PITT RECEIVES $1 MILLION FOR PROJECTS INVOLVING FAMILIES

PITTSBURGH, July 2 -- The University of Pittsburgh has received Howard Heinz Endowment grant money totalling more than $1 million to assist family-oriented businesses, improve our children's school districts, help struggling families get back on their feet and provide aid to low-income households with infants and toddlers. The grants include:

• $450,000 to Pitt's Office of Child Development Early Head Start Program, which provides comprehensive support services, including home visits, to low-income families with very young children.

• $250,000 to the Institute For Learning, a component of Pitt's Learning and Research Development Center, which helps western Pennsylvania schools create high performance learning environments for its students by bringing to teachers the best current knowledge on the process of learning.

• $210,000 to expand the capacity of the Katz Graduate School of Business Family Enterprise Center, which provides educational and consulting services to southwestern Pennsylvania's family-owned firms.

• $135,000 to provide training and technical assistance to the family support movement in Allegheny County, in which Pitt plays an important role in training the staff of 23 Family Support Centers and administering a number of them. The Centers teach families how to help themselves through the use of community resources.

The Heinz Endowments, founded by Howard Heinz and Vira I. Heinz, are among the nation's largest philanthropic organizations. Based in Pittsburgh, the Heinz Endowments share a commitment to support the efforts of non-profit organizations in the arts and culture, education, youth and families, economic opportunity and the environment.

-30- 7/2/98/mgc