Catapult, 1 Hood Media among grant recipients via McAuley Ministries

PITTSBURGH (July 15, 2025)—McAuley Ministries, Pittsburgh Mercy’s grant-making foundation, awarded 14 grants totaling over $2.8 million in the first half of 2025. The grants help to fund education, empowerment, essential needs & social services, and peacemaking ini­tiatives in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Uptown, and West Oakland com­munities, its three focus neighborhoods, referred to as the Mercy Corri­dor.

These investments continue McAuley Min­istries’ commitment to build Mercy Corridor’s assets through collabo­ration and an increase in programs that sup­port residents’ access to education, essential needs and social ser­vices, empowerment, and programs that fos­ter peace. “A great ex­ample of this is our in­vestment in the Show Up Pittsburgh Initia­tive,” said Marisol Val­entin, executive direc­tor. The initiative was brought to the Hill Dis­trict following an asset mapping we performed on our investments in education. The mapping showed that the biggest need was to bring col­laboration and align­ment among the schools, community partners, and residents. In 2024, McAuley Ministries brought A+ Schools in as a catalytic partner to work alongside Macedo­nia FACE. A simple key performance indicator (KPI) was selected for the initiative: reducing chronic absenteeism.

According to Valentin, “If we all work collabo­ratively on getting our kids to school every day, we will reach all the other indicators we are working to improve—graduation rates, higher education enrollment, and so much more.” In 2024, through the work of all the partners in the initiative, rates of chronic absence were down in Hill District schools from the prior year:

Pittsburgh Miller PreK-5: -6 percent

Pittsburgh Weil PreK-5: -23 percent

Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12, University Prepa­ratory School: -20 per­cent

“And beautiful things began to blossom,” stat­ed Valentin. “After hearing about needs in schools, partners showed up to close the gap. Jubilee Associa­tion, for example, set up a food pantry at Pittsburgh Weil that is stocked and managed by Jubilee Kitchen to help fulfill one of the goals of Principal Kira Hender­son—providing families easier access to food at Weil without burdening school staff with man­aging the pantry. This is the power of collabo­ration.”

Grouped by grant-mak­ing priorities, the recip­ients of the most recent grants are:

Education

A+ Schools Pittsburgh: $193,600 for the “Circle our Schools” Initiative which supports school transitions, staff train­ing, chronic absentee­ism reduction, and co­ordinated community services for students and families in the Mer­cy Corridor.

Learning Disabilities Association of Pennsyl­vania: $53,602 to fund early literacy tutoring, tutor recruitment and training, program eval­uation, and continuous improvement through community engagement.

SLB Radio Produc­tions: $102,000 to sup­port teen-led podcast production in the Mer­cy Corridor by funding staff, part-time project coordinators, youth sti­pends, and workshops that build media, story­telling, and career-read­iness skills while ampli­fying local voices.

The Mentoring Part­nership of Southwestern Pennsylvania: $51,000 to develop a relationship evaluation tool, train­ing, and cohort support to help youth-serving organizations measure and improve the qual­ity of connections they build with young people.

Tickets for Kids Char­ities: $61,200 to support the ongoing Cultural Access Program by facil­itating ticket matching, fostering partnerships, managing inventory, and collecting impact data to provide under­served youth with en­riching cultural experi­ences.

Empowerment

Catapult Greater Pittsburgh: $51,000 to continue support of the Hill District Homeown­ership Initiative which includes legal support for tangled titles.

Neighborhood Allies: $1,800,000 to support Phase 2 of Neighbor­hood Capital which supports investments in community develop­ment projects, afford­able housing, business creation, and developer capacity building.

Pittsburgh Scholar House: $51,000 to ex­pand the Wayfinders Program Pilot in the Hill District by re­cruiting new residents, providing financial as­sistance, and strength­ening partnerships to increase access to high­er education and sup­port student parents.

Essential Needs & Social Services

Acculturation for Justice, Access, and Peace Outreach (AJA­PO): $61,200 to provide emergency operational support and funding to help explore a new pro­gram model following federal cuts to the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

Beverly’s PGH: $25,500 to celebrate and strengthen families in the Hill District, West Oakland, and Uptown through baby showers, infant formula distri­bution, birthday cele­brations, and continued partnerships with local agencies to provide es­sential services.

Community Human Services: $51,000 to support the South Oak­land Food Pantry, en­hancing distribution of nutritious food to per­sons facing food insecu­rity.

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank: $51,000 to expand food access, enhance service delivery, and support community partner­ships through the Food Bank’s programs, im­proving nutrition and equity in underserved areas.

Jubilee Association: $61,200 to enhance Ju­bilee’s Path to Self-Suf­ficiency by developing a workforce training pro­gram, upgrading social services, and providing career development to individuals overcoming homelessness and em­ployment barriers.

Peacemaking

1Hood Media: $204,000 to cover the develop­ment of a new website and support three years of We Keep Us Safe pro­gramming and Fridays on Deck events, includ­ing recruitment, train­ing, and outreach in the Hill District.

In addition to the spring grants, McAuley Ministries is pleased to announce the appoint­ment of Sister Barbara Anne Quinn, RSM to its Board of Directors.

Sr. Barbara Anne en­tered the Pittsburgh Sisters of Mercy from St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland in 1959. She professed her final vows in 1965. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from Mount Mercy College (now Carlow University) and completed post-grad­uate work at the Uni­versity of Pittsburgh and Carlow University, earning a Pennsylvania Master’s Equivalency in Education certifi­cate. Sr. Barbara Anne taught in several Dio­cese of Pittsburgh ele­mentary schools from 1963 to 1983, including St. Colman in Turtle Creek, St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Pleasant Hills, St. Regis in Oak­land, and Holy Child in Bridgeville. In 1983, she became principal at St. Agatha/Holy Child in Bridgeville and later at St. Sylvester’s in Brent­wood, where she served for 34 years, shaping the lives of countless stu­dents and families. Af­ter retiring from her ca­reer in diocesan schools in 2018, Sr. Barbara Anne has devoted her time to volunteering at Holy Child Parish, the Convent of Mercy, and other service opportuni­ties wherever there is a need. She also serves on the board of The Lavelle Family Foundation, con­tinuing her unwavering commitment to service and community involve­ment.

“We look forward to her contributions and leadership in shaping our continued success in the communities we serve,” stated Valentin.