The Pittsburgh-based Heinz Endowments have announced $20.7 million in grants for improving the quality of life in Pennsylvania.

The Endowments will partner with the National Park Foundation to fund an international design competition for a 9/11 memorial on the site in Somerset County, southeast of Pittsburgh, where United Airline Flight 93 crashed. The $500,000 grant will be managed by the foundation arm of the National Park Service, which has been designated by Congress as the controlling authority for the site. The competition process and selection will be overseen by the fifteen-member Flight 93 Advisory Commission, which is composed of victims' family members, local residents, public officials, national figures, and a representative of the Park Service.

"We hope this process will result in a memorial that offers a fitting place of remembrance for the tens of thousands who will come here to pay their respects," said Teresa Heinz Kerry, chairman of the Howard Heinz Endowment. Noting the acts of heroism that likely took place on the plane, Heinz Kerry added that she hoped the funding would ensure "a world-class design that is worthy of this nationally important site."

In addition to the 9/11 memorial, the Endowments' boards approved $1.5 million in grants in support of a new environmental health initiative in the region; a $1 million grant to a youth science-and-environment-education program; $1 million to Point Park University to support construction of new dance studios and performance space for its academic dance program; and additional funding to develop jobs, fight youth violence, and build citizenship across southwestern Pennsylvania.