Make a Gift to Support Our Communities
Your time is not the only way to make a contribution to our communities and the community-engaged work that Pitt does.
ECA helps communities, public leaders, faculty, staff, and students to forge meaningful and effective collaborations. We do this by:
- Helping community-based organizations on the forefront of community progress to find capable and interested university partners.
- Leading the university’s expansive neighborhood commitments in Oakland, the Hill District, Greater Hazelwood, and Homewood.
- Connecting regional economic growth and planning to opportunities at the local level by making sure that as new avenues open—like Pittsburgh’s growing biosciences corridor—there are positive implications for the surrounding neighborhood.
- Serving as the hub and convener for community-engaged faculty, staff, researchers, and programs
Your gift to any area within ECA allows the University to benefit communities by providing health and wellness services, technology support, arts programs, business assistance, sustainability collaborations and much more.
Be a Good Neighbor Fund
The "Be A Good Neighbor" initiative builds bridges between Pitt and our neighbors closest to campus, ensuring that, together, we help Oakland be a clean, safe, healthy, and connected community.
ECA works hard to ensure Pitt aligns the needs of a vibrant campus with enhanced quality of life in the neighborhoods that surround us. Help us to encourage good relationships between our student body and long-term neighbors, reduce trash and litter, engage students on the rights and responsibilities of off-campus living, work with neighborhood associations to pilot new projects, and provide opportunites for student to be leaders in this work by making a gift to support us and the Oakland community.
Community Engagement Centers
The Community Engagement Centers (CECs) are a front door to Pitt right in the heart of Homewood, the Hill District, and, soon, Greater Hazelwood. These vibrant and welcoming spaces provide the environment necessary to combine the neighborhood’s wisdom and goals with the amazing research, teaching, and service opportunities that Pitt is recognized for across the globe.
In supporting the CECs, you are helping Pitt to build partnerships where students are able to connect clinical training with community health needs, where residents can learn technology skills that will help them find opportunity in the region's tech sector, and where community leaders have opportunities to participate in and contribute to the learning of Pitt students both as classmates and instructors.
Community Project Support Fund
As part of Pitt research and coursework, Pitt faculty, staff, and students are working shoulder-to-shoulder with community leaders every day to support our communities—helping resident associations to install air sensors in key locations to monitor air quality, collaborating with a community garden to offer plant-forward cooking classes, or collecting and curating oral histories for a community-led neighborhood history exhibit.
These projects have impact for everyone involved; yet it’s the small things that can get in the way of a project getting off the ground. Bus passes for resident participants, equipment and supplies, money to pay a student to embed with a community organization for a semester are just some of the needs that can delay or derail high-impact community projects. With your support, ECA can help to fill these gaps, ensuring that great community projects don’t stop before they even get started.
Education Programs Fund
Our Education Programs offer learning support and enrichment to elementary and middle school aged students in Pitt’s Community Engagement Center communities. Borne out of community requests to increase the educational opportunities for their young people, these programs involve various Pitt schools, faculty, and student groups to impact hundreds of young people each year. In Homewood, PittEnrich enhances the capabilities of elementary-aged students in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. In the Hill District, STEAM Saturdays use cutting edge enrichment programs to spark the interest of elementary and middle school aged students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.).
Part of what makes the Education Programs so successful is that they ensure our students’ basic needs are taken care of, such as offering food and transportation, eliminating barriers to participation. Help us to support these core program needs so that we can continue to expand opportunities to expose students to professions, careers, and other worlds for them to explore.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Pitt
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Pitt is a thriving and vibrant membership-based community of adults, aged 50 and better, who are passionate about learning. There are no tests, no grades, and no degree requirements, making it the perfect place for exploring new topics with other interested adults. OLLI at Pitt is about learning for the love of learning and is a great way to stay connected and continue your path of curiosity and lifelong learning among friends.
Membership fees alone do not cover the costs of running the OLLI program. Plus, by being able to offer scholarships, we can open the joys of lifelong learning to those who may not have the funds to pay for membership. Your support will help folks join Osher who may otherwise not be able to afford it and will help support the high quality of the OLLI at Pitt program.