Cave Canem is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of Black poets. Founded by artists for artists, Cave Canem fosters community across the diaspora to enrich the field by facilitating a nurturing space in which to learn, experiment, create, and present. Cave Canem develops audiences for Black voices that have worked and are working in the craft of poetry.
The Auto(nomous) Body Shop’s mission is to empower individuals to be the go-to support resource/friend for sexual & reproductive health, abortion care, and harm reduction within their communities and friend networks. They provide free information, supplies, and resources to foster education, advocacy, and care, while breaking down barriers to abortion and other harm reduction services. They strive to create a network of care where all individuals can access the health-related resources they need from their own communities with dignity and support.
Children’s Window To Africa ((Darisha La Watoto Kwa Africa, CWTA) was created over 25 years ago by Dr. Valerie Iya Adeniji Lawrence. CWTA provides a high impact, researched-backed outreach into public housing communities, schools, and to caregivers through African-centered education. They provide values-based programming through the arts of literacy, music, dance, fitness, voice, and additional forms of artistic expression centered in healing and wellness. In addition, they also seek to maintain a clear theoretical and philosophical framework that highlight teachings centered in Black cultural heritage to guide their educational practices, and do so by following the scholarship of Baba Asa Hilliard, Molefi Asante, Ama Mazama, Wade Nobles, Nah Dove, and Dr. Huberta Jackson-Lowman, to name a few.
Rainbow Serpent seeks to advance Black LGBTQ culture through the exploration of multimedia art, innovative healing protocols, African cosmologies, and emerging technologies. We are dedicated to celebrating the diversity and richness of Black LGBTQ culture while promoting healing and empowerment within the community. We contribute to the cultural vibrancy of the Pittsburgh region through exposing the public to the multidimensional richness and depth of Black LGBTQ cultural and spiritual traditions. We are also dedicated to providing multiple types of support for the local Black LGBTQ community, including employment opportunities, residencies, mentorship, collaboration, and targeted retreats. This local focus has national and international impact, as Rainbow Serpent’s sponsored artwork has been exhibited across this country, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and our programming has drawn many international participants. We endeavor to create a more visible and resilient Black LGBTQ culture, and we support work that strives to eradicate systemic racism, homophobia, sexism, and other harmful hierarchies.
The mission of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project is to exonerate those convicted of crimes they did not commit, to prevent innocent people from being prosecuted and convicted, and to help those wrongfully convicted transition to freedom. They accomplish their goals by providing legal representation at no cost to wrongfully convicted individuals; by advocating at the local, state, and federal levels for systemic change to address the root causes of wrongful convictions and to increase access to the courts for the wrongly convicted; by providing reentry services to freed and exonerated individuals; and by engaging students in the innocence movement, training the next generation of advocates to continue building a more equitable future for all Pennsylvanians, especially those from communities of color.
Michiyaya Dance Company is a queer-led dance company that pushes boundaries and centers the divine feminine by creating space for multidisciplinary performances and programming.
Crop & Kettle is a non-profit, social enterprise that utilizes the food system to provide job training and social development to members of our community who are eager to overcome their current obstacles to employment. Through our programs, Crop & Kettle will instill a renewed sense of value and purpose into each student, so that they will be equipped and confident to achieve gainful employment and lifelong stability.
Catapult Greater Pittsburgh engages in connecting families to emergency resources, peer to peer support, wealth building, trauma-informed financial counseling, and policy advocacy to ensure that communities can meaningfully achieve economic justice and lead dignified and equitable lives.
Amani Christian Community Development Corporation (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. Amani focuses on developing human capital in the Greater Hill District and understands the need for a shared vision and responsibility for the revitalization of the Hill District, its residents, and its youth.
Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh preserves, promotes, and perpetuates Filipino heritage through cultural, charitable, and educational activities. They serve predominantly immigrants or people of Asian descent, and envision a dynamic immigrant community recognized and valued as integral to Pittsburgh’s ethnic diversity. Their cultural dance program advances this mission, instilling pride and confidence in the community.