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Nonprofit Workforce Shortage Survey In Pennsylvania

September 5, 2023

In April 2023, more than 1,600 charitable nonprofit organizations throughout the United States completed the nonprofit workforce shortages survey designed to gauge whether job vacancies continue to be a problem for the missions of those organizations, how the vacancies impact communities, and what actions have been taken and are proposed for alleviating the challenges. Fifty-three Pennsylvania nonprofits provided insights that provide the substance of this report.

2022 Annual Report: 75th Anniversary Edition

August 1, 2023

This 2022 Annual Report documents the 75th year of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the second year of our 2021-2030 Strategic Plan. We received 646 applications for funding in 2022. In response, we awarded 303 grants and program-related investments (PRIs), totaling more than $152 million. And we continued in 2022 to broaden significantly the circle of visionary grantees with whom we work. The 2022 grant and PRI recipients included 71 organizations that never before had received Foundation funding, eclipsing the record for new grantees set the year before.In the pages that follow, you will read stories of some of the visionaries we funded in 2022. The leaders and organizations you will meet in those stories are inspiring representatives of our remarkable grantees. Yet they are only a small fraction of the extraordinary people and groups we worked with in 2022, all of whom are worthy of such stories.

Efforts to Reduce Jail Populations in Philadelphia: Implementation Lessons from the Safety and Justice Challenge

March 31, 2023

Jail incarceration continues to be a main driver of the mass incarceration crisis in the United States and to negatively affect individuals, families, and communities. Racial disparities in local jail populations are significant, particularly to the detriment of Black communities. Involvement in the criminal legal system, even when brief, can have severe consequences, including barriers to sustaining employment and securing stable housing, poor physical and mental health stemming from chronic stress and limited access to adequate health care, and disruptions to family relationships and social support networks.To address these issues, Philadelphia implemented a multipronged reform plan supported by the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) to reduce its jail population and associated racial and ethnic disparities. Since 2015, Philadelphia has significantly reduced its jail population through these SJC efforts, which included closing a jail facility, launching a strategy across decision points in the criminal legal system, strengthening collaboration and cross-agency partnerships, launching a formal committee to represent community members' perspectives, and analyzing data to identify racial and ethnic disparities across decision points.This report describes Philadelphia's major SJC strategies, documents how it navigated challenges and advanced tangible reform efforts, and explores the perceived impacts of these strategies on its efforts to engage community members, reduce local jail use, and implement system reforms that advance equity.

Agricultural Conservation Practices: Clean Water and Climate Smart Investments

November 2, 2022

The six states and the District of Columbia that share the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed are currently carrying out plans—called Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs)—to achieve the pollution reductions called for in the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, the science-based plan designed to restore the health of the Bay. The 2025 deadline for implementation is fast approaching and more than 90 percent of the remaining reductions must come from agriculture. Though progress has been made, it is still far short of what is needed. Increased funding for conservation practices, as outlined in the state plans, is therefore critical to success.The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) worked with natural resource economists to estimate the economic impact of implementing the remaining agricultural conservation practices in the state plans. The analysis shows that investing in these conservation practices is truly that—an investment with positive economic effects above and beyond the cost. For every dollar spent implementing additional agricultural conservation practices under the Blueprint, the Chesapeake Bay region can expect $1.75 in economic returns to local businesses and workers through additional sales of goods and services and greater earnings, totaling $655.2 million annually through 2025. This investment will also support an estimated 6,673 jobs a year between 2020 and 2025.

Collaborative Outcomes from the Youth Justice and Employment Community of Practice

October 18, 2022

Established in mid-2021, the Youth Justice and Employment Community of Practice (CoP) is a partnership of the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF), the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC), and Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI) formed to improve outcomes for youth with justice involvement by increasing collaboration among local workforce and juvenile justice systems. The CoP began during the middle of COVID-19 at a time when counterparts in each jurisdiction were seeking to reestablish pandemic-disrupted communication and collaboration. CoP participants met monthly to share knowledge and expertise on topics of importance to both systems. Based on work from the CoP, participating cities and counties produced notable improvements in building relationships, expanding partnerships, and promoting investments that benefit justice-involved young people in their communities. This report documents successes and offers recommendations for others seeking to improve outcomes for these young people.

Chesapeake Bay 2022 State of the Blueprint Report

October 5, 2022

Less than four years remain to the 2025 implementation deadline for the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. The success of the science-based, federal-state plan to restore water quality in the Chesapeake Bay is critical to our region's health, economy, outdoor heritage, and quality of life.Our State of the Blueprint report asks one question: Are the Bay states on track to reduce pollution by the Blueprint's 2025 deadline? Based on our assessment of progress in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, which together account for roughly 90 percent of the Bay's pollution, the answer collectively is 'no.' States are not on track to reduce pollution to the levels needed for a healthy Bay, or implement the practices necessary to achieve them by the 2025 deadline.

2022 Blueprint Report: Lighting a Path

September 13, 2022

The Fund for Women and Girls' 2022 Blueprint Report provides critical data to identify areas of progress for women and girls in Chester County and Pennsylvania, and spotlights opportunities for improvement through action.The Report highlights data points and focus group findings, as well as provides local, state, and national policy and program recommendations across nine areas that affect the lives of women and girls:COVID-19Educational DisparitiesEmployment and EarningsWork and FamilyPoverty and OpportunityReproductive RightsHealth and Well-BeingViolence and SafetyPolitical ParticipationOver the last few decades, many legal barriers to women's advancement have been removed, and gender expectations have started to change. However, women today still face challenges at work and home, with women of color experiencing the greatest burden. The Fund vows to tackle these challenges head on as we promote the continued advancement of women and the well-being of families and communities in Chester County and beyond.

Piloting sidewalk delivery robots in Pittsburgh, Miami-Dade County, Detroit and San Jose: Knight Autonomous Vehicle Initiative

September 5, 2022

The Knight Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Initiative is a multi-year collaborative effort between the Urbanism Next Center at the University of Oregon, Cityfi, the cities of Detroit, Pittsburgh, and San José, and Miami-Dade County (the "cohort") to pilot and learn about automated mobility technologies today to shape the future of deployment tomorrow.The four jurisdictions had originally planned to test passenger AV pilots but due to both the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in the AV market, these were substituted for automated delivery pilots. With this transition, the cohort partnered with Kiwibot to learn more about a new technology—sidewalk delivery robots. Through this partnership, Kiwibot tested different use cases and collaborated on community engagement opportunities in each locale. Given the proliferation of bills being passed by state legislatures legalizing deployment of personal delivery devices (PDDs) or sidewalk robots, and the increased delivery demand due to the pandemic, the pilots were well timed to able to meaningfully inform the cohort cities about the potential benefits and challenges of sidewalk delivery robots.This report provides an overview of the pilot design in each locale, presents key findings, and offers a set of recommendations based on the cohort's experiences. Pilots are often time-intensive and challenging to pull off, but they also provide valuable learnings, and these pilots were no exception.

Regional Trends in Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Medium

August 8, 2022

In June 2021, the National Endowment for the Arts published Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Digital Technology as a Creative Medium. This report is the culmination of a nearly two-year research study into artists whose practices are rooted in digital technologies. Launched in partnership with the Knight Foundation and Ford Foundation, with research conducted by 8 Bridges Workshop and Dot Connector Studio, the report explores the broad spectrum of tech-centered artistic practice, as well as the networks, career paths, and hubs of activity that support this work.Prior to the report publication, the Arts Endowment organized a series of seven virtual field meetings between June 15-24, 2021. These roundtable gatherings welcomed 116 artists, funders, administrators, academics, writers, educators, activists, and other field leaders, in addition to representatives from the Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts. Convenings focused on distinct geographic regions anchored by the cities of St. Paul, Minnesota; Detroit, Michigan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; Miami, Florida; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and San Jose, California. Participants discussed challenges, existing assets, and practical steps for building the arts and technology field across the nation from the ground up. Through advancing regional conversations, the Arts Endowment sought to both strengthen regional arts and technology networks and develop an array of practical action steps for potential field supporters that complement Tech as Art findings and recommendations.

Practical Guidance: What Nonprofits Need to Know About Lobbying in Pennsylvania

May 24, 2022

Bolder Advocacy's Practical Guidance – What Nonprofits Need to Know About Lobbying state law resource series is designed to help nonprofits determine if lobbying rules in their state might apply to their state or local work, and if they do, how best to navigate them!Each Guide Includes:Summary of lobbyist registration and reporting triggers in the stateKey critical takeaways for nonprofit organizationsFAQs – giving practical perspective on how to interact with the state rulesCase study for a hypothetical small student voting rights organizationList of helpful additional resourcesWho are these Guides For?Nonprofit Advocacy Organizations: Leaders and staff of nonprofit organizations that work on (or are thinking about working on) advocacy initiatives at the state or local levelLawyers: Lawyers and compliance professionals interested in working with nonprofit advocacy organizations doing state and local level workFunders: Funding organizations working to ensure strong organizational capacity and infrastructure for the groups they fund doing advocacy work at the state and local level

Uncovering the Truth about Pennsylvania Crime Guns

April 27, 2022

Brady has used Pennsylvania's Gun Tracing Analytics Platform and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' (ATF) listing of federal firearm licensees to uncover trends in crime gun trace data — finding that a small number of gun dealers in Pennsylvania appear to be responsible for a large portion of the crime guns recovered by law enforcement in the state.

Philadelphia 2022: The State of the City

April 20, 2022

Two years into the pandemic, Philadelphia is showing signs of an economic and public health recovery, yet some serious challenges remain.