McAuley Ministries awards 13 new grants totaling $757,000

Nov. 9, 2020 | News Releases

PITTSBURGH (November 9, 2020) – McAuley Ministries, Pittsburgh Mercy’s grant-making foundation, today announced 13 new grants totaling $757,000 to support health & wellness, community & economic development, and education initiatives in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Uptown, and West Oakland communities. McAuley Ministries continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, awarding new grants of $75,000 to four community partners that are serving vulnerable populations by providing basic needs and educational supports. McAuley Ministries’ response to the pandemic totals $631,000 to date.

Michele Rone Cooper, executive director of McAuley Ministries, expressed gratitude for the community-based organizations that are listening to residents, working together, and finding creative ways to meet basic needs, pivot to virtual platforms, and model hope.

The West Oakland-based, grant-making foundation awards approximately $3.5 million in grants annually, making it one of the region’s largest philanthropic foundations. View grants awarded by year at www.mcauleyministries.org.

Grouped by grant-making priorities, the recipients of the most recent grants are as follows. For further description of each grant, please visit grants awarded.

Emergency Response to COVID-19

  • Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services: $15,000 for emergency operational support of the Low Vision and Vision Exam Program.
  • Carlow University: $25,000 for the Student Emergency Fund during COVID-19.
  • Community College of Allegheny County Educational Fund: $10,000 for improving student success.
  • Ebenezer Baptist Church: $25,000 to support the Ebenezer Meals Ministry.

 Health & Wellness

  • Venture Outdoors, Inc.: $25,000, to provide outdoor experiences, including outdoor ethics, leadership skills, and nature, to youth and families in the Hill District, plus further develop, share, and distribute remote learning tools, such as virtual outdoor experiences.
  • YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh: $105,000, payable over 3 years, to extend membership subsidies to Hill District families at the Thelma Lovette YMCA and encourage healthy and active lifestyles.

 Community & Economic Development

  • Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Inc.: $50,000 to support case management for residents of St. Joseph House of Hospitality.
  • Energy Innovation Center Institute, Inc. (EICI): $150,000 to facilitate enrollment of Hill District residents in quality training programs for high demand careers offered through EICI.
  • Grounded Strategies: $80,000, payable over 2 years, to establish a CommunityCare model in the Hill District to sustain the impact of the ReClaim Ambassador program by providing resources and incentives for long-term stewardship of green spaces.
  • Hill District Consensus Group: $46,500, payable over three years, for initiatives to beautify Centre Avenue in the Hill District.
  • Neighborhood Resilience Project: $150,000, payable over 2 years, to expand trauma-informed micro-community development that facilitates neighborhood interventions that connect families to each other and to resources that improve individual and community health and well-being.
  • The Pittsburgh Foundation: $75,000, payable over 3 years, for the Allegheny County Jail Collaborative Fund which funds projects and activities that support prisoner re-entry to the community.

 Education

  • A+Schools: $500 to underwrite the 2020 Report to the Community on public school progress in Pittsburgh.

About McAuley Ministries

Named in honor of Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy, McAuley Ministries is the grant-making foundation of Pittsburgh Mercy. McAuley Ministries awards grants to nonprofit organizations which focus on the Hill District, Uptown, and West Oakland communities, historically served by the Sisters of Mercy, and to organizations sponsored by and/or affiliated with the Sisters.  It awards approximately $3.5 million in grants annually. To learn more about McAuley Ministries and the initiatives it supports, visit www.mcauleyministries.org.

About Pittsburgh Mercy

Pittsburgh Mercy is a person-centered, population-based, trauma-informed community health and wellness provider and the region’s only Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). We reach out and offer help – and hope – to some of our community’s most vulnerable populations: people who have physical and behavioral health challenges; intellectual disabilities; and people who are experiencing addiction, homelessness, abuse, and other forms of trauma. Our mission is to be a compassionate and transforming, healing presence within our communities. Pittsburgh Mercy is a member of Trinity Health and serves in the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy. With annual operating revenue of $110 million, Pittsburgh Mercy is one of the largest health and human service nonprofit organizations and employers in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We serve more than 33,000 people annually in 60+ locations and employ 1,400 colleagues.

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