About Community Connections
Pittsburgh 250, a multi-faceted regional initiative led by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, celebrates the 250th anniversary of the founding of Fort Pitt in 1758 and the birth of the Pittsburgh Region that encompasses 14 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh 250 is divided into working committees focusing on regional promotion, signature events, homecoming and reunion activities, regional innovation, signature projects, and community connections.
Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections is a funding stream supporting 100 small-scale community-based projects in 14 counties of Southwestern Pennsylvania with programming throughout the year 2008 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Pittsburgh region.
Beginning with an extensive outreach period that commenced in April 2007, The Sprout Fund took the Community Connections model out into the cities, boroughs and towns of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Combining facilitated ideation methods, a straightforward application process and collaborative, locally-based Decisionmaking panels, Community Connections brought a unique opportunity to the region. Offering funding support for two classes of awards, Regional Projects of up to $50,000 and Grassroots Projects of up to $5,000, Community Connections set an ambitious goal to catalyze new and emerging community-based projects in 2008. This $1 million investment will create a critical-mass of activity throughout the anniversary year, strengthen and multiply community networks, and lay the foundations for future regional civic initiatives.
Moving into 2008, Community Connections will create a comprehensive promotional platform to raise awareness of each project individually, as well as the whole program and other Pittsburgh 250 events and activities taking place throughout the year. Sprout will market the program as a unified identity recognizable across the region as well as build in opportunities for individual projects to add their own voice to promotional efforts in a variety of media including print news stories and web-based civic journalism.
Finally, in 2009, Sprout will celebrate the efforts made by the countless Community Connections participants and document their stories and achievements during the anniversary year.
For more information about the 100 funded projects through Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections visit: www.post-gazette.com/connections.
