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Receding waters Picking up the pieces after Hurricane Ivan Special (pre)K page 22

INSIDE: TECH LINKS THE DISABLED PRESCHOOL PASSION h is printed on recycled paper using soy-based inks. STAFF UPDATES 29 The Heinz Endowments of dance, fight, play, music, ritual and mimicry. Justin welcomes two additions to its has served on the Multicultural Arts Initiative board, the staff this year. In February, Emerging Leader Council of Americans for the Arts Christina Gabriel came on and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ grants panels. board as director of the In other staff news, Janet Sarbaugh and Marge Innovation Economy Program, Petruska were each promoted in January to the new inside Uptown Art the new name and focus for Endowments position of senior program director. what had been the Economic Janet’s title had been director of the Arts & Culture Artist James Simon Founded more than four decades Our fields of emphasis include grins broadly as people Opportunity Program area. Program, and Marge had held the same position for apart, the Howard Heinz Endowment, philanthropy in general and the examine his colorful Justin Laing joins the staff in the Children, Youth & Families area. Their promotions established in 1941, and the Vira I. disciplines represented by our grant- “Uptown Rhythm,” a March as an Arts & Culture recognize their long and excellent service to the whimsical cacophony of Heinz Endowment, established in 1986, making programs: Arts & Culture; Program officer. Endowments, their exceptional skills as grant makers and swaying people, animals, are the products of a deep family Children, Youth & Families; Innovation musical instruments Christina was a vice provost and the chief technology the special role they play in providing leadership as commitment to community and the Economy; Education; and the and animated buildings, officer at Carnegie Mellon University for the past five members of the foundation’s senior management team. common good that began with Environment. These five programs work topped by a large parrot years. Prior to working for Carnegie Mellon, she was Among the Endowments staff with the longest and a “D” for Duquesne H. J. Heinz and continues to this day. together on behalf of three shared a top official with the National Science Foundation. tenure, Janet joined the foundation in July 1982, when University. The 9-by-25- The Heinz Endowments is based in organizational goals: enabling foot sculpture stretches Her extensive research and technical background also it comprised the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Pittsburgh, where we use our region southwestern Pennsylvania to embrace up a wall of the Forbes includes positions as director of collaborative initiatives Pittsburgh Foundation. The Vira I. Heinz Endowment as a laboratory for the development and realize a vision of itself as a Avenue garage in at Carnegie Mellon and first vice president for research was not formed until 1986, and the Pittsburgh Pittsburgh’s Uptown of solutions to challenges that are premier place both to live and to work; and technology transfer at Case Western Reserve Foundation did not move out on its own until 1993. national in scope. Although the majority making the region a center of quality and is one of the latest examples of public art University in Cleveland. Christina serves on several Under Janet’s direction, the Arts & Culture Program of our giving is concentrated within learning and educational opportunity; the Endowments has

Copyright Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2005, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. nonprofit boards and has been the external advisor makes grants to arts organizations and programs southwestern Pennsylvania, we work and making diversity and inclusion supported to promote for technology within the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ totaling an average of $14.5 million annually. wherever necessary, including statewide defining elements of the region’s community development. strategic planning process. Marge had been director of the Endowments’ and nationally, to fulfill our mission. character. The foundation contributed Justin was managing director and assistant artistic Children, Youth & Families Program, formerly known That mission is to help our region thrive $10,000 toward the $30,000 project, which director of The Village 4 an Afrikan Cultural Center, as Health and Human Services, since April 1984. as a whole community— economically, also received support and Nego Gato Inc., an African-Brazilian arts organi- She manages a grant-making portfolio of about ecologically, educationally and from Duquesne and zation, since 1997. He also performed with Nego Gato, $10 million a year that supports human services culturally—while advancing the state the Allegheny County of knowledge and practice in the Department of which introduced many in Pittsburgh to capoeira agencies and programs. fields in which we work. Community Services. angola, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements

The Endowments Children, at the Radisson Hotel and the need to address the a plan for parent–school– Youth & Families Senior Pittsburgh Green Tree. uneven quality, inadequate community partnerships h magazine is a publication of The Heinz Endowments. At the Endowments, we are Program Director Marge Wayne served on the training or lack of profes- that can help parents committed to promoting learning in philanthropy and in the specific fields represented AFTER by our grant-making programs. As an expression of that commitment, this publication Petruska and Program network’s steering sional development of others. in 11 school districts get is intended to share information about significant lessons and insights we are deriving SCHOOL Officer Wayne Jones committee that did strategic The Endowments has more involved in promoting from our work. participated in the Western planning for the summit, funded several studies on student achievement in SPECIAL Pennsylvania Regional which attracted about after-school programs, their schools. The January Editorial Team Linda Bannon, Linda Braund, Maxwell King, Carmen Lee, Maureen Marinelli, Grant Oliphant, Douglas Root. Design: Landesberg Design Summit on Afterschool 130 consultants, foundation seeking systemic solutions conference was one of a conference in January. The representatives and after- to areas of concern. It also series of policy summits About the cover Flood-damaged photographs that reflected 52 years of memories Pennsylvania Statewide school program directors. has given a $15,000 grant that are being conducted for one Allegheny County family poignantly illustrate how Hurricane Ivan ripped the Afterschool Youth Develop- Marge gave opening remarks to the Center for Schools across the state to produce fabric of some southwestern Pennsylvanians’ lives in 2004. Helping them to rebuild since the storm have been county agencies and faith-based organizations, with ment Network hosted for the session, highlighting and Communities, a state- statewide standards and Pittsburgh-area foundations providing financial support for the work. (Photograph copy- the one-day conference the creativity and innovation wide organization, to develop policies for sustaining quality right, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2006, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.) of some after-school programs after-school programs. 4 “Abling” the Disabled With support from the Endowments and other foundations, the Tech-Link Program of Pittsburgh is helping students with disabilities build robots—and self-esteem. 12 A Flood of Help Pittsburgh-area foundations focus donations and high hopes for Hurricane Ivan victims’ recovery on two faith-based nonprofits and a partnership with county government. Volume 6 Number 1 Winter 2006 22 Building Blocks Efforts by Pennsylvania foundations and nonprofits to create a statewide early childhood education network are starting to bear fruit.

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Our Fall 2005 issue featured WYEP, Pittsburgh’s independent, community radio station that after 30 years has maintained its passion for innovation while growing—with philanthropic nurturing—into the third-largest indie station in the country. We also looked at how the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council’s new Downtown Center is helping to replace programs lost after Connelley Technical Institute and Adult Education Center closed in 2004. 2

Higher Fidelity The English teachers are wonderful people, father attended there in the 1920s when For 13 years, I have been the radio writer and they are very good at taking foreign he emigrated from Italy. Needless to say, at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and have students who know very little of the language thousands of immigrants have benefited observed the evolution of local stations and and making them competent to go on to from the ESL programs over the years. their relationship to the community. I believe, university work or jobs in the community. When I was at Connelley, it was a in the story “Higher Fidelity,” that Christine I am very happy to know that the foun- rewarding experience for me to work with O’Toole provided a comprehensive history dations are making sure this special program Lois Feldman, Carol Schutte and two other of WYEP-FM that gave listeners a better continues with the Greater Pittsburgh ESL teachers not mentioned in the Ramshaw appreciation of what it took to build the Literacy Council. I cannot express enough article, Ceinwen King-Smith and Eleanor adult alternative station they’re hearing today. how essential these classes are to [foreign Gard. All were exceptional professionals The piece tracked the radio station’s journey students] who want to study and work in and excellent teachers. from often-flooded basement studios in your city and maybe become citizens. I was sad to see Connelley close in 2004. Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood three I lived in Pittsburgh for several years but I have to give credit to Pittsburgh school decades ago to the recently opened WYEP did not choose to stay because of family and board members who saw the value of adult Community Broadcast Center in the the business I run in my home country of education programs, appreciated the need South Side’s historic Bedford Square. Venezuela. But much of my business is now for such services in Pittsburgh, and, therefore, WYEP was founded as community radio. conducted in Pittsburgh because of my supported the school for years. It was even Part of what that meant in the ’70s was experience. I think it is a good thing to know more perceptive of Don Block of the Greater people who loved different kinds of music that there is an English speaker in Venezuela Pittsburgh Literacy Council, The Heinz brought in their record collections and who says only good things about your city. Endowments, and other local foundations hosted an eclectic mix of programs — Marcos Rodriguez and agencies to also see the value of the sometimes good, sometimes bad and often Caracas programs and not permit them to go out of inspired. existence. I have interacted with Mr. Block WYEP’s growth, both creatively and and have a great deal of respect for him as a financially, has brought it to where it is today. As a former director of the Connelley literacy advocate. I know under his leadership Its new facility offers a performance space Technical Institute and Adult Education and with the support of the Endowments where music fans can come to hear live Center, I read with great interest Gregg and other community agencies, adult music, a location for internship and training Ramshaw’s article about the Greater education and literacy programs at his programs, and room for the station to Pittsburgh Literacy Council’s new adult center will continue to flourish. continue to grow. The building itself is a education center in downtown Pittsburgh. Alfred R. Fascetti, Ed.D. leading edge example of green design and Having been part of Connelley’s adult Retired Director architecture for the city to show off. It’s education programs for almost 20 years until Connelley Technical Institute and still community radio, but expanded and my retirement in 2001, I can remember the Adult Education Center redefined in many ways. valuable services they provided to the Pittsburgh Public Schools Adrian McCoy Pittsburgh community. Those who worked Editor’s Note: In the Fall 2005 issue cover story Radio Writer with the Adult Basic Education, General “Higher Fidelity,” Blaine Lucas was identified as Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Educational Development and English chairman of WYEP’s board of directors. Lucas has as a Second Language programs were out- stepped down from that position, and the current standing people. No Adult Left Behind WYEP board chairman is Seán Sebastian. The history of the English as a Second I was very disappointed on one of my trips Language, or ESL, program precedes its to Pittsburgh last year to be told that the The editors of h magazine and The Heinz operation at Connelley. It is my understand- Endowments welcome your comments. All print Connelley Adult Education Center had been ing that the program originated in the early and e-mail letters must include an address with closed. This was the first place that welcomed 1900s, and was offered at Forbes Elementary daytime and evening phone numbers. We reserve the right to edit any submission for clarity and me to Pittsburgh and it was the only place School, which was located near Mercy I could afford to learn English. space. Published material also will be posted on Hospital in uptown Pittsburgh. I also believe, the Endowments’ web site, which offers current although I cannot document it, that my and back issues of the magazine. message

By James M. Walton Chairman, Vira I. Heinz Endowment

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n the shadow of a mountain of record-setting disasters—from governments. In the business-relief program, we participated in a the tsunami in southeast Asia to the flooding of New Orleans fund with Allegheny County government but insisted that our and the Gulf Coast to the earthquake in Pakistan and India— portion be held, controlled and monitored by one of our own— the damage inflicted by the last gasps of Hurricane Ivan across The Pittsburgh Foundation. Isouthwestern Pennsylvania in the fall of 2004 may seem like a small In the case of last year’s tsunami disaster, we saw a practical and distant memory. opportunity to help with a total of $450,000 in Heinz family- But for the local communities directly in Ivan’s final path, their connected philanthropies going to a Pittsburgh-based grantee, the disaster was every bit as calamitous as Katrina to Gulf Coast towns, or Brother’s Brother Foundation, which has a sterling reputation in the tsunami to many Indonesian villages. Every death or injury, every worldwide disaster relief operations. piece of destroyed property, is devastating when we focus down to the Of the $750,000 granted for Katrina relief efforts, some money community and neighborhood level. was used to support the more than 500 evacuees transferred for That is why the boards and staff of our regional foundation, whose temporary settlement in Pittsburgh. In New Orleans and the rest of grant-making territory was so seriously affected, saw a clear responsi- the Gulf Coast region, we again sought to do grant making that would bility to act. We did so quickly and with enough resources—a total of be outside the purview of government but just as critical to recovery. $700,000 from the two Endowments—to make a difference. Chief among these is helping with the environmental cleanup in As this issue’s compelling cover story by Jeffrey Fraser on the Ivan a collaboration between researchers from Carnegie Mellon University recovery points out, the foundation community’s grant making was and Tulane University. well coordinated and in proper proportion to our other investments But as the two other stories in this issue make clear, disaster in the region. The overall result was a very effective relief operation. victims need not be the only beneficiaries of creative coordination Getting to that point was not easy, especially for a group of mostly between public institutions and private foundations. In disaster relief, government must be a leader and a primary resource. Yet, private foundations such as ours embrace policies that require some distancing from government. This allows for innovation and experimentation and helps us avoid making grants to programs at odds with our values.

private foundations carrying values and agendas that don’t always In “Abling the Disabled,” Carmen Lee and Rob Quinn report on travel along the same path as government agencies and huge institu- how robotics and technology programs at the University of Pittsburgh tional charities. and Carnegie Mellon University, the same programs that receive heavy In disaster relief, government must be a leader and a primary funding from the U.S. government, are also recipients of Endowments resource. Yet, private foundations such as ours embrace policies that money for several projects. One of these is the Tech-Link Program, require some distancing from government. This allows for innovation which works to connect physically challenged students to science and and experimentation and helps us avoid making grants to programs technology, where the career field is more level. at odds with our values. In “Building Blocks,” Michelle Pilecki writes about how a statewide So how can foundations participate effectively in “disaster recovery network of foundations and nonprofits has dramatically increased philanthropy” without getting mired in what Peter Frumkin, a senior Pennsylvania’s standing in early childhood education. To achieve this, fellow at the nonpartisan New America Foundation describes as the group engaged with, but never became beholden to, the political “. . . ossified arguments aimed alternatively at drawing or erasing a system at all levels. line in the sand separating the nonprofit world and government?” So, whether it is in philanthropy done to address longer-term I believe we at the Endowments are striving for a middle-ground public needs, as these two stories exemplify, or in grant making in approach that ensures we engage in private actions of our choosing quick response to a disaster, the lesson is the same. We at the for the benefit of the public good—and that we do this, at times, in Endowments understand that a private foundation’s need to protect coordination with government, but not under its thumb. its values need not prevent it from careful coordination with In the case of the local Ivan recovery effort for communities, we government and other entities to achieve enormous good. h directed our grants to two faith-based grantees also supported by local “ABLING” THE DISABLED FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, PITTSBURGH’S TECH-LINK PROGRAM, WITH THE ALLURE OF LEGO TOYS AND ROBOTICS, HAS BEEN HELPING DISABLED STUDENTS APPRECIATE THEIR FITNESS FOR CAREERS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. BY CARMEN J. LEE AND ROB QUINN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSHUA FRANZOS he middle school students huddled over containers of brightly colored LEGO parts don’t look like revolutionaries. Clad in T-shirts and jeans, surrounded by laptops and what appear to be oddly shaped, multi-colored toy trucks, they just seem to be kids in some type of techie class or “camp,” as the gathering is called. But several of the children tinkering with robotically programmed building blocks travel 5 by wheelchair or sport hearing aids. Their participation means the camps have the potential to change the face of technology—a pretty good return on a bunch of plastic toy pieces and some wire. Helping to make the connections is the Tech-Link Program of Pittsburgh. It uses rudimentary robotics to teach middle school students with and without disabilities more about math, science and technology. The 13-year-old program also “links” high school and college students who have physical challenges with internships at companies in the Pittsburgh area. And Tech-Link assists in the intangible construction of self-esteem within young people too often noticed more for their wheelchairs or other enabling devices than for their intelligence or personality. “Tech-Link helped me take pride in who I am,” says Chaz Kellem of Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old, who has osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disorder, was involved in the program in middle and high school. “It showed students with disabilities what they could and could not do, and it gave the professionals who worked with us a new look on life and helped them to be more grateful for what they do have.” The Heinz Endowments gives about $3 million annually toward technology projects. Beginning in 1996, staff decided to target investments toward developing computer-based tutoring tools and creating software programs that facilitate learning. The foundation also committed to provide these to residents of low-income communities. It has supported Tech-Link since 1999, awarding the program more than $72,000 over seven years. “We wanted to see much greater participation of all students in experiential technology projects, with the goal of getting kids more interested in math and science or careers in technology,” says Senior Education Program Officer Gerry Balbier. “Full participation is our goal, so we work to make sure that young girls, minorities and children with disabilities are given every opportunity to participate.” Tech-Link also has received local funding from the UPMC Health System and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, and support nationally from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, which provided $30,000 in startup funds. The Mitsubishi foundation’s primary mission is to help young people with disabilities maximize their potential. While the program receives mostly private money, that may change if the National Science Foundation awards University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University a joint $20 million engineering research center grant. The universities’ application included a Tech-Link component that would provide some money for administrative costs locally and allow the schools to work with black colleges in Florida to develop programs similar to Tech-Link there.

Carmen J. Lee is communications officer for The Heinz Endowments. Rob Quinn is a Philadelphia-based writer and editor. His last story for h was about the Safe Havens Training Project, which helps teachers and child-care workers assist children and families who witness violence. CHAZ KELLEM

Chaz Kellem breezes up to a table at a coffee shop, unclips his cell phone from his waistband, pulls out a handheld wireless e-mail device and stretches one arm across the empty chair beside him. No need to fret over his wheelchair. He doesn’t.

6 “I have an able-body mind, I’m just in a wheelchair,” he says matter- of-factly as he unzips the top of his red windbreaker, exposing a black The current program was launched Pittsburgh Pirates T-shirt. in 1993 by a group of executives in So confident is the 22-year-old Pittsburgh native that he calmly southwestern Pennsylvania. Roger tells the reporter frantically scribbling notes to keep up with his rapid Barna, former chief executive officer repartee, “Take your time, just take your time.” Meanwhile, he checks of Mitsubishi Electric Power Plant Inc. the Internet on his Sidekick II for the latest blurbs about the Super in Cranberry, Pa., north of Pittsburgh, Bowl–bound Pittsburgh Steelers or the 81 points Los Angeles Laker paved the way for the Mitsubishi Kobe Bryant scored in a single game. Electric America Foundation to provide An obvious sports and technology enthusiast, Kellem attributes at the seed funding. least some of his élan to his involvement in athletics and the Tech-Link John Bernard, an original board program. member, former Tech-Link executive As a middle- and high-school student, Kellem built robots with his director and retired head of the Pittsburgh peers and served as a student member of Tech-Link’s board of directors. Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Both experiences helped increase the self-esteem and develop the recruited Cliff Brubaker, dean of the leadership skills of a diminutive youth with osteogenesis imperfecta, University of Pittsburgh School of Health or brittle bone disorder. and Rehabilitation Sciences, to serve on “It showed me the options that were out there and that I could do the Tech-Link board. almost anything,” he says. “At the time, folks with disabilities Because of Tech-Link, Kellem initially majored in computer science were rarely entering careers in science at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. But his love of sports won out, and engineering,” says Bernard. “Not to and he switched to health and physical education, with a minor in overuse the expression, but technology speech communication and a concentration in sports administration. often levels the playing field for students Today Kellem puts the professional and interpersonal skills he gained with disabilities. It seemed worthwhile through Tech-Link into play as a sales rep for the Pirates. Those abilities and logical to a number of us at OVR also have aided him in what seems to be a myriad of other activities and in the business community to such as participating in various wheelchair sports and serving as a big create an organization that encouraged brother through the Big Brothers and Sisters program, assistant coach and stimulated interest in the science, for a women’s wheelchair basketball team and internship coordinator technology, engineering and mathe- for the Pittsburgh Passion women’s football team. matics professions.” Kellem wants to return to the Tech-Link board as an adult so he can Brubaker tapped Rory Cooper, share what he’s learned about the options available to individuals with chairman of Pitt’s Rehabilitation Science disabilities, from getting insurance coverage to learning how to drive— and Technology Department, to get something he mastered in college. involved. An engineer and wheelchair “The more active a person is, the more confident the person will be,” user, Cooper subsequently received a he says. “I want to help those students live life to the best of their three-year, $80,000 grant from the ability, to the fullest.” Mitsubishi foundation to pull together a Tech-Link team to participate in the high school robotics program called FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. A multinational Seldom at a loss for words or energy, Chaz Kellem chats and laughs with Rachel Cowan, a member of Steel City Starz, the women’s wheelchair basketball team Kellem helps coach.

7 LAUREN HATCHER

Lauren Hatcher is used to getting good grades. Her mother, Cindy, teases that her daughter’s first B on a report card this school year was “a traumatic experience.” The bright and articulate ninth-grader, with thoughtful blue eyes

8 and shoulder-length brown hair, lives in the Pittsburgh suburb of Franklin Park and zips around in a motorized wheelchair because she has cerebral nonprofit organization, FIRST’s mission palsy. But that doesn’t stop her from riding horses or participating in is to make science, math, engineering and service activities at school. She also enjoys going to weekly Tech-Link technology exciting for kids by having camp, where she meets students from other schools and builds toy them enter robotics competitions. robots from LEGO parts. Tech-Link students were in the FIRST Lauren says she already liked computers when she entered the program for several years until building Tech-Link program as a seventh-grader. “But I didn’t know what I could robots for competition became too do with them as far as programming until I went to Tech-Link and talked costly. The decision was made in 2001 to with the engineer mentor…. You have to be patient because it takes shift the robotics focus to middle-school time to learn how robots work.” students, creating Saturday “camps” at Now, Lauren’s considering engineering or robotics as career options, Pitt and having the children participate and says the program has taught her how to work with people from in the more economical FIRST LEGO other backgrounds and to have confidence when speaking in front of a League contests for toy robots. group. While one student at her camp uses crutches to get around, While Tech-Link focuses on people Lauren is the only one in a wheelchair. But she insightfully notes that with disabilities, it extends to other groups “some [students] have disabilities not recognizable to the eye.” underrepresented in math and science Lauren plans to stay involved with Tech-Link through high school— fields. The middle school robotics pro- “for as long as they will let me”—so she can be a mentor for middle- gram is split between minority students school students in the program. without disabilities and disabled students “Tech-Link shows kids with disabilities that they can have careers of all races, with females accounting for in math, science or robotics,” she says, “and they don’t have to stumble about 30 percent of the participants. into them by accident.” The need for programs such as Tech-Link is a no-brainer for Jim Osborn, a member of the program’s board for three years and executive director of Carnegie Mellon’s Medical Robotics Technology Center. “I’ve been at Carnegie Mellon since my freshman year in 1977. In all that time, I can count the number of persons with disabilities I’ve encountered at the university on my fingers and toes. Moreover, only a few of them have been in technical fields. “I’m not an expert in the underlying issues, but something is clearly going on in pre-college education that keeps young people with disabilities out of engineering and science. It’s also still the 9

Ninth-grader Lauren Hatcher gets a taste of mentoring younger Tech-Link students as she tries to help a giggly John Dwyer on the computer. DEWEY BLACK

For the past two summers, Dewey Black started a typical weekday at 4:30 a.m. He commuted 120 miles round trip each day to work at the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, a joint program between the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

10 and the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. But Black isn’t a doctor, healthcare executive or tenured professor. case that females aren’t encouraged to He’s a 20-year-old junior at Pennsylvania State University’s Erie campus, pursue technical careers. Social prejudice majoring in computer science with a math minor. must be part of the cause of both He also has muscular dystrophy, a progressive disorder characterized phenomena.” by gradual wasting of skeletal muscle. Tech-Link staff helped him find the Tech-Link Executive Director Sondra internship with the research lab, where he’s worked for two summers, Boularis agrees. and the program is arranging for him to have another internship at “Historically, we have seen that Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield this year. children with disabilities get a sub- Black, who is from Prosperity, Washington County, a town south of standard education in math and science, Pittsburgh, learned about Tech-Link at a Muscular Dystrophy Association and often are not encouraged to consider support group meeting. The guest speaker was a social worker from careers in science and technical fields.… Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh who explained that the hospital It is not unusual for teachers to assume a wanted to connect students with disabilities to the Tech-Link program. student with a disability is automatically “I was looking for an organization that could help find me an less intelligent, or individuals without internship in Pittsburgh,” Black recalls. “I was eager for any assistance disabilities sometimes lump everyone Tech-Link could provide for locating a summer internship that related with a disability into one group.” to my major.” Of course, all the training in the Tech-Link Executive Director Sondra Boularis says Black and his world cannot overcome every type of parents are so committed to his internship participation that his mother prejudice people with disabilities face rose early during the summers to drive Black to work. Before Pam Black in obtaining job interviews, talking with retired from a human resources firm, she provided her son’s daily skeptical employers or working with transportation, backtracking 30 miles to her job after dropping him off. intolerant colleagues. While Tech-Link And Dewey Black may become more than a Tech-Link success story. doesn’t have a magic wand to eliminate He is on his way to becoming part of the effort to improve the quality such obstacles, staff and volunteers do of life for people with disabilities. their part to prepare students with dis- During his first summer with the research lab, he modified and updated abilities to face potentially harsh realities. the operating system that collects data on wheelchair propulsion In addition to career preparation and activity. and exposure, the program encourages “I also wrote software for power-wheelchair joysticks and software the students to be their own advocates by to test the head-position monitor,” he explains. “Basically, it was a becoming familiar with the Americans headrest with sensors that could determine where the individual’s head with Disabilities Act and disability- was oriented.” related issues. Some, like the current Black aspires to work in computer research and development, with a and former Tech-Link students shown focus on software. He hopes to one day write his own computer operat- here, are not only becoming advocates, ing system and is interested in exploring space and developing software but also role models and leaders in for manned and unmanned spacecraft. addressing the challenges the disabled “I hope from the internships Tech-Link has found me that I will live with daily. h learn skills you cannot get in a classroom or from a textbook,” he says. “And I hope to bring these skills to a permanent job someday.” 1111

Dewey Black pauses for the camera between his classes at Pennsylvania State University’s Erie campus. 12

After a year of disasters across the world, a coalition of more than a dozen foundations has stayed true to a recovery plan for southwestern Pennsylvanians hit hard by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. By Jeffery Fraser Photography by Richard Kelly A FLOOD OF lade Run, ankle-deep most of the time, was an angry torrent of muddy water when Marion Beattie pulled up to her rural Butler County home in the drenching rain. G Nine days earlier, the region had been soaked by heavy rain from a Gulf Coast hurricane- turned-tropical-depression. Glade Run had held. On Sept. 17, 2004, the leftovers of another hurricane, Ivan, settled over the saturated hills and valleys of western Pennsylvania. Beattie’s streak of luck was about to end. “I left work early, knowing we could be in trouble,” recalls Beattie, whose plan was to rush home, pack some clothes, gather her cats, stay the night with friends on higher ground and hope for the best. If the plan had a flaw, it was in miscalculating how quickly trouble would arrive. She hadn’t been inside more than 15 minutes when the raging creek leaped its banks, shot across her five-acre yard, swept away her porch and surrounded her two-story frame house. Water the color of milk chocolate filled her first-floor rooms to their ceilings, trapping Beattie and her cats in an upstairs bedroom, where she would stay for the next 24 hours, draining her cell phone with calls for help until she was rescued by volunteer firemen in a boat. “It happened so fast,” Beattie says. “Then, all I had to show for 50 years of my life were the clothes on my back and my three cats.” Within weeks, The Heinz Endowments and more than one dozen other western Pennsylvania foundations were developing strategies that would play an important role in easing the suffering and loss endured by Beattie and some 1,600 other homeowners, businesses and families who were among the least able to recover from the worst flooding to visit the region since Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

Jeffery Fraser is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer and frequent contributor to h. His last story ran in the 2005 annual report issue and reported on foundation support of the Flight 93 Memorial Design Competition. HELP Volunteer photos courtesyVolunteer of Hosanna Industries and North Hills Community Outreach. 14 he transformation wasn’t captured on a television T 15 program. But Marion Beattie of Evans City, The foundations’ support of efforts to through the Caribbean as a Category 5 Butler County, a town north help flooded homeowners and families hurricane with 150 mph winds, killing of Pittsburgh, can show focused on two faith-based nonprofits 65 people on battered islands. It struck how her flood-ravaged with well-established roots and reputa- the U.S. Gulf Coast as a Category 3 kitchen got an extreme tions for service in the region. Hosanna hurricane on Sept. 16, weakened to a makeover with help Industries mobilized an army of tropical depression and bullied north, from Hosanna Industries. volunteers to rehabilitate flood-damaged lingering over western Pennsylvania homes. North Hills Community Outreach as a torrential rain the following day. combed neighborhoods to provide The timing could not have been needy flood victims with food, clothing worse. The soil was already saturated, and other basic needs. Both nonprofits and many streams were still congested would rely on foundation grants to with silt and debris from nearly five significantly increase their capacity to inches of rain that had fallen when respond to the flood. Tropical Depression Frances rolled In Allegheny County, the Endowments through on Sept. 8 and 9. The six to eight and 14 other foundations pooled their inches of rain from Ivan had nowhere contributions to offer grants to flood- to go but to the rivers and streams, damaged businesses as part of the which in many places would not hold. Hurricane Ivan Business Relief Fund “The first sign of trouble?” Charlene established in partnership with county Cutrone, co-owner of Huckleberry’s government. The grants supplemented Grocery and Delicatessen in Oakdale, zero-interest loans given by the county Allegheny County, repeats the question to businesses that had been denied put to her to help herself remember. Small Business Administration aid. “The first sign of trouble was when By last December, 14 months after water started pouring through the door.” Ivan’s flooding, Hosanna Industries had Robinson Run, a few blocks behind rehabilitated 500 homes; North Hills the market, had been anything but Community Outreach had assisted menacing during the two years Cutrone nearly 1,000 of the neediest flood and her twin sister, Marlene Birnie, victims with cleanup, temporary shelter, owned Huckleberry’s. But Ivan’s rains furnaces, water heaters, food, clothing, brought it over its banks and into Oakdale appliances, household items and referrals so quickly that escaping the market for additional aid; and all 48 Allegheny for high ground was touch-and-go for County businesses given loans and a time. “There were four of us in there,” grants from the Hurricane Ivan Business says Cutrone, “all pushing against the Relief Fund had reopened. door to get it open so we could get out.” The rains that brought the region so The water was knee-deep in the much misery began as a tropical storm parking lot and rising fast when they off the west coast of Africa on Aug. 31, were rescued by boat. 2004. Two weeks later, Ivan ripped 16 The six feet of water that swamped damage that left their futures in doubt. the market had receded by the time they If they were to close their doors for returned the following day. But it had good, it would bleed jobs, tax revenues claimed much: freezers, ovens, cooler, the and vitality from communities struggling deli case, pots and pans, silverware, tables, to recover from Ivan. chairs, counters, cupboards, shelves, In response, a working committee computers, cash registers and inventory. of foundation and government repre- “People came from everywhere to sentatives met over several weeks and help us clean up,” says Birnie. “Then, drafted plans for the Hurricane Ivan we sat down and tried to figure out what Business Relief Fund. The plan called for he aisles are clear and the hell we were going to do.” providing zero-interest loans to eligible the shelves neatly stocked Within weeks, Pittsburgh Foundation businesses of up to 20 percent of their T at Huckleberry’s Grocery staff members convened a series of losses and grants to those businesses in and Delicatessen in Oakdale, meetings with Allegheny County Chief the amount of 80 percent of their loan. Executive Dan Onorato and other The grants would be drawn from Allegheny County. Owners government officials. Their job was to a $1.58 million joint fund created by Charlene Cutrone, left, and define what would be required for recov- 15 foundations, to which the Endow- Marlene Birnie holds up a ery in affected communities and then ments contributed $500,000. The loans photo of a different scene work with foundation officials to figure would be financed by $2.5 million in from September 2004, out their best role in an emergency federal Community Development Block when floodwaters gushed relief plan. Grant dollars the county had set aside through the store, whipping In Allegheny County alone, an for flood relief. its contents into worthless estimated 10,000 homes sustained damages Also contributing to the business heaps on the floor. ranging from flooded basements to fund were the Claude Worthington structural problems, ruined furnaces Benedum Foundation, Citizens Bank and loss of contents. Nearly 1,000 busi- Foundation, Dollar Bank Foundation, nesses also were damaged, some losing The Grable Foundation, The Hillman most of their equipment and inventory. Foundation, Jewish Healthcare Several foundations, including the Foundation, Laurel Foundation, Mellon Endowments, chose to support relief Financial Corporation, Richard King efforts for families and homeowners Mellon Foundation, Pittsburgh Child through individual grants to community Guidance Foundation, The Pittsburgh nonprofits engaged in the recovery. Foundation, PNC Bank, St. Margaret “We also looked at what could be Foundation and the Wagner Family done above and beyond what each Charitable Trust. foundation was doing individually,” says Most opted to place their contributions Gerri Kay, vice president for program with the Pittsburgh Foundation, which and policy at The Pittsburgh Foundation. became their liaison with government. County officials were troubled that The collaborative arrangement allowed many local businesses had suffered 17 18 each foundation a voice in how its gifts “Money matters in these situations, in 13 designated flood municipalities would be used and kept the pool of but so does coordination,” says Marge that had been denied an SBA loan and money under foundation control. It Petruska, the Endowments’ senior pro- met other criteria, including limits on was based on a model first used by the gram director for Children, Youth & losses and debt. “We wanted to give Pittsburgh Foundation, the Endowments Families. “The great thing about these businesses that were making it before and other foundations to create the partnerships is that the county has the the flood an opportunity to get back on Human Services Integration Fund, a resources to drive the agenda, gather the their feet after the flood,” says Dennis joint foundation account that supports data and coordinate, and we fill in the Davin, director of the Allegheny County promising human service initiatives the gaps the county has difficulty filling.” Department of Economic Development. county cannot afford or cannot fund The Hurricane Ivan Business Relief “If the foundations hadn’t come through, due to restrictions on public dollars. Fund was made available to businesses we probably would have provided just the zero-percent loans. In some cases, that DISASTER PHILANTHROPY might not have been enough.” Huckleberry’s Grocery and Delicatessen In the wake of a significant disaster on the order of a 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, reopened after four months of cleanup, what is the proper role of private, independent foundations in contributing repairs and new equipment, most billed to a recovery effort that is largely the purview of government and large to owners Birnie and Cutrone, who did public charities? The Heinz Endowments and dozens of other foundations in western not carry flood insurance and had been Pennsylvania make grants each year to nonprofit organizations and programs denied an SBA loan. They paid what as part of strategies that are carefully designed to achieve set goals. they could out of pocket, accepted a loan In the past two years alone, the Endowments from family and, says Birnie, “maxed out has made more than $110 million in grants our credit.” Still, they had little cash for to move the region forward in such areas as restocking the shelves and kitchen. Their business development from technologies first post-flood orders were delivered on produced at local universities, delivery of credit or donated outright by vendors human services, workforce development, early childhood education and promoting to help them reopen. It wasn’t until they environment-friendly, sustainable development received $24,000 in loans and grants practices, to name just a few. from the Hurricane Ivan Business Relief Yet, during the same period, portions of southwestern Pennsylvania were hit Fund that they were able to establish hard by the last gasps of Hurricane Ivan, and remote sections of the world were a measure of stability. “We had to order devastated by a series of natural disasters that set global records for loss of life. products to get up and running, but In several cases, the foundation gave proportionally to several recovery we had no cash flow,” says Birnie. campaigns; in others, it chose not to contribute. “Once we had cash, we could start “In many of these disasters, an entire year’s allotment of grant making from a regional foundation easily could be expended on disaster relief,” says Endowments paying our bills.” President Maxwell King. “The tough questions for a private foundation have to do One year after the flood, only 76 of with deciding on amounts that are appropriate and identifying control measures the 150 eligible businesses that county to make sure that the recovery work that is funded meets the foundation’s goals.” officials expected would ask for loans In this issue’s message section on page 3, Vira I. Heinz Endowment Chairman and grants had actually applied, despite James Walton offers a board-level view of how a private, regional foundation having been notified by phone, letter balances the need to respond to disaster relief with the need to protect and other means. Their reasons varied, independence and preserve distinct values. Top: People of all ages joined in the cleanup after remnants of Hurricane Ivan deluged southwestern Pennsylvania in September 2004. Students at All Saints School in Millvale, a community three miles north of Pittsburgh, scraped mud off the floor and piled up water-logged books in one flood-damaged classroom. Bottom: Many southwestern Pennsylvanians were overwhelmed by the devastation Hurricane Ivan left behind. This woman from Etna, another town north of Pittsburgh, could not control her emotions after her house was condemned because floodwaters had filled her basement and first floor, making the foundation unstable and causing the walls to buckle.

19 The Endowments volunteers as “the people who made my and several other foun- house a home again.” dations made individual Without flood insurance, Beattie ran contributions totaling out of money before she could rebuild $2.17 million to Hosanna her eight badly flooded first-floor rooms. Industries and North Hills Hosanna Industries finished the job Community Outreach, with a swarm of volunteers. “I don’t enabling them to expand think there was less than 40 people here their operations and at any given time,” says Beattie. “One help nearly 1,500 needy afternoon, they put down flooring and homeowners and families carpet padding and were working on in the region. the finished trim. And I have big rooms. By its own standards, On another trip, they painted inside, say county officials. Some businesses, the idea that Hosanna Industries could rebuilt my outside steps and put on a for example, chose not to apply for SBA rehabilitate 500 houses in a year’s time deck. They sided the whole house in loans, and some decided not to rebuild was wildly ambitious. “When I shared 11 hours. It was like ‘Extreme House and closed their doors for good. the plan with my board and staff, it was Makeover,’ Pittsburgh-style.” In October 2005, with about met with a little bit of wonderment,” Michael Zilka, whose basement in his $1.9 million in loans and $1.1 million says Hosanna Director Donn Ed, who East Deer home took nearly four feet in grants still available, county officials as a Presbyterian minister launched the of floodwater, learned about Hosanna proposed options for extending the nonprofit as a mission to help needy Industries from a North Hills Community program to more businesses. Pittsburgh families in 1990. “We were all concerned Outreach volunteer who had delivered Foundation staff informed each about whether it could be done. But I school supplies to his three children. foundation of the specifics, gathered felt that, with faith, we could help out.” Hosanna volunteers walled in a blown- comments and concerns, and conducted Hosanna Industries, which in a typical out basement door at his request, built an e-mail vote on repurposing the year rehabilitates 100 houses, increased him a new porch and supplied him with grants. The result was consensus on its workload five-fold by raising $1.87 a new furnace.

Copyright Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2005, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. extending eligibility to businesses with million, 78 percent of those dollars MaryAnn Tomaro learned of North losses greater than the original limit coming from four foundations, including Hills Community Outreach from volun- of $500,000 and to businesses outside a $100,000 grant from The Heinz teers sent by the neighborhood Lutheran the target communities. Endowments. The nonprofit managed church to help her clean out her beauty “That process,” says the Pittsburgh to stretch that budget and complete salon and apartment, both of which were Foundation’s Kay, “reinforced the value renovations with an estimated market flooded when Pine Creek overran into of this model of pooling money, having value of $6 million by relying on the Etna’s business district. The nonprofit a foundation advisory committee around labor of some 4,000 volunteers and the donated a computer, a fax machine and the use of the money, working with the benevolence of vendors who offered beauty supplies. county, getting regular reports, periodi- building materials at deep discount. “There is an advantage to working cally revisiting what is working and what Marion Beattie, who narrowly escaped with local organizations who know their isn’t working and, if it isn’t working, how the flooding of Glade Run with her cats, communities,” says Scott Izzo, director we might repurpose it.” remembers the Hosanna Industries of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, 20 aryAnn’s Beauty MSalon in Etna, north of 21 Pittsburgh, was anything which gave to Hosanna Industries, mobilizing volunteers isn’t new to us. but pretty after flooding North Hills Community Outreach and But if our regular staff would have had made a mess of the the Hurricane Ivan Business Relief Fund to handle the additional load, it would business’s interior. Today as part of its flood-relief grant making. have been crushing.” owner MaryAnn Tomaro’s “They know where the resources are MaryAnn’s Beauty Salon had become clients can get primped and on which streets to look for those a day spa just five months before Ivan’s and polished in a salon most in need.” rains brought six feet of water through that looks the part. North Hills Community Outreach was the Etna storefront. “We lost everything,” no stranger to flood relief. The interfaith says Tomaro, who opened the salon in nonprofit evolved from the relief efforts 1988 when she bought the building. of local religious and community organi- “The tanning area, massage area, nails zations during the 1986 floods that area, salon, front desk, floor and doors ravaged neighborhoods in several towns blew out; windows smashed; a tree north of Pittsburgh. When Ivan struck, came through. We had stuff in here that one of the nonprofit’s first tasks was to didn’t even belong to us.” restore operations at its Millvale satellite Her flood insurance covered structural office, which had been badly flooded. damage to the building, but not its The nonprofit received more than contents. She had recently refinanced the $712,000 in foundation grants, includ- building and was in no position to aban- ing $100,000 from the Endowments. don it or her business. Volunteers from the Foundation grants accounted for neighborhood helped with the cleanup. 64 percent of the $1.1 million North She depleted her savings to repair the Hills Community Outreach raised for uninsured damage and borrowed money flood relief, which increased its caseload from family to pay utilities. The business by one-third. The nonprofit added machines and beauty supplies from seven staff to help coordinate more than North Hills Community Outreach 1,100 volunteers, respond to hundreds moved her further along. With $22,000 of offers to donate anything from money in loans and grants from Allegheny to living room furniture, identify needy County’s Hurricane Ivan Business families, confirm their eligibility and Relief Fund, Tomaro replaced ruined make sure their basic needs were met, massage, salon and tanning equipment whether that meant getting them food, and reopened last February. appliances, tetanus shots or a security Like many business owners who’ve deposit for a new apartment. recovered from Ivan, Tomaro is deeper “I thought, if we had the money we in debt today than before the flood. would be able to gear up and get the job And business has been slow to return. done,” says Fay Morgan, North Hills “I don’t know what the future will Community Outreach executive director. bring,” says Tomaro. “But I know that “We have a strategic plan and a strong without all the help I got, I’d already infrastructure. Donating goods and be down and under.” h

BUILDING 23 BLOCKS

A STATEWIDE STRATEGY TO PULL PENNSYLVANIA OUT OF THE CELLAR IN ITS COMMITMENT TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION WAS BOOSTED BY A CHANGE IN THE POLITICAL CONVERSATION. BY MICHELLE PILECKI ILLUSTRATIONS BY LEIGH WELLS

n a balmy Saturday in September 2002, signs a statewide, nonpartisan advocacy group. With only a modest proclaiming positive goals for children greeted Nittany Lion $500,000 promotional budget, what was known as the Focus fans as they approached Beaver Stadium. Dotting the road in Five for Kids campaign needed “a bit of blue smoke and mirrors” Penn State’s blue and white were signs that likely brought to make an impact. puzzled looks from traveling football fans. Bravo Group, a Harrisburg-based, political-communications “Our children deserve to enter school ready to learn,” consultant firm, scoped out where state legislators’ cars would shouted one banner. be parked and leafleted them. Workers also followed candidates OHarsh realities were spelled out in the red and white of on the tailgate-party circuit, says Jeanette Krebs, the company’s the day’s opponent, Nebraska: “State money invested in vice president of public relations. Fraternity and sorority Preschool = ZERO.” Circulating among football followers were members distributed the beach balls and bookmark-like still another set of colors—purple and yellow—emblazoned information sheets—complete with purple and yellow on buttons, signs, leaflets and even glow-in-the-dark beach buttons—to partygoers and anyone talking to the candidates. balls with the message “What About the Kids?” That push to be part of the candidates’ debate and on The slogans were intended to raise awareness of children’s the agenda of the future governor worked. issues among Pennsylvania gridiron fans—two in particular: “The only thing that Fisher and Rendell agreed on was a state Attorney General Mike Fisher and former Philadelphia commitment to early learning and other childhood issues,” Mayor Ed Rendell, then in the last months of their contest for recalls Benso, whose coalition was supported by The Heinz governor, with State College a highly visible campaign stop. Endowments and the William Penn Foundation of Philadelphia. The goal was “to create a sense that kids’ issues were big The marketing strategy to gain a foothold in the guber- issues for the election,” explains Joan L. Benso, president and natorial campaign was just one more step in a multi-year, chief executive officer of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, multi-faceted, multi-partner effort to spotlight the benefits

Michelle Pilecki is former executive editor of Pittsburgh Magazine. Her last story for h showed how the foundation-supported expansion of The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is delighting children and adults. 24 of building an effective support system to meet the needs of young children. Whether the question was reducing poverty and crime or promoting eco- nomic and workforce development, the answer, advocates insisted, was early child- hood education—and Pennsylvania was sorely behind in making it a priority. In 2000, Pennsylvania was one of only nine states that didn’t invest in early childhood learning. When advocates first looked at this issue in the 1980s, Pittsburgh’s poverty rates were growing—especially among Across the country, states such as Oklahoma and Georgia African Americans—and hovering above the national rate. began offering universal access to pre-kindergarten while Poverty is the single biggest predictor of problems such as others, like North Carolina, started to provide targeted, state- school dropouts, violence, pregnancy and substance abuse supported programs for disadvantaged 4-year-olds. Nationwide, among teenagers, and there was no focus in the region on spending on pre-kindergarten soared: from $25 million in the attempting to prevent these situations long before adolescence, 1970s, to $198 million in the 1980s and $1.8 billion by 1998. says Marge Petruska, the Endowments’ senior program director With some 64 percent of Pennsylvania children cared for for Children, Youth & Families. “The very idea was pretty outside the home, “we were very anxious to do more funding unusual at that time. We thought it was an opportune moment for early childhood, but it’s tough to do in a state with no to build an agenda that would directly benefit children birth to system for early childhood education,” says Emily B. Watson, age 5 and their families.” program officer at the Grable Foundation. That agenda has grown in spurts and starts, but the Taking another ambitious step in establishing high-quality movement has been bolstered by scientific research where the preschool programs designed for and supported by their local stakes are laid bare in the numbers. Advocates cite the Carolina communities is the Pennsylvania Partnership for Quality Abecedarian Project, a North Carolina study that has been Pre-Kindergarten. tracking 111 people born into poverty and who now are in Its roots can be traced to efforts such as a $2 million early adulthood. Those who received quality early childhood Endowments grant that in 1996 launched the Early Childhood education scored higher on cognitive tests in adolescence and Initiative, an ambitious project designed to provide intensive were more likely to attend college by a rate of 36 percent to early childhood education and care to the neediest children in 14 percent. Allegheny County, and the William Penn Foundation’s invest- The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study in Michigan, which ment in early care and education programs during the 1990s, began in 1962 with toddlers at risk, has found that participants, especially Child Care Matters, a six-year, $14 million program. now in their 40s, who had high-quality pre-kindergarten are The Early Childhood Initiative, which also received support more likely to own homes. They earn about $5,000 more per from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, established top- year and are less likely to have been arrested. The study also quality preschool programs that researchers found were estimated that the total benefit–cost ratio of the program over time was $17 for every dollar invested. Advocates say quality pre-kindergarten offers young children several long-term benefits such as providing them with experiences and brain development activities that will help them excel on standardized {tests and prepare for higher education.

25 providing dramatic benefits to the children enrolled. For Early childhood education advocates realized, however, example, significantly fewer of the children receiving services that the best way to draw a governor’s attention was to make were held back after entering school compared with their their agenda a campaign issue. peers. Special education placement rates plummeted among The Partnership for Children teamed up with University those in the program from 21 to 1 percent. of Pittsburgh’s Office of Child Development, the Philadelphia But a Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Endowments Citizens for Children and Youth, and Philadelphia Safe and determined that, despite the successes, the initiative suffered Sound to inject five issues into the campaign. Focus Five for Kids from problems such as wrong assumptions about costs and sought to improve access to health care, after-school programs, demand for services, which were later exacerbated by federal public school education, family-support centers and school welfare reform. The program was scaled back, but lessons readiness through a system of pre-kindergarten education. learned proved helpful to future efforts in Pennsylvania The coalition partners met with campaign staff members and elsewhere. and the editorial boards of nearly every major newspaper “The results where the program was implemented offered in Pennsylvania. They also commissioned a poll that found local data that we used to make powerful arguments for public majorities of voters favored state-subsidized health insurance investment in quality early learning,” says Petruska. for uninsured children and more state funding for public In Cleveland, George Gund Foundation officials followed schools, and that 40 percent of likely voters would oppose a the initiative’s example and began looking at early childhood gubernatorial candidate who didn’t support either proposal. programs that start at birth and impact a child’s total develop- Candidates Rendell and Fisher outlined the details of their ment. Gund also learned from the Pennsylvania experience support for early childhood education in a presentation at the the importance of a long-term financial commitment from Delaware Valley Association for Education of Young Children. the public sector before launching an early childcare and “It was a watershed moment,” says Ronnie Bloom, the William education initiative called Invest in Children. “We couldn’t Penn Foundation’s Children, Youth & Families director. expect miracles overnight, and we needed public officials to But winning over a future governor was only a partial victory. hang in there for the long haul,” says Marcia Egbert, Gund’s While pre-kindergarten had wide support, some senior program officer for human services. conservatives, such as the Commonwealth Foundation in The efforts to improve school readiness among young a widely printed op-ed, argued that Focus Five sought to children at both ends of Pennsylvania intensified attempts to “allow…parents to abdicate, and the government to usurp, the institutionalize the concept in the state. most basic of child-rearing duties.”And after Rendell’s victory, The Pennsylvania Business Roundtable, an association of the Republican-led legislature was not going to give the new chief executive officers of the state’s largest corporations, tried Democratic governor everything he wanted, such as his initial to convince Gov. Tom Ridge of the need for a statewide early proposal of $375 million for educational block grants. childhood education initiative. Instead, it was his successor, Change started with the 2004–05 education budget, which Gov. Mark Schweiker, who made the first move, appointing provided $200 million in new educational accountability block the Task Force on Early Childhood Care and Education. Some grants to the state’s 501 school districts. Districts could use critics called the group’s study “iterative,” but Republican the grants for any of 10 options. Two-thirds chose one of the David Dumeyer, executive director of the House Education three related to early education: reducing class size in primary Committee, credits the former Republican governor grades, creating pre-kindergarten programs or, the most with laying the groundwork “with a series of blue-ribbon popular, establishing full-day kindergarten. recommendations” in 2002. Another benefit of good early childhood education is supporting local workforce development by equipping young learners with the skills necessary for success after graduation.}

26 Last school year, more than 50 percent of children in “We need to build a set of supporters from across the public schools had access to full-day kindergarten, up from state that goes beyond the four- and eight-year cycles of state less than 40 percent the previous year. And the state approved government,” says Haigh. The idea is to make high-quality its first-ever Head Start supplemental: $15 million to enable early childhood education part of the institutional landscape, 2,500 more students to attend the federal preschool program not something that vanishes with a new administration. for at-risk children. The allocation for the current school year A model program that organizers hope will grow is the doubled, but half the children who qualify for the program Pre-K Partnership of Bucks County, which includes three are still not enrolled, says Harriet Dichter, deputy secretary neighboring school districts and nine community partner for the state Department of Public Welfare’s Office of organizations. The coalition is creating a “seamless” pre- Child Development. kindergarten program for 189 children, in which different Helping to fill the gap is the Partnership for Quality providers are given the same curriculum based on state Pre-Kindergarten, a massive public–private coalition that is education standards for ages 3 and 4, the same strategies for assisting 23 pre-kindergarten pilot programs across the state. preparing children for kindergarten and the same staff training The Endowments, the William Penn Foundation, and the conducted in conjunction with the school districts’ employees. Grable and Richard King Mellon foundations of Pittsburgh; “These districts are showing how a partnership effort can the Raymond John Wean Foundation of Warren, Ohio; the increase the quality and capacity of pre-kindergarten programs national John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, based in and have a lasting effect on the physical, emotional and Miami; and the state Department of Education are working intellectual development of young children,” says Pennsylvania toward raising $16 million for the community-based Partnership Director Bob Bell. collaborative programs. Another early childhood effort worth noting is Keystone The Partnership has a three-pronged approach for STARS, which stands for Standards, Training, Assistance, bolstering early childhood education in Pennsylvania. The Resources and Support. The rating system for preschool first part involves planning and implementing high-quality programs recognizes consistent improvement and enables pre-kindergarten programs at participating school districts them to receive grants to make their services better each that offer the services by partnering with Head Start and time they qualify for a star. qualified private childcare providers. Since getting its first star in January 2003, the Marian Manor The second is building a network of community leaders Child Development and Learning Center in Green Tree, just who can share information and identify mutual interests, outside of Pittsburgh, has qualified for seven grants totaling thus creating a new set of advocates. $69,000 and is working on its third star. Visitors walking into The final prong is the executive committee chaired by the nonprofit center can see that the children’s colorful artwork; Gov. Rendell and James E. Rohr, chairman and CEO of PNC posters of career options showing men and women; and Financial Services Group. Two years ago, the company launched shelves of books, toys and art supplies have been strategically the PNC Grow Up Great program, a 10-year, $100 million placed at child height. The grants enabled the center, which commitment to universal access to high-quality early childhood serves 65 children from birth to age 5, to buy easels, playground education in its service area of nine states and the District of equipment and age-appropriate furniture. Columbia. Robert Haigh, senior advisor to the Partnership Most important, the additional money will help the center’s for Quality Pre-Kindergarten, and Thomas Lamb, senior vice staff obtain more specialized training, and each of the 16 staff president for government affairs at PNC, are recruiting some members now has a personal Professional Development Record 20 to 30 business, civic and political leaders to join the bipartisan, nonpolitical group. 27 “It all signals a new understanding of what kids need,” Hibbard says. “The pre-K momentum is tremendous throughout the country.” But pre-kindergarten alone “is late, if you think of the brain research. The birth-to-3 years are imperative,” she says. And Pennsylvania’s early childhood agenda is going there. Dichter says her office is working on a strategy for infants and toddlers. It includes training for caregivers and a pilot nurse-visitation program to help parents be comfortable and confident in their role. The Endowments has given $400,000 toward the acceleration of this work. “Our view is that it is a continuum,” Dichter says. “It’s been a long trip to get to where we are, and we have a way to go yet.” Traveling quickly along that path are childcare centers like the nationally accredited York Day Nursery, which serves 120 children ages 6 weeks to 5 years and has a four-star Keystone rating. Kristy Kitching marvels at the changes in herself and the York, Pa., center in the decade she’s been there. She’s transformed from a part-time kinder- garten aide with no post-secondary education to a lead teacher with an associate’s degree in human development and family studies, with tracking her progress, Director Penny Bongiorni explains. an early childhood option. “It treats the childcare field as a profession, not just a job.” The center now maintains more up-to-date materials With the evolution of such new thinking, early childhood and equipment; encourages and, in some cases, helps pay for experts are heartened. “Before, Pennsylvania was in the bottom advanced staff training; and creates relationships with the tier. Now, in some areas, it’s in the vanguard,”says Susan Hibbard, community through activities such as sponsoring arts shows a consultant with the Build Initiative, a multi-state partnership and organizing field trips to a local library for story hour. created by the Early Childhood Funders’ Collaborative. “I think this is something parents look at. They want to Keystone STARS is the sort of innovation that Pennsylvania see how trained these people are and what type of education can share with the Build Initiative, which it joined in 2003. their children are getting,” says Kitching. “I couldn’t be happier. Pre-kindergarten efforts in the state were included among This is the way to go.” h the $2.5 billion spent nationally on such programs last year. 28 here&there Teresa Heinz, chair of the Howard Heinz Endowment continued quality-of-life improvements are being and the Heinz Family Philanthropies, will welcome funded by foundations.” officials from about 2,000 foundations who will The last time the Washington, D.C.–based meet in Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention council held its national convention in Pittsburgh Center May 7 through 9 for the 57th annual was 41 years ago. This spring, convention-goers conference of the Council on Foundations. will tour foundation-supported programs such as Mrs. Heinz will speak about special initiatives the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, Bidwell Training local foundations have funded Center, the Carnegie Museum of Art and several that have proven effective in of Pittsburgh’s “green” buildings.

Barry Lavery the Pittsburgh region and could Some sessions will detail the transformation be replicated nationally. of Pittsburgh’s downtown through the arts, the The conference also will be revitalized riverfronts and the evolution in the city’s another opportunity for the city economy from steel to technology industries. to shed its smokestack image as Others will include speakers such as Nobel Peace Pittsburgh nonprofit leaders show Prize winner Wangari Maathai; George Soros, off how far the city has come since it was known founder and chairman of the Open Society Institute; for steel mills and soot-filled skies. Conference- former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich; and goers will visit some of the best examples of Max Baucus, ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Pittsburgh’s philanthropic work and see a city that Finance Committee. is among the nation’s leaders in “green,” or “It’s an outstanding tribute that the Council on environmentally friendly, innovation—often with Foundations was so enthusiastic about coming to funding from local foundations. Pittsburgh, our nation’s birthplace of philanthropy,” “It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to change said Bill Trueheart, president and chief executive the national conversation about Pittsburgh,” says officer of The Pittsburgh Foundation and chair Endowments President Maxwell King, who also of the Independent Sector. “Many key individuals serves as vice chair of the national council. from across the United States and other parts of “We will be able to showcase the city while demon- the world will experience the wonderful attributes strating that those likely to lead in Pittsburgh’s of our great city.” COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS CONFERENCE Brad Feinknopf STAFF UPDATES 29 The Heinz Endowments of dance, fight, play, music, ritual and mimicry. Justin welcomes two additions to its has served on the Multicultural Arts Initiative board, the staff this year. In February, Emerging Leader Council of Americans for the Arts Christina Gabriel came on and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ grants panels. board as director of the In other staff news, Janet Sarbaugh and Marge Innovation Economy Program, Petruska were each promoted in January to the new inside Uptown Art the new name and focus for Endowments position of senior program director. what had been the Economic Janet’s title had been director of the Arts & Culture Artist James Simon Founded more than four decades Our fields of emphasis include grins broadly as people Opportunity Program area. Program, and Marge had held the same position for apart, the Howard Heinz Endowment, philanthropy in general and the examine his colorful Justin Laing joins the staff in the Children, Youth & Families area. Their promotions established in 1941, and the Vira I. disciplines represented by our grant- “Uptown Rhythm,” a March as an Arts & Culture recognize their long and excellent service to the whimsical cacophony of Heinz Endowment, established in 1986, making programs: Arts & Culture; Program officer. Endowments, their exceptional skills as grant makers and swaying people, animals, are the products of a deep family Children, Youth & Families; Innovation musical instruments Christina was a vice provost and the chief technology the special role they play in providing leadership as commitment to community and the Economy; Education; and the and animated buildings, officer at Carnegie Mellon University for the past five members of the foundation’s senior management team. common good that began with Environment. These five programs work topped by a large parrot years. Prior to working for Carnegie Mellon, she was Among the Endowments staff with the longest and a “D” for Duquesne H. J. Heinz and continues to this day. together on behalf of three shared a top official with the National Science Foundation. tenure, Janet joined the foundation in July 1982, when University. The 9-by-25- The Heinz Endowments is based in organizational goals: enabling foot sculpture stretches Her extensive research and technical background also it comprised the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Pittsburgh, where we use our region southwestern Pennsylvania to embrace up a wall of the Forbes includes positions as director of collaborative initiatives Pittsburgh Foundation. The Vira I. Heinz Endowment as a laboratory for the development and realize a vision of itself as a Avenue garage in at Carnegie Mellon and first vice president for research was not formed until 1986, and the Pittsburgh Pittsburgh’s Uptown of solutions to challenges that are premier place both to live and to work; and technology transfer at Case Western Reserve Foundation did not move out on its own until 1993. national in scope. Although the majority making the region a center of quality and is one of the latest examples of public art University in Cleveland. Christina serves on several Under Janet’s direction, the Arts & Culture Program of our giving is concentrated within learning and educational opportunity; the Endowments has

Copyright Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2005, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. nonprofit boards and has been the external advisor makes grants to arts organizations and programs southwestern Pennsylvania, we work and making diversity and inclusion supported to promote for technology within the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ totaling an average of $14.5 million annually. wherever necessary, including statewide defining elements of the region’s community development. strategic planning process. Marge had been director of the Endowments’ and nationally, to fulfill our mission. character. The foundation contributed Justin was managing director and assistant artistic Children, Youth & Families Program, formerly known That mission is to help our region thrive $10,000 toward the $30,000 project, which director of The Village 4 an Afrikan Cultural Center, as Health and Human Services, since April 1984. as a whole community— economically, also received support and Nego Gato Inc., an African-Brazilian arts organi- She manages a grant-making portfolio of about ecologically, educationally and from Duquesne and zation, since 1997. He also performed with Nego Gato, $10 million a year that supports human services culturally—while advancing the state the Allegheny County of knowledge and practice in the Department of which introduced many in Pittsburgh to capoeira agencies and programs. fields in which we work. Community Services. angola, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements

The Endowments Children, at the Radisson Hotel and the need to address the a plan for parent–school– Youth & Families Senior Pittsburgh Green Tree. uneven quality, inadequate community partnerships h magazine is a publication of The Heinz Endowments. At the Endowments, we are Program Director Marge Wayne served on the training or lack of profes- that can help parents committed to promoting learning in philanthropy and in the specific fields represented AFTER by our grant-making programs. As an expression of that commitment, this publication Petruska and Program network’s steering sional development of others. in 11 school districts get is intended to share information about significant lessons and insights we are deriving SCHOOL Officer Wayne Jones committee that did strategic The Endowments has more involved in promoting from our work. participated in the Western planning for the summit, funded several studies on student achievement in SPECIAL Pennsylvania Regional which attracted about after-school programs, their schools. The January Editorial Team Linda Bannon, Linda Braund, Maxwell King, Carmen Lee, Maureen Marinelli, Grant Oliphant, Douglas Root. Design: Landesberg Design Summit on Afterschool 130 consultants, foundation seeking systemic solutions conference was one of a conference in January. The representatives and after- to areas of concern. It also series of policy summits About the cover Flood-damaged photographs that reflected 52 years of memories Pennsylvania Statewide school program directors. has given a $15,000 grant that are being conducted for one Allegheny County family poignantly illustrate how Hurricane Ivan ripped the Afterschool Youth Develop- Marge gave opening remarks to the Center for Schools across the state to produce fabric of some southwestern Pennsylvanians’ lives in 2004. Helping them to rebuild since the storm have been county agencies and faith-based organizations, with ment Network hosted for the session, highlighting and Communities, a state- statewide standards and Pittsburgh-area foundations providing financial support for the work. (Photograph copy- the one-day conference the creativity and innovation wide organization, to develop policies for sustaining quality right, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2006, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.) of some after-school programs after-school programs. THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS NONPROFIT ORG WINTER 2006 Howard Heinz Endowment US POSTAGE

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Receding waters Picking up the pieces after Hurricane Ivan Special (pre)K page 22

INSIDE: TECH LINKS THE DISABLED PRESCHOOL PASSION h is printed on recycled paper using soy-based inks.