Richard King Mellon Foundation

Thank you to The Daily Item of Sunbury, PA for detailing the important work of Susquehanna University’s Freshwater Institute and the benefits of that work to the people and places of the Susquehanna River valley and the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Foundation has helped to enable the Institute’s work since its founding a decade ago. #philanthropy #conservation #ChesapeakeBay #SusquehannaRiver #watersheds #environment #ecology #workforcedevelopment https://lnkd.in/eY9cPUvq

Congratulations to Barbara Shinn-Cunningham on her appointment as new Dean of the Carnegie Mellon University Mellon College of Science. Shinn-Cunningham will lead the college as it readies for its 2027 move into the new Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences, under construction at Forbes Avenue and Craig Street. The Foundation was pleased to support the college’s new home with a $75 million lead gift in 2021. It will be an interdisciplinary hub that deploys artificial intelligence, data analytics and foundational science to solve previously unsolvable scientific challenges. Carnegie Mellon University #philanthropy #science #highereducation #economicdevelopment #healthandwellbeing #artificalintelligence #dataanalytics https://lnkd.in/ej-sNuSK

Thank you to Mark Belko and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for covering the exciting news of the first affordable housing project at Hazelwood Green. The three foundations that comprise the Almono partnership long have wanted their work at Hazelwood Green to demonstrate that economic development and positive community development can proceed together hand-in-hand. And affordable housing at Hazelwood Green has been an important part of that plan. As Todd Stern said, on behalf of the Almono partners: “Establishing Hazelwood Green’s first residential development project in partnership with Pittsburgh Scholar House is a wonderful reflection of the vision that the Almono foundations and our many city, state, and community partners have had since the site was purchased more than two decades ago from the steel mills.” Tishman Speyer, The Heinz Endowments, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, Diamonte Walker, EdD, MBA #philanthropy #economicdevelopment #communitydevelopment #affordablehousing https://lnkd.in/eytttEui

Congratulations to Resilient Lifescience on winning $3.4 million from the National Institutes of Health to further their development of a wearable patch to detect opioid overdoses, and also administer the life-saving overdose drug, naloxone. While naloxone drugs, such as Narcan, are more ubiquitous now, opioid-overdose deaths remain at high levels in the United States, in part because most overdose deaths happen when people are alone. “Even if everybody in the country carried Narcan and knew how to recognize and treat an overdose, we’re only going to solve 20 percent of existing deaths,” said Resilient Lifescience co-founder Bradford Holden. “We need to be able to detect an overdoes without anyone else there.” The Foundation was an early funder of Resilient Lifescience, through the foundation’s Social-Impact Investment program. #philanthropy #healthandwellbeing #opioid #opioidoverdoses #socialimpactinvesting https://lnkd.in/eQxbbKmp

A before/after of our latest project in New Kensington! We worked with the VALLEY POINTS FAMILY YMCA and the community to transform the YMCA lot into a vibrant, active space. With inspiration from the YMCA and New Kensington logos, we reimagined the space with features like a colorful wall mural, bump-outs, crosswalks, and even sunflowers. This temporary demonstration brought fresh energy to the area, using painted Tyvek to display public art, PVC pipe structures for shade, and repurposed tires for seating to create a people-centered environment. We also wanted to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment, so we tested out these changes to see their long-term impact. Thank you to our sponsors at the Richard King Mellon Foundation and everyone who joined in this journey of creating and designing with the neighbors of New Kensington! #BetterBlock #BetterBlockNewKen #NewKensington #Pittsburgh #UrbanDesign #Placemaking #ThirdSpace #TacticalUrbanism #BetterBlockInABox #Community #Wikiblock

Congratulations to Korion Health on winning the $1 million Hult Prize. Korion is a for-profit startup that is developing an electronic stethoscope to enable people to monitor their heart and lung health at home. Earlier this year, Korion was named one of the winners of the Foundation’s latest Social-Impact Investment pitch competition. Lori van Dam, CEO of the Hult Prize Foundation, captured the concept of social-impact investing when she said, “Korion Health is the latest example of a social enterprise that will positively impact the world based on an innovative idea, hard work, and the ability to prove that it is possible to do well by doing good in business.” #philanthropy #socialimpactinvestments #healthandwellbeing Anna Li, Akshaya Anand https://lnkd.in/eHSF3PXS

Thank you to Kris Mamula and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for this thorough explanation of the personalized cell and gene therapies that will be developed at the University of Pittsburgh BioForge, and by anchor tenant ElevateBio. The BioForge has the potential to make Pittsburgh a global leader in this important work – creating both life-enhancing and life-saving medicines, and good, family sustaining jobs. As former Pitt chancellor @PatrickGallagher said when the project was announced back in 2021: “We were the city that built the world. Now, with this innovation, Pittsburgh can become the city that heals the world.” #philanthropy #biomanufacturing #economicdevelopment #communitydevelopment #healthandwellbeing https://lnkd.in/eZDqvTBz

Thank you to Tony Norman and NEXTpittsburgh for sharing the import and impact of “The Ebony Canal,” the new film by Emmai Alaquiva. The film, which premiered earlier this summer at the The August Wilson African American Cultural Center, and is narrated by Viola Davis, brings to life one of the great tragedies of modern society – the unacceptably high rates of Black infant mortality. Black babies die before their first birthday at more than twice the rate of other births. The Foundation has been funding research into solutions to this societal problem for a decade, working with expert partners such as the Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation, RAND, Stanford University and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The Foundation funded Alaquiva’s film to bring their work to life. Alaquiva does so through the inspiring lens of four expectant moms. #philanthropy #infantmortality #healthandwellbeing https://lnkd.in/e_-Swe-S

Congratulations to The Conservation Fund on achieving an important milestone for the nation – the conservation of 1 million acres of working forestland across the United States. As CEO Larry Selzer said, “We are responding to the greatest land-conservation challenge in the country today — the loss of large, intact, working forests.” The Conservation Fund’s approach sustains critical landscapes and wildlife habitat, while bolstering rural economies and outdoor recreation. The Foundation has worked with the Conservation Fund on environmental conservation since the 1980s. #philanthropy #conservation #environment #outdoorrecreation #ruralcommunities https://lnkd.in/eVkBmaiD

Thank you to KDKA-TV for covering the recent topping-off ceremony for the University of Pittsburgh BioForge at Hazelwood Green. The BioForge and its anchor tenant, ElevateBio, will generate life-changing and even life-saving cell and gene therapies, while creating jobs and advancing positive community growth in Hazelwood. The Foundation contributed $100 million to this game-changing project, which has the potential to make Pittsburgh a national biomanufacturing leader. #philanthropy #economicdevelopment #community development #biomanufacturing #construction Joan Gabel, Patrick Gallagher, Kaigham J. Gabriel, Vikas Sinha https://lnkd.in/eytDbnyX