Pittsburgh Foundation creates fund to eliminate inequities

Social Justice Fund will assist nonprofits

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Foundation has created a new fund that will disperse money to nonprofits that address issues of economic and racial disparities.

The foundation launched the Social Justice Fund last year with initial funding of $250,000. On Tuesday, it announced its first eight grant recipients, which together will receive a total $158,000.

The fund grew out of the foundation’s 100 Percent Pittsburgh initiative that works to assist 30 percent of the region’s population that lives at or below the poverty line and has limited access to benefits generated by Pittsburgh’s new economy based largely on the medical, education and technology industries. The recipients are: • Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration — West: $20,000 to hire a part-time community organizer;

• Casa San Jose: $20,000 to expand a program for high schoolaged immigrants in Beechview, and conduct more leadership training for Latinos on immigration rights.

• Hill District Consensus Group: $20,000 for economic and racial equity initiatives that promote issues such as safe drinking water and renters’ rights;

• Council for Cultural Equity and Emancipated Education: $20,000 for programs that promote more culturally appropriate offerings for African-Americans in Pittsburgh Public Schools;

• Black Femme Excellence Collective: $20,000 to hold events that raise awareness of the intersection of activist and feminist spaces;

• Alliance for Police Accountability: $20,000 for educational programs to assist low-income individuals to understand their legal rights, voter registration and public policy issues;

• Coalition of Organized Residents of East Liberty Inc.: $18,000 to create a physical space where neighborhood residents can meet to organize residence councils and provide information on affordable housing;

• Coalition for Racial Justice in Media: $20,000 to help minority communities advocate for responsible portrayals by the news media.

The foundation said the Social Justice Fund will also establish a rapid response program to provide money for urgent community issues.