$2.6M from RK Mellon Foundation to grow Pittsburgh’s AI and tech workforce

The Richard King Mellon Foundation is awarding millions for job training to ensure Pittsburgh residents aren’t left out of emerging industries.

Recent federal cuts threaten to hobble workforce development efforts in the region, where industries like AI, advanced manufacturing and life sciences are growing rapidly, but local residents — especially from underserved communities — aren’t always reaping the economic benefits.

Totaling $2.64 million and just announced last week, these new RK Mellon grants aim to develop new programs or build on existing ones over the next 15 to 18 months, in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance, the Pittsburgh Technology Council and others.

The initiative focuses heavily on making connections between local employers and nonprofit or academic institutions to build pipelines to careers in advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity and life sciences. 

“There’s such a large demand for workforce talent, especially in manufacturing, that there’s no one organization that can do it on their own,” said Scott Dietz, managing director of workforce development at Catalyst Connection, which received a $650,000 grant. 

Other awards included $805,000 to the University of Pittsburgh, $500,000 to local workforce development organization Partner4Work and $300,000 to the Washington Greene County Job Training Agency. 

It’s the wide variety of organizations involved that the RK Mellon Foundation thinks will make this project successful. 

“Working with so many partners, we together have made great progress in enabling these emerging industries to take root in Pittsburgh,” said RK Mellon Foundation Director Sam Reiman. “But those industries only will flourish if we are just as serious about creating the sector-based partnerships that will produce the trained workforce these emerging industries need.”

Each player in workforce development efforts — that being employers, training providers and job seekers — has significant costs when trying to build or access talent pipelines.

“No single entity has the capacity to build this ecosystem,” Dave Tinker, chief development officer for Partner4Work, told Technical.ly, but going in together and receiving these grants makes it significantly less risky. 

“Without working together, the initiatives are not large enough to deliver meaningful, sustainable results,” Tinker said. “Public-private partnerships are the key to allowing emerging industries to flourish, take risks and position the greater Pittsburgh region to be the leader in advanced manufacturing.”

Federal cuts leave a gap to fill in workforce development

The news of RK Mellon’s new grants comes as Pittsburgh faces the potential loss of a key job-training resource. The Pittsburgh Job Corps center in Highland Park, which provides housing, meals, job training and pre-apprenticeship programs for low-income young people, announced it would shut down by the end of the month as part of nationwide cuts ordered by the US Department of Labor.

The closure has been temporarily halted by a federal judge as the National Job Corps Association sues the Labor Department over the plan.

If the center closes, it could impact more than 400 students currently enrolled at the Job Corps center – 14% of whom are homeless.

In response to the possible closure, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials have announced a new task force of local representatives, workforce development agencies, the Community College of Allegheny County and private sector partners. Together, they plan to investigate the impact of federal cuts and identify alternative resources to help affected residents.

In the meantime, the RK Mellon grants could offer new training opportunities for displaced residents. 

“The support from the Richard King Mellon Foundation will also enable the public workforce system to create a playbook for partnerships in emerging industries,” Tinker said, “ensuring that future investments, whether they are public or private, have the workforce plan necessary to ensure the region succeeds.” 

What the grants will be used for

➡️ Catalyst Connection plans higher ed collaborations

Catalyst Connection received a $675,000 grant to launch a regional advanced manufacturing partnership with local manufacturers, the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy and the Community College of Allegheny County.

The initiative will expand existing pre-apprenticeship opportunities and create three new training programs. A centralized website listing all available programs is expected to go live in the coming months, managing director Dietz told Technical.ly.

Catalyst aims to engage 50 manufacturing companies and 300 apprentices, as well as 20 schools in pre-apprenticeship programs that aim to enroll 200 high school students.

➡️ Pitt Education invests half a million dollars in life sciences 

Pitt’s School of Education received $497,000 to create job-training and education pathways for life science careers, with a focus on residents of Greater Hazelwood, Homewood and the Hill District.

The effort will focus on the Pitt BioForge facility at Hazelwood Green. Pitt will partner with BioForge tenant ElevateBio, the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance and other regional companies to develop a range of programs. Residents will have access to early exposure opportunities for middle and high schoolers, credential-to-degree pipelines and immersive learning experiences that embed associate-degree holders into BioForge project teams.

The project is designed to align with expected industry growth. 

“The Pittsburgh region has a critical window of opportunity to become a life sciences powerhouse, but we must act.”

Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, University of Pittsburgh

Over the next five years, the Pittsburgh region is projected to gain 24,000 new life sciences jobs and another 180,000 related positions across southwestern Pennsylvania, according to Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, a dean and professor at the university and co-principal investigator for the project. 

“The Pittsburgh region has a critical window of opportunity to become a life sciences powerhouse, but we must act,” Zamani-Gallaher said. “By prioritizing the inclusion of job seekers typically excluded from STEM roles, we can ensure they benefit from this growth and contribute to the economic development of the region.”

➡️ New training programs designed by Partner4Work

Partner4Work was awarded $500,000 to build a scalable workforce training model that prepares thousands of local residents for modern manufacturing jobs.

The organization plans to train 2,500 individuals per year by 2030 and 5,000 per year by 2035. As part of the effort, Partner4Work will launch three pilot training projects, with a goal of training at least 500 participants.

To do it, Partner4Work will partner with companies including Mainspring Energy, ElevateBio, CorePower, EOS and Re:Build, as well as the Community College of Allegheny County and the Digital Foundry in New Kensington.

➡️ Over $300,000 for a new CyberHub at Pitt

Pitt’s Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security will use $308,000 from the RK Mellon Foundation to create the Greater Pittsburgh CyberHub, a place to consolidate cybersecurity training opportunities in the region. 

To create the hub, the institute will partner with InnovatePGH, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) and the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

“Cybersecurity is the critical foundation upon which our entire economic ecosystem depends, from advanced smart manufacturing to cutting-edge machine learning applications,” said Audrey Russo, president of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. “This groundbreaking CyberHub collaboration represents a strategic investment that will afford our region’s people and secure our competitive advantage for decades to come.” 

The hub will try to capitalize on the projected 33% growth in information security analyst jobs nationally by 2031, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, by limiting duplicative efforts in the city, pulling in young people early and reducing barriers for underrepresented communities. 

“Our goal is to spark interest and help build foundational knowledge in cybersecurity from an early age,”  said Rich Platts, the CTO of AIU and the project’s gateway to the region’s K-12 community, “which will be essential to inspiring the next generation of cyber professionals.”

➡️ Washington Greene County Job Training supports steel jobs 

The Washington Greene County Job Training Agency received a $300,000 grant to support the steel industry supply chain in the Monongahela Valley.

In partnership with the Southwest Corner Workforce Development Board, the Pennsylvania Steel Alliance, and at least 10 Mon Valley steel businesses and community organizations, the agency will develop training programs for at least 100 participants.

The initiative also includes experiential learning opportunities for 20 youth from the Mon Valley.