PITTSBURGH, PA, December 20, 2018—The Opportunity Fund announces support totaling $736,000 in its sixth cycle of funding. The Board of Directors funded 53 out of 134 requests that were seeking a total of $2,155,839. Including the current grant cycle, the foundation has awarded 286 grants totaling over $3.6 million since its inception in 2015.
A complete list of awarded grants can be found below.
Amnesty International USA ($30,000 over 3 years) to support AIUSA’s global human rights work, including research, mobilization, and advocacy.
Angels’ Place, Inc. ($10,000) to support early childhood education and family support services offered to single-parent families in need who are striving to create a brighter future for two generations. Comprehensive programming at Angel’s Place provides both parent and child with the tools necessary to break the perpetual cycle of poverty.
Attack Theatre ($7,500) to support The Rube Goldberg Variations, which explores the contemporary relevance of satirical cartoonist Rube Goldberg’s over-complicated world. This performance at the New Hazlett Theater will utilize visuals by Pittsburgh cartoonists and re-orchestrate J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations as the score for this playful and original work.
Beltzhoover Neighborhood Council ($10,000) to support veterans, seniors and low income residents experiencing financial hardship.
Bodiography ($10,000) to support a collaboration with Martha Graham Contemporary Dance Company. Both companies will unite on the Byham Theater stage on April 26th and 27th of 2019 to perform an evening of work by Martha Graham and Maria Caruso.
Bricolage Production Company ($10,000) to support general operations including the expansion of immersive theater while also engaging increasing numbers of audience members typically isolated from such experiences due to financial, physical or emotional challenges.
Casa San José ($10,000) to support operations, growth, and sustainability in a time of greatly increasing need in the community of Latino immigrants and their families in Southwestern PA, primarily Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
Chamber Music Pittsburgh ($30,000 over two years) to support the Subscription Series at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.
Chatham Baroque, Inc. ($10,000) to support the mission of Chatham Baroque, Inc. as it presents the first joint season of Chatham Baroque plus Renaissance & Baroque programs.
City Theatre Company ($10,000) to support the Momentum Play Development Series: a play development program that, this year, will focus on expanding the number of plays developed and resources afforded to playwrights to hone their work. Public readings and audience inclusion are central facets of the program.
Community Kitchen Pittsburgh ($10,000) to support the provision of student classroom materials, training incentives, and supports that help CKP’s impoverished clients complete the training program. CKP provides culinary training and job placement services for adults experiencing barriers to employment.
CORNINGWORKS ($10,000) to support general operations including the development, creation, and production of two original, full length dance theater works for CW’s GLUE FACTORY PROJECTS – works created on internationally & nationally renowned performers over the age of 40.
Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) ($30,000 over 3 years) to support MSF teams who provide care for millions of people in urgent need of medical and humanitarian aid.
Duquesne University School of Nursing ($10,000) to support Women in Transition (WIT) Prenatal Support and Doula Services for Incarcerated Women.
East Liberty Development, Inc. ($7,500) to support the expansion of Circles Greater Pittsburgh to now provide educational programming to the entire Circles network including: homeownership workshops and education, entrepreneurship training, and political education forums.
Front Porch Theatricals ($5,000) to support general operations for the 2019 season that will take place at the New Hazlett Theater.
Garden of Peace ($10,000) to support general operations of this black trans and queer led work that affirms, elevates, and empowers the lives and lived experiences of black trans and queer youth and families through art as resistance, healing practice, and leadership development.
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank ($15,000) to support a mobile farmers’ market, Green Grocer, in bringing fresh produce into Pittsburgh communities designated as food deserts.
Hill Dance Academy Theatre ($10,000) to support general operations, to strategically increase organizational capacity, to expand institutional marketing, and to define strategic directions for HDAT’s financial future and artistic growth.
Homewood Children’s Village ($10,000) to support general operations including efforts to support children socially and academically, to support families through engagement and referrals, and to build the partnerships that make the organization’s work possible and help reweave the fabric of our community.
JADA House ($7,500) to support general operations for educational and social opportunities in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood community for both youth and adults groups struggling to find access to positive and supportive programs.
Jewish Assistance Fund ($30,000 over three years) to support general operations to provide emergency funds to people facing financial crises.
Jewish Family & Community Services of Pittsburgh ($60,000 over two years) to expand capacity of the community-based Immigration Legal Services Program via the ISAC network to offer legal service office hours at multiple community locations. This expansion will benefit vulnerable immigrants living in fear, especially immigrant children.
Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh ($45,000 over 3 years) to support the health and human service needs of thousands of low-income families, vulnerable individuals, and seniors across the region.
Justice at Work ($10,000) to support the general operations of Justice at Work, so that they are able to provide effective services to low-wage workers across the state.
Kamratōn ($7,500) to support “Her Holiness The Winter Dog,” an opera by composer Curtis Rumrill and librettist Zachary Webber, with guest performers Shana Simmons Dance Company and Quince Ensemble, premiering May 30-31, 2019 in the New Hazlett Theater’s Community Supported Art program.
Lighthouse Arts, Inc. ($5,000) to support a 4-concert series that showcases jazz as an art form by featuring the region’s most talented artists who are committed to mentoring the next generation of musicians and serving as ambassadors for jazz to the broader community.
Milwaukee Inner city Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH) ($30,000 over two years) to support general operations including the hiring of a full-time organizer for MICAH, a multi-racial, faith-based organization addressing a range of social justice issues. MICAH empowers people through leadership training, issue actions, and strategic campaigns while weaving together an expression of the beloved community.
National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh ($7,500) to support the Center for Women and its mission of helping women in life transitions achieve and maintain economic independence and self-sufficiency.
Neighborhood Allies ($50,000 over three years) to advance and deepen system-level alignment work with networks, coalitions, and policy to ensure greater efficiency in connecting residents to existing resources and maximizing the opportunity the eliminate blight and poverty in the greater Pittsburgh Region.
New Hazlett Center for the Performing Arts ($15,000) to support general operations to serve as a stable, affordable rental and support facility for Pittsburgh’s diverse artists and arts organizations.
New Israel Fund ($10,000) to support general operations that enables NIF to support organizations, leaders, and activists advancing democratic values, human rights, social and economic justice, religious freedom, equality for Arab citizens of Israel, and shared society.
New Sun Rising ($6,000) to support the launch the Inside Our Minds Radical Mental Health workshop series, featuring a social justice perspective on mental illness.
New Sun Rising ($7,500) to support slowdanger’s 2019 performance season including associated artist stipends, promotion, hourly rehearsal pay, touring and production costs.
New Sun Rising ($5,000) to support the development of the Wilkinsburg Youth Steel Orchestra.
New Sun Rising ($10,000) to support the We Are All Related Public Art Installation, designed to carry conversation of cultural inclusion and perspective-sharing in Pittsburgh by way of large-scale portrait photographs of diverse residents.
Off the Wall Productions ($7,500) to support the production of Mumburger by Sarah Kosar for a three-week theatrical run.
Operation Better Block ($10,000) to support efforts to assist low-income residents in the Homewood community by providing financial assistance through the Bridge to Benefits program.
Pittsburgh Glass Center ($10,000) to support general operations through artistic activities such as classes, outreach, artist residencies, exhibitions, and studio rental.
Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania ($15,000) to support general operations for healthcare services for people who are uninsured and have lower incomes.
POISE Foundation ($10,000) to support Landless Peoples Alliance to create a county-wide tenant union, The Pittsburgh Regional Tenants Union (PTU).
PublicSource ($7,500) to support reported stories on social justice issues in Pittsburgh on PublicSource.org.
Quantum Theatre ($15,000) to support the 2018-19 season of works: Chatterton, The Gun Show, and King Lear.
Sojourner House ($7,500) to support MOMS early recovery housing: three-bedroom housing units to support early recovery for families working to live with their children in a healthy, drug-free environment.
Texture Contemporary Ballet ($7,500) to support general operations for the 2018-2019 Season of three main stage dance shows, three interactive children’s performances, two mini dance festivals, one choreography project, and several community-based performances.
Thomas Merton Center ($10,000) to support Steel Smiling’s the Beams to Bridges Program that provides mental health educational experiences for a cohort of community members.
Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras ($10,000) to support Youth Chamber Connection (YC2), in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Touchstone Center for Crafts ($10,000) to support general operations of this three-seasons craft school located in the Laurel Highlands, PA. Touchstone’s programming includes contemporary and experimental techniques—in addition to traditional and historical methods—in disciplines such as blacksmithing, ceramics, metals, jewelry, glass, mosaics, fiber arts, painting, printmaking, and sculpture.
Trade Institute of Pittsburgh ($10,000) to support general operations to improve the lives of people with significant barriers to employment through the power of lifelong skill building and job opportunities.
Ujamaa Collective ($10,000) to support Pushout in Pittsburgh: A Black Girl’s Story, a student-led youth participatory action research project created, driven and disseminated by Seven Wild Dreams, a group high school-aged black girls and femmes in Pittsburgh documenting their experiences of pushout in order to organize for education justice.
Union Project ($10,000) to support general operations for the implementation of Year 4 of Union Project’s Strategic Plan. The Plan focuses on growing financial impact to sustain and improve the arts and community programs for the communities Union Project serves.
View ($15,000) to support debt reduction for this arts and community center dedicated to enriching, educating and inspiring residents and visitors to the Adirondacks.
Willissae’s Agency for Vision and Empowerment (W.A.V.E.) ($10,000) to support a pilot eviction prevention program using life enrichment workshops and individual counseling for twenty families.
Grant cycles take place twice a year. Letter of Inquiry deadlines are January 15 and July 15. Full information about applying for grants as well as a directory of funded programs and projects is available at www.theopportunityfund.org.
CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, 412-362-1300, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org.
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