CHOOSING SIDES in SCHOOL CHOICE in the Often Bitter Debate About Public Schools and Upstart Charters, the Big Question Remains: How Are Students Faring?

Home , Mellon family, Pop City, The After Hours Tour

SUMMER 2007

The Magazine of The Heinz Endowments CHOOSING SIDES IN SCHOOL CHOICE In the often bitter debate about public schools and upstart charters, the big question remains: How are students faring?

LIBRARY MAKEOVER GLASS IS A GEM

072959.indd c4 10/9/07 3:50:37 PM The Heinz Endowments was formed state of knowledge and practice in from the Howard Heinz Endowment, the fi elds in which we work. Our fi elds established in 1941, and the Vira I. of emphasis include philanthropy Heinz Endowment, established in in general and the disciplines 1986. It is the product of a deep represented by our fi ve grant-making family commitment to community and programs: Arts & Culture; Children, the common good that began with Youth & Families; Education; H.J. Heinz, and which continues to Environment; and Innovation Economy. this day. In life, Howard Heinz and Vira I. The Endowments is based in Heinz set high expectations for their Pittsburgh, where we use our region philanthropy. Today, the Endowments as a laboratory for the development is committed to doing the same. of solutions to challenges that are Our charge is to be diligent, thoughtful national in scope. Although the majority and creative in continually working of our giving is concentrated within to set new standards of philanthropic southwestern Pennsylvania, we work excellence. Recognizing that none wherever necessary, including statewide of our work would be possible without and nationally, to fulfi ll our mission. a sound fi nancial base, we also are That mission is to help our region committed to preserving and enhancing thrive as a whole community — the Endowments’ assets through prudent economically, ecologically, educationally investment management. and culturally — while advancing the

h magazine is a publication of The Heinz Endowments. At the Endowments, we are committed to promoting learning in philanthropy and in the specifi c fi elds represented by our grant-making programs. As an expression of that commitment, this publication is intended to share information about signifi cant 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 This brutish joining of two different apples represents the forced process and painful experiences on all sides of the debate over whether school choice helps or hurts public education. The Endowments and other funders of public education systems and alternative schools are still dealing with unanswered questions about quality and performance.

072959.indd c5 10/9/07 3:50:49 PM 4 The Next Chapter The old adage about not judging a book by its cover apparently doesn’t apply to the renovation of seven libraries in the Pittsburgh area. Attendance ﬁ gures have spiked, there are added resources and the neighborhoods around them are getting an economic boost. 10 Making Choices Traditional public school or alternative school? Many families now have the ability to choose, but the debate still rages about what’s lost and Volume 7 Number 3 Summer 2007 what’s gained for students in both settings. 20 Through the Looking Glass Pittsburgh’s successful marketing of glass as a year-long mega event perfectly models a national trend.

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28 Here & There Chapter, page 4

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Our Spring 2007 issue examined how faith-based mentoring is building hope and expectations for young African Americans, and offering a way for adult volunteers to inﬂ uence the future. We also reported on entrepreneurs and foundations in western Pennsylvania that are nurturing “Ed-tech”

2 startups that can take tutoring services to students who need them.

One on One in our organization continue to feel a great The software has been successful because Big Brothers Big Sisters staff is keenly aware sense of urgency to mentor more children it allows students to work at their own of the positive infl uence mentoring can and to reach our goal of serving 10 percent pace while providing unique problem- have on the life of a child. The statistics of the at-risk kids in our community. solving situations that support what has demonstrating this impact cited in We understand that what we achieve has been taught previously. It also offers Christine O’Toole’s article “One on One” greater signifi cance than what we do. teachers a way of closely monitoring are from an extensive and widely known This is part of our organization’s culture. student progress. mentoring report conducted by the What we do is mentoring; what we achieve I personally had success with national nonprofi t Public / Private Ventures is changing lives. Cognitive Tutor when I took my geometry for Big Brothers Big Sisters in the 1990s. Jan S. Glick students, who were not in a technology- This randomized, nationwide study Chief Executive Offi cer enhanced course, to the computer lab as involved more than 1,000 youth and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh an experiment. It was the last nine weeks their mentors. of the school year, and I decided that we As head of the organization’s would spend one day a week using the Pittsburgh offi ce, I have found that our software. By the end of the grading period, From Chalkboard to Keyboard studies consistently reveal a broad range I had many students say they now had As the dismissal bell rings at Plum Senior of positive outcomes in a child’s attitude, a better understanding of some of the High School, I stand in the hallway just academics and behavior from community- material we had discussed in classes weeks mesmerized by all of the different types based and school / site-based mentoring. and months earlier. I also had students of sophisticated technology that pass my The literature continues to explore the complain about the experience, but I feel door: from CD players to the latest and extent and depth of these outcomes. It is the reason for their complaints was the greatest MP3 players, cell phones and clear that organizations that use identifi able fact there was no escape from thinking portable gaming devices. Students these and positive program practices — such as for themselves in the one-to-one learning days are so tech savvy; those of us who Mount Ararat Baptist Church, featured environment. are educators would be foolish not to in O’Toole’s article, and Big Brothers Big Our students are growing up in a use technology as a way to enhance our Sisters — regularly yield improvements digital society, and technology is naturally daily instruction. among youth. motivating for them. Teachers should Plum’s high school math department Because our organization recognizes view technology as an enhancement, not embraces technology through the use of the importance of assessing program as a replacement, for classroom instruc- Carnegie Learning’s Cognitive Tutor outcomes, we use a comprehensive tion. Instructional software, whether it is instructional software, which was featured outcome evaluation system that demon- for drill and practice, tutoring, simulation, in Reid Frazier’s story “From Chalkboard strates how youth are affected by the gaming or problem solving, can provide to Keyboard.” We use the program in a mentoring relationship. We are committed learning opportunities for all students. series of “technology enhanced” classes: to validating the connection between Algebra I, Plane Geometry and Algebra II. Tamar McPherson short-term outcomes and long-lasting These courses are designed specifi cally to K – 12 Mathematics Department Chair impacts. The dedicated staff and volunteers Plum Borough School District help struggling math students understand Pittsburgh, Pa. algebra and geometry concepts by using the Cognitive Tutor software to reinforce and extend their classroom instruction.

Comments: The staff of h magazine and The Heinz Endowments welcome your comments. All print and e-mail letters must include an address with daytime phone number(s). We reserve the right to edit any submission for clarity and space. Published material also will be posted on The Heinz Endowments’ Web site, which offers current and back issues of the magazine.

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By Teresa Heinz Chairman, The Heinz Endowments

he Pittsburgh Public Schools ran into trouble earlier At the same time, as public institutions, charters operated this year when the district, anxious to move beyond within the context of the public education system. They were a urban education’s battered “brand” and broaden different way of committing to public education, but they were community ownership of the city schools, fl oated an still very much public. odd proposal to drop the word “public” from its name. They were not without risks, however. Chief among the T Critics derided the idea as an attempt to substitute marketing potential pitfalls was that charters might underperform, or that for real reform. That was unfair, given that Pittsburgh’s school even if they performed well, they might simply drain resources board and leadership deserve credit for undertaking one of the away from existing schools and weaken the overall system most ambitious and earnest school reform efforts anywhere in rather than help it. the country. Our cover story for this issue examines how the promise and Still, district offi cials were right to quickly drop the scheme. risks of charters have begun to play out in our community. There It was a remarkably bad idea reminiscent of the New Coke fi asco is reason to be guardedly optimistic, but no one reading this story two decades ago, when executives at Coca-Cola decided their can be cavalier about whether Pittsburgh’s and Pennsylvania’s signature taste and brand had grown stale and should be jettisoned. experiment with charters will succeed. For the Endowments, the What ensued was one of the greatest marketing fl ops in the annals only pertinent barometer of success ultimately must be whether of modern business. Consumers, it turned out, liked their Coke charters do in fact support and catalyze change in the larger public the old-fashioned way. systems to which they belong. Sometimes it is only by trying new ideas and new approaches that we rediscover what matters most to us.

And citizens, it turns out, still like the “public” in their schools. We recognize the risks inherent not only in that effort but in In an era of deep ambivalence toward public institutions of all all our work to improve schools and the educational success of kinds, probably no institution has been more embattled in our children. They are risks familiar to any foundation that takes an society in recent decades than public education, represented by aggressive, strategic approach to philanthropy. Here, as in every the plethora of public school systems whose mediocre-to-dismal other arena in which we work, we know that change comes not performance records have shortchanged a generation of children. from avoiding risk but from embracing it — thoughtfully and Americans are rightly fed up with schools that fail to deliver intelligently, of course, but also robustly. on the promise of a decent education. But as the episode here in After the New Coke debacle, sales of Coca-Cola Classic surged Pittsburgh seems to attest, they still appreciate the twofold nature so dramatically that an urban legend arose alleging the company’s of that promise. A good education is one essential aspect of it, but executives had craftily engineered the whole episode. Noting that so is the idea that it be open to all, respectful of all and paid for by all. there were sound strategic reasons for introducing the new product Good public schools are not a luxury. Rather, they are the and even better ones for abandoning it, the company’s CEO at the purest expression of our collective American commitment to time commented, “We are not that dumb, and we are not that smart.” being a land in which every citizen has a genuine opportunity to There could be worse mantras for those of us involved in succeed. Take the public out of public schools and you lose more social-change work. Executives at the Pittsburgh Public Schools than a word — you lose the physical manifestation of a great hoped to reignite public ownership of the schools, and although national ideal. it didn’t happen in quite the way they intended, it did happen. The Heinz Endowments was guided and inspired by that People vigorously embraced the idea of the schools as theirs, ideal when we began supporting charter schooling a decade ago as the community’s, as “public.” as part of a broader agenda to provide lower-income parents in Sometimes it is only by trying new ideas and new approaches disadvantaged communities with educational choices for their that we rediscover what matters most to us. Americans are always children. Charters offered the opportunity to promote innovation at our best when we are daring to innovate on behalf of the things and competition as mechanisms to encourage school systems to we cherish most. That practical yet ever-aspiring spirit is one the better deliver on the educational aspect of their mission. Endowments is proud to support. h

072959.indd 3 10/9/07 3:50:58 PM HOMEWOOD As a child, Denise Graham was an avid book borrower at the Carnegie Library’s Homewood branch. Now, as manager, she has presided over a $3.5 million makeover that preserves the character of the nearly century-old institution. The design by Pfaffmann + Associates also provides such fresh features as more daylight, a more open ﬂ oor plan and a new auditorium to make the local library an inviting community living room.

nnewew andand rrenovatedenovated enise Graham strikes you llibrariesibraries iinn ppittsburghittsburgh areare as a natural ﬁ t for her job aaddingdding vvitalityitality toto ttheirheir running the Carnegie nneighborhoodseighborhoods nnowow Library of Pittsburgh’s aandnd oofferingffering hhopeope fforor Homewood branch. eeducationalducational aandnd eeconomicconomic She grew up in the ggainsains inin tthehe ffuture.uture. neighborhood back in the bbyy tthomashomas bbuell,uell, jjr.r. ’60s and ’70s and remembers pphotographyhotography many happy hours spent in bbyy dennisdennis marsicomarsico the library as a girl, checking out books, reading and passing the time with friends. She also worked in the branch while she was in library school. “I’ve grown up in this library, really,” she says, raising her eyes to the familiar high ceilings and varnished woodwork. “I came from a family of readers, and I spent a lot of time here.” Named branch manager in 2004, Graham lives a 10-minute walk away, and many times during that brief pedestrian commute in the morning or evening, neighborhood kids will see her, wave and say, “Hi, Library Lady.” Still, nothing quite prepared her for that moment when she climbed the grand steps, walked through the stone archway of the 97-year-old Homewood

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library and saw the results of a support of The Heinz Endowments, woodwork, which looks like oak but some $3.5 million renovation for the fi rst other local philanthropies and the state historic preservationists say could be time. “My fi rst impression was, of Pennsylvania. chestnut, was polished to a glassy shine. ‘I could live here.’ ” Each refurbishing has its own The renovations were designed to “It was a beautiful library before, character, often refl ecting the neighbor- enhance the library’s classic look of stately but the renovations brought out a lot of hood in which the library is located. mansion and provide needed structural hidden gems,” she says. “A lot of people In most cases, the updates not only have upgrades, such as a new roof, an elevator, say the library is so homey now. They increased the buildings’ aesthetic appeal handicapped-accessible restrooms and an like to come in and just sit.” but also have helped attract more updated 300-person auditorium. But Graham’s also a member of a visitors to the libraries and provided “I really, really like that they took the generation of librarians described as tech- an emotional lift — with a potential balcony down over the stacks on the fi rst savvy, culturally literate and perpetually economic boost — to their communities. fl oor because it blocked off the natural curious in a recent New York Times The Endowments’ recent two-year light,” says Graham. “The building didn’t article, “A Hipper Crowd of Shushers.” grant of $2 million is intended to buttress gain an inch of square footage, but that So she’s enthusiastic that the library offers a third area, education, by helping fund made the library look so much bigger.” more than a comfortable place to relax. construction or renovation projects at The improvements also included “I was going to say that we have a three libraries expected to be important touches refl ecting the unique character little bit of everything, but we have a lot partners with nearby “accelerated of the Homewood community. One of everything, and it’s not just books. We learning academies.” The redesigned example is an almond-shaped table with have CDs and DVDs, and books on tape schools are a major part of the Pittsburgh an African zebra wood frame and a light and Internet access, and so much more.” Public Schools’ reform efforts. fi xture inspired by the trunk-swollen In the past fi ve years, Homewood And the library system’s track record baobab tree that sits in the center of the and six other libraries in the 19-branch with branch improvements so far has expanded African-American section. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh system been encouraging. That collection contains more than have undergone major renovations as part The Homewood branch, for example, 12,000 popular and historical items. of a capital campaign to raise $55 million re-opened in 2003 after an eight-month The library stands out as an anchor by the end of next year — the fi rst such upgrade that included restoration of the of stability in a neighborhood that fundraising effort in the library’s history. building’s original high, multi-paned has witnessed a slow and steady decline The ambitious effort has received the windows and leaded-glass skylight. The since the days when it was home to

072959.indd 5 10/9/07 3:51:01 PM millionaires. (Andrew Carnegie himself both levels, and comfortable couches usage in the past several years. once lived in Homewood.) Over the and chairs, create the feel of an expansive, Circulation rose system-wide by an course of a month, it hosts dozens of contemporary living room. The wel- average of 28 percent between 2002 and groups and clubs: teen reading programs, coming atmosphere draws neighborhood 2005, according to a study by Carnegie homework clubs, book discussion groups, residents for book discussion groups, Mellon University’s Center for Economic crafting groups, story time for pre- computer classes and the more social Development. At the Homewood branch, schoolers and music workshops. In the “Craft and Chat” program. it has jumped more than 80 percent since summer, there’s a jazz concert on the front Sporting an even more modern, its renovation, while at the Brookline steps every Wednesday night, and local almost “urban-chic” appearance is the and Squirrel Hill branches, the circulation groups have staged plays, musicals and Squirrel Hill branch that sits atop a real increases have been 16 percent and concert performances in the auditorium. estate offi ce and a parking garage on the 13 percent, respectively. “The community has come back to bustling corner of Murray and Forbes Jessica Clark, manager of the this library in amazing numbers because avenues in the heart of the neighborhood Brookline branch, which has been people saw that the [Carnegie Library] business district. Its $4.3 million upgrade credited with helping shore up that administration was committed to keeping includes a 30-foot glass cube entrance at neighborhood’s central business district, the library in this location and restoring street level, a glass-encased elevator and notes that, in addition to programs for it to its former glory,” Graham says. glass exterior walls at the front and one families and children, the library is Another updated branch is in side of the library that allow natural light attracting more and more of the city’s Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood, to pour in. Beneath exposed ductwork immigrant population. where $2.9 million was spent to refl ect and I-beams, the bright, bold colors of “We have a teen volunteer program community desires for an open, inviting the lightweight, movable furniture and that’s so popular that we already have a space for children, teens, seniors and carpeted sections further generate a waiting list for the new school year,” she other neighborhood groups. The 1950s- sense of vibrancy. Visitors fl ock to the adds. “I’m amazed.” era building was given a new look by library for activities such as parent– Among those making the cut was moving a separate tanning salon business child reading groups, yoga classes and 13-year-old Stephanie Cato, who enjoys out of the second fl oor and creating a a knitting workshop. the Brookline library “because it has a lot two-story open gallery at the front of the Library offi cials cite the renovations of cool things” such as a teen section with building. Large, exterior windows on as the reason for sharp increases in library beanbag chairs and copies of the Japanese

Tom Buell is a Pittsburgh-based writing and communications consultant who often writes on ﬁ nancial issues. His most recent story for h, in last year’s Annual Report issue, reported on new trends in career education programs.

072959.indd 6 10/9/07 3:51:02 PM With mat in hand, Heidi Norman of Point Breeze heads to a yoga class at the Squirrel Hill branch of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library 7 system. The $4.7 million renovation by Lubetz Architects enables a range of community uses. A 30-foot glass cube at the entrance tells visitors they’re in for much more than book browsing.

SQUIRREL HILL

comic book “Manga.” Her attraction to the which donated $25,000 to fund child Carnegie Library’s summer reading library’s appealing environment inspired safety programs in the library system. programs, which have been shown to her to volunteer, and, since January, the As a whole, the Carnegie Library beat out summer school as the best way eighth-grader has spent several hours plays an important but often overlooked to produce vocabulary gains and give each week helping to shelve books and role in the region. students an advantage over their fellow pick up toys in the children’s department. More than 6,100 people use the students who don’t read over the summer. But even branches that have yet to library system every day — about “We know quantitatively that early be updated report higher circulations, a 2.2 million people a year. Carnegie literacy makes a big difference in terms of trend that Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Mellon University’s Center for Economic later success,” says Mistick. “The schools Director Barbara K. Mistick attributes to Development ranked the library system are only open 180 days per year. The a growing awareness of the Carnegie higher in attendance numbers than the libraries do serve a critical need when it Library’s many offerings. Pittsburgh Zoo, any of the city’s museums, comes to education.” Libraries are vital to the many people the Steelers, the Pirates and the Penguins That educational component is one who still do not own personal computers, during the course of the year. More than of the big reasons the Endowments joined says Holly McCullough, manager of the two-thirds of city residents between the other charitable organizations such as the Squirrel Hill branch. And it’s getting ages of 13 and 36 have a library card. Buhl Foundation, the FISA Foundation harder and harder to get along without The popularity of the library system and the Claude Worthington Benedum Internet access in today’s world. was cited in a 2004 University of Foundation in supporting the Carnegie “If you want to apply for a job at the Wisconsin study as one of the primary Library system over the years. University of Pittsburgh, you have to do it factors for Pittsburgh’s ranking as the The Endowments’ recent grant online, and if you want an appointment third most literate U.S. city, and the helps fund capital projects in three city to apply for U.S. citizenship, you have to fourth highest for its library resources. neighborhoods. New libraries will be do it online,” Clark adds. “It’s happening And library usage is one of the measures built in the Hill District and the North more and more, and they’re all telling employed by the Places Rated Almanac, Side, and the East Liberty branch will people that if they don’t have a computer, which in April ranked Pittsburgh as undergo major renovations in the next then they should go to their local library.” America’s “Most Livable City” for the few years. The new Hill District branch According to Carnegie Library records, second time. will be across the street from one of the the system last year provided more than Surveys like those offer a reminder Pittsburgh School District’s accelerated 385,000 hours of free computer access of the importance of public libraries in learning academies, while the North Side through its branches. Efforts to keep the the city’s educational programs. More library will be within walking distance Internet a safe place for its young users than 9,000 young people participate in of another. The East Liberty branch is a got a boost from the Verizon Foundation, bus ride away from two of the schools.

072959.indd 7 10/9/07 3:51:04 PM Working with a renovation budget of about $3 million, architects Loysen + Kreuthmeier created a space in the Carnegie Library’s Brookline branch that has attracted teenagers back to the stacks, a group 8 that the staff feared was lost for good. Stephanie Cato, 13, far right, and her sister, Madison, 11, both home-schooled in the Knoxville neighborhood of the city, work as volunteers and help plan programs for teens and children.

BROOKLINE

Joe Dominic, director of the Today, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh systems,” says Endowments President Endowments Education Program, says offi cials report annual expenses of Maxwell King. that in addition to strengthening connec- $26.2 million. The library receives $16 In summing up the value of the tions with nearby learning academies, he million per year — more than any other library system’s importance to local wouldn’t mind if the foundation’s library single recipient — from the Allegheny communities — especially when adapting grant serves as a wake-up call to the larger Regional Asset District, which allocates to new social and economic issues — community that the Carnegie Library of sales tax revenue funding to area cultural Carnegie Mellon researchers wrote: Pittsburgh not only is worth supporting, and civic programs in the county. “In all of the puzzling about how but also is in need of support. Other contri butors include: foundations, we reach the next generation, we never Contrary to what many library users trusts, corporations and individuals, realized that Carnegie Library of might believe, the Carnegie libraries are $6.5 million; the state of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh had already reached them… . not well funded by Andrew Carnegie’s $6 million; and other government There are many challenges that our fi nancial legacy. The steel magnate did sources, about $482,550. Included in that region will face in the coming decades. launch a library building program in last category is $49,208 from the City While the library will not be immune 1895 that would make Donald Trump of Pittsburgh, which is about the same to these challenges, it may hold the key envious — he paid for construction of amount that city offi cials pledged to to overcoming them.” more than 2,500 libraries in the English- Andrew Carnegie as their annual contri- Homewood branch manager Graham speaking world — but he left only a bution back in 1895. understands libraries’ important role. small amount of money for day-to-day And the local support the Pittsburgh She knew she wanted to make a difference operations. In fact, library offi cials say library system receives — which is about in the world, and switched at the last that the cash Carnegie set aside to actually 62 percent with the sales tax revenue minute from law school to library school run the libraries would keep the doors included — lags far behind the national on the advice of a mentor. open for about six days per year. average of 81 percent. In fact, Pennsylvania “I wanted to defend the down- Carnegie’s stated vision was that ranks 43rd in local government support trodden,” she recalls. “Now I love it he would pay for the buildings and the to library systems, though it is fi fth in the when kids show me their report cards, fi rst shipments of books, but that the amount of state funding given to libraries. or when parents come in with their communities enjoying the libraries’ “This places unfair pressure on kids. I know those are the things that benefi ts would have to pull together to Pittsburgh foundations and other private really make a difference.” h manage —and pay for — the neighbor- funders to fi ll in the gaps, especially since hood insti tutions that bore his name. so many other cities our size provide more public money for their library

072959.indd 8 10/9/07 3:51:05 PM IN DOLLARS AND CENTS ehind the counter at the Party Cake Shop on The renovated Carnegie libraries “will Brookline Boulevard, owner George Dolan sees create vibrant, accessible, contemporary a slow but steady stream of customers carrying institutions that will play an important role in a book or two, stopping into his bakery after a future community revitalization and learning visit to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh for residents,” Rendell said. branch next door. According to the Carnegie Mellon study, “It’s moms and their kids coming in for the Carnegie Library system generated an a cookie, or maybe someone comes in for a annual economic impact of $63 million in the cake, and I know they’re from the library,” says community, including direct spending and Dolan, shown at right with his brother Jack, the ripple effect of money spent by the library displaying their signature burnt-almond torte. branches and their customers. “Obviously anything like that is an asset to “Libraries partner in community the community. I’m glad they’re here.” revitalization projects that depend on the B The Party Cake Shop, which employs library to provide support and advocacy 17 people, is just one of hundreds of city for the neighborhood,” the Carnegie Mellon businesses located near Carnegie Library researchers wrote. “The inﬂ uence of an branches. Many of those businesses beneﬁ t experienced library staff, the civic presence in one way or another from the presence of in the core of a community, and active and a library in their community. engaged community outreach all contribute A study by Carnegie Mellon University’s to a stable neighborhood.” Center for Economic Development found that Some other highlights of the study include: every Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh patron • Every dollar invested in the Carnegie Library spends an average of $9.54 per visit at local of Pittsburgh returns about $6 of value to shops and businesses. local taxpayers. “I talk to a lot of the business owners • Every Allegheny County resident receives

Rene Rosensteel around here, and they’re always saying to me an average of $75 in beneﬁ ts from the how important the library is to them,” says Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh each year. Holly McCullough, manager of the Squirrel • The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh supports Hill branch. “How could 400,000 people who more than 700 local jobs, either directly or come through my doors not have a positive indirectly. Another 200 jobs are created by impact on the local businesses?” library construction projects. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, in announcing • If library patrons purchased the books they the state’s $7.5 million contribution to the borrow from the library, they would pay Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s ongoing about $27 million. capital campaign, expressed his belief that • The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh provides libraries play a vital role in a community’s free access to several online databases economic well-being. that would cost as much as $12 million if “They serve not only as a source of purchased by individual users. knowledge and information,” he said, “but • If library patrons paid to rent the DVDs they are also economic drivers because they and videos they borrow from the Carnegie support local businesses and draw visitors libraries in the city, they would spend to the area.” about $2 million.

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MAKING CHOICES

072959.indd 10 10/9/07 3:51:09 PM A GROWING NUMBER OF FAMILIES IN PENNSYLVANIA AND ACROSS THE NATION ARE CHOOSING NEW SCHOOL OPTIONS AND REMOVING THEIR CHILDREN FROM TRADITIONAL PUBLIC CLASSROOMS. WHILE SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICIALS FIGHT BACK, PHILANTHROPIES ARE SUPPORTING EDUCATION INNOVATION WHEREVER THEY CAN FIND IT. BY CHRISTINE O’TOOLE PHOTOGRAPHY BY LISA KYLE

n a bend above the wide Beaver River in western Pennsylvania, a small monument to public education has endured since 1844. • Ten generations of students passed beneath the bell mounted over the doorway of the Little Red Schoolhouse in Brighton Township. Sharing primers and desks in a single classroom, a fortunate few stayed until eighth grade, learning to read, write and cipher — the skills needed in a rural farming community. • The schoolhouse survives, but the education model that worked for 106 years in Beaver County is long gone: It’s been systematically scrutinized, stratiﬁ ed, shaken up and wired. • In the decade since Pennsylvania allowed new charter and cyber schools a share of property tax dollars, students have steadily migrated to these new public schools. Meanwhile, local districts grapple simultaneously with population loss, tough new performance standards and a technological revolution that can deliver instruction worldwide. • Debates continue to erupt about the real value this type of “school choice” offers in helping students learn. Public school leaders locally and across the country question whether the new crop of schools prepare students any better than more traditional educational methods. Choice supporters ﬁ ll their arsenals with anecdotal examples of academic improvements, heightened student self-esteem and increased parental involvement.

Photo by Robert E. Dourm

072959.indd 11 10/9/07 3:51:11 PM MY PARENTS WANT ME TO GET EVERYTHING I CAN OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL, SO THIS WORKS WELL FOR ME. “ERIN BURRY RIVERSIDE” HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2008

072959.indd 12 10/9/07 3:51:12 PM MAKING CHOICES

And research fi ndings vary from range of school choice options, which make sure that with all the additional state to state, says Gary Miron, an include a mix of alternative, parochial, choice, basic support for academic education professor with The Evaluation private and charter schools that serve reform isn’t lost,” she says. Center at Western Michigan University African-American children. On the other, Nationally, philanthropy’s decade- in Kalamazoo. The center has looked at they award grants to spur promising long experiment in supporting educa- the impact of school choice in nine improvements within mainstream public tional choice includes the Seattle-based states, including studies in Pennsylvania education systems. Another recent Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, from 1999 to 2002, and found that education funder, the DSF Charitable which recently announced a $10 million charter schools perform better in some Foundation, takes a similar approach. gift to support charters in Houston. places than others. But a recurring pattern The Education Program has As part of a strategy to improve and has been that during the early years of approved a total of $130.2 million in reinvigorate large urban school districts, many charter schools, their students’ grants in the 11-year period that it has the Broad Foundation, headquartered academic achievement lags behind that been funding the school-choice agenda. in Los Angeles, awards grants to charter of youngsters in traditional public schools About 13 percent has gone to alternative management fi rms and traditional with similar demographics. Then the and charter schools, but a signifi cant public schools, supporting each group scores catch up, only to level off in the end. part of the foundation’s grant making to varying degrees depending on the city. “In traditional schools, you have for public education has come from But Miron notes that the federal successes and failures, and in charter the Pathways to Educational Excellence No Child Left Behind Act, which sets schools, you have successes and failures,” agenda, a new strategic alliance of national education goals and standards, says Miron. “I’m interested in looking at several program areas supporting the is placing pressure on all schools to be the question of whether charter schools academic-reform plan for the Pittsburgh more accountable for student performance. generate more examples of [successful] Public Schools. Another $7.2 million “The biggest factor affecting schools innovation than traditional public has been approved through Pathways is No Child Left Behind, and it’s not schools.” in the past two years. Marge Petruska, making them more innovative,” he Rather than rush to any conclusions, senior director of the Endowments’ contends. “It’s forcing traditional and some philanthropies in western Children, Youth & Families Program charter schools … to teach to the Pennsylvania carefully balance their who also heads the Pathways team, says [standardized] test.” support of charter, private, alternative about $1.8 million has gone to provide and conventional public schools. programs and services to support a OTHER OPTIONS Joe Dominic, director of The Heinz key part of the plan, eight accelerated ut just as schools resist standard- Endowments’ Education Program, notes learning academies that serve some B ization, so do their students. that the Endowments and the Grable of the neediest families in the district. Erin Burry, a senior at rural Riverside and Richard King Mellon foundations “The Endowments is making a huge High School, has big goals. She wants have been longtime partners in their commitment to public education reform to combine her passion for sports and support of education reform efforts. in partnership with other local founda- writing in a future career as a sports On one hand, they selectively fund a tions. We’re all working very hard to broadcaster, and she’s in a hurry to get

Christine O’Toole is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer. Her last story for h, published in the Annual Report issue, reported on the success of faith-based mentoring in reaching African-American youth.

072959.indd 13 10/9/07 3:51:12 PM started. The 18-year-old athlete is one dilemma. Fifteen small school districts attention,” says Ronald Sofo, Freedom of the ﬁ rst students to take advantage of in this low-growth county share two Area School District’s superintendent. Beaver County’s new Regional Choice problems: Their tax bases and traditional Dan Katzir understands: In the Initiative, which offers high school school enrollments are shrinking. world of school choice, money talks. students the option of enrolling at other At the same time, Pennsylvania’s 120 The managing director of the Broad county high schools for courses not charter schools are the fastest-growing Foundation sees a pattern emerging available at their own. Each day at in the Northeast, enrolling more than in response to the national charter 12:30 p.m., she slips out of choir class 60,000 students. One million students movement. ten minutes early and drives down the now attend 3,500 charter schools nation- “Districts that have a large or road to Ellwood City High School for wide. The generally smaller schools offer growing charter would have several her dream class: Advanced Placement different educational models, but they business models,” he notes. “They ignore Composition. are bound by the same regulations and charters. They claim victim status — “The course wasn’t offered at performance standards as traditional which is generally not true. They complain Riverside, and Ellwood City had an open schools and are open to all. Cyber that charters are taking money away — seat,” she explains. By 1:40 p.m., she’s charter schools, delivering instruction to and that’s true, that’s the whole point! back at Riverside, where she ends the day students at home via the Internet, can Or, they can embrace them.” at varsity soccer practice. Friday nights enroll students hundreds of miles away. Beaver County chose to embrace are spent at local high school football In fact, the largest school in Beaver choice. games; Erin has volunteered to write County is the Pennsylvania Cyber Last year, Sofo proposed that reports on the games for a local online Charter School in Midland, with 6,000 Freedom open its own charter school. news site. She expects the AP course to students from across the state. Local He received grants from the Endowments sharpen her skills. “My parents want school districts — with some help from and the Grable Foundation for planning me to get everything I can out of high the state — are paying tuition for their and development. “I bet on our faculty school,” she says earnestly. “So this students to a school they don’t control. to provide outstanding instruction,” works well for me.” “This past year in Beaver County, he says. While that proposal was rejected The Regional Choice Initiative 700 students chose charter schools, for as too radical, it opened a discussion on evolved in response to a Beaver County [a cost of] $7 million. That gets our how districts could create more choice.

072959.indd 14 10/9/07 3:51:13 PM MAKING CHOICES

From left to right, Keith Pennington, Romeo York and Najire Taylor look on as Amera Neal receives her “Say No to Drugs” button from police ofﬁ cer George Palumbo in Ramona McIver’s (in background) kindergarten class at Imani Christian Academy.

“Choice was killing our high school through a wide-area fi ber network and example, a performance bonus for and the others. There was fear all over videoconferencing. learning academy principals, who also the county,” says Sofo. “We used that as a Still, Dominic has a terse, two-word hire their school’s teachers, mimics a lever to get people to come to the table, description for the philanthropic common charter school practice of and having the cyber school in the county commitment to promoting a range of giving school administrators greater tipped the scale enough that people school choice options: “high risk.” autonomy and performance-based were willing to accept regional choice.” “No Child Left Behind impels us to compensation. Last month, Beaver County school move quickly. We have to try a variety of As the Pittsburgh School District offi cials won a $1.4 million federal grant solutions [to improve education],” he says. moves into high school reform, it is to develop the countywide initiative. It In Pittsburgh, the Endowments, “trying to foster more choice,” says Lisa was the only rural area among 14 selected along with other foundations, has Fischetti, chief of staff for the super- from across the nation. supported city school offi cials’ creation intendent’s offi ce. “The vision is to move Sofo envisions a four-stage experiment, of eight intensive “accelerated learning away from feeder-pattern–based schools beginning with the open-seat program academies,” made planning grants to to offer high schools that people will that enables students to take classes in help the district overhaul its high school choose to go to.” different districts. It will eventually allow curricula, and funded other projects to Jeremy Resnick, the CEO of Propel county districts to share cyber instruc- address student achievement and the Schools, asserts that school districts are tion, provide college-level instruction to racial achievement gap. acting differently in response to parents larger groups of secondary students at Some of those endeavors apply having choices. His charter school a central setting and connect schools ideas generated in charter schools. For management company opened its fourth

Eleventh graders at City Charter High in downtown Pittsburgh, Daniel Bethea of Point Breeze, left, and Matt Lodovico of Lawrenceville, measure water in Angela Musto’s science class. The students used various hands-on methods to gain an understanding about the principles of mass and volume.

072959.indd 15 10/9/07 3:51:15 PM “In traditional schools, you have successes and failures, and in charter schools, you have successes and failures. I’m interested in looking at the question of whether charter schools generate more examples of [successful] innovation than traditional public schools.”

16 GARY MIRON, Education Professor The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University

“THE VISION IS TO MOVE AWAY FROM FEEDER- PATTERN–BASED SCHOOLS TO OFFER HIGH SCHOOLS THAT PEOPLE WILL CHOOSE TO GO TO.”

LISA FISCHETTI, Chief of Staff, Superintendent’s Ofﬁ ce, Pittsburgh Public Schools

“Nineteen million dollars last year for six charters and about another $6 million for cybers — what did [Pittsburgh taxpayers] get for that “ THE PITTSBURGH SCHOOLS money? That’s a fair question, ARE HEMORRHAGING. especially because the choice schools FORTY YEARS AGO, IT HAD are not providing the achievement 70,000 KIDS; NOW, IT HAS that we were promised they would.” UNDER 28,000.”

JOHN TARKA, President, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers RICK WERTHEIMER, Co-Founder & Education Manager, City Charter High School “No Child Left Behind impels us to move quickly. We have to try a variety of solutions [to improve education].” JOE DOMINIC, Education Program Director “ The Regional Choice Initiative in The Heinz Endowments Beaver County would never have happened without the groundwork of the charter school movement.”

JEREMY RESNICK, CEO, Propel Schools

072959.indd 16 10/9/07 3:51:17 PM “Our children were African American in a school district that lacks diversity, and moving was not an option. We have elderly parents we couldn’t leave.”

LEE ANN MUNGER, parent of two children in Propel’s Montour schools 17

“Choice was killing our high school and the others. There was fear all over the county. We used that as a lever to get people to come to the table, and having the cyber school in the county tipped the scale enough that people were willing to accept regional choice.”

RONALD SOFO, Superintendent, Freedom Area School District

“(DISTRICTS) IGNORE CHARTERS. THEY CLAIM VICTIM STATUS — WHICH IS GENERALLY NOT TRUE. THEY COMPLAIN THAT CHARTERS ARE TAKING MONEY AWAY— AND THAT’S TRUE, THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT!”

DAN KATZIR, Managing Director, The Broad Foundation

072959.indd 17 10/9/07 3:51:26 PM THE STATE PERFORMANCE TESTS REQUIRED UNDER NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND PROMISE CLEAR BENCHMARKS FOR SCHOOL AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE. BUT ON THE CRITICAL 18 QUESTION OF WHETHER CHARTER kindergarten-through-eighth-grade STUDENTS OUTPERFORM THOSE school in Allegheny County this month. “The Regional Choice Initiative in IN TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Beaver County would never have THE ANSWERS ARE MURKY. happened,” he says, “without the groundwork of the charter school movement.” national performance standards in large not providing the achievement that we ENROLLMENT AND urban school districts has pushed were promised they would,” he argues. PERFORMANCE families toward choice. In the District of Charter advocates counter that esnick’s sentiments are common Columbia, 25 percent of students now students transferring from traditional Ramong charter school leaders, attend public charters. Philadelphia now schools often start below grade level, acknowledges Miron, who has seen has 19 secondary charters, with 5,000 requiring more attention to reach examples of school districts starting students on waiting lists. In Pittsburgh, profi ciency. Tarka is unmoved by that all-day kindergartens and special with just six charters overall, the impact argument. “As some charter school language programs in apparent response of charter enrollment is just beginning founders have realized, it’s tough,” he to similar offerings at charter schools. to be felt, but the arguments about says. “They say, ‘We don’t have achieve- But Miron adds that school district their academic achievement has raged ment because it’s diffi cult.’ Well, of offi cials insist that many of the changes for years. course it is.” that they make are to improve perfor- The state performance tests required The union chief contends that mance results rather than to match under No Child Left Behind promise the dramatic collaboration envisioned charter school programs. In fact, he says clear benchmarks for school and student between charters and public schools traditional school districts may be even performance. But on the critical question locally has not come to fruition. “An better equipped to offer innovative of whether charter students outperform opportunity’s been lost,” he contends. programs because they have experienced those in traditional public schools, the While suggesting that charters teachers who know how to write answers are murky. could work more closely with the curricula. In many cases, charter school The National Assessment of district, he offers no specifi cs on how organizers may have innovative ideas, Education Progress, analyzing 2003 that might occur. but they don’t have the mature teachers scores, found no difference in math or Rick Wertheimer, co-founder and to carry them out. reading performance between charter education manager of City Charter High Still, as charter school enrollments and traditional students of similar racial School in downtown Pittsburgh, says increase, Miron says districts studied by and ethnic backgrounds. his school’s high-tech teaching style — the Western Michigan center have been John Tarka, president of the where every student receives a laptop spending more money on marketing Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, is a computer — could provide a model for tactics such as billboards and public charter school skeptic. “Nineteen million other Pittsburgh district schools. “No service announcements to draw and dollars last year for six charters and one [in the district] wants to hear about keep students. about another $6 million for cybers — it,” he laments. “There’s a real obstinacy Contributing to charters’ rapid what did [Pittsburgh taxpayers] get for in western Pennsylvania about change.” growth are low-income city neighbor- that money? That’s a fair question, By measures like attendance and hoods that have become fertile recruiting especially because the choice schools are graduation rates, some charters are grounds. Well-publicized failure to meet

072959.indd 18 10/9/07 3:51:28 PM MAKING CHOICES

posting respectable results. City Charter who face overwhelming challenges to wants for their kids has happened. We High School posted a 93 percent succeeding in school and life. Without are fortunate,” she says cheerfully. “Other attendance rate for the past school year the academy, many kids simply would families only wish they could drive and 91 percent of the Class of 2006 not complete basic schooling, Dominic across town for a better opportunity.” graduated. Within all 11 city district high says. With a recent Endowments grant Resnick claims Pittsburgh families schools, the average attendance was 86.2 of $200,000, Imani hired a professional are doing just that. Of the 280 students percent. School offi cials say they don’t fi rm to develop a business plan and a registered at Propel’s new Montour have a current graduation rate yet, but comprehensive funding strategy. school, a majority come from the nearby a Rand Corp. study released last year Neighborhood Academy, a smaller Pittsburgh and Sto-Rox districts. Only calculated that the city district’s average school than Imani, received a similar seven or eight will transfer from the local rate was about 64 percent. Endowments grant and has shown more district’s schools. And Resnick’s small Propel schools academic improvement. “The Pittsburgh schools are hemor- serve challenging elementary students: rhaging,” says City High’s Wertheimer. 22 percent of Propel’s students have an MORE OPPORTUNITIES “Forty years ago, it had 70,000 kids; identifi ed disability, while 78 percent he promise of success has lured now, it has under 28,000.” qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Tparents like Lee Ann Munger. She The city district closed 22 schools But Resnick points to assessments by waited three years for Propel to open a last year. Those brick-and-mortar Johns Hopkins University researchers charter school with kindergarten through classrooms may never be re-activated, that showed that the number of Propel sixth grade near her home in Montour, and, as cyber schools demonstrate, students profi cient in reading grew west of Pittsburgh. During that time, students no longer need to go to large from 34 to 65 percent over the course of Munger and her partner drove their sons, buildings to learn. the past year. Gains in math were even Henry and Owen Smith, 40 minutes each This year, Propel will begin to larger: 24 percent to 69 percent. way to Propel’s school in Homestead, explore a way to blend charters and “At the same time,” observes another town outside of the city. cyber schools in “pod schooling,” where Dominic, “while good scores on achieve- “Our children were African American a handful of students and an adult meet ment tests are important indicators of in a school district that lacks diversity, regularly at one location, says Resnick. school success, they are not the only and moving was not an option. We The newfangled concept sounds a lot ones.” He says other essential elements have elderly parents we couldn’t leave,” like the 19th-century Little Red School- include creating a culture of high explains Munger, a 45-year-old nonprofi t house — a small but diverse group of expectations for success and offering a executive. After Propel’s Montour charter learners in one room. But Resnick rejects variety of ways to support students when application was rejected by the local that suggestion, arguing that pod they encounter diffi culty. He believes school district, the company appealed schooling might offer students the Pittsburgh’s newer private schools the decision to the state. broadest possible window on the world. such as Imani Christian Academy and “It was a real civics lesson to see the “Back then, the only information Neighborhood Academy, both of which number of hurdles that were thrown up,” source in the room was the adult,” he says. focus on African-American students, she notes drily. If the state had blocked “Now we have continuous information try to do everything possible to produce the Montour school, she says she would from multiple sources. We can coach gains on several levels. have continued the Homestead commute kids to access knowledge of the wider Imani has made considerable progress “without a moment of regret.” world. We can turn school inside out.” h in attracting and keeping youngsters “The blossoming that every parent

072959.indd 19 10/9/07 3:51:29 PM 20 LOOKLLOTHROUGH THE

omewhere along the long, winding road of our cultural evolution (or devolution, as some critics would opine), a trip to the venerable city art museum to look at some nice paintings or an exhibit of other artwork became no longer enough. Art, for its own sake, in a world replete with Hollywood blockbuster movies, sports extravaganzas on the order of the Super Bowl and television cable networks drawing scores of millions to reality shows, had left museum visitors feeling, well, rather minimalist. How would a traditional exhibition of French Impressionist painters fare, for example, against an art form with a lot more muscle and magic behind it — the phenomenon known as Big-Event Packaging? Unimpressively, bien sûr. That’s why cities around the world are now tripping over one another to host packaged art-and-culture–themed projects on the level of the other Big Events that compete for our leisure time and our dollars. The “Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass!” extravaganza that you will experience through the vivid photography of Pittsburgher Josh Franzos on these pages includes scenes from the anchor exhibit, “Gardens and Glass,” which features internationally renowned artist Dale Chihuly’s glass sculptures embedded in THE FOUNDATIONS–SUPPORTED the ﬂ ora of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, an “PITTSBURGH CELEBRATES GLASS!” SHOWS event that has tripled attendance at the institution. There also CLEARLY WHY BIG-EVENT CULTURAL are visual perspectives from several of many partnering PACKAGING IS NOW ALL THE RAGE IN CITIES AROUND THE WORLD. institutions doing programming — the Carnegie Museum of BY DOUGLAS ROOT Art, The Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh Center for the PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSHUA FRANZOS Arts and the Sen. John Heinz History Center. The entire package is the high-level result from two decades of the art-and-culture world catching up in the marketing

072959.indd 20 10/9/07 3:51:30 PM The illuminated “Desert Gold Star,” a chandelier made of yellow glass icicles, provides a striking contrast against the night sky seen through windows of the Desert Room at Pittsburgh’s Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The sculpture is one of more than 40 elaborate blown-glass creations set among plants in the conservatory greenhouses. The exhibition, “Chihuly at Phipps: Gardens & Glass” by West Coast glass artist Dale Chihuly, is the centerpiece of this year’s “Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass!” celebration. Phipps Executive Director Richard Piacentini and his staff brought Chihuly to Pittsburgh after being amazed by the artist’s work displayed in a 2002 exhibit at a Chicago conservatory.

072959.indd 21 10/9/07 3:51:30 PM 22

department — ratcheting up technique and, in the language of in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “How about the Year of event planners, “promoting quality content” to bring in tourist Peat Moss?” dollars and raise the region’s profi le. Despite the dangers of over-saturation, the big-themed Most museum marketers and tourism promoters cite the extravaganza is seen to offer real value by those concerned 1978 –1981 traveling exhibit of Egyptian King Tutankhamen’s with improving quality of life in the region. tomb as the signature event that proved art-and-culture “Many communities mount a blockbuster museum show, offerings could earn blockbuster status. “That was the fi rst one; but developing a series of related events that draw on facets of it’s the one that went down in history,” Eileen Harakal, former community life over a period of time seems more worthwhile,” vice president for audience development and public affairs says Janet Sarbaugh, senior director of The Heinz Endowments’ at the Art Institute of Chicago, told the New York Times. An Arts & Culture Program. The critical questions that funders updated version of the Tut exhibit now at the Franklin Institute have been asking, she says, have to do with planning and in Philadelphia sold 400,000 tickets before the show even organization. “What is the structure that will give these events opened in February. the best chance of success?” For the Endowments, the answer is Since the original Tut exhibit, major museums have been important, since the foundation has awarded about $2.2 million the center points for a series of blockbuster offerings ranging in grants for arts-and-culture packaged projects in the past from groupings of tried-and-true 18th- and 19th-century decade. painters to such provocative shows as the “Body Worlds” exhibit, Pittsburgh glass artist Kathleen Mulcahy, whom many cite in which actual human cadavers preserved by a technique along with artist–husband Ron Desmett as the generators of the known as plastination are on display in a variety of lifelike glass theme that dozens of other organizations joined in on, poses. That traveling exhibition brought in an average 10,000 says planning is everything. patrons each weekend during its six-month run this year at the “You can’t have successful tourism in the arts area if it Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. A similar exhibit in isn’t seen by the public as something special and of the Pittsburgh is expected to do at least as well when it comes to highest quality.” the Carnegie Science Center in October, despite criticism over Marguerite Marks, executive director of “Pittsburgh the provenance of the corpses. Celebrates Glass!,” ticks off the statistics that defi ne the success But in recent years, the one-hit wonder has been replaced by of the project in marketing and promotional terms: admissions a more sophisticated effort to create an overarching theme that at the Phipps up 206 percent; scores of mentions in traditional is translated in myriad settings and unfolds over a year or more. media; penetration on major search-engine Web sites; 1 million Given that these events have signifi cant promotional hits to the pittsburghcelebrates.org Web site; 25,000 of the resources, organizers walk a fi ne line between courting the site’s visitors opting to receive weekly emails on events; and the masses and overwhelming them. The “Pittsburgh Celebrates estimated economic impact for the Chihuly exhibition alone is Glass!” campaign had some tongue-in-cheek push-back this $20 million – $33 million. “You don’t get results like these without summer with a North Side gallery, moxie DaDA, offering strong, coordinated teamwork,” she says. What’s interesting “No Glass!,” an exhibit of indoor and outdoor works made of about that, she adds, is that “teamwork often produces the very anything but glass. “You can see glass just about anywhere you best glass art. The artists have to work together to realize the look for the duration of 2007,” curator Grant Bobitski lamented vision — and the community does too.” h

Doug Root is the communications director at The Heinz Endowments. His last work for h was a remembrance after the death of Endowments board member and regional leader William Rea in the spring of 2006.

072959.indd 22 10/9/07 3:51:36 PM PHIPPS The Chihuly sculptures lend an imaginative variety of shapes, sizes and colors to the rooms at Phipps Conservatory while complementing the equally varied plant life. Above, glass reeds in different shades of pink and purple add warmth to the verdant coolness in one section of the conservatory. Below left, multi-colored glass balls that look like oversized marbles sit in a wooden boat on a man-made pond. Below right, giant glass ﬂ owers called “macchias,” which means “spotted” in Italian, are grouped together to create their own “Macchia Forest” at the conservatory.

072959.indd 23 10/9/07 3:51:36 PM Variations in texture as well as color add a unique dimension to the glass sculptures at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Above right, three -dimensional glass castings of animal and human mummies personify death as they lie in a row as part of the “Totem and Taboo” installation by Pittsburgh artist Judi Charlson. Below, Julie Glaubach of Beechview admires the blocks of tinted glass ﬁ tted within the totem, or “Wall of the Journey of Life.” The images within the 98 kiln-cast negative relief panels represent objects, ﬁ gures and experiences that have been lost, found, forgotten or remembered from life. They show the commonality and individuality of humanity. PITTSBURGH CENTER FOR THE ARTS

072959.indd 24 10/9/07 3:51:41 PM 25

CARNEGIE MUSEUM Spencer Hurst, 6, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., counts the legs of a purple glass octopus inside a web of glass at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum. The sculpture, “Senza Una Meta,” was created by artists Pino Signoretto and Mauro Bonaventura.

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Before Pittsburgh was known for steel, it was a major producer of glass for everything from tableware to tiles in New York City tunnels. The Senator John Heinz History Center captures that era in its exhibit “Glass: Shattering Notions,” which show- cases 200 years of glassmaking in western Pennsylvania. Here, green glass is displayed on a conveyor belt to show mass production of glass bottles and to mark the transition in the early 1900s from blown or hand-formed glass to that made by automated machines. And the difference in cost was considerable: A blown bottle cost a penny, while a machine could make 15 bottles for the same price.

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PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER

Glass appears to take ﬂ ight at the Pittsburgh Glass Center with the creation of eagles, shown above, for an installation at American Eagle Outﬁ tters. Below left, New York City artist Dan Spitzer, center, helps Kathleen Mulcahy and Ron Desmett, co-founders of the Glass Center, form the glass birds. Below right is a glass and metal fabrication by Dan LaDonne titled “Screen Series Angles.”

072959.indd 27 10/9/07 3:51:52 PM 28

HEINZ FAMILY RECEIVES AWARD Andrew Carnegie believed in using Teresa Heinz, chairman of The philanthropy to generate changes that Heinz Endowments and the Heinz advance society. A prestigious award Family Philanthropies, will accept the that bears his name, the Andrew medal at an Oct. 17 awards ceremony Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, is in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall. given every two years to individuals Two days of celebration around the and families who have committed their event will include a review of the impact private wealth to public good in ways of Carnegie’s philanthropy on the reﬂ ecting Carnegie’s ideals. The Heinz Pittsburgh region. family is among the four recipients Other medal recipients this year of this year’s award, and were cited for are the Mellon family, the Tata family of

Pop City Pop their support of the environment, the India, and Eli and Edythe Broad. The arts, education, economic development, Mellon family’s extensive philanthropy technology and human services. includes the Pittsburgh-based Richard Among the work highlighted was the King Mellon Foundation. The Tata Jonathan Greene for Jonathan Greene for $20 million donated in 1995 to establish family supports a range of social and the Washington, D.C.– based H. John scientifi c causes in India, and Eli Broad is FLEXCAR Heinz III Center for Science, a well-known American business Flexcar, a Seattle-based car-sharing Economics and the leader who, along with his service, rolled into Pittsburgh this spring, Environment. wife, founded The offering people who live or work downtown The grant was one Broad Foundations, or in the adjacent Oakland neighborhood of the largest ever which focus on the chance to conserve gas and avoid to benefi t the leadership in environment. education, science some of the hassles of car maintenance. and the arts. Under the program, members rent vehicles for a fee that starts at $10 per hour and includes gas, insurance, 150 free miles per day, parking, maintenance and emergency service. Twenty fuel-effi cient vehicles are available through the service,

including hybrids, minivans and sporty THIEMAN LEAVES ENDOWMENTS BOARD Fred Thieman has been named the new cars. The vehicles are picked up at president of the Buhl Foundation and is stepping down from the Endowments board designated locations and returned to the after 10 years of service. Under his leadership of the Governance Committee, parking spots at the end of the reserved Endowments staff and board members devoted a signiﬁ cant amount of time in the time. The Endowments is a charter last year to updating the foundation’s documents and procedures to be in accord member of Flexcar, which was promoted with national best practices. Thieman also served on the Investment Management by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership Committee and contributed signiﬁ cantly to the Endowments’ strategic and program deliberations. Thieman will become the sixth president of the Buhl Foundation, as part of its efforts to revitalize the which focuses its grant making in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. He succeeds city center. Doreen Boyce, who served as Buhl’s president for 25 years.

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2 Joshua Franzos 9 Foundation forEducation. Indianapolis-based Lumina directora program the with earlier thisyear to become who leftthefoundation He replaces Suzanne Walsh, an Innovation Economy ofﬁ program jointhefoundationthismonthas will isBomaniM.staff Howze, below, who Foundations board, a term thatendsnext May. thenationalCouncilincluding chairing on many localandnationalorganizations, ways. He already ontheboards hasserved of remain involved inthecommunity inother southwestern Pennsylvania, andheintends to King andhiswife, Peggy, planto stay in to thefoundation. service nearly adecadeof retire he will aspresident after inthespring www.heinz.org. King announced inJune that been posted ontheEndowments’ Web site, the position. alsohas A jobdescription national search ﬁ Washington,of D.C., hasbeenhired asthe is underway, andRussell Reynolds Associates Heinz President Endowments Maxwell King The process to selectareplacement for STAFF NEWS The latest additionto theEndowments

rm to rm seekcandidates for cer. in southwestern Pennsylvania. andbroadengrowth economic opportunity Economy’s work to stimulate economic Innovation support and educationwill community andhisexperience inbusiness His extensive thePittsburgh knowledge of to hire young fathersneedingemployment. and workforce development organization, collaborated with YouthBuild, acommunity alandscapingbusinessthat and hasowned Administration from Point Park University, worked asaschoolteacher. PublicPittsburgh Schools, where helater thesameinitiatives duced inthe someof improved studentachievement. He intro- helped implementreforms thatdramatically inNorfolk,neighborhood Va., where he public school teacher inalow-income urban County. He beganhisprofessional career asa the Mental Health Allegheny Association of who mostrecently president asvice of served BOARD TOUROFCHILDREN’SMUSEUM contributed $3milliontotheexpansionproject. social, TheEndowments economicandcontextualcontributionstotheirsurroundings. The prizerecognizesurbandevelopment projectsdistinguishedby qualitydesignandtheir vyingfortheprestigious$50,000GoldMedal Award. among 90projectsacrossthecountry Excellence. Themuseum’s $28millionexpansion, completedin2004, was selectedfrom ofarchitects, Themuseumalsodelightedajury governmentoffi whohonoreditwiththisyear’sdevelopment experts Award topRudyBruner forUrban indulgingin“children’sand staffmembers activities.” at theChildren’s tourinMay MuseumofPittsburgh.Theafter-hours hadEndowmentsboard their businessattiretodiphandsinemulsifi Director JanetSarbaugh, Franco overlook andboardmembers andJudithDavenport Harris From left, EndowmentsCommunicationsOffi In other staff news,In several otherstaff Endowments Howze Business hasaMaster of Howze community leader isaPittsburgh signifi their fi in for theirexpertise been recognized thisyear membershave staff Brian Cohenfor cant contributions elds orforother Pop City Lee, &CultureSeniorProgram cer Carmen Arts ed clay andwater “mud”in“TheBackyard” personal andfamilyresponsibilities. by aidingemployees theirwork, inmanaging the workplacehelped transform American The award whohave honorsindividuals City– based Families and Work Institute. Work LifeLegacy Award from theNew York Senior Director Marge Petruska received a theGreat Lakesthe healthof ecosystem. to improve efforts thatsupports corporation Lakes Protection Fund, aprivate, nonprofi theGreatalso wasappointed to theboard of and thestate’s resources. natural Glotfelty Pennsylvanians’ connections theoutdoors with developing recommendations forimproving 17-member committee ischarged with state Outdoor Conference Task Force. The Environment Program, a asco-chair of Caren Glotfelty, theEndowments’ director of and otherabusesaround theworld. preventing social, physical, environmental organizationfocusesonendingand activist International USAboard. Thegrass-roots the Amnesty has beennamedchair of Environment Program Offi havethey madeto thecommunity. And Children, Youth &Families Pennsylvania Gov. EdRendell named cials andcommunity cer Ellen Dorsey 1 0 / 9 / t 0 7

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P M THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE Howard Heinz Endowment Vira I. Heinz Endowment PAID 625 Liberty Avenue PITTSBURGH PA 30th Floor PERMIT NO 57 Pittsburgh, PA 15222-3115

412.281.5777 www.heinz.org

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