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Anchor Initiatives

 

As one of southwestern Pennsylvania’s major employers, landowners, place-makers, and partners, Pitt is an anchor to the economic and social progress of the region. The Anchor Initiatives are a community-centered, place-based suite of strategies developed to leverage Pitt’s role as an anchor institution, which acts as a key convener for investment, ideas, and impacts that are vital to the health and success of our region and the areas of greatest need.

As an integral component to the Plan for Pitt, the Anchor Initiatives amplify Pitt’s regional impact in the areas of buying, building and hiring locally; community engagement and partnerships; placemaking and real estate development; and life sciences innovation.

Buy, Build, Hire LOCAL

Pitt is intensifying its commitment to Buy, Build, and Hire LOCAL—hiring more of our neighbors, helping businesses grow, and awarding more construction, service, and purchasing contracts across the region.

By filling more of our business needs right here in our local communities, Pitt is ensuring that as we grow, we create opportunity—not just in these communities, but with them. Pitt is developing lasting change that supports our neighbors, our communities, and our university for generations.

In fiscal year 2023:

  • 191 full-time staff employees hired from Oakland, Homewood, the Hill District, and Greater Hazelwood.
  • $161M in direct construction and non-construction spend was made with suppliers and vendors from Pittsburgh.
  • 21% minority business enterprise construction contract participation (July to Dec. 2022).
  • 40% minority- and women-owned business contract participation for the Chilled Water Plant.
  • 20 major categories of procurement identified, including IT services, security services, painting, and more, that over the next five years are conducive to being satisfied locally.
  • Created an operating engineer apprenticeship program, developed business capacity-building programs, and placed a dedicated employment development counselor within our focus neighborhoods.

Investments in Housing Affordability

Pitt has been a longstanding partner in community-led efforts to increase housing affordability and homeownership in the Oakland neighborhood.

  • We are a significant investor in the Oakland Community Land Trust.
  • We have an historic investment in the Oakland Development Fund and actively participate on its board of directors.
  • We have made property available to be used for an LGBTQ+ Senior affordable housing development.
  • We are redeveloping one of our properties as workforce residential housing in which 10% of the units will be affordable.
  • Pitt's work in housing affordability was highlighted in a recent collection of case studies developed by the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Urban Research.

Pitt's forthcoming Walk to Work program will provide eligible employees the opportunity to receive incentives for living and investing in homes in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. The program will stabilize the Oakland neighborhood by significantly growing the number of long-term residents while simultaneously improving employee attraction and retainment, especially for employees at or below 80% of the area median income.

Connecting and Convening Workforce Development Efforts

In addition to being one of the region’s major employers, Pitt is also a talent developer. The University offers a wide range of workforce development opportunities, including non-degree credentialing programs and certificates.

  • The Dental Assistant Apprenticeship program offered by Pitt's School of Dental Medicine is a paid, full-time, hybrid program designed to provide comprehensive training for students who wish to pursue a career as a dental assistant. This unique apprenticeship serves as a pathway to get high school students into the workforce and equipped with skills that are in high demand.
  • The STricklAnd Research Training (START) program, a collaboration between Pitt’s Clinical and Translation Science Institute (CTSI) and the Bidwell Training Center, is a free, customized workforce development program that provides the experience and education necessary for individuals to become entry-level clinical research assistants who perform a range of duties supporting research at Pitt.
  • The University is one of the partners in the Innovation District Skills Alliance, the training and development program for opportunities with the universities and companies located within the Oakland Innovation District. Previous job training cohorts have focused on patient services personnel, security personnel, and administrative personnel.