Initiatives

In addition to the grants and scholarship programs that POISE administers, the Foundation is also the creator,  co-creator, or fiscal agent for various initiatives in which we see tremendous value in executing our mission.  Initiatives are programs that the Foundation has birthed or which the foundation provide a level of fiduciary control.  These initiatives are associated with POISE, but are often managed by other organizations or entities.  POISE will house many of these programs until they have developed the capacity to become their own charitable organizations.

We view the following initiatives as critical programs that allow us to execute our mission around grantmaking, community collaboration, or developing philanthropic resources.  

Vision for a Sustainable Black Community

POISE Foundation is leading an effort to help develop a vision for Pittsburgh's African American community.   The effort will include many collaborations and deeply rooted in community conversations.  Learn more here. 

Giving Circles

Part of the underlying mission and goal of POISE Foundation is to create more as well as enhance the giving of African American Philanthropists in the Pittsburgh Region.  By achieving our goal our primary purpose is to get our community more involved through giving of its time, talent, and treasures.   Giving Circles present a method for individuals to engage in a strategic giving process.  Read More.

Greater Pittsburgh After School Consortium (GPAC)

After many years of funding various after school programs and asking questions to determine knowledge sharing, POISE Foundation brought a group of 10 after school programs together to see if there were benefits in networking, information sharing and bringing their respective youth together for joint opportunities to conduct programs.

The Collaboration took hold after eighteen months of team building and formed a network called the Greater Pittsburgh After School Consortium.  The Consortium in now taking on a life of its own with its own memorandum of understanding guiding its operations for its current and future members.   Read More.

African American Funders Group (AAFG)

In the spring of 2005, Sylvia Fields, Executive Director of Eden Hall Foundation, Demetria Gibson-Bocella, formerly with the Multicultural Arts Institute, and Mark Lewis, President and CEO of POISE Foundation, met to discuss the lack of communication as well as knowledge of African Americans in Pittsburgh’s grantmaking community.  The three discussed ways to determine who they knew in the grantmaking community and how they could begin to network.  Read More

Greater Pittsburgh Chapter – Tuskegee Airmen Institute (GP TAI)

On February 2, 2008, the POISE Foundation in conjunction with Regis Bobonis, Sr., held the Gathering of Eagles event at the Heinz History Center.  The purpose of this event was to recognize and honor the Tuskegee Airmen who originated or lived in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.  This tribute was the result of the research conducted by Regis Bobonis, Sr.  His research began with unconvering 8 men from the town of Sewickley, PA, just north of Pittsburgh who became Tuskegee Airmen.  Read More.

POISE is currently acting as the fiscal agent for the following organizations and programs.

African American Leadership Assocation.  This organization was started by Bernadette Turner and Darcel Madkins to address issues relevant to current and future African American leaders within the Pittsburgh Community.  

Participate in the African American Leadership Association's Third Annual Summitt. Learn more here.

  

Community Stewards Committed to Revitalizing the Inner City (CSCRI) - The purpose of CSCRI is to promote business growth and sustainability, build wealth and encourage the reinvestment of wealth into low and moderate income communities.

Daniel B. Matthew Historical Society  is located in Sewickley, PA and is named for Reverend Daniel B. Matthews, the founder and first pastor of Saint Matthews AME Zion Church, the oldest Black church in Sewickley.  Under the leadership of this organization and its Historian Regis Bobonis, Sr., it was discovered that 8 men from Sewickley became part of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.  Upon Mr. Bobonis's further research, he uncovered over 80 men came from the Western PA region, making this the most highly concentrated area of participants in the Tuskegee Experiment.  The organization is currently working on a Tuskegee Airmen Memorial in Sewickley and was instrumental in the formation of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Institute.

Hill District Golf Classic.  The golf classic is an annual event of Monumental Mission Ministries and has raised hundres of thousands of dollars used to support sports programs for youth in the predominantly African American community of the historic Hill District of Pittsburgh.

 

Neighborhood Business Inc. is a program funded by the Richard King Mellon Foundation in conjunction with Mark DeSantis, Pittsburgh Entrepreneur, and Kevin Altomari with the purpose of providing entrepreneuring training to young people within selected underserved neighborhoods within the City of Pittsburgh, with the goal of helping the participants launch small entrepreneurial ventures.  Local neighborhood entrepreneurs are engaged to provide mentorship for the participants.