Investments
Current Investees
Every Child, Inc. was founded in 1997 to address significant gaps in permanency services to children with special needs and their families in western Pennsylvania. The staff is experienced in providing an array of permanency services — to be consistent workers in children’s lives — in their birth families, or as they move through foster care, reunification, or special needs adoption. Staff are organized in teams to provide comprehensive, continuous, high quality service. Every Child, Inc. receives referrals of children and families from child welfare agencies in the western Pennsylvania area. All services to children and families are free of charge. PSVP began working with Every Child in 2004.
Cumulative Grants: $100,000
Current Projects: Supporting the implementation of their case management software system.
Gwen’s Girls‘ mission is to empower girls, ages 8 to 18, to have productive futures through holistic, gender-specific programs, education and experiences. Their holistic programming approach is based on addressing the ten pathways, or life domains, that are critical to a girl’s development and future success. PSVP began working with Gwen’s Girls in 2005.
Cumulative Grants: $62,500
Phase 4 Learning Center provides a non-traditional approach to high-school education for students who are unsuccessful in the typical school environment. Students in grades 7-12 are referred to Phase 4 by public school districts and are identified as being at-risk for remaining in school. Their mission is: “To provide and exceptional education for at-risk youth that focuses on their academic, social, behavioral and future needs, enabling them to graduate from high school prepared to become caring and contributing members of their communities.” Phase 4 is PSVP’s most recently added Investee and began working with them in 2007
Cumulative Grants: $15,000
Current Projects: Partners are assisting with drafting a business case for expansion.
Current Funded Projects
SNAP Pittsburgh with Auberle and Holy Family Institute.
The launch of this juvenile delinquency prevention project was initiated by Partner Tom Canfield and has corralled significant financial resources and community support for a two year pilot of the program. PSVP’s initial investment of $8,800 has been leverages into nearly $4 Million.
Cumulative Grants: $8,800
Transitions to Success II: with Bethlehem Haven’s Project Employ & the Allegheny County Department of Human Services.
This is the second pilot of Transitions to Success, this time focusing on a homeless/group home population of young people who are aging out of the Foster Care System.
Cumulative Grants: $22,000
Graduated Investees
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh’s mission is to make positive differences in the lives of children by providing one-to-one mentoring programs and related services that help youth discover their highest potential and grow to become responsible adults leading productive and rewarding lives. PSVP began working with BBBS in 2003 and completed our investment in 2005.
Cumulative Grants: $150,000
Kids Voice Represents nearly 5,000 abused and neglected children in Allegheny County each year by guiding children through the court process to ensure that every agency involved meets the full range of the child’s needs. Through in-depth investigation, KidsVoice delivers informed recommendations and advocates in court for the child’s best interests –in court and beyond– making a dramatic difference in the lives of children, parents and the community at large. KidsVoice ensures that the most appropriate services are in place to protect children from future harm, with the ultimate goal of providing a safe and permanent home for every child. PSVP worked with Kids Voice in 2002.
Cumulative Grants: $50,000
Youth Enrichment Services (YES) exists to provide socially and economically disadvantaged children the opportunity to achieve success through a variety of programs. Its cornerstone program is Mentoring Partner Program in which teen Mentors are paired with pre-teen Mentees. The Mentor’s role is to encourage, inspire and direct their Mentees toward achieving their personal goals. A second YES program is the Allegheny County funded Diversion Program which coordinates structured family involvement aimed toward helping children who would otherwise be placed in Schuman Detention Center, get “back on track.” PSVP worked with YES from 2003 - 2005.
Cumulative Grants: $100,000
YouthPlaces ensures that Pittsburgh’s most under-served, high-risk youth (ages 12-18) engage in quality after school programs that focus on academics, life skills and career development, youth leadership development and recreation. With 17 locations, over one quarter of the high-risk youth in our community participate in YouthPlaces programs – Programs that are shaped by the community and youth leaders in order to develop the skills of youth and increase their opportunity for success. PSVP began working with YouthPlaces in 2004.
Cumulative Grants: $75,000
Completed Projects
Transitions to Success I: with Urban Youth Action, Youth Works, Inc. and Bethlehem Haven.
This initial pilot evolved from an award winning program of life skills, job skills and internships and was directed toward high school students to support summer or full time employment.
Cumulative Grants: $32,000
Marketing Workshop Cohort: Co-funded with the Forbes Funds.
This four-part marketing workshop assisted four nonprofits (two of which were finalists for PSVP’s 2007 grant review process) in developing and assessing their own marketing initiatives.
Funded Project Partners
Auberle has been dedicated to the mission of caring for and healing abused, neglected and troubled children throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania for over 50 years. Auberle has been able to help thousands of children and their families through residential care, foster care, emergency shelter, in-home intervention, education and community programs. Family preservation, the reuniting of families in a positive home environment and preparing children to be responsible adults are the ultimate goals of Auberle.
Holy Family Institute seeks to empower children and families to lead responsible lives and develop healthy relationships built on faith, hope, and love. They are founded in the rich tradition of Catholic social teaching and rooted in the heritage of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Each day, more than 600 dedicated educators, therapists, residential care workers, and administrators at Holy Family Institute work with children and families desperately in need of an opportunity.
Urban Youth Action, Inc. was founded in 1966 by Bernard H. Jones, Sr. who held the conviction that if the talent of our youth could be channeled in positive directions, young people would have a better chance of becoming part of mainstream America and enjoying the fruits of productive lives. UYA works with high-risk youth ages 13-19 from various communities throughout Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh. UYA has a core youth development program, which serves 120 students annually and several outreach programs. On a yearly basis, UYA serves over 1000 unduplicated youth. The youth development program is a year round program which exposes youth to a four part curriculum consisting of, “Word of Work”, “Life Skills”, “Health and Hygiene” and “Financial Literacy”. Students attend sessions after school that are presented by volunteers who work in the field of each topic.
Youth Works, Inc. as it is known today, began in 1994. The Working Together Consortium conducted a community-wide planning effort to assess the direction of economic development in the region. The study highlighted, among other issues, the need to ensure that youth are prepared for and connected to the jobs of the future. The Consortium then asked Dianna Green and Frederick Thieman to serve as co-chairs of YouthWorks to better link youth to entry-level employment opportunities. The Youth Employment Alliance chairperson, James Allen, was asked to serve as an additional co-chair to bring community-based grassroots participation to YouthWorks. YouthWorks’ extensive & personalized training allows its youngsters to excel and succeed in the workforce. YouthWorks tries to match kids with employment opportunities according to their goals and interests. As the overseeing organization, YouthWorks serves as the liaison between employers and the young workers. YouthWorks staff members are required to stay in touch with employers on a weekly basis to ensure that the worker is fulfilling his or her obligations. Since its inception, YouthWorks has helped over 16,500 youth obtain career exploration, training, and employment.