We Can Be podcast - The Heinz Endowments

Sonya Tilghman, Executive Director of Hazelwood Initiative, joins Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy for this episode of “We Can Be.” Communities experiencing the exit of major economic drivers often face a fresh challenge when revitalization opportunities arise: how to ensure that their voice will be heard and respected so new business investments don’t push them out of their longtime homes and neighborhoods. Raised in Washington D.C., Sonya came to Pittsburgh through an AmeriCorps position that sparked her interest in the intricacies of public policy, especially how it often seemed to lack input from the very people it was meant to serve. Sonya has spent nearly 25 years empowering individuals and communities so they can share in the success of revitalization efforts. For the past decade she has led Hazelwood Initiative, an organization that works to build futures in communities where economic reinvention doesn’t mean displacement, and residents have healthy homes and thriving green spaces. Located on the shore of the Monongahela River three miles from Downtown Pittsburgh, Hazelwood is obviously dear to Sonya's heart as demonstrated by her commitment to its people, organizations and environment. Her work to ensure the residents benefit from the major research and tech entities that have moved into the community’s Hazelwood Green development has gained her much-deserved respect. Likewise, her emphasis on uplifting the community’s greenways and trails has brought recognition from the United Nations Climate Conference and the National Recreation & Parks Association. “I think we can be a place where we all prosper,” Sonya says. “And I also believe we can be a place where that cost doesn’t come at the expense of vulnerable people.” Notes on this episode: Special commentary by Rob Stephany, Endowments Senior Director of Community & Economic Development. Produced by Scott Roller, Endowments Strategic Communications Manager; technical production by Josh Franzos and Tim Murray of Treehouse Media. Subscribe, listen and share episodes on all major podcast platforms and YouTube. Use search term “Heinz We Can Be.”

Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy welcomes Kendra Whitlock Ingram, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Kendra leads the Trust in overseeing one of the largest and most complex downtown arts and culture districts in the country. With a dedication to inclusive and diverse programming, she began her arts management journey with a Duquesne University undergraduate internship with the Pittsburgh Opera. Kendra circled back to the city in 2023 after two decades of leadership positions at renowned arts organizations across the United States. “We’re an economic engine that is utilizing arts and culture as the vehicle to drive excitement, community and activation in Downtown,” says Kendra. “We use data and community input to understand exactly what those who attend our performances and events want from a Downtown experience, and we work with our partners to provide it.” In the past four decades, that approach has helped the Cultural Trust spur a dramatic transformation of Downtown Pittsburgh’s red-light district of the ‘70s and ‘80s to a vibrant, nationally recognized destination for arts and culture programming. The multitude of historic venues and outdoor public spaces managed by the Trust cover more than a million square feet of Downtown real estate across 14 blocks. With a $600 million Downtown revitalization plan underway that includes Arts Landing, a 4.5-acre riverside park with performance spaces and public art installations, Kendra and the Trust will have even more opportunities to bring an increased range of arts and culture to residents and visitors alike. “We work to showcase national and internationally recognized artists as well as our region’s own top-notch creatives in world-class spaces,” says Kendra. “That magic combination gives us one of the most vibrant arts ecosystems in the country.” Learn more about that creative magic in this episode of “We Can Be.” “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Special commentary in this episode by Endowments Managing Director of Arts & Culture Jasmin DeForrest. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Host and guest photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. Subscribe, listen and share new “We Can Be” episodes every two weeks on all major podcast platforms and YouTube. Use search term “Heinz We Can Be.”

Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy welcomes Women for a Healthy Environment Executive Director Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis to “We Can Be.” In 2007 a group of about 20 women attended an information-sharing conference in Pittsburgh that addressed links between environmental factors and women’s health. After the gathering, they determined that there was a need for continued questions and answers, research and community organizing. Three years later, with support from The Heinz Endowments, Women for a Healthy Environment was born. “When Women for a Healthy Environment was publicly launched, we were bringing a lot of new information to communities about environmental hazards that they hadn’t heard about,” Michelle said. “Fifteen years later, I feel like our research, education and awareness-building about environmental hazards has helped drive a transformative journey to more awareness, knowledge and organizing.” The daughter of a police chief and school superintendent, Michelle followed in her parents’ footsteps by choosing a path focused on public service to the community. In recent years, she has guided Women for a Healthy Environment as the organization expanded its work with a significant presence in Philadelphia. That partnership with the Philadelphia Regional Center for Children’s Environmental Health and the University of Pennsylvania aligns with WHE’s data-focused approach to its work. Michelle shares how Women for a Healthy Environment is making a national impact on lead removal in schools and homes, why significantly more women than men identify the environment as a primary concern, and how the organization’s Eco-Student Stewardship Program is inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders. “Our work has shown us that our youngest environmentalists are informed and ready,” Michelle says. “We are in good hands.” “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Special commentary in this episode by Endowments Senior Director of Climate, Environment & Health Philip Johnson. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Host and guest photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. Subscribe, listen and share new “We Can Be” episodes every two weeks on all major podcast platforms and YouTube. Use search term “Heinz We Can Be.”

“Together, a network of public health professionals, air quality scientists, advocates and community groups can move the needle on air pollution,” Breathe Project Executive Director Matt Melahik tells host Chris DeCardy, president of The Heinz Endowments. Founded with support from The Heinz Endowments in 2011 and now an independent organization, the Breathe Collaborative and its communications platform Breathe Project have set a national standard for community-centered, data-informed environmental groups. Two of their innovative tracking systems have gained national attention. Their Breathe Cam project is a 24/7 live video feed showing visual components of air quality in multiple locations. Their Smell PGH app, developed in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University's CREATE Lab (Community, Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment), gives citizens an easy way to report their air quality experiences. With a doctorate in systems engineering and as a professor teaching sustainability and environment policy at Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University, Matt has helped guide a new generation of young people to environmental action. Matt is co-author of “Ethical and Environmental Challenges to Engineering,” and is smart, caring and deeply dedicated to improving the air we share. Listen, learn and be inspired to act with this episode of “We Can Be.” “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Special commentary in this episode by Endowments Climate, Environment & Health Senior Director Philip Johnson. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Host and guest photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. Subscribe, listen and share new “We Can Be” episodes every two weeks on all major podcast platforms and YouTube. Use search term “Heinz We Can Be.”

“The value of public art is the space to ask questions and to imagine answers,” Tim Kaulen, founder and executive director of Industrial Arts Workshop, tells host and Endowments President Chris DeCardy in this episode of “We Can Be.” A successful working artist and educator, Tim is also a thoughtful community advocate committed to public art, creative spaces and workforce development. Under his leadership, Industrial Arts Workshop began a decade ago as a mobile sculpture program that brought together high school students to learn safe welding and metal fabrication techniques, as well as artistic process, community engagement and team building. Now with a permanent home in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood community, a neighborhood with a deep history in the region’s steel industry, Industrial Arts Workshop has served more than 600 students, with many going on to careers in both the arts and the welding industry. The large-scale welded steel sculptures Tim and his students and have created in prominent locations across Pittsburgh are bringing the region’s industrial past into the future in a bold, beautiful and meaningful way. Early in his career, Tim’s creation of a 25-foot inflatable figure made from recycled billboard segments was featured at the Burning Man Festival and exhibited in Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. His “dino-geese” painting on the 10th Street bridge on Pittsburgh’s South Side has gained mythological status, inspiring joy – and the occasional tattoo – among fans over the years. “What's great for me is to see young people engage with public art and to see their curiosity and their imaginations change in the moment,” Tim says. “That is what public art is about: curiosity, questions, imagination and wonder.” “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Special commentary in this episode by Endowments Senior Program Officer for Arts & Culture Mac Howison. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Host and guest photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. New episode every two weeks.

Marques Redd, acclaimed artist and co-founder of multidisciplinary art collective Rainbow Serpent, is helping create the future of art by reviving ancient – and often erased – traditions. By uplifting Black LGBTQ creativity and culture through the exploration of emerging technologies, innovative healing protocols, African cosmologies, and multimedia art, he is sparking important dialogue and reconsideration of the Western artistic canon. He shares with Endowments President and podcast host Chris DeCardy why this dialogue is important, and how art creates a bridge for empathy and understanding. “Public artwork does have a psychic impact and can have a subtle kind of influence over people that might see it.” Marques says. “Ideas that may otherwise be passed over can be sparked into thoughtfulness and conversation when people engage with art.” A celebrated multimedia artist, independent scholar and traditional African cosmologist, Marques has had an impressive impact across the United States and in cities around the globe in the past several years. From the film “Obi MBu (The Primodial House)” to the groundbreaking glass sculptures and virtual reality of “Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers” to large-scale mural installations featuring effervescent, shining Black bodies that merge with a universe of stars, Marques and Rainbow Serpent’s art have been front and center in cities including Atlanta, Boston, Pittsburgh, Denver, Raleigh and Tampa, to name but a few. “The work is so political in the way in which it is raising questions around gender, sexuality, race and Blackness,” Marques says. “I do think that through our art there is continued space for us to contribute to these issues, both here and around the world.” Listen to this episode of “We Can Be” to launch into Marques’ beautiful, fascinating and moving vision of the world. “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. This episode presentation is a partnership between The Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Foundation. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest and host photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

Sharon Pillar, Pennsylvania Solar Center founder and executive director, is continuing the solar energy advocacy started nearly a half-century ago by former President Jimmy Carter, who recently marked his 100th birthday. “It’s a lot different now than it was when President Carter put those solar panels on the West Wing roof,” Sharon tells host and Endowments President Chris DeCardy. "We are really seeing this proliferation and adoption of solar energy just taking off. And now with the Inflation Reduction Act, it's become an even bigger and undeniable game changer.” From that first White House solar array in 1979 to the $90 billion in clean energy investment that came in the first six months of the 2022 IRA, a new generation of advocates is working tirelessly to bring the health, financial and workforce development benefits of solar energy to light. Sharon has led solar and climate change programs at both PennFuture, a nonprofit that advocates for the clean energy economy, and the Solar Unified Network of Western Pennsylvania. She trained with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. She also is a nationally respected and trusted solar consultant who has helped organizations and municipalities seeking to finance and install solar projects. She talks with Chris about the massive workforce potential the solar sector could see in the next decade and the challenges some communities face in advancing solar. In addition, she describes the eye-opening savings of $19 million over 25 years that a 2024 Pennsylvania Solar Center study found residents of two southwestern Pennsylvania cities could save if they embrace solar energy. Sharon has clearly found her calling to, as Pennsylvania Solar Center says on its website, “help put solar everywhere under the sun.” “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest photo: Tim Murray; host photo: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries may be made to Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

Dr. Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, Allegheny Health Network’s first chief clinical diversity, equity and inclusion officer, wrote in a widely shared 2023 op-ed: “It is perilous to be Black and pregnant in America. We need to do better.” The nationally respected expert in maternal and infant health equity is not afraid to speak out against health injustice or to amplify the startling differences between Black and white mothers and babies’ health outcomes – while helping forge a better way. Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew’s expertise is especially critical in a nation where the number of Black babies who die within one year of birth is three times higher than the death rate of white babies. In Pittsburgh, where Allegheny Health Network is based, female Black infant mortality is higher than in 70% of similar-sized cities. “When we do things that intervene and decrease those higher numbers for Black women, then we also decrease mortality rates for white women, so everyone wins,” Dr. Pettigrew tells “We Can Be” host and Endowments President Chris DeCardy. “Everything we do for one is going to affect everybody and give opportunities to all.” With key leadership and teaching positions at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University and Drexel University College of Medicine, Dr Pettigrew has been building a coalition of medical and social work professionals through the groundbreaking First Steps and Beyond initiative. The Endowments-supported First Steps and Beyond program centers a unified care strategy that addresses both medical and social needs through an equity and justice-centered approach to care for mothers and babies. And it works, with data from a five-year study in the Cleveland metro region where the program was implemented showing a 20% decrease in maternal and infant mortality in the first year after birth. Whether appearing on MSNBC, NBC news and PBS, writing “The Colors of My Heart: Embracing My Blackness with History, Family, Fear and Faith,” or founding medical collaboration nonprofit JUSTWONDOOR, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew, also a U.S. Navy veteran, and her collaborators are leveling the maternal and infant health playing field – and saving lives. “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest and host photos by Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries may be made to Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

Leah Penniman, “Farming While Black” author, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm and Heinz Award for the Economy honoree has a deep commitment to sharing regenerative farming best practices and land stewardship with Black, Indigenous and people of color. Addressing racism and injustice in the food system is a central focus of her work. “When I was a young farmer growing up in the mid-90s and attending agricultural conferences and trainings,” Leah tells host Chris DeCardy, “it was very rare to see someone who looked like me or reflected my heritage, especially among leaders and experts.” Based in Petersburgh, NY, Soul Fire Farm started as an 80-acre family farm and has since blossomed into a nonprofit training center for Black and brown people to reconnect with the land and equip them with the skills needed to become leaders in the farming and food justice movement. Whether in her books – “Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists” and “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land” – or leading youth education programs, urban plantings, mobilization training and a community-supported agriculture program, Leah and her Soul Fire Farm colleagues are inspiring a new generation of young farmers. “Stewarding our own land, growing our own food, educating our own youth, participating in our own healthcare and justice systems - this is the source of real power and dignity,” Leah says in this episode, presented in partnership with the Heinz Family Foundation. From the recent well-received “Farming While Black” documentary film to working behind the scenes with Sen. Cory Booker in creation of his Justice for Black Farmers Act, Leah is bringing the long history of Black and brown farmers’ sustainable farming practices into the future. “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. This episode presentation is a partnership between The Heinz Endowments and Heinz Family Foundation. Guest inquiries may be made to Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

Kilolo Luckett, nationally renowned art curator & founding executive director of ALMA | LEWIS, believes in the transformative power of art for both artist & audience. “When we genuinely connect with art, we can dream whole other worlds of possibility,” she tells Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, who takes the wheel as our podcast’s host on the first episode of this new season of “We Can Be.” “ With nearly 25 years of experience at respected art spaces including The Andy Warhol Museum & Wood Street Gallery, Kilolo founded ALMA | LEWIS as an experimental, contemporary art platform for critical thinking, constructive dialogue & creative expression dedicated to Black culture. Featuring residencies designed to nurture rising & accomplished Black artists from around the world, Alma I Lewis is named after early 20th-century painter Alma Thomas, who has been cited as a “godmother of abstract painting,” & painter Norman Lewis, the winner of the top art prize at the 1955 Carnegie International. Born in Mississippi, Kilolo’s artistic journey seemed destined from the start. From selling her friends’ art at the lemonade stand in her neighborhood when she was a kid growing up in Bowling Green, Ohio to becoming one of the creative sector’s most respected writers, historians & curators, her path was meant to be. “From an early age, I just knew that people needed art in their lives,” she says. Kilolo’s conversation with Chris dives into both the joys & challenges of overcoming the inequities of underrepresented voices in contemporary art. From curating expositions & writing exhibition books for galleries & museums around the country to working on an upcoming authorized biography of the first Black supermodel, Naomi Simms, Kilolo is helping ensure that the beauty, depth & vision of Black artists and cultural luminaries are a celebrated part of our history. “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest inquiries may be made to Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

Dr. Daniel Perkins, professor, founder and principal scientist of the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State University, leads the largest-ever longitudinal study of post-911 transitioning veterans, “The Veteran Metrics Initiative.” Danny joins host Megan Andros, the Endowments’ senior program officer for veterans, in diving into the startling findings of his team’s research. Beginning with an initial cohort of 10,000 veterans, the study followed an eventual 6,700 veterans over a three-year period as they transitioned from active military duty to civilian life. The resulting data has revealed hard truths about the bureaucratic, financial, health and vocational obstacles veterans often face, and provides a basis for asking: Are we failing our veterans at the moment they need us most? Despite the enormous leadership skills, technical ability, and work ethic veterans bring to our world, the study found that only 34 percent of post-9/11 veterans were deemed successful in transitioning from military to civilian life at the two-and-a-half-year mark. The research makes clear that while a wealth of organizations provide services to those exiting the military, the navigation of those services can be dauntingly difficult for veterans. “Transition is a place where things can go wrong, or it can be a place of great opportunity,” Danny says. “This data helps us understand that by taking action early on, we can help our veterans have better outcomes in the civilian world.” Danny shares how growing up as a son of a military father influenced his dedication to his veterans research; why focusing on coordinated points of contact for service providers is key; and why it is important to remember that behind each data point is a human being who has served our country. “I think as a country we can be a place where we acknowledge veterans for their service by taking action to support them when they need us most.” This episode of “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments Senior Program Officer for Veterans Megan Andros and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest inquiries can be made to Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. Guest image credit: Tim Murray/Treehouse Media.

Jeffrey Brown, PBS NewsHour chief correspondent for arts, culture and society, joins “We Can Be” host Janet Sarbaugh, The Heinz Endowments’ vice president of Creativity, as they tackle one of the creative realm’s big questions: Are the arts essential? “Art matters because it shows us a bit of the world we might not otherwise see,” Jeffrey says. “It takes us places we might not go because it makes us think, because it makes us know other people, because it makes us laugh and cry.” In his more than 20 years with PBS NewsHour, Jeffrey has reported on a wide range of national and international arts- and culture-related issues. He created PBS NewsHour's online "Art Beat” segments and its monthly book club, "Now Read This," a collaboration with The New York Times. An Emmy and Peabody award-winner, Jeffrey is a talented creative in his own right, too. He wrote the well-received poetry collection “The News” and contributed to a newly released collection of essays titled “Are the Arts Essential?” From the impressive security detail of an interview with Angelina Jolie and the eloquent warmth of Patti Smith to being moved by the Dallas Street Choir, whose members are without permanent homes, Jeffrey shares meaningful behind-the-scenes moments in his storied career. Those moments have cemented his dedication not only to tell stories of art and culture, but also to consider our individual roles in critical societal issues. “Reporting on the arts in a global community matters,” he says. “It matters because it offers a truer and fuller version of the world.” This episode of “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments Vice President of Creativity Janet Sarbaugh, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest inquiries can be made to Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.