Richard King Mellon Foundation is seeking to fund collaborative efforts to give local residents the skills they need to work in the region’s emerging industries
PITTSBURGH – (August 22, 2024) – One of the most hopeful signs in the Greater Pittsburgh economy is the emerging industries that are taking hold and beginning to surge here. New manufacturing approaches, such as those utilized at Re:Build Manufacturing in New Kensington. Biomanufacturing at the Pitt BioForge, and Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Innovation Center, rising out of the ground at Hazelwood Green. Artificial intelligence companies. The space industry. Green and renewable-energy industries. And others.
Throughout its history, the Richard King Mellon Foundation has focused on seeding and supporting emerging industries, as a central component of Pittsburgh’s ongoing economic renaissance. The successes have been noteworthy. Now, a companion challenge sits squarely before the region: Assuring that there is a well-prepared workforce, trained to perform the highly specialized work required in these emerging industries, and ready to seize the many good, family-sustaining jobs these industries already are beginning to create.
These are jobs that do not necessarily require a Ph.D. or even a college degree. But the rewards for people who win such jobs are meaningful, with starting salaries ranging from $40,000 to more than $100,000 a year.
“Our Board’s Strategic Plan for economic prosperity for Allegheny and Westmoreland counties always has contemplated these two essential challenges, side by side,” said Sam Reiman, the Foundation’s Director. “Working with so many partners, we together have made great progress in enabling these emerging industries to take root in Pittsburgh. But those industries only will flourish if we together are just as serious about creating the sector-based partnerships that will produce the trained workforce these emerging industries need.”
To address this essential need, the Foundation has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP), seeking collaborative proposals from education, training and economic-development organizations that are willing to work together, and to work with employers in these emerging industries, to create or enhance sector-based partnerships tailored for specific emerging industries.
“The Pittsburgh region is blessed with a number of high-quality organizations that long have been committed to job training,” said Reiman. “But there are too few efforts focused on connecting with employers in emerging industries. To seize this moment, and to reap the benefits for people and families in our region, we must work together to create and grow such industry-specific efforts.”
Applications in response to the RFP can be submitted by either nonprofit organizations or public-sector organizations. Educational organizations can be focused on either high-school age students or older students, such as those served by community colleges. Priority will be given to collaborations that engage both public and private entities, and that focus on populations experiencing poverty, in either urban or rural areas. Applications may be submitted for planning and innovation grants, to start new sector-based partnerships; or to grow and scale sector-based partnerships that already are underway.
The Request for Proposals is available for review on the Foundation’s website. Applications in response to the RFP are due October 2. Such applications also are to be submitted through the “Apply” portal on the Foundation’s website.
Any organizations with questions about the RFP should submit those by Friday, August 30.
The RFP puts the challenge plainly: “The required skills in these industries are constantly evolving, often at a rapid pace. Yet education and workforce-training programs are not adequately keeping pace,” the RFP states. “If the current, and future, talent pool is not appropriately trained … in emerging industries, many jobs will be out of reach … and emerging industries will not flourish in the region. This will have serious repercussions for the future of the region.”
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About the Richard King Mellon Foundation: Founded in 1947, the Richard King Mellon Foundation is the largest foundation in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and one of the 50 largest in the world. The Foundation’s 2023 year-end net assets were $2.9 billion, and its Trustees in 2023 disbursed more than $176 million in grants and program-related investments. The Foundation focuses its funding on six primary program areas, delineated in its 2021-2030 Strategic Plan.