to bolster the economy and green and conventional roofs, residents put trained people in careers.” of 56 condominiums built over a portion Water is essential for any green of the supermarket can enjoy a view of space development, but too much of a the roof garden from their balconies. 9 good thing can be a problem. Because “How do we make schools better, Jen Montgomery, a Grow Pittsburgh is an old industrial city with attract people, make the physical envi- Pittsburgh employee, collects many combined sanitary and storm ronment better?” asks the Endowments’ a basket full of veggies at the sewers, heavy rains often overwhelm Glotfelty. “Urban gardens are one piece Garden Dreams Urban Farm in sewage treatment facilities, forcing the of the picture, turning liabilities into Wilkinsburg, a struggling com- munity just east of Pittsburgh. release of untreated sewage into the assets. Creating gardens involves people, Grow Pittsburgh is a collabora- rivers. While the obvious solution is to rebuilds relationships and connects tion of urban farmers and dig up and replace combined sewers individuals with nature again.” h market gardeners. with separate sanitary and storm lines, another long-term approach to mitigating the rainfall effects is to capture rainwater in rooftop gardens to reduce the runoff into combined sewers. As a nonprofit partnership with the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority and the Allegheny County Health Department, 3 Rivers Wet Weather works with communities to find cost-effective and collaborative solutions to problems created by heavy rain. Using money primarily from the Environmental Protection Agency, along with support from the Endowments and others, 3 Rivers Wet Weather has partially funded two green roof installations and is negotiating for two more. One of the green roofs is on Hammerschlag Hall at Carnegie Mellon University and features a pond and an array of grasses, perennials and flowers. The roof is divided into two parts so that the green and conventional roofs can be compared for temperature, insulation value and water runoff. The largest green roof in Pittsburgh takes up 12,000 of the 52,000 square feet atop a recently renovated Giant Eagle grocery store in the city’s Shadyside neighborhood. As part of the project, also partially supported by 3 Rivers Wet TWO YEARS AGO, HEINZ ENDOWMENTS OFFICIALS CHALLENGED THE 10 PITTSBURGH VOYAGER PROGRAM TO UPDATE ITS FLEET OF FLOATING CLASSROOMS WITH A BOAT THAT USES CUTTING-EDGE, ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY. THE NEW “GREEN” EXPLORER HAS MET THAT CHALLENGE AND EXPANDED THE PROGRAM’S ROCKINMISSION, REFLECTED IN ITS NEW NAME: RIVERQUEST. BY MICHELLE PILECKI ’ BOATTHE s o z n a r F

a u h s o J

y b

o t o h P elcome to the bottom of the food chain— and the sounds of science. “Eee—uuuu! I got a rotifer that’s eating,” yells Nathan Ballentine, watching the digestive process under his microscope. “Cool!” Some of his sixth-grade classmates from Colfax Upper Elementary School in the Pittsburgh suburb of Springdale leave their microscopes to jostle for a peek at Nathan’s zooplankton—a microscopic organism that feeds on algae and serves as food for tiny fish. They affirm Nathan’s assessment with an enthusiastic “That’s really cool!” Meanwhile, Nathan is checking a chart of common river plankton to identify his particular critter as “Brachionus.” “Notice how the spinning hair—that’s called cilia—brings the food to its mouth,” explains Jennifer Robertson, an instructor in the Environmental Science on the Three Rivers program. Earlier, the students had skimmed the Ohio River’s surface with a specialized conical net to collect their sample of microscopic beings. They would later switch from biology to chemistry and analyze the river water itself, donning safety glasses as they measured oxygen content, pH level (acidity) and turbidity (cloudiness). Mixing chemicals and watching for precipitates and color changes requires more concentration. The sixth-graders are quietly methodical— which also helps them avoid being disturbed by the constant vibration under their feet. These students are not in school. Their science classrooms and labs for the day are on board the aptly named Discovery, one of a three-boat fleet on which Pittsburghers can learn about their rivers while floating on the water- ways. At the end of the session, Colfax’s young scientists gather with similar student groups to discuss their findings and to decide whether they have evidence to support their initial hypothesis: Pittsburgh’s rivers are healthy, but there’s room for improvement.

Michelle Pilecki is former executive editor of Pittsburgh Magazine. Her last story for h explained the statewide strategy that was used to boost Pennsylvania’s commitment to early childhood education. 12

o time or inclination to doze off in this science class: Sixth-grade students from Colfax Upper Elementary School near Pittsburgh delve into studying tiny organisms and river water through the RiverQuest program. Above left, Joe Wysocki performs water quality tests. Rachael Carlberg and Destance Freeman, above right, pull on a rope attached to a dredging device called a “petite ponar” that’s used to scoop up mud filled with microscopic and macroscopic invertebrates. Studying those organisms and others, such as the mayfly on the opposite page, helps determine the health of the river. Below, Charlie Guy studies plankton under a microscope as James Murray looks on. In the background, Nathan Ballentine peers over his classmates’ shoulders while Justin Fetes uses another microscope for his observations. e l y K

a s i L

y b

y h p a

Nr g o t o h P 13

That also could serve as a prognosis for what had been The project has grown known as Pittsburgh Voyager, an education program once in scope, mission and, not near extinction. But now, with support from The Heinz surprisingly, time and cost. Its construction involved Endowments, state officials and the foundation community, five design contractors, dozens of contributing companies and it is healthier than ever and has a heightened dedication to foundations, 14 months of building time, $2 million more than environmental education and sustainability, epitomized by first envisioned and many, many challenges. its new name, RiverQuest, and its new boat, Explorer. One of the biggest of these came from the Endowments. Anchored on the principles of hands-on education, the In 2004, program officials knew a new boat was needed and rechristened RiverQuest program has taken more than 55,000 approached the foundation with a design for a $1.6 million students through its river-science curriculum and thousands vessel. The Endowments responded with a challenge and more visitors through informal “science-adventure” tours since $1 million in lead funding. 1995. The Explorer, a state-of-the-art, 150-passenger boat with “[Endowments President] Maxwell King said, ‘Do some- an advanced propulsion system and “green” building design, thing that’s never been done before,’” recalls Howard “Chip” brings not just more spacious classrooms and handicapped Berger, president of RiverQuest’s board of directors and one accessibility, but also another teaching tool. The environmen- of the original founders. tally sensitive building materials, novel biodiesel hybrid engine, “Heinz wanted something more cutting-edge than a conven- alternative sources of energy and various 100-plus innovative tional propulsion system with ‘green’ cabinetry,” Thomas adds. systems “can be used as teaching materials,” notes Gerry Balbier, “Every system had to be recalculated from the original bid specs.” the Endowments’ senior Education Program officer and an Major Challenge No. 2 was that nobody really knew what early supporter. a “green” boat was. There were — and still are — no official The new 90-by-25-foot flagship vessel also is expected to standards. Peter Niederberger, RiverQuest’s director of strategic steer RiverQuest into a future of fiscal and environmental planning, coordinated the project with a marine designer and sustainability, says Caren Glotfelty, director of the foundation’s shipbuilders based in Florida, and a “green team” of local Environment Program, which had staff heavily involved with professionals well versed in the LEED — Leadership in Energy this project. The boat will serve, Glotfelty adds, as “a poster and Environmental Design — standards of the U.S. Green child for new diesel propulsion systems” in the marine indus- Building Council, a coalition of builders, architects, government try, which currently contributes as much as 30 percent of the agencies and nonprofit groups. The boating people knew diesel particulates in Pittsburgh’s air. Explorer uses only half as nothing about green standards; the “green” experts knew much energy as other boats its size and emits far fewer green- nothing about boats. house gases and particulates that can threaten human health Creating “green marine” means “everything is ‘take a look as well as the environment. and make it better,’” says naval architect Andy Lebet of DeJong Eyed as a model for both “green marine” and river education, and Lebet Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla. That included using paints RiverQuest is growing beyond Pittsburgh and, possibly, even and coatings with fewer volatile organic compounds, which the tri-state area, says Karl Thomas, the organization’s executive are carcinogenic. director. “The new name is more portable, more appealing It also meant researching other construction materials, to the partners we’re building outside of Pittsburgh,” he says. a task that fell to Pittsburgh green consultant Gary Moshier. “The boat can be an engine of economic development, a new “For example, [Freeport Shipbuilding will] ask if it’s okay to use platform for technological demonstration.” a certain type of tape,” he explains. “I contact the manufacturer There’s a lot riding on Explorer. and pick apart the process of the product.” If he couldn’t find 14

iverQuest’s new flag ship, the 90-by-25-foot Explorer, is an impressive vessel with state-of-the-art design. Shown on the opposite page are the mast, above left; the ship’s helm, above center; and the boat’s two levels above right, that can accommodate 150 passengers. Program officials expect Explorer to serve more than 10,000 students a year while providing a practical model for sustainable boating technology worldwide. The “RiverQuest” and “Explorer ” names, along with the Web site address, were digitally added to the photographs, which were taken before the words were placed on the boat as shown.

a totally green product that met marine specifications, he found and long-time marine designer. “There’s nothing particularly the “least harmful” substitute. straight and square on a boat, especially on a steel boat, which RIn designing the interior, architect Scott Fitzgerald of the flexes.” downtown Pittsburgh office of Perkins Eastman chose eco- But the main factor that extended the project’s time, cost friendly materials such as Woodstalk, a particle board made and innovation was the radically new hybrid diesel-electric of wheat chaff; Trespa tiles of recycled plastic; and Shaw carpet propulsion system, which can run for about an hour on of recycled nylon yarns. None of them “off gas,” meaning that electricity from battery banks that are then recharged by a they don’t emit carcinogenic compounds. diesel-powered generator. Fitzgerald couldn’t use drywall because of Coast Guard This means that there is no dedicated diesel engine working concerns about mold buildup, but he could make recommenda- to turn a propeller shaft, which enables Explorer to have more tions about improving the “mechanicals,” such as the heating, operational flexibility and lower toxic emissions, explains ventilation and air-conditioning system. He suggested the Tom Risley, vice president and manager of marine and lightweight DuctSox, canvas ductwork — also used in the industrial operations for Alion Science and Technology Corp., city’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center — that provides a national defense contractor. The onboard generator runs a decorative touch and is easy to launder. Marine designers on biodiesel fuel, which is 80 percent diesel and 20 percent already have a good handle on efficient plumbing, but Explorer vegetable oil — the so-called “French fry oil.” goes a step further with waterless urinals and low-flush toilets Those batteries also could be recharged by other sources that use river water. of energy, and Risley notes that the propulsion system can be More difficult to translate from architectural to marine retrofitted with new technologies as they become available: y c

n use were the windows. A typical boat window is a single pane, perhaps a fuel cell that uses hydrogen, proton exchange a v r e

s which allows heat to leak out. Explorer has energy-efficient membrane or solid oxide. Another possibility is to add renew- n o C

a

i windows, and the Lebet firm worked with the extra weight able-energy generators at the boats’ land-side staging area now n a v l y

s created by the double-paned insulated glass. But the big under construction. RiverQuest recently received a state Energy n n e P problem was fit, says RiverQuest’s Niederberger, displaying the Harvest Grant, which will help cover the cost of outfitting n r e t s

e 11 pages of 473 tasks involved with the windows Explorer’s roof and the land-side facility with solar panels W

e h t

alone. Marine windows have to be perfectly flush that could be used to recharge the boat’s batteries. Thomas f o

y s

e and the flanges perfectly aligned, he explains. says funding will be sought in the future for wind turbines t r u o c

“On a building, things are straight and and a demonstration mini-hydroelectric system “so we o t o h

P square,” adds John Bond, a Navy veteran can generate our own power and sell any excess back to the grid.” Photography by Kathryn Romeu EXPLORER The Explorer’s lightweight canvas ventilation ducts are part of the DuctSox system and have holes that SPECS enable air to be distributed Dimensions evenly through the boat. Length Overall: 90’ 6” Length on Deck: 89’ 0” Beam (molded): 26’ 0” 16 Depth (molded hull): 10’ 0” Draft, Full Load: 5’ 6” Draft, Mean Normal: 5’ 0”

Operating Maximum Air Draft: 40’ above baseline Gross Tonnage: Less than 100

Passnegers and Crew Passengers: 150 Crew: 20

Certifications Route: Protected Waters U.S. Coast Guard Classification: Subchapter T Cabinets are made from wheat board, Capacities one of the renewable Fuel Storage Capacity: 2,000 Gallons materials used for the Potable Water Capacity: 1,800 Gallons The ship’s hull is made of boat that was new Black Water Capacity: 1,400 Gallons 100 percent recycled steel to builders and the Dirty Lube Oil Capacity: 200 Gallons and has exterior coatings with low “volatile organic industry. compounds.” Materials Hull: 100% recycled steel Railing system: Anodized aluminum Custom cabinetry: Wheatboard

Major Systems Propulsion System: ELFA™, Siemens Hybrid Marine Marine Paint System: Sherwin-Williams Window System: TRACO® NX-200 Custom-made, energy- efficient windows replace marine windows— Explorer’s environmentally for the same price. friendly air conditioning compressor has a smaller than usual size for a boat.

Waterless urinals provide water efficiency without discharging wastewater.

Highly efficient light systems include fiber optic illuminators like this one, which can deliver 50-watt power to eight lights. Carpet aboard Explorer is made from environmentally acceptable materials.

At the heart of Explorer’s unique design is the hybrid diesel-electric P h o t propulsion system, which includes a variable-speed, diesel-powered o g r a p

generator, (shown left); battery banks housed in enclosures ventilated h y

b y

by explosion-proof fans, (center); and propulsion motors powered by K a t h

electricity from the battery banks, (right). r y n

R o m e u RiverQuest Executive Director Karl Thomas holds up a placard with the organization’s new name, which was announced in September. In the background is Howard "Chip" Berger, president of RiverQuest’s board of directors. Shown to the right is a jar of biodiesel fuel, which is 80 percent diesel and 20 percent vegetable oil.

The ultra-efficient stepped in with both money and expertise. propulsion system, built With state funding support, a committee wrote the program’s by Siemens Automation and Drives Group, is curriculum on environmental science. Board member and Navy so innovative that Risley calls it “bleeding-edge technology.” vet Dick Martin talked to the U.S. Navy Community Service A key factor in the date for Explorer’s arrival in Pittsburgh Program and the Federal Surplus Bureau about donating a boat getting pushed back from spring to summer to December was — then two boats, each able to accommodate 30 students. The that the U.S. Coast Guard and other regulatory bodies were vessels, renamed Voyager and Discovery, had been built in 1958 not familiar with any of these new materials and mechanisms, as yard patrol boats for training midshipmen and junior officers. Risley explains. So they had to spend more time examining In 1994, the Navy took the ships to New Orleans via the everything to make sure it worked correctly. Panama Canal. Voyager was towed up the Mississippi and Ohio The now–$3.4 million boat, with its $1 million propulsion rivers to undergo 18 months of repairs and renovations at system, sets a new standard in both marine and green technolo- the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Neville Island facility near gies. “In terms of this design for this purpose, there may not Pittsburgh. Discovery, after similar work in the Crescent City, be another one like this in the world,” says the Endowments’ came to Pittsburgh in 1996 under its own power via the Balbier. “Not many people realize that the Pittsburgh region Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway and the Ohio River. The has more than 27,000 boats on the rivers. We believe that this 80-foot, 70-ton vessels were joined in 1999 by a 44-foot house- boat’s propulsion systems will have a major impact on the boat renamed Scout that could cruise shallower waters upriver national boating industry as a model for what can be accom- and offer community-based educational activities outside of plished in reducing pollution and increasing efficiency.” Pittsburgh. The smaller boat also hosts shorter, informal pro- In giving his own explanation of the delays, Balbier grams that are largely designed for youngsters, but also interest compares building Explorer to the experience of a homeowner many adults. who has gone through a construction project and finds out that As the selection of science-adventure tours expanded, the it takes longer and costs more than expected. Endowments’ formal environmental science program was upgraded. Changes support continued because staff members believed in the included the addition of “Boats, Bridges and Water,” which project — and the program. applies math and physics, among other disciplines, to the The Endowments was among the first funders of the original environment exploration. Teachers are invited to a two-day Pittsburgh Voyager in 1993, well before it welcomed its first stu- training session and get a “trunkload of materials” to take back dent group — seventh-graders from the South Fayette Township to their schools so they can prepare their students, explains School District on April 25, 1995 — and has contributed a total education director Jeff Jordan. The river trek by the Colfax of $2.1 million from its Education and Environment programs. sixth-graders, for example, was the culmination of six weeks Balbier, who admits an emotional connection to what was of preparation, says teacher Cathy Restauri. his first grant as a program officer, has been working with the Connecting concern for the environment with science and organization since its grassroots beginning. mathematics attracts the Endowments’ involvement through “It’s such a Pittsburgh story,” recalls RiverQuest board both its Education and Environment programs, says Balbier. chairman Berger. A group of parents met in 1991 to discuss their “It’s an opportunity for us to get Pittsburghers back on the concern about students lagging in math and science. Participants rivers, and not just on party boats and ferries to the sports included Navy veterans and folks who had seen river-education facilities. The program also helps create a sense of ownership programs elsewhere, and the idea of Pittsburgh’s own floating and connection to the rivers and promotes good stewardship.” classroom/laboratory was launched. The Pittsburgh Foundation Pittsburgh Voyager was doing well by the Endowments’ was the first to help, Berger recalls, and the Endowments soon benchmarks throughout the 1990s: an active board; an excellent P h o t o g r a p h y b y

L i s a

K y l e

19

studying the Allegheny River, the new collaboration between RiverQuest and the Cousteau group could start as early as next summer. Longer trips on Explorer to other executive director, who was Beth O’Toole at that time; and a cities, even down the Mississippi or “Tennessee Tom” to the fee income growing nicely from 10 to 30 percent. Gulf of Mexico, are possibilities. But the old wooden boats needed expensive maintenance, RiverQuest also is working with Thomas’ alma mater, Carnegie and costs spiked with dry-docking. A one-time hit could be Mellon University, and its new venture studying local rivers called from $50,000 to $100,000. Water Quality in Urban Environmental Systems. The partnership Disaster was looming early in the new century, RiverQuest will “develop the cyber-infrastructure necessary for the new boat chairman Berger recalls. “We had a great curriculum, but we to collect and transmit real-time water quality data…for research, weren’t growing and costs kept going up. We realized we had education and ultimately, to inform policy decisions in the to keep innovating or get absorbed by some other entity to region,” says Water-QUEST co-director Jeanne M. VanBriesen, an survive.” A new and bigger boat suited to river water — which associate civil and environmental engineering professor and a Paul the wooden boats are not — would not only lower maintenance and Norene Christiano Faculty Fellow. Instruments attached to costs but also, by accommodating three times as many students Explorer will enable the team to examine water quality changes per trip, raise the fee-income stream back to healthy levels. in response to specific events such as a storm or spill. Explorer, with its stylishly marine blue-and-green interior, And one of RiverQuest’s oldest partnerships is expanding to soon-to-come large video screens and improved computer bring even more of the public on board. The program’s boats access, also can moonlight for charters as a corporate meeting have long been docked at the Carnegie Science Center, which room and other functions. Thomas says RiverQuest’s business now may include Explorer river tours among its offerings to plan projects an increase of fee income from its current visitors as both organizations grow, says director Jo Haas. 20 percent to 50 percent in the next three years. “We’re rethink- “Part of the science center’s long-range plan is a major river- ing the organization with the new boat coming. A lot of us based center, collaborating with other educational, advocacy see the boat as a new vehicle for change.” and research groups with interest in the environment.” A number of those changes are still in the planning stage, RiverQuest will continue to partner with those groups, but they focus on many partnerships — strengthening old ones which include the Riverlife Task Force; the Green Building and building new ones, not only in southwestern Pennsylvania Alliance; the Rachel Carson Institute; and Friends of the but also throughout the United States and internationally. Riverfront, where Thomas served as interim director before Thomas will travel to Brussels in late November to represent coming to RiverQuest. The organization also will maintain and the Pittsburgh non-government organization, or NGO, com- build on relationships with Pittsburgh History & Landmarks munity at the Worldwide Convening of the Alcoa Foundation’s Foundation and local chambers of commerce, tourism bureaus Conservation & Sustainability Fellowship Program on multi- and economic development agencies, he says. disciplinary research. In the spring, he will go to Catalina Island, It’s an interconnectedness that’s reflected in the way where he will be working to build a relationship with oceanog- Thomas refers not to “rivers,” but always simply “the river” rapher Jean-Michel Cousteau and his Ocean Futures Society. and, similarly, “the ocean.” The international environmental organization is looking to add “I see one ocean, one river,” the southern California native a river-based program to its Ambassadors of the Environment and former Navy officer explains. “When you’re out on the program for young people, says Thomas. Planned as a multi- water, wherever you are, you’re connected to that piece of day “souped-up summer camp” that includes touring and water, which is connected to all the water on the planet.” h ninerebirth mile It took vision and dedication to transform “Stink Creek” into a rejuvenated Nine Mile Run. After a decade of supporting the restoration,

ear the middle of Nine Mile Run lies a wide, flat boulder 20 that begs to be sat on. It is in a shady spot, tucked next to a shale-faced embankment and a fallen maple tree. Here, the view offers a panorama of wooded hillsides, and the sound of flowing water drowns out nearby traffic on Interstate 376 that stretches into Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs. This boulder is my new sitting place. It was not put there during the last ice age or caused by long-term erosion of nearby hillsides. It was care- fully positioned by a man operating a 45-ton excavator with a mechanical “thumb.” The rock is part of a habitat facelift that workers from Pittsburgh and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have given to Nine Mile Run. The restoration is a bold attempt to repair an ailing stream in a region once known for abysmal air and water quality. The $7.7 million project has brought more than two miles of this urban waterway back to life and is an example of how Pittsburgh is a quiet leader nationally in environ- mentally cutting-edge projects. A walk along its banks today reveals the deep pools of water, meandering bends, native shrubs and trees that should be found along a healthy rural waterway. Until recently, Nine Mile Run was a dead stream. Forced into concrete pipes throughout the watershed, only its final two miles remained open to the sky. During rainstorms, it functioned more like a water canon than a woodland creek. Water barreled downstream toward the Monongahela River, causing severe stream-bank erosion. Conversely, during dry weather, its flow slowed to a trickle. Pools where fish congregated were mudholes by the end of summer. The idea for the restoration was a grassroots response to a development proposal that originally ignored the stream’s potential. Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority had long eyed a 238-acre slagheap flanking Nine Mile Run as a potential redevelopment site. Authority officials proposed building a 1,000-unit, high-end housing development off Commercial Avenue in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. To make room for the homes, the authority planned to bury about one mile of Nine Mile Run. When the plans became public in 1996, a small group of artists at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University took notice. With support from The Heinz Endowments, the team undertook a three- year study of the stream. They hired botanists, hydrologists and entomolo- gists to assess the waterway’s problems and see if there was anything worth saving. They discovered such great surprises as the hop tree, or “Ptelea trifoliata,” a rarity in Pennsylvania. But it was in community meetings that the team learned one of the most important reasons to protect Nine Mile Run: People love it. The Heinz Endowments and other funders are seeing the fruits of those efforts. By Marijke Hecht Photography by Joshua Franzos

21

As it winds beneath a Pennsylvania interstate, Nine Mile Run looks almost idyllic under the August morning sun, not like an urban stream that was once a dying, malodorous waterway. The revived stream flows through several of Pittsburgh’s eastern neighborhoods and suburbs. Many talked about childhood memories of playing along the stream, 22 despite it being called “Stink Creek” and worse. As adults, they bring their children to explore Nine Mile Run. Beyond the pollution problems, people manage to find going to the stream interesting or soothing or fun. The team came away from those meetings convinced that the largest remaining free-flowing stream in the East End of Pittsburgh was worth restoring. To their credit, officials with the redevelopment authority and the City of Pittsburgh agreed to keep the stream open and reduce the number of housing units in the development to 710. About 100 acres of the slagheap surrounding the stream would become part of Frick Park, making the entire waterway accessible to the public. Money to restore the Nine Mile Run came from state, federal and pri- vate funding while the City of Pittsburgh provided in-kind contributions. The Endowments contributed nearly $1.6 million for work that included property acquisition and park land development, as well as stream improvements. Another $250,000 from the foundation went to the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association to manage that end of the project. Finally, in 2003, the restoration began. It was a muddy three years for Nine Mile Run, with construction vehicles scraping, hauling and carving a new stream course. At its completion in June, the picturesque setting of native shrubs and trees, boulders and flowing water was worth the chaotic renovation. Today, you would hardly know a construction crew had been through. Amazingly, just a month later, small-mouth bass, spotted bass and sauger were swimming in the stream. A 1999 survey of the creek’s fish had found that only pollution-tolerant fish, such as chubb and dace, swam in Nine Mile Run. Bass and other game species hadn’t been seen in the stream for generations. From the vantage point of my favorite rock, it is easy to imagine the Nine Mile Run of the future. Families will fish here. Individuals young and old will take bicycle rides along the wooded banks. There is more work to be done, though, and it won’t be easy. Sewage and trash still need to be removed from other sections. A new bridge must be built over the stream for pedestrian access. Invasive plant species, such as Japanese knotweed, will need ongoing management. Solving these problems will require the same vision, commitment and spirit of cooperation that made the habitat restoration of the stream possi-

ble. I hope that in another 10 years I will be able to sit on my favorite rock, Among Nine Mile Run’s take my shoes off and dip my toes in a clean and beautiful Nine Mile Run. h new — or rather returning — inhabitants are American toads, which are taking Marijke Hecht is executive director of the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association. advantage of the restored This is the first time she has written for h. wetlands for reproduction. 23

Pool and riffle combinations are among the main habitat features created as part of the Nine Mile Run restoration. The deep pools slow water during rainfalls and serve as prime locations for fish to live in during dry weather. The water also is oxygenated as it cascades over the rocks. While adults tour Nine Mile Run, 5-year-old Innes Donahue, foreground, and other children play among the rocky pools, proving the restored stream’s appeal.

24 A dead tree might seem an unlikely rehabilitation element. But as a “standing snag,” its dead wood provides essential habitat for insects and birds. Snags were taken from fallen trees along the stream and placed intentionally near the waterway. In the background is the Summerset housing development, which will eventually include more than 700 new homes built on a former brownfield site.

Fleabane, also known as “Erigeron annuus,” is native to the eastern United States. It was planted along Nine Mile Run, and its small flowers lend their fragile beauty to the site.

Marijke Hecht, executive director of the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, gives a tour of the stream restoration. The group is standing in a new flood plane covered with various plants, saplings and standing snags. 26

A “libellula lydia,” or common whitetail dragonfly, lands on a “typha latifolia,” or cattail, in one of Nine Mile Run’s newly created wetlands. D.J. Gallucci of Munhall, east of Pittsburgh, fishes for bass in the Monongahela River, at the mouth of Nine Mile Run. The fish had not been able to live in this part of the river when the stream was polluted. Across the river are lights from the Waterfront retail complex. 28 28 a i d e M August Wilson Center h t l a e w

Vira I. Heinz Endowment board member and former n o m m

Pittsburgh Steelers football player Franco Harris dons o C a white hardhat and takes shovel in hand during the Oct. 19 groundbreak- ing ceremony for the August Wilson Center for African American 2006 Culture in downtown Pennsylvania Pittsburgh. Behind Governor’s Harris to the right, Conference Allegheny Councilman for Women Bill Robinson looks on. Scheduled to open . n o i

s in early 2008 at Liberty Avenue and 10th Street — once s i m r

e the site of a strip club, a tavern and a cluster of aging p Howard Heinz Endowment Chair Teresa Heinz, above right, confers with Marian h t i

w storefronts — the 65,000-square-foot building will

d Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, during e t n

i have a signature, ship-like sail design on its east side r

p the third annual Pennsylvania Governor’s Conference for Women on Sept. 14. e R

and a projected $35.9 million price tag. It also will . d

e Heinz and Edelman were among the speakers at the sold-out event held in v r meet the LEED— Leadership in Energy and e s e

r Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The conference attracted

s Environmental Design— standards of the U.S. Green t h g

i 5,000 people — a few men, including Gov. Ed Rendell, could be spotted — r

l

l Building Council. a

, and had the highest attendance to date for the event, which previously had 6

0 Named after the late Pulitzer Prize–winning 0 2

, been held in Philadelphia.

e playwright, the Wilson Center will house a 500-seat t t e z In her remarks, Heinz told a luncheon audience that women, particularly a theater, 4,000 square feet of exhibition space, a café G - t s

o single women, should make their voices heard by voting. “There are so many P and education sections. The Endowments awarded a

h g r

u leaders and organizers and activists in this room today, so many causes worth

b four-year, $4 million grant in 2004 to help support s t t i

P fighting for that are represented here,” she said. “But I strongly believe that development of the facility, and has made other contri- , t h g i

r we can do nothing more important for the next six weeks than getting women

y butions totaling $666,750 for various operational and p o C programming costs. The cultural center organization we work with and advocate for to their polling places on Election Day.” has raised $27.4 million toward facility construction, Organizations can encourage single women to vote by providing them with with the bulk of the money coming from government non-judgmental information; focusing on issues that are important to women sources, the Endowments and the Richard King Mellon such as health care, economic security, education and child care; and remind- and Eden Hall foundations. It is going to the public ing them that their votes count, Heinz said. “Sometimes I’m not sure that we for the remaining amount. women truly understand how powerful a force for change we could be.” “The August Wilson Center highlights the contri- Breakout sessions at the conference covered topics such as leadership, butions of African Americans to American culture, the arts, entrepreneurship, community involvement and money management. a part of Pittsburgh’s cultural life and history that For the first time, more than $400,000 in continuing education scholarships, has not been adequately recognized in the past,” says developed in partnership with Pennsylvania colleges and universities, were Janet Sarbaugh, the Endowments’ Arts & Culture presented to women of all ages from across the state. Presented by Wachovia senior program director. “It also signals a greater Securities, the conference had a number of sponsors, including the Endowments. commitment in Pittsburgh to diversity and inclusion, and positions us as a 21st century community.” HOW WE SPENT OUR SUMMER VACATIONS 3

Heinz Endowments summer interns, from left, Sama, a home-school graduate who starts Claire Galpern, Sama Worthy and Justin Ferguson, Morgan State University next year; and Justin, meet with two local gardeners as part of their a Penn Hills High School graduate who’s now research on urban gardening programs. They a freshman at Pennsylvania State University, were among the 11 Allegheny County high school focused on urban gardening as a way to promote graduates who participated in the Endowments’ better health and nutrition. offices and then recommended grants for internship program, a nearly four-fold increase At the Forbes Funds, Sewickley Academy programs designed to meet human needs. from last year’s roster. graduate Rasheda Vereen, now an Amherst Projects that emphasized youth engagement This year, the foundation supported the College freshman; Terrel Andrews, of Shady were a priority for the interns. They researched work of interns based at the Forbes Funds and Side Academy, now at the University of North issues, reviewed proposals and made site visits. North Hills Community Outreach as well as at Carolina at Charlotte; and Matthew Kurs-Lasky, In response to the Endowments-based interns’ the Endowments. The funds available for the of Allderdice High School, now a freshman at the work, $15,000 grants were awarded to three students’ grant making also jumped significantly, University of Maryland, reviewed projects designed community projects that involved youth in urban from $100,000 to $150,000. to promote living, working and playing in Pittsburgh. gardening. The Forbes Funds team recommended And although the venues and funding targets The North Hills Community Outreach interns grants ranging from $3,500 to $14,795 for six varied, each team performed rigorous, thoughtful —Jessica Slean, of Deer Lakes, now enrolled projects that help engage youth in the community grant making. “The results of the summer were at St. Mary’s College; Mike Zerega, of Central in ways that should make them more likely to so positive that we hope to expand the program Catholic, now at Ohio State University; John stay in the Pittsburgh area long-term. The 15 further next year,” said Children, Youth & Families Bojarski, of Shaler High, now at Duquesne grants awarded as a result of the North Hills Program Officer Wayne Jones, who coordinates University; Elaine Healy, of North Allegheny High, Community Outreach interns’ efforts ranged from the internship program. now at Ohio University; and Christina Binz, of $450 to $5,000 and funded projects such as Claire, who finished Schenley High Shaler High, now at Penn State University— after-school programs and checks to help elderly School and is attending Swarthmore College; worked at the nonprofit organization’s branch or disabled homeowners pay their heating bills. s n Pennsylvania Department of inspection, with worn patches in the grass and cracks o m m i Conservation and Natural in the walkways. s z t i F Resources Secretary Michael The new look envisioned for the park includes a n e l l e DiBerardinis, shown right, unveils seating area around the fountain; a wading area for chil- u S a giant mock-up of a $25 million dren; a restored promenade along the rivers with steps check at the Oct. 11 announce- into the water; two water taxi landings and dock tie-ups ment of the state’s contribution for boats and kayaks; sculptural installations that inter- to the renovation of Pittsburgh’s pret the park’s history, indigenous cultures and natural Point State Park. Other civic resources; and pathways for cycling and rollerblading. leaders at the event included The Endowments has contributed nearly $1.3 Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, left center; Esther Bush, million toward planning and design for the park POINT president and CEO of the Urban League of Pittsburgh, renovation. The amount includes $255,000 recently right center; and Heinz Endowments President Maxwell awarded to the Allegheny Conference on Community King, right background. Development for the historical interpretation plans STATE The state’s four-year investment in the $35 million needed to ensure completion in time for the activities project is in addition to the $7.1 million in contracts scheduled in 2008 for the celebration of Pittsburgh’s for general contracting, plumbing and electrical work 250th anniversary. PARK awarded in September. “With this significant commitment from the A triangular plot of land at the confluence of the state, the 36-acre park can be restored and renewed,” Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, Point State says Mary Navarro, the Endowments’ senior program Park adds a distinctive contour to the city’s dramatic officer for Arts & Culture. “It will take its place in skyline. Its fountain, green lawn and tree-lined perime- modern Pittsburgh history and mark the time that ter make an appealing picture from a distance, but the the city sought to re-establish itself with its greatest park’s need of rehabilitation is apparent on closer physical attribute, its rivers.” THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS NONPROFIT ORG

Howard Heinz Endowment US POSTAGE Vira I. Heinz Endowment P AID 30 Dominion Tower PITTSBURGH PA 625 Liberty Avenue PERMIT NO 57 Pittsburgh, PA 15222-3115

412.281.5777 www.heinz.org

Mile stones. page 20

h is printed on recycled paper using soy-based inks.