An August Update from DCS

Transformation, All the Time:

Announcing POISE Foundation’s New Social Justice Grantmaking Effort

“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” – Angela Davis

Since 1957, the POISE Foundation and its predecessor organizations have been working to support a strong and sustainable Black community in Pittsburgh. They were there in 1966 when POISE founder Bernard H. Jones founded Urban Youth Action to help young people transition to young adulthood and beyond. They were there in 1980 when the POISE Foundation was officially incorporated and began distributing what today totals over $10 million in grants to Pittsburgh’s Black community. And they were there in 2002 when current President Mark S. Lewis succeeded Mr. Jones, grew the organization, and solidified its mission to focus on strengthening Black families in the Pittsburgh region.

Now, with the launch of a new grantmaking effort out of its Human Equity and Justice Fund, POISE continues its work to radically transform our Pittsburgh community. The new program offers grants to Black-led and Black-serving organizations falling into one of two categories: rapid response mini-grants and racial equity seed grants. 

The rapid response mini-grants provide up to $2,500 for “unanticipated crises that significantly impact Allegheny County’s Black community. Funds may be used to support social justice activities associated with direct action, community organizing, emergency mobilizations, and healing justice.” The racial equity seed grants to “provide programming support up to $5,000 for Black-led, Black-serving organizations that are advancing youth leadership, development training and opportunities, and community-based intergenerational collaborations and programming within the social justice space.”

Our DCS team has long been fans and supporters of POISE’s work and mission. For one, POISE serves as the fiscal agent for the  #StrongMomStrongBaby campaign to support families impacted by perinatal depression, and for another, POISE program officer Traci Johnson is a former (and beloved) DCS employee! 

At a time when supporting our Black community has never been more critical (or overdue), we’re excited and inspired by POISE’s continued leadership when it comes to innovative giving. We’re honored to have made a donation on behalf of DCS to the new grantmaking initiative, and we challenge all our friends and followers to do the same here:

Partner Spotlight: Motor Mouth Multimedia

Here at DCS, we believe that a firm is only as good as the people it partners with. And if that’s true, working alongside Motor Mouth Multimedia makes us better at what we do, every day.

We’ve already talked about our strategic partnerships with Donna Malpezzi and Jane Earll. This month, we want to highlight Heather Hopson, founder and communications director of Motor Mouth Multimedia, and her team. 

Motor Moth is a full-service communications and design collective of Black and Brown creatives and consultants, and DCS has been proud to partner with Heather and her team on a number of projects to date, most recently on the Family Care Act campaign for paid family and medical leave. We’re excited now to be embarking on a whole new project in partnership with Motor Mouth…but you’ll have to stay tuned for next month’s newsletter for more info on that.

In the meantime, we encourage you to check out Motor Mouth’s website and learn more about Heather and her team’s work. We’re grateful for their continued partnership, and are looking forward to working alongside them on a number of efforts in the years ahead!