THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS NONPROFIT ORG WINTER 2006 Howard Heinz Endowment US POSTAGE Vira I. Heinz Endowment PAID 30 Dominion Tower PITTSBURGH PA 625 Liberty Avenue PERMIT NO 57 Pittsburgh, PA 15222-3115 412.281.5777 www.heinz.org The Magazine of The Heinz Endowments 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. 2 Feedback 3 Message 28 Here & There Abling, page 4 feedback 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