The Pittsburgh Foundation

Mark your calendars! The Pittsburgh Foundation's Critical Needs Alert fundraiser will be on August 4, and Ronald McDonald House Care Mobile is one of nearly 200 organizations who will be participating this year. Visit www.pittsburghgives.org to learn more about how helps organizations and nonprofits supply basic needs services to those who need them most.

One month to go until Critical Needs Alert!

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, August 4 and join us for The Pittsburgh Foundation's day of giving, showcasing Ronald McDonald House Care Mobile which brings essential pediatric services to communities where families face barriers to care, and you can help keep it rolling. Your support can make a real difference in a child’s medical journey.

"The unemployment rate for veterans is nearly double the rate for civilians in Allegheny County," said Jack Lyden, Executive Director of Pittsburgh Hires Veterans. "That's exactly why the work we do matters."

"Pittsburgh Hires Veterans is a group of veterans who believe every veteran deserves a good-paying job, and we provide support because we know it can be difficult to transition out of the military," Jack continued. "We make it a habit of never saying no. We help veterans. If you served a day, we're here for you."

"Teamwork is drilled into service members because it can be a matter of life or death. Consequently, many veterans have never had to promote their individual accomplishments in a resume or interview," Jack added. "We help veterans learn to tell their stories and we have relationships with great companies that hire veterans regularly.

Pittsburgh Hires Veterans will be one of the nearly 200 organizations participating in The Pittsburgh Foundation's Critical Needs Alert this year, raising funds to support its mission and lower the unemployment rate for veterans in Allegheny County.

Critical Needs Alert will be on August 4, 2026. Mark your calendars and keep an eye out for more information as we get closer to the day!

Reminder! There is less than one week left to apply for a 2026 Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh grant. Applications will be accepted through June 24 at 5 p.m.

This program supports creating a vibrant cultural life in the Pittsburgh region by helping local artists continue to build careers and create work that represents the African diaspora.

Follow this link to learn more and find the grant application: https://pittsburghfoundation.org/advancing-black-arts-pittsburgh

As an artist, Ivana Mensah-Agyekum’s practice is rooted in Ghanaian gospel traditions passed down by her parents. “I understand music as spiritual technology,” she says. “I have a deep interest in myth and in understanding how parts come together to create the whole.”

Ivana received a 2025 Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh grant to create a visual album titled “No More Knowing,” which will feature 12 original songs and an accompanying collection of short films that center Black interiority, ritual, and transformation. Her project merges music composition, choreographed performance, and experimental cinema to create a surrealist dreamscape where grief, joy, and contemplation take shape outside defined structures of agreed-upon reality.

“Embodiment, myth, and ritual are central to my practice. I draw from Akan mythology and religious iconography. My work investigates the boundary between representation and abstraction. I seek to create a language that addresses the relationship between people, the environment, and what remains unknowable.”