Family engagement celebration at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Photo by Sean Means
Library
Family engagement celebration at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Photo by Sean Means
The Role, Effectiveness, and Sustainability of Nonprofit Organizations That Provide Employment Support for Veterans
Organizational, October 24, 2024
The RAND report, funded by The Heinz Endowments, finds that service members seeking help in finding civilian jobs often turn to nonprofits due to a shortfall in assistance provided by the federal government. Despite their critical role, little is known about which nonprofit organizations and employment models are most effective in supporting veterans' employment in the civilian sector.
Creating a Path Forward to Reduce Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System in Allegheny County
Learning, December 12, 2023
A first-of-its-kind study provides new data that can be used to help reduce racial disparities in the Allegheny County criminal justice system. Requested by the county and funded in part by the Endowments, the study examines all four main stages of the system – law enforcement, pre-trial detention, criminal court and detention – and includes perspectives of community members and people working in the county’s criminal justice system.
Closure of Pittsburgh Coal-Processing Plant Tied to Local Health Gains
Sustainability, August 1, 2023
A new Endowments-funded study by New York University Grossman School of Medicine found a 61% decrease in local heart-related emergency department visits and 13% decrease in hospitalizations for cardiovascular diseases after the January 2016 closing of one of Pittsburgh’s biggest coal-processing plants.
Student Arrests in Allegheny County Public Schools
Organizational, March 21, 2022
The report finds that student arrests and referrals to police occur more often than are documented by schools; and that students in Allegheny County are more likely to be arrested at school than students elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Arrests and referrals fall disproportionately on Black students and students with disabilities.
The Economic Impacts of Child Care in Allegheny County
Learning, November 12, 2020
The region’s child care system – challenged before COVID-19 by unsustainable funding models and inequity – has the potential to adversely affect our economy as the pandemic rages on. Read the Endowments-supported report from Fourth Economy to learn what is at stake, and what we can do.
Portrayal and Perception II: Content Analysis of Pittsburgh Media Coverage of African Americans
Organizational, April 2, 2020
This Endowments-funded study, “Portrayal and Perception II: Content Analysis of Pittsburgh Media Coverage of African Americans,” was conducted by Upstream Analysis, a Eugene, Oregon-based media measurement and research firm, as a follow up of a 2011 analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism that was published in “Portrayal and Perception: Two Audits of News Media Reporting on African American Men and Boys.” The new report was designed to determine if progress had been made in media coverage of black people in the Pittsburgh region and to include a review of coverage of black women and girls. Unfortunately, it shows that there was a lack of demonstrative change and that local media coverage of African Americans still focuses on crime and sports.
The Devaluation of Business in Black Communities
Sustainability, February 20, 2020
To better understand how consumer-oriented markets work in black neighborhoods, this Endowments-funded report studies the financial performance and customer ratings of private enterprises in 86 metropolitan areas across the country with large black populations.
Creative Learning
Creativity, October 17, 2019
This report summarizes a 7-month effort by Thomas Akiva, Marijke Hecht & Esohe Osai at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education to better understand the current conditions of Pittsburgh’s creative learning ecosystem. The learning ecosystem is the organizations, individuals, and places that create, participate in, and fuel creative learning experiences. This report describes the rich complexity of the creative learning ecosystem in Pittsburgh and identifies those elements of the system that are thriving and those that may be lacking.
Pittsburgh Artists Working in Community: A Case Study of Aesthetic Perspectives in Action
Creativity, July 31, 2019
Pittsburgh Artists Working in Community: A Case Study of Aesthetic Perspectives in Action was published by Americans for the Arts with funding provided by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and Hemera Foundation. It features Pittsburgh artists and the work of the Office of Public Art, a grantee of The Heinz Endowments.
Towards an AI Economy That Works for All
Sustainability, January 31, 2019
The "Towards and AI Economy that Works for All" report from the Keystone Research Center was funded by The Heinz Endowments and is the first report on the their "Future of Work" project. The aim is to identify public policies that could help ensure that the application and diffusion of artificial intelligence over the next several decades fosters an economy in which Americans generally thrive.
The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods
Sustainability, November 29, 2018
Funded by a $250,000 grant from The Heinz Endowments, a new report, "The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods: The case of residential property," by Andre Perry, Brookings David M. Rubenstein fellow, Jonathan Rothwell, Gallup senior economist, and David Harshbarger, Brookings research assistant, seeks to understand how much money majority-black communities are losing in the housing market stemming from racial bias. Through the prism of the real estate market and homeownership in black neighborhoods, this report attempts to address the question: What is the cost of racial bias?
Read the full report, and share the report infographic.
The report landing page at Brookings contains an interactive dashboard, where you can select a metropolitan area using the dropdown menu to view its indicators. The summary metrics provide top-level information about the metropolitan area while the neighborhood characteristics are broken out by the share of the neighborhood population that is black.
Just Discipline and the School-to-Prison Pipeline in Greater Pittsburgh
Organizational, August 21, 2018
A Heinz Endowments-funded study by the University of Pittsburgh’s Center on Race and Social Problems reveals severe racial disparities in out-of-school suspensions at Allegheny County schools. The report, “Just Discipline and the School-to-Prison Pipeline in Greater Pittsburgh: Local Challenges and Promising Solutions,” found that countywide the suspension rate for black students was more than seven times the rate for their non-black peers. The study also offers solutions, including reforms that are being used successfully in the Woodland Hills School District.
Pittsburgh Equity Indicators - A Baseline Measurement for Enhancing Equity in Pittsburgh
Organizational, July 26, 2018
In July 2018, the City of Pittsburgh released its first annual Pittsburgh Equity Indicators report, an evaluation of disparities among local residents by race, gender or income in four domains. Using a set of 80 measures, the assessment looked at the broad areas of Health, Food, and Safety; Education, Workforce Development and Entrepreneurship; Housing, Transportation, Infrastructure and Environment; and Civic Engagement and Communications. The report, which provides a baseline for further study, reveals that Pittsburgh residents of different races, genders and incomes experience vastly different health, social, and economic outcomes and access to resources and opportunities.
The Equity Indicators project is part of the city’s ONEPGH Resilience Strategy, which aims to dedicate about one-quarter of its initiatives to creating equal opportunity for all residents. The assessment tool was developed by Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning and the Rand Corporation in partnership with the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance and the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities program.
The Pittsburgh Music Ecosystem Study: ACTIVATING A COMMUNITY RESPONSE
Creativity, July 11, 2018
Pittsburgh’s music ecosystem spoke up for this study. This complex and interconnected system of creative and business professionals provided an overall picture of economic struggle and frustration. However, data from interviews, focus groups, and an online audit of 1,800 respondents also reveal a number of improvements already in motion. With a long-term focus on developing the following five areas (Leadership, Career, Industry, Policy and Audience), Pittsburgh’s music people with the support of their community can adjust course, stabilize and grow their ecosystem.
Capturing the next economy: Pittsburgh’s rise as a global innovation city
Sustainability, September 13, 2017
Pittsburgh’s innovation economy is strong and growing, but city leaders can do more with its existing assets to compete globally and capitalize on the region’s growing innovation clusters, according to a new report from the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Initiative on Innovation and Placemaking at the Brookings Institution.
The culmination of an 18-month study, “Capturing the Next Economy: Pittsburgh’s rise as a global innovation city” examines Pittsburgh’s unique opportunity to become a top global destination for technology-based economic activity and as a key part of Pittsburgh’s efforts to become a world-class innovation city.