The Heinz Endowments has announced grants totaling nearly $30 million in support of community development projects, COVID-19 relief efforts, and other initiatives across the greater Pittsburgh region.

In the area of community development, the foundation awarded grants totaling nearly $10 million, including more than $1.75 million to the Hill Community Development Corporation to help restore and expand the historic New Granada Theater, which has stood vacant for decades. A grant of $1.7 million will support ongoing initiatives at Hazelwood Green — a former steel mill site that the endowments, in partnership with the Richard King Mellon Foundation and Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, is redeveloping into a tech and innovation center — including a renovation of the former locomotive roundhouse, development of Mill Plaza, and planning for construction of affordable housing and office space.

The foundation also awarded a $750,000 grant to enable Bike Share Pittsburgh to transition to electric-assist bicycles; a $200,000 grant to the Northside Industrial Development Company to help the UrbanKind Institute establish a coalition focused on issues affecting marginalized communities; grants totaling $2.59 million to more than ten organizations working to help all communities in the region thrive, including the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation; and grants totaling $2.95 million in support of affordable housing and neighborhood improvement projects.

On the COVID-19 front, the foundation awarded a grant to establish a $3 million fund aimed at helping local arts venues reopen and additional COVID relief grants totaling nearly $776,000, including a grant of $400,000 to Hosanna House in Wilkinsburg to help fill a gap in funding for its child development program; a grant of $50,000 to Gateway Medical Society in support of coronavirus vaccination efforts and community engagement initiatives focused on reducing race-based health disparities; and a grant of $50,000 to the Community Justice Project in support of RentHelpPGH, a communications hub for housing-related resources in Allegheny County.

"Strengthening community development is core to building healthy neighborhoods and improving quality of life for all, now and for future generations," said Heinz Endowments president Grant Oliphant. "This is a pivotal time that has further exposed areas of need and inequities in our communities that must be addressed if we are to move forward together in sharing in our region's economic, social, and cultural well-being."

(Photo credit: Hosanna House)