For years now, the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers has been on my personal roster of heroes. Their members do challenging, important work educating our kids, and the union’s willingness to work in partnership with the Pittsburgh Public Schools has been probably the critical factor in moving forward one of the most promising school reform efforts in the country.

But at The Pittsburgh Foundation, we simply cannot agree with the PFT’s flat-out refusal to work alongside PPS Superintendent Linda Lane on finding an alternative to the last-in, first-out rule that will soon result in the furloughing of some of the school district’s most effective teachers. If the union persists in that refusal, it could end up gutting the very reform initiative it has helped make happen.

That’s why I joined my colleagues at the The Heinz Endowments and Grable Foundation in penning an oped on the subject that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sunday. This was a difficult commentary for us to write. A decade after our three foundations publicly withdrew funding from PPS in despair over the district’s dysfunctions, we  have long-since returned as enthusiastic supporters of a school board, two superintendents and a union who together have held out real hope of proving that urban public education in this country can be dramatically improved. We believe in these folks and what they are accomplishing together.

The heart and soul of this work has been an effort to swell the ranks of highly effective teachers. Teachers matter, and as in any other profession, some are better at it than others. Working on the premise that every child deserves to be taught by teachers who really have the skills to help them learn, PPS and the PFT have partnered in an ambitious program to transform that premise into a reality.

Unfortunately, the district’s fiscal crisis has forced it into the unenviable position of having to furlough several hundred teachers in the coming months. State law in Pennsylvania mandates that teachers be laid off solely according to seniority, regardless of how skilled they are at educating students. The good news is that the union, if it wanted to, could agree to set that requirement aside and develop an alternative that would also make some allowance for considering a teacher’s performance. The bad news is that it doesn’t appear to want to.

In fairness to the PFT, its reluctance is at least partially understandable. Teachers who have been around longer earn higher salaries, and they logically fear being targeted first by the budget-cutting knife. They also note that performance measures can sometimes forget  that high performance in a more challenging school may look different than in an easier setting. And they worry that, historically, methods for evaluating a teacher’s performance have done little to inspire confidence that they will be treated fairly.

But all of these concerns either have been addressed in Pittsburgh or can be if approached in good faith. The critical point is that teachers in Pittsburgh are already subject to a rigorous evaluation process that they helped craft. Called RISE, this evaluation system uses a comprehensive set of criteria developed by the District in partnership with the PFT, and it does a good job of identifying how effective teachers are in helping their students learn.

What would it say about our decision-making as adults if, despite having this critical performance information, we would simply choose to ignore it? Can you imagine any organization–public or private–remaining successful by making critical personnel decisions with complete disregard to whether they are actually the best at their jobs? Insisting on pursuing that course will be bad for the students, for Pittsburgh’s school reform effort and, ultimately, for the union.

We can do better than this. Against the background of the great work that has been accomplished on reform and building teacher effectiveness so far, we should be doing everything in our power to hold onto every effective teacher we possibly can. For everyone’s sake, but most importantly our children’s, the PFT and PPS must sit down together to craft a solution that combines respect for seniority with respect for effectiveness, but above all respect for the students, whose learning needs should matter more than anything.

Click here for the editorial published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on April 29, 2012

As this crisis continues to unfold at Penn State University and as each day that passes seems to add yet another troubling dimension, we need to begin now the long road towards healing and recovery.  First, we need to focus on the suffering of the victims of this alleged abuse that has traumatized them, shocked our students and outraged our nation.

This crisis has been defined by blame, divisiveness and accusation.  It is time for us all to stand up together and do whatever we can to help. We cannot simply just stand by.  It is time for the Penn State leadership, the Penn State alumni, the Penn State students and the community at large to try to bring a sense of stability and normality amid the pain and upheaval.

All of us are proud as Penn Staters and I commend those among us who have not just stood by, but have started to take action.  For example the fund-raising campaign launched by my Penn State alumni colleagues to raise money that will pay for counseling, therapy, advice and guidance that is so urgently needed by abuse victims and their families, like those who have suffered in the events at Penn State.  The campaign is working with the renowned Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), one of the largest anti-sexual violence organizations in the United States, and I urge my fellow local community and civic leaders to support this critical initiative. I have made a contribution and I am encouraging others to do the same.

Much has been made of my personal support for former Coach Joe Paterno, my close friend and mentor and the concern I expressed about a rush to judgment before a full and fair investigation has been completed.  I am asking for help from the Penn State Board and the university administration to help the children who have suffered in this tragedy, who have and always will be at the forefront of my concerns, and to begin to restore the legacy of Penn State football and Coach Paterno.  With due process we have to trust and believe that those responsible will be held fully accountable.

At this time, I am encouraging bold and courageous leadership at Penn State to inspire and unite us in an effort to work together to create what is good and right from this tragedy.  As adults, we serve as examples and protectors to the students and to children everywhere and they will be watching how we respond.

I want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Donations to the campaign fund launched by Penn State alumni may be made online via http://rainn.org/ProudPSUforRAINN or you can text PSU4RAINN to 20222 to make a $10 donation.

Sincerely,

Franco Harris

Penn State Board members, including a former Chairman of the Foundation, Jim Broadhurst, and Pittsburgh civic leader John Surma, have responded appropriately in removing key officials. Obviously they recognize that investigative and legal processes have some way to go before this tragic, shocking matter is concluded.

But their action in their removal of responsible officials sends a clear public message that all of us as citizens should endorse and support: that our children must be protected.  Doing enough is never enough in this regard. As a community every one of us is mandated to ensure the safety and well-being of our children. Those who fail in this basic responsibility should and must be held accountable.

Without wanting to add to the pain suffered by these young victims, I need to emphasize that not a single day of their lives will pass without each and every one of them recalling the abuses they suffered in a trusted environment. We are appalled by the apparent failure of the adults in authority to carry out their most basic and fundamental charge, which was to protect them.

Any expert in the child services field will tell you that an unremitting problem of child abuse is the way adults will close ranks to protect themselves and their interests. As this situation continues to unfold, we must keep our children at the forefront of our concerns, not only the alleged victims of abuse in this case, but all children.

As parents, as adults, as citizens, and as community, we must remember that our voice is their voice. Where it concerns the well-being of our children, there can be no excuses for doing less than all that we can. It is vital always that we stand up and speak out.

Grant Oliphant
President & CEO
The Pittsburgh Foundation

I am deeply concerned about what we see happening in our Pittsburgh communities, which are symptomatic of a worsening crisis across the United States.

First, I recognize that as members of Allegheny County Council you are charged with applying effective fiscal disciplines to the way that our county is managed. I am respectful of your responsibilities and the unenviable tasks you have in the present economic climate in making this a place where all of our citizens can benefit and prosper.

But we need to examine carefully this seemingly relentless cycle of spending cuts that pushes our nonprofit organizations further to the brink as they struggle to provide critical human services programs, and further exacerbates the real hardship of those among us whose needs are greatest.

The system is broken, not only here in western Pennsylvania, but throughout the United States and if we are to be successful in developing a robust approach to addressing what is undeniably an alarming growth in poverty, it has to be multi-layered and it has to be collaborative. That means all of us need to work together – independent funding organizations, nonprofits, public officials and our community as a whole.

We consider this against a background of severe hardship that confronts an increasing number of our neighbors. Recently reported data shows that almost 15 percent of the US population – or 45.8 million people – now depend on food stamps.  The latest census data reports that the number of America’s poorest poor has risen to a record high of one in every 15 people. Many experts in the field hold the view that this is low-balling the true extent of the crisis.

Within our Allegheny community, these statistics represent real and desperate human need; lives that are devastated – in many cases irrevocably – by the economic downturn. My friend and colleague, Joyce Rothermel, former Executive Director of the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank, coined the phrase ‘the new poor,’ referring to the upsurge in numbers of individuals and families seeking charitable help for the first time. Then we have growing numbers of working poor – they have full-time jobs but their minimum wage earnings are insufficient to raise them above the poverty threshold or to make ends meet.

Specifically, I appear before you today to make a special appeal for you to reinstate at least part of the $37 million reduction in spending in Allegheny County Executive, Dan Onorato’s proposed budget for 2012.

Of this amount, $22 million is for child welfare and human services, but it is a nuance of the system that only $5 million of this is actually funded by Allegheny County which then leverages the remaining $17 million in state and federal dollars.  Otherwise, this $17 million, urgently needed to pay for critical programs in our community, will be left on the table.

Addressing poverty and issues impacting the quality of life for all of our citizens are central to The Pittsburgh Foundation’s mission and even though charitable giving continues to be strong in our community, foundations also are struggling at this time as the result of the recession. We are not in the position where we are able to plug public funding shortfalls at local and state levels.

So I and my counterparts representing funding organizations and nonprofits who testify today do so on behalf of those who do not have a voice: the vulnerable and the disadvantaged, including children and the elderly.

Their needs are real, and they are desperate.

Thank you.

Our goal is to become a trusted source of in-depth and enterprise news and investigations. At a time when there’s more information than ever available to you, we want to prove our value as a reliable authority on issues of importance.

We are a non-profit, public service website that will take the complex questions facing the region, put them in context and shine a light on parts of the story that may not have been told elsewhere.

To accomplish that, we are joining with the region’s most trustworthy news outlets – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh City Paper, The New Pittsburgh Courier, Essential Public Radio, The Allegheny Front, Pop City and WQED.

We will sometimes work in partnership with them. For example, for the launch of our website, we’ve collaborated with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and The Allegheny Front to produce a story about Pennsylvania and West Virginia colleges and universities and their relationships with companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

At other times, we’ll produce original reporting with PublicSource reporters and freelancers that our partners will distribute on radio, television, in print and on the Internet.

As the revolution in news and on the Internet continues, virtually anyone can publish at will, without verified facts or a breadth of expertise and points of view. You won’t find that here.

We will work to give you scrupulously verified information and in-depth stories that you won’t get elsewhere, in-depth and investigative news that delves deeply into the problems we face as a society.

Our goal is to give you the facts you need to make decisions as a public citizen.  We will not decide for you, but believe the informed citizen makes better decisions.

We also ask for your help. The media are often criticized for not writing about things they should know about.  We’ve provided a place for you to help inform our reporting by telling us what you know, what we should be covering and what’s important to you. You are a part of this news equation and we will listen.

Investigative and enterprise journalism isn’t easy. It takes patience, time and expertise. Many news organizations have faced financial difficulties and have fewer people than ever to focus on in-depth news.

PublicSource is fortunate to be supported by foundations that believe information is critical to a free society: The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. While they have given us substantial amounts of money to do our work because they believe in its importance, they have no hand in determining what subjects we cover or what our stories say.

So, let’s begin. Let us know what you think of our initial stories. And help us build on them by pointing us in the direction of more stories we should cover.

Comment on our stories. Watch our videos and slideshows. Talk about issues on our Facebook page. We’re a new part of your community.

Sharon Walsh
Editor
PublicSource

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What better forum could there be than the blog soapbox of the city’s community foundation to  shout-out a heartfelt thank you to all those who braved yesterday’s rain and chill to attend the launch of the Breathe Project at Pittsburgh’s Children’s Museum?

While the weather was less than desirable, the purpose of the event was to celebrate the start of the journey toward a sunnier, cleaner-air future for the region. That point was underscored at the event where the cheerful voices of museum-visiting children mixed in with the determined voices of leaders from every sector.

From those faces and voices to the thousands of others who were cheering us on in spirit, it could not be more clear that this initiative represents a broad cross-section of the region. The Breathe Project Coalition is made up of people and organizations with different points of view and different opinions about how best to deal with the air-quality problem. Some have a history of being more at arm’s length from one another rather than arm-in-arm on the air issue.

We expect the working relationships of the coalition to be different, and we have witnessed it already. Every member has subscribed to two basic principles: We live in a region that is anchored by one of the world’s most wonderful cities, with a reputation for many environmental quality-of-life achievements; but we also recognize that the scientific evidence shows the air we breathe does not measure up to the high standard of excellence set by so many other aspects of our great city.

The coalition intends to set goals, encourage individual and corporate action, and measure results.

The type of action envisioned is exemplified by the recent agreement between McConway & Torley, a Lawrenceville foundry employing 273 area residents, and the Group Against Smog and Pollution.

In January, the Allegheny County Health Department issued an air permit allowing reactivation of a furnace at the foundry. GASP appealed the permit, citing concerns about the potential emissions of heavy metals. M&T officials approached GASP in hopes of working together on a solution. The result is an agreement to employ supplemental emission controls beyond those required by the Environmental Protection Agency and the county health department.

This example shows that people with different perspectives can work together and come to agreement around difficult and complicated matters. Yet another lesson is that air quality is not hostage to economic activity.

But the coalition is also about the power of individuals to make a difference.

Peter Bartholomew, a junior in Pittsburgh CAPA, has had asthma since childhood. He spoke yesterday about his Healthy School Bus Campaign that led the district to require at least 85 percent of school buses be equipped with diesel particulate filters by June 2014.

It is our hope that this new incarnation of the spirit and civic pride that inspired Pittsburghers 65 years ago to clear the air of visible pollution will be present in the 40 organizations and several hundred individuals who have joined this effort so far.

As I am occupying the Pittsburgh Foundation’s electromagnetic real estate, a word about the support of the philanthropic community in this effort: I was overwhelmed by the presence of so many foundation leaders at the gathering, beginning with Pittsburgh Foundation CEO Grant Oliphant up front; and this spoke volumes about commitment, both financial and philosophical, to improving our air. However, each of us realizes that it is not our grants but the actions and leadership of individuals in this region which will move the needle on this issue. I believe we are going to do it.

Pittsburgh, take a bow. Your generous and passionate commitment to local charitable causes in supporting our community’s Day of Giving achieved more than just set new on-line fundraising records. In the immortal words of the actor Michael Caine, “You blew the bloody doors off.”

More than 13,600 individual acts of kindness – almost double the number of donations for last year’s event – incredibly contributed nearly $6.5 million to nonprofit organizations in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties – almost twice the total for 2010.

Over the 24-hour midnight-to-midnight giving period on October 4, that equates to around $75 per second. Gifts ranged from the $25 minimum to $15,000 and more, the biggest being a donation of $25,000.

During the next few days, our Foundation staff will be verifying all of the data and completing financial reconciliations. Every dollar donated will received an equal, pro-rated share of the available matching funds, and once all the administrative formalities are finished, we will be able to announce what the match is.

But I take this opportunity to thank and congratulate all of you who participated, all of our nonprofits who have supported The Pittsburgh Foundation’s PittsburghGives program, and, of course, our funding partners who provided funds for the match pool, including the Foundation’s Jack G. Buncher Charitable Fund, The Buhl Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and the Leonard C. Grasso Charitable Foundation.

This is also a moment to recognize the enormous and successful work of local nonprofits to embrace social media tools and on-line technology so effectively in reaching out to their supporters, prospective donors and other key constituents. The Foundation ran special social media classes in Pittsburgh and at the Greensburg headquarters of our affiliate, the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County, and these were attended by more than 400 charitable organizations.

Since we first launched our PittsburghGives on-line fundraising and research resource in 2009, the program has been responsible for raising $13.5 million for our region’s nonprofits. And that program, which was developed in close consultation with our community and is now recognized as one of the most successful in the U.S., is now being used as a national model by other community foundations and organizations across the country.

Congratulations to you all on a truly magnificent achievement.

You did it.

In raising the bar for The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Day of Giving today, some of us were a little wary that we were asking too much, especially against the background of a bleak economy and all the uncertainty it entails. But the steadfast, generous and big-hearted spirit of our community has shone through on another rainy day in Pittsburgh.

By 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, we had already exceeded the total of $2.8 million in public donations received for last year’s Day of Giving – itself a magnificent achievement, which combined with 2010’s matching funds of $500,000, pumped a total of $3.3 million into the needy coffers of our nonprofit organizations.

As I write this early afternoon message, the total amount raised so far today stands at more than $3 million, which with the increased match pool for 2011 of $750,000 takes us close to the $4 million mark.

And the money is still rolling in; money that will sustain the critical work of our local charitable organizations; money that will ensure that vital programs continue to serve families and individuals in need, or which simply contribute to our community’s well-being for us all.

Stories around today’s acts of kindness are many and varied. Like the Pittsburgher working in Zimbabwe who contacted our office in the early hours of this morning, worried that – because he had not been able to log on to our PittsburghGives site – the match pool would be exhausted before he had chance to make his gift.

Like the Board member of a local nonprofit who independently pledged to match every contribution to his organization dollar-for-dollar.

Thank you all for your generous, compassionate efforts in digging deeper to help others and to support our community. And please keep the donations coming. This Day of Giving event that we developed as your community foundation has become a model for similar initiatives across the United States, and many will take encouragement from the outcomes in Pittsburgh today.

Running simultaneously with our PittsburghGives event is Westmoreland’s Day of Giving where donors had exceeded last year’s total contributions of nearly $200,000 by 1:00 p.m. today.

To make a gift through PittsburghGives please visit www.Pittsburghgives.org and for WestmorelandGives, www.westmorelandgives.org. The event closes at midnight tonight and all contributions will receive an equal pro-rated share of the matching funds.

Pittsburgh’s civic leaders have long struggled with how best to reverse the tide of environmental damage attributed to our region’s industrial heritage.  Despite the progress that has been made over the past few decades to improve air quality, the fact remains that when it comes to clean air the City of Champions still trails woefully behind the rest of the nation.  We are moving in the right direction, bu

t unfortunately not fast enough to mitigate the very serious health risks posed to our community by air pollution.

This is why I am delighted that the Heinz Endowments has established the Clean Air Fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation.  The Endowments commitment to improving air quality in this region is a testament to both their foresight and leadership and I applaud their efforts to take on this serious public health crisis at this critical time.

It is well established that the levels of air pollution in Pittsburgh routinely exceed the federal threshold for harm to human health.  Over the past six years the American Lung Association has assigned the Pittsburgh region very poor air-quality rankings in its annual State of the Air report.  Historically policy makers were under the impression that high levels were the result of coal fired power plants in Ohio or the coke works in Clairton, making local solutions to the problem seem beside the point.

But thanks to research commissioned by the Heinz Endowments, findings were released earlier this year that dispelled this myth and revealed that Pennsylvania sources may account for one-half to two-thirds of the fine particulate matter pollution in the Pittsburgh region.  Although at first this may not sound like good news, it is actually very empowering.  A discovery as simple as this has changed the way we think about air quality in Pittsburgh and has encouraged The Heinz Endowments to commit to a region wide Clean Air campaign.

Air quality is a ubiquitous issue that impacts not only the physical health of our citizens but also the health of our economy.  This effort underscores that a clean environment and improved quality of life are integral to maintaining and improving our competitiveness as a region.  The Clean Air Initiative has activated all parts of our community to make a difference by involving citizens, government, academics and perhaps most importantly, industry, in combating this environmental blight.

Here at The Pittsburgh Foundation we are aware that providing leadership on a critical community issue is never an easy task.  And playing the role of the proverbial “skunk at the garden party” by telling our community that our air is not as clean as we might like to think, takes courage.  That’s why we are honored to support the work of the Heinz Endowments in this endeavor and lend our encouragement to our colleagues as they strive to make this region more livable for everyone in our community.

The Pittsburgh Foundation’s 24-hour Day of Giving event on October 4 is more significant than ever in terms of engaging our region’s donors in the critical work of our community’s nonprofit agencies. The after-effects of the economic recession still linger and government spending cuts at local and national levels are taking a heavy toll on the already depleted resources of many of our charitable agencies.

The Foundation hopes and believes that we will exceed the $3.3 million raised in last year’s community-wide event. Already, we know that more local nonprofits will participate this year than ever before, with over 600 organizations having completed new or updated profiles on the Foundation’s on-line PittsburghGives and WestmorelandGives platforms to ensure that they may benefit from a share of the matching funds that will be available.

This number compares with 433 nonprofits registered for last year’s Day of Giving, and 355 for our first Match Day event in 2009. To all those organizations that dedicated their time and commitment in assembling the necessary data to complete their on-line profiles, we congratulate and thank you and we welcome your involvement.

Not only is this further endorsement of our PittsburghGives program, it also underscores the changing trends towards charitable giving among communities across the U.S. Sophisticated but easy-to-use on-line programs engage citizens in ways that were inconceivable a decade ago, and the Foundation has this year again provided a series of free classes for nonprofits on the uses of various social media tools.

PittsburghGives was designed purposefully to inspire nonprofits to expand their bases of donor support and to strengthen their funding streams. Already it has become a powerful resource for our region, while serving as a national model for similar initiatives developed by other foundations across the nation.

Since the PittsburghGives program was launched two years ago, special giving events have so far generated $7 million for local nonprofits. For last year’s Day of Giving, the $3.3 million raised was the equivalent of $38 per second; 7,778 individual contributions were received – an eight-fold increase on 2009; the average gift size was $313; gifts were received from donors in 44 of the 50 U.S. states; 96 percent of the nonprofits profiled on PittsburghGives received gifts.

We will shortly announce the total for this year’s matching fund, but we can confirm it will be a minimum of $500,000 with a further $100,000 available for Westmoreland’s Day of Giving that will run simultaneously. And with your help, I know we can set new records for the way our community supports the invaluable work of our nonprofit organizations.