McAuley Ministries awards $3.6 million in grants to 25 Pittsburgh-area nonprofit organizations

PITTSBURGH  – McAuley Ministries, Pittsburgh Mercy’s grant-making foundation, today announced the awarding of 29 grants totaling $3,638,396 to 25 Pittsburgh-area nonprofit organizations. The grants will support affordable housing; capacity-building; community and economic development; education; health and wellness; out-of-school time; and workforce development initiatives in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Uptown, and West Oakland communities.

Since 2008, McAuley Ministries has awarded 573 grants and community support totaling more than $24.8 million to nonprofit organizations in support of their work in these communities and community-based ministries that serve in the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy.

To view a list of grants awarded by year, visit www.mcauleyministries.org.

Grouped by category, the recipients of the grant awards are:

Affordable Housing

ACTION-Housing

$100,000 to renovate three blighted properties in Uptown and create nine units of safe, quality, affordable housing.

Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh

$700,000, payable over three years, to provide safety and healthy home repairs to 50 homes. Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh (RTP) will also provide work experience in the construction trades to nine Hill District residents. RTP will also continue its partnership with FOCUS Pittsburgh, providing home repairs for residents in two targeted blocks that are participating in trauma-informed community development.

Capacity Building

Center that C.A.R.E.S.

$50,000 to expand parking and program space at the Jeron X. Grayson Center campus.

Hill Community Development Corporation

$375,000, payable over three years, in general operating support to increase the capacity of the organization for community development and advocacy.

Hill House Association

$375,000, payable over three years, for general operating support of the organization’s core mission to deliver vital programs and services to the community; $175,000 to upgrade the Senior Services Center to enhance health and wellness programs for older residents; and $10,000 for security upgrades.

Mercy Volunteer Corps

$40,000 to recruit and place two volunteers in year-long ministry with McAuley Ministries’ community partners, providing organizations that have few resources with additional capacity to meet the needs of persons served.

Neighborhood Allies

$150,000, payable over three years, for general operating support of programming that invests in neighborhood revitalization and equitable development.

University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR)

$8,000 to expand community access to neighborhood-level data and increase data literacy among community members and nonprofit organizations.

Community & Economic Development

Community Design Center of Pittsburgh

$25,000 to assess residential housing in the Middle Hill District and provide detailed property-level data to inform community-driven housing strategies.

FOCUS Pittsburgh

$200,000, payable over two years, to expand trauma-informed community development to two additional blocks in the Hill District. The initiative will facilitate neighborhood interventions that connect families to each other and to resources that improve individual and community health and well-being.

Hill District Consensus Group

$10,000 for Centre Avenue corridor beautification initiatives.

Hill Community Development Corporation

$50,000 for the Hill District Anti-Demolition Committee to hire a monitor to prevent the unwanted demolition of Hill District structures that the community deems important and salvageable. The monitor will develop and implement a strategy to stabilize and rehabilitate properties that are condemned or at risk of being condemned. The ultimate goal is to return these properties to productive reuse as affordable and market-rate housing or commercial space.

Education

Carlow University

$125,000 to increase the capacity of the Social Justice Institutes, advance work related to gun violence prevention, and expand the work of the Carlow University’s Women of Spirit® Institute and the Center for Community-Engaged Learning.

Oakland Planning and Development Corporation

$300,000, payable over three years, for School2Career to develop and implement Future Makers: Build a Bright Future, a program that will engage middle and high school youth and their families in career exploration and college access preparation.

Reading is FUNdamental Pittsburgh

$300,000, payable over three years, to implement a continuum of literacy programming in the Hill District and engage children and families in motivational activities that celebrate the joy of reading.

Out-of-School Time

ACH Clear Pathways

$150,000, payable over three years, for after-school and summer camp programming that offers youth access to academic tutoring, music, dance, theater, digital media, and visual arts.

Duquesne University

$15,000, payable over two years, to deliver Children’s Art And Talk (CHAAT), an after-school enrichment program that provides culturally-sensitive, art-based, psycho-educational workshops through collaboration between Duquesne University’s Psychology Clinic and the Center that C.A.R.E.S.

Pittsburgh Public Schools

$50,000 for the 2017 Summer Dreamers Academy, a summer learning camp for Pittsburgh Public Schools students who have completed grades K-7. The primary goal of the program is to stem summer learning loss for participating youth.

Strong Women, Strong Girls

$25,000 to deliver an after-school mentoring program where college women deliver a curriculum based on female role models to elementary school girls from under-served communities. The goal is to empower girls to imagine a broader future.

SLB Radio Productions

$25,000 for Girl Talk, which will connect generations of girls and strong, successful women from the Hill District through a career-based oral history project. The project will culminate in a multimedia publication that will be launched during a celebration and distributed widely throughout the community.

Health & Wellness

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh

$50,000 to provide case management services at St. Joseph House of Hospitality.

Duquesne University

$45,896 for the Duquesne University Pharmacy to continue its free outreach program in the Hill District and Uptown communities. The program provides health screening services, continuous medication therapy management for high-risk patients, and free medications and/or waiver of co-payments for low-income residents.

Macedonia Family and Community Enrichment Center (FACE)

$50,000 for year two implementation of Girls Circle, an evidence-based, gender-relevant program for girls ages 9-18 who attend University Preparatory at Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12.

Venture Outdoors

$25,000 to provide four seasons of regular outdoor activities to youth from the Center that C.A.R.E.S. and the Jeron X. Grayson Community Center.

YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh

$76,500, payable over three years, to extend membership subsidies to 85 Hill District families at the Thelma Lovette YMCA and encourage healthy and active lifestyles.

Pittsburgh Mercy

$100,000 for renovations of the Pittsburgh Mercy Family Health Center to improve patient care and patient satisfaction, and provide space to accommodate increased numbers of persons seeking integrated physical and behavioral health services.

Workforce Development

Wireless Neighborhoods/Neighborhood Learning Alliance

$33,000 to hire and train 15 Hill District teens as reading mentors and leaders for elementary-age children during the summer of 2017.

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. Established in 2008, McAuley Ministries serves as a catalyst for change, committing resources and working collaboratively to promote healthy, safe, and vibrant communities. Grant-making priorities include health and wellness; community and economic development; education; and capacity-building initiatives for nonprofit organizations which focus on the Hill District, Uptown, and West Oakland, communities historically served by the Sisters of Mercy. McAuley Ministries also provides support to organizations that are sponsored by and/or affiliated with the Sisters. McAuley Ministries is one the largest philanthropic foundations in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The grant-making foundation awards approximately $3 million in grants annually. Since 2008, McAuley Ministries has awarded 573 grants and community support totaling more than $24.8 million. View a list of grants awarded by year at www.mcauleyministries.org.

About Pittsburgh Mercy

Pittsburgh Mercy, a member of Trinity Health, serving in the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy, is one of the largest health and human service nonprofit organizations and also one of the largest employers in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh Mercy includes Bethlehem Haven, McAuley Ministries, Mercy Behavioral Health, Mercy Community Health, Mercy Intellectual Disabilities Services, Mercy Parish Nurse and Health Ministry Program, Operation Safety Net®, and Pittsburgh Mercy Family Health Center. Together, these Pittsburgh Mercy programs and their 1,700 employees serve more than 33,000 individuals annually at 60+ locations in Southwestern Pennsylvania. To learn more about Pittsburgh Mercy, or to make a donation in support of its important work in the community, visit www.pittsburghmercy.org.