CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org
PITTSBURGH, PA, May 31, 2022 — The Opportunity Fund announces support totaling $934,879 in the foundation’s eighth year of grantmaking. The Board of Directors, along with two community panels, funded 73 out of 106 requests that sought a total of $1,798,679. The majority of this funding, 72%, is for unrestricted general operating support that can be used flexibly, as needed. 47% of grant partners are BIPOC-led organizations or organizations with multi-racial leadership teams; 32% are Black-led organizations. A complete list of awarded grants can be found below.
Including this current grant cycle, the foundation has awarded 833 grants totaling over $11.4 million since its inception in 2015. Grant cycles take place twice a year. Letter of Inquiry deadlines are January 15 and July 15 each year. Full information about applying for grants is available in the “For Applicants” area of our website.
Grant Partner List:
25 Carrick Ave Project ($10,000) to support general operations and continued educational and workforce development programs. 25 Carrick Ave Project helps to empower Pittsburgh’s hilltop communities by providing vocational training and employment opportunities to youth and adults in the event/entertainment industry.
100 Black Men of Western PA ($7,500) to support the Economic Empowerment Initiative, which fosters economic empowerment of African American youth through strategies that address disparities and champions the students’ future success. 100 Black Men of Western PA endeavors to improve the quality of life of its community and enhance educational opportunities particularly for African American males in 8th-12th grade.
Afro-American Music Institute($15,000), to support UHIMWE Alliance’s Bayard Rustin Conference, Black Gay Arts Project, and community engagement efforts to mobilize and unify same-gender-loving and queer people of color to make existence better for themselves and others in pursuit of their future selves.
Allegheny County Bar Foundation ($15,000) to support the Pro Bono Center Pardon Project by funding a Pardons Fellow to coordinate services between organizational partners, clients, volunteer attorneys, and law students with the goal of growing the number of individuals in the greater Pittsburgh area applying for pardons. The Pro Bono Center provides legal services to individuals with low incomes and creates, manages, and supports programs that match volunteers with thousands of individuals in need of free legal help.
Allies for Health + Wellbeing ($15,000) to support general operations including supportive services for HIV-positive clients such as housing, utilities, and transportation. Allies provides integrated medical care, supportive human services, and community-based education for individuals living with, or at risk of HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections.
Allegheny Health Network (AHN) – Center for Inclusion Health ($10,000) to support patients released from Allegheny County Jail by providing funding for identification cards, transportation, and home supplies as needs are identified during the post incarceration transition. The CIH RIvER Clinic (Rethinking Incarceration and Empowering Recovery) within AHN is the first and only clinic of its kind in Western PA to provide a continuous, transitionary care model for patients focusing on medical, psychological, and social support.
ALMA|LEWIS (A|L) ($17,500) to support artist-in-residence programming, dedicated to supporting Black art and artists in Pittsburgh. A|L is an experimental contemporary art platform for critical thinking, constructive dialogue, and creative expression dedicated to Black culture.
Amani Christian Community Development Corporation ($15,000) to the creation of the Amani Labor Free Repair Program in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District to provide needed home repairs for low-income homeowners. Amani facilitates healthy and safe communities by creating programs that educate the Hill District community residents and nurture youth, encourage community and economic development, and promote a livable quality of life.
Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall ($7,500) to support general operations of the Music Hall’s three venues as the organization journeys through the pandemic and the Music Hall’s restoration. The Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall builds community with a library, theater and historic site that welcome, inform, entertain and engage the community and the region in lifelong learning.
Angels’ Place ($10,000) to support the Family Support Program, all-inclusive child care and services provided to single, student-parent families at no cost, and for working parents at significantly reduced rates. Angels’ Place provides exceptional early childhood education to help parents in need and their children become lifelong learners and create a brighter future.
Artsmiths of Pittsburgh Arts and Cultural Center ($7,500) to support general operations of the Artsmiths’ shop in Carnegie, and the mentorship and economic support of its artists. Artsmiths’ mission is to address inequality by engaging its community in the making and appreciation of art.
ARYSE ($10,000) to support the 2022 PRYSE Academy summer program for immigrant and refugee youth in Allegheny County, focused on the academic, social and emotional well-being of all participants and their families. ARYSE is a student-centered organization that supports immigrant and refugee youth in becoming engaged, confident, and celebrated members of our shared community.
Attack Theatre ($10,000) to support general operations. Attack Theatre builds community with artists and audiences through the process and production of personal, accessible dance-based performance. Blending varied art forms with dynamic contemporary dance, Attack Theatre creates passionate portrayals of everyday life.
August Wilson House ($15,000) to support general operating expenses as the organization prepares for the public opening of the August Wilson House site in 2022. The August Wilson House promotes the literary and social legacy of August Wilson through the restoration of his boyhood home on Bedford Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood, and fosters greater appreciation of African-American literature, the performing arts, and the legacy of August Wilson.
Balafon West African Dance Ensemble ($10,000) to support general operations. Balafon is a performance ensemble driven by the belief that the interconnectedness developed by West African dance makes people and communities stronger. People of all ages are exposed to the highest levels of artistic and cultural expression which draws from Founder Mama Kadiatou’s practice of centering and elevating the role of women to embody their own narrative.
Beaver County Foundation ($15,000), acting as fiscal sponsor to support the Royally Fit Community Wellness Program, including nutritional wellness workshops, art therapy, physical fitness and preventive health activities. Funds will support the acquisition of a mobile Wellness Wagon and technical assistance to catalyze Royally Fit’s Community Care Clinic. Royally Fit strives to ensure all people have access to the resources needed for whole body wellness.
Beaver County Regional Council of Governments ($7,500) acting as fiscal sponsor to support the work of The Genesis Collective. The Genesis Collective is a diverse group of artists, advocates, and activists who support artists and their work, increase the public’s access to art and creativity, and enhance and amplify community development work that is already happening through art in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh (BBBSPGH) ($10,000) to support the launch of the Big Siblings Community-based Mentoring Program to recruit, train, and support LGBTQ+ mentors and LGBTQ+ youth in Allegheny, Washington, & Greene Counties. The program will provide opportunities for LGBTQ+ “matches” to share experiences and learn from each other, empowering LGBTQ+ youth. BBBSPGH supports one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.
Black in Appalachia ($10,000) to support general operations. Black in Appalachia works in collaboration with public media, residents, university departments, libraries, archives and community organizations to highlight the history and contributions of African Americans in the development of the Mountain South and broader Appalachian region and its culture. Black in Appalachia is a community service for Appalachian residents and families with roots in the region.
Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP) ($15,000) to support general operations for an administrative assistant position to assist with B-PEP’s Corporate Equity and Inclusion Roundtable (CEIR), and related programs and projects. B-PEP is a non-partisan community collaborative who seek to build economic and social power within the region’s African American community. The CEIR works to achieve higher levels of inclusion and diversity for people of color in employment, business ownership, and development.
Black Women’s Policy Center ($15,000) to support general operations and to build collective power among Black women, advocate for their needs, and advance policy to achieve racial and gender justice. The Black Women’s Policy Center improves the lives of Black women by providing a place of refuge and support through advocacy, navigating systems, accessing resources, training, education, and policy development and change.
Bunker Projects ($12,000) to support general operations and the growth of the organization’s operational capacity by providing funding to cover rental costs, accounting services, and artist stipends. Bunker Projects is a nonprofit artist residency and experimental gallery in Pittsburgh, specializing in contemporary and multidisciplinary art-making and exhibition. Bunker Projects provides the resources and supportive environment emerging artists need to self-direct their creative growth, connecting artists at all stages of their careers with Pittsburgh’s active and growing arts community.
Carnegie Mellon University ($7,629) to support TQ Live! in September 2022 at the Carnegie Museum of Art. TQ Live! is a queer evening of dazzling performance, dance, poetry, comedy, resplendent fantasies, music, and more. The annual event is geared towards community building and community sustaining, with a positive party-like atmosphere that celebrates local LGBTQIA talent.
Catapult Greater Pittsburgh ($15,000), acting as fiscal sponsor to support The Covering LLC’s Holistic Fashion Therapy, which provides Black women who have had traditional domestic violence counseling but are still struggling with recovery with healing strategies and techniques needed on their holistic healing journey through art, fashion, and design.
Catapult Greater Pittsburgh ($13,000) acting as fiscal sponsor for Soil Sisters, to support their summer youth programming in the Beltzhoover neighborhood. Soil Sisters eradicates food apartheid in historically excluded Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh by empowering residents to create their own paths to food security.
Cave Canem Foundation ($10,000) to support Cave Canem’s week-long, annual writing retreat in 2022. Cave Canem is a home for the many voices of Black poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of Black poets.
Chatham Baroque ($10,000) to support general operations for an artistically excellent and productive 2022/2023 Season. Chatham Baroque presents captivating, historically informed period music performances and educational programs, aiming to preserve critical musical traditions, illuminate historical contexts, expand the scope of early music, and build a vibrant and diverse community of artists and music enthusiasts.
Community Justice Project ($15,000) to support general operations. The Community Justice Project provides broad impact legal support for eligible low income people who live in Pennsylvania. Through this advocacy, CJP seeks to protect the basic needs of low income individuals and families, and to assist them in their efforts to become self-sufficient or to otherwise improve their lives and the communities in which they live.
Creative Citizen Studios ($10,000) to support general operations. Creative Citizen Studios provides a professional studio environment for adult artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities, supporting their ability to create, exhibit and sell their work.
East End Cooperative Ministry ($10,000) to support general operations. For 50 years, EECM has responded to community needs with programs that provide opportunity, transformation and hope to those experiencing homelessness, food insecurity, educational challenges, and barriers to employment.
Faith United Methodist Church – Roots of Faith ($10,000) to support general operations of Roots of Faith. Roots of Faith builds community by reconciling people with God and one another. It sits in the community of Fox Chapel and serves the neighboring community of Sharpsburg and was born out of a desire to address and bridge the divide of the vast economic disparity between these communities.
Foster Love Project ($15,000) to support general operations and the hiring of two new staff members, enabling the organization to expand its current programs. Foster Love Project provides love in action to foster children as well as support to the families who are providing care for them.
Grow Pittsburgh ($15,000) to support general operations and food growing projects across the region. Grow Pittsburgh’s mission is to to teach people how to grow food, and promote the benefits that gardens bring to our neighborhoods.
Heritage Community Initiatives ($7,500) to support general operations and the enhancement of transportation, education and nutrition programs to meet the growing need to provide safety net resources for those who are under-resourced in forty communities throughout Eastern Allegheny County. Heritage Community Initiatives is dedicated to making a positive impact on the social mobility of thousands of individuals, families and children.
Hill District Consensus Group ($30,000 over two years) to support general operations. The Hill District Consensus Group creates effective pathways for intergenerational residents to overcome economic, social, and housing disparities.
Human Services Center Corporation (HSCC) ($15,000) to support general operations of programs that work with clients to find a pathway out of poverty, including a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, Emerging Leaders Program, Supports for Success, and food pantry. HSCC improves the quality of life for children, adults, and families in the Mon Valley area.
Industrial Arts Workshop ($10,000) to support general operations. Industrial Arts Workshop advances new and original sculpture creation and artistic literacy, inspires and supports sculpture artists and their work, and shares their work through collaboration, accessible education programs, projects, and outreach.
Legacy Arts Project ($5,000) acting as fiscal sponsor to support the Sabira Family Collective and general programming of the Sabira Cole Film Festival 2022. The Sabira Family Collective holds an annual juried festival of new independent films, based in Pittsburgh, but accessible internationally online.
Legacy Arts Project ($30,000 over two years) acting as fiscal sponsor to support Children’s Windows to Africa’s fourth year of programming at City and County public housing sites during the summer of 2022. Children’s Windows to Africa creates enriching opportunities and a safe environment for children to learn, value, appreciate, and preserve their African cultural heritage in order to encourage artistic expression and increase each child’s possibility of cultural, spiritual, intellectual, and social wealth.
Manchester Citizens Corporation ($7,500) acting as fiscal sponsor to support Mobilify SWPA. Mobilify engages all communities in collaboration towards securing greater multimodal transportation choices, equitable transportation access, and economic opportunity across Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Manchester Youth Development Center (MYDC) ($5,000) to support general operations and programming that increases the opportunities, voice, and capacity of this Black-led organization and the Black youth and families they serve. MYDC is committed to nurturing the development of children by meeting their academic, social and emotional needs within a constructive, wholesome and safe learning environment, which places value on making positive choices as a foundation for building a productive life.
McKees Rocks Community Development Corporation ($15,000) acting as fiscal sponsor to support The BlackteaBrownsuga Network. The BlackteaBrownsuga Network educates, inspires, and equips youth, artists, and community-serving individuals with the knowledge and skills needed to achieve success through music, media, and mental health focused programs in McKees Rocks/Stowe and Western Pennsylvania.
Neighborhood Legal Services Association (NLS) ($10,000) to support general operations in the provision of civil legal aid to low income individuals and their families who cannot afford it otherwise in order to protect their family, their home and their income. These funds will enable NLS to address funding gaps that other funding sources do not cover nor allow. NLS provides an essential service that protects the safety and restores and preserves the dignity of individuals who have nowhere to turn for help.
New Sun Rising ($15,000) acting as fiscal sponsor to support The Birthing Hut host community engagements to educate about the racial injustices within the experience of Black birth and encourage community-based solutions for the improvement of the future of Black birth. The Birthing Hut provides education, resources, and prenatal services to the community.
New Sun Rising ($10,000) acting as fiscal sponsor to support Elephant Song Doula Services – Childbirth Education for the Culture. Elephant Song Doula Service increases access to culturally relevant pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and lactation education for expectant Black mothers and their families.
New Sun Rising ($15,000) acting as fiscal sponsor to support The Black Unicorn Library and Archives Project. Black Unicorn cultivates libraries as sites of learning, possibility, and freedom, and to celebrate the literary and artistic contributions of Black women, queer, trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people across the Diaspora. Black Unicorn explores the relationship between literacy and liberation and is a cultural intervention, addressing the limited and distorted representations of Black literature available in our education and cultural spaces.
New York Foundation for the Arts ($10,000) acting as fiscal sponsor to support Larimer Senior Stories, an ongoing collaboration between multidisciplinary artist John Peña and a group of retired residents of Larimer engaged in their community’s positive growth who gather for monthly luncheons to create collaborative works of art through which the seniors share their rich histories with the surrounding neighborhood.
Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality (OFUAPB) ($10,000) to support general operations. OFUAPB fights against police brutality via organizing and statewide initiatives in Ohio, and supports extended families – who, while not related by blood, are bonded through the needless bloodshed of loved ones.
Open Hand Ministries ($15,000) to support general operations. Open Hand Ministries promotes social justice in Pittsburgh’s East End by building a diverse community focused on financial wellness, equity creation, and homeownership.
Organization of Chinese Americans, Inc – Pittsburgh Chapter ($7,500) acting as fiscal sponsor to support JADED, a Pittsburgh-based collective of Asian women artists. Funds will be used to produce a free public program highlighting the art, history, and cultural practices of Pittsburgh’s Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community; to cultivate interethnic and intergenerational connections; to nurture community leadership in the movement for racial justice; and to document through film AAPI cultural leadership.
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Media ($7,500) acting as fiscal sponsor to support the Freedom Corner Dedication Project, a documentary and public free screening of Kenneth Love’s film about the Freedom Corner Dedication which took place April 21, 2001.
Pittsburgh Glass Center ($50,000 over two years) to support general operations and to support The Glass Center’s capital campaign to significantly expand its facility. Pittsburgh Glass Center cultivates an inclusive and welcoming environment that encourages everyone, from the casually curious to the master artist, to learn, create, and be inspired by glass. We share our passion for glass locally and globally to advance a more diverse, vibrant, and accessible glass art community.
Pittsburgh Musical Theater (PMT) ($7,500) to support need-based financial aid for students of PMT’s Conservatory. This aid provides opportunity for students with financial need to engage in arts education, develop transferrable life skills, engage with a diverse creative community, and build confidence in a nurturing environment.
Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (PNME) ($5,000) to support general operations for its 2022 season. Using music as the vehicle for larger ideas, PNME seeks to bring together the people and the arts of our time. PNME commissions, performs, and presents new work in ways that challenge, engage, and inspire communities.
Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks (PSIP) ($7,500) to support a free production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that will be presented to the public in Pittsburgh city parks each weekend in September 2022. Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks provides free and accessible Shakespeare and classical theatre to the residents of Pittsburgh in public parks and outdoor spaces.
POISE Foundation ($15,000) acting as fiscal sponsor for Alliance for Police Accountability to support the work of the Radical Youth Collective’s Summer Fellowship. The youth fellowship focuses on rapid response, education, direct action, leadership development, research, decentralized and democratized Black community solutions, mutual aid, solidarity economy projects, and the fight for abolition. The Radical Youth Collective builds capacity for Black organizations by training up young Black organizers who help those organizations.
Preservation Pittsburgh ($6,250) to support the 2700 Jane Street “Wild Sisters” History Project. 2700 Jane Street is the former Wild Sisters/Bloomers feminist/lesbian space located on Pittsburgh’s South Side. This grant will fund the research and writing related to the site’s social and architectural history, plus further community engagement, leading to an application to recognize the site as a City of Pittsburgh designated historic landmark. Preservation Pittsburgh is a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to preserving our region’s historic, architectural, cultural, and environmental heritage.
Prime Stage Theatre ($5,000) to support general operations as the theatre company produces five stage productions in their 2022-23 season, presented live at the New Hazlett Theater and streamed to reach local, regional, national, and international audiences. Prime State entertains, inspires, and enriches audiences through professional theatre experiences by bringing literature to life and programs that deliver quantifiable results and benefits to the region.
Protohaven ($10,000) to support general operations and Protohaven’s efforts to increase diversity in its member-base through targeted marketing to groups typically under-represented in makerspaces and in design/fabrication. Protohaven engages people in the process of making things to enrich individual lives, build thriving communities, and contribute to a vibrant, sustainable society.
Radiant Hall ($10,000) to support general operations as Radiant Hall continues to build a vibrant and sustainable support model for Pittsburgh’s working artists, centered around affordable studio space.
Renaissance City Wind Music Society ($5,000) to support general operations and the 2022–23 Renaissance City Winds season of performances and audio recordings. Renaissance City Wind Music Society promotes the best in wind chamber music, with an emphasis on American music, by presenting concerts and educational programs, producing recordings, commissioning new works, and collaborating with other artists.
Resonance Works ($15,000) to support general operations during the 2022/23 seasons. Resonance Works is a multi-modal performing arts company in Pittsburgh, dedicated to creating musical programs that empower artists, engage audiences, and normalize diversity. Resonance Works present socially relevant performances of new and traditional classical music repertoire and to foster authentic artistic collaborations and community partnerships.
Shana Simmons Dance ($15,000) to support general operations, including board development, increasing marketing and fundraising plans, and the 2022 season. Shana Simmons Dance seeks advancement of quality dance performance and increased engagement with audiences and the community through financially accessible interactive and immersive productions. The vision and passion of the company is to encourage movement in all bodies.
Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Aid (SWPL) ($16,500) to support Washington County Pardon Project Coordinator, who recruits reformed applicants to apply for pardons from nonviolent criminal records, matching them with volunteer pardon coaches who ensure accuracy, quality, and completeness of applications to the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons. SWPL Improves and stabilizes low-income and other vulnerable Southwestern Pennsylvania residents’ families, housing, and financial security with legal representation and other assistance.
Team G.R.O.W. ($10,000) to provide educational support for low income home owners who may face evictions or home depreciation due to damages to their homes. This program provides education such as small electrical knowledge, patch work drywalling, repair small pipe damages, and skills to keep homes maintained. Team G.R.O.W provides outreach, resources, and educates low income families and home owners in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and Uptown communities.
Theatre Communications Group (TCG) ($15,000) to support a Pittsburgh-based cohort of TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color program. TCG is the national theatre service organization that leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology.
Union Project ($12,000) to support general operations. Through intentional arts practice and deliberative dialogue, Union Project builds understanding and empathy, fosters creativity and connections, and builds skills and opportunities to support and unite some of Allegheny County’s most vulnerable populations.
Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank ($10,000) to bolster general operations to support vulnerable families in crisis by supplying basic need items including diapers, wipes, period products, and incontinence supplies through a network of 55 partner agencies in Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fayette counties. The Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank ensures babies in need are clean, healthy, and dry and a vision of a community where all families have an equal opportunity to thrive.
Willissae’s Agency for Vision and Empowerment (WAVE) ($10,000) to support general operations of WAVE’s housing counseling and renters’ eviction prevention services. WAVE empowers individuals who face barriers to discover and reach their potential through education, housing counseling, social services, long-term support and community development.
Women in Tech Pittsburgh (WITPGH) ($10,000) to support general operations, enhancing WITPGH’s ability to create educational pathways for women of color in technology and to advocate for diversity in the Pittsburgh technology sector. WITPGH empowers women to succeed in the tech sector through education, advocacy and community.
Women’s Law Project ($40,000 over two years) to support general operations. Women’s Law Project creates a more just and equitable society by advancing the rights and status of all women throughout their lives. Women’s Law Project works on a wide variety of issues, including reproductive rights, workplace rights, and discrimination.
Young Black Motivated Kings & Queens (YBMKQ) ($15,000) to support general operations. YBMKQ is a community-based organization made up of dedicated young men and women who engage high school-aged youth in becoming the leaders of tomorrow while serving the community.
Zellous Hope Project ($30,000 over two years) to support general operations and the continuation of services to those in need of economic and social stability. Zellous Hope Project provides a bridge over the holes on the road to living better by working together with existing organizations, to create the change we want to see in the lives of the people we serve.
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