The Heinz Endowments is happy to welcome Sameera Fazili and Patrick Gallagher to our Board of Directors. Ms. Fazili is an economic policy expert who was Deputy Assistant to the President & Deputy Director of the White House’s National Economic Council in the Biden administration. Dr. Gallagher was University of Pittsburgh chancellor from 2014-23, where he is currently a professor in the university’s department of physics & astronomy.

The Endowments is happy to welcome Diane Hughley as executive assistant to the president. Ms. Hughley’s extensive foundation and nonprofit experience includes positions at Jewish Healthcare Foundation, Pressley Ridge, Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, and Arabella Advisors in Washington D.C. She brings to the Endowments team her deep and long-held commitment to serving individuals and communities.

VoteRiders CEO and Executive Director Lauren Kunis is clear about what is at stake when it comes to those who are using false claims of voter fraud as the basis for enacting overly stringent voter ID laws. The laws affect 35 million voting age citizens – a majority of whom are first time voters, low-income, people of color, and/or differently-abled. 

The $10 million Pittsburgh Cultural Treasures Initiative (PCTI), launched by the Endowments and the Ford and POISE foundations, is wrapping up its grantmaking with a collection of grants to 50 Black arts organizations, artist collectives and individual artists. The awards totaling $505,000 mark the first time individual artists have been direct recipients of PCTI funding.

The Heinz Endowments has announced $9.3 million in grants to 35 organizations whose work focuses on confronting climate change, reducing adverse environment-related health effects and improving equitable access to healthy food in the region. The grants advance nearly 30 years of environment and health advocacy by the Endowments and are informed by recent research supported by the foundation that identifies areas of critical need in the region’s climate, air and water quality, and food security sectors.

The Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards 2024 honorees have been announced, with fiber artist Tina Williams Brewer named Established Artist and director-writer-performer Adil Mansoor tapped as Emerging Artist. A shared initiative of the Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation, the program spotlights artists that live and work in southwestern Pennsylvania and features $50,000 in unrestricted funding for each of the two awardees.