- applications of information technology in the nonprofit sector
- movement of disabled and disadvantaged persons toward self-sufficiency
- civic projects which contribute to economic development
- improvements in learning and teaching

The Foundation is often the first funder of a new idea, being willing to venture when the possible benefits outweigh the attendant risks.

Grable Foundation
The Grable Mission is to help children and youth become independent, caring, contributing members of society by supporting programs critical to a child's successful development.

In order of priority, The Grable Foundation focuses on:

- Improving educational opportunities so that children can achieve their potential;
- Supporting community efforts that create an environment in which children can succeed;
- Strengthening families so they can serve as the core support of children and society.

Richard King Mellon Foundation
For more than 50 years The Richard King Mellon Foundation, one of the 20 largest independent foundations in the US, has maintained a commitment to southwestern Pennsylvania, supporting programs that relate to Human Services, Education, Medicine, Civic Affairs, and Cultural Activities. The Trustees have shown a preference for supporting established organizations with specific objectives, and for partnering with other donors rather than solely underwriting the entire cost of projects.

In January 2000, the Trustees began working with a new set of priorities. The focus now includes support for Economic Development, Educational support for universities, parochial, independent and charter schools, System Reform, and Families, Youth and Child Development.

NASA Learners NASA LTP
The goal of NASA's Learning Technologies Project (LTP) is to promote the growth of a national information infrastructure using the vast amount of information the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has acquired and continues to acquire. Access to this knowledge allows the public, academia and industry to contribute to rapid and significant advances in science, engineering, and technology.

LTP is part of a larger government initiative, the High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC)program, whose mission is to accelerate the development, application, and transfer of high-performance technologies to the US engineering and science communities. These programs and all of the LTP projects increase public access to scientific databases and pilot programs for using science data. This access assists educators and others in creating new curriculum products and tools for enhancing K-12 and K-14 education.

LTP has four distinct areas that carry out its mission:

LEARNERS Leading Educators to Applications, Research and NASA-unique Educational Resources in Science.

NASA Center projects breathe life and immediacy into curricula -- incorporating technology to enhance learning, and using technological advances to serve educational goals. Among the many NASA Center projects accomplishments are: Internet-based instructional materials tied to NASA missions; affordable, innovative K-14 projects, technologies, and applications that are widely disseminated to the educational community; NASA activities that inspire students to undertake careers in science, math, and engineering; the integration of network and computer literacy into the teaching process through NASA content; and development projects focused on early levels of education and underserved students.

The Legacy Projects include grants and cooperative
agreements that have entered into no cost extensions. Projects that have concluded at that time have been either continued under seperate commercial or other agency funding, or they have been archived here under the Legacy Projects.

This section includes technological research within LTP such as digital testbeds.

Heinz Endowments

The mission of the Pittsburgh-based Howard Heinz and Vira I. Heinz Endowments is to help southwestern Pennsylvania thrive as a whole community-economically, ecologically, educationally, and culturally-while advancing the state of knowledge and practice in the fields in which we work.

Our fields of emphasis include philanthropy generally and the disciplines represented by our five grantmaking programs (see www.heinz.org), which work together on behalf of three shared organizational goals: enabling southwestern Pennsylvania to embrace and realize a vision of itself as a premier place both to live and to work; making the region a center of quality learning and educational opportunity; and making diversity and inclusion defining elements of the region's character.

Since 1951, Laurel Foundation grants have reflected the diverse needs of the western Pennsylvania community. The Foundation annually distributes approximately $2 million to tax-exempt, southwestern Pennsylvania nonprofits in the fields of art and culture, education, environment, health and human services, and community/public benefit. The Trustees favor programs which foster individual responsibility and self-sufficiency, exhibit a commitment to sound fiscal and program management, offer long-term benefits for participants and the community, and which demonstrate measurable outcomes through the application of conclusive evaluation procedures.