Group wants to keep young talent in region
Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project is continuing to grow into one of most dynamic groups trying to keep young people in the region.
Since merging in early 2004 with Pittsburgh's Next, another nonprofit that worked to attract young people, the group known as PUMP has ballooned to more than 1,600 paid members.
Founded in 1998, the nonprofit is made up of people ages 21 to 40 and regularly hosts events and programs dealing with political, economic, environmental and cultural issues that affect Western Pennsylvania.
Erin Molchany, 28, who succeeded Michael English as executive director in September, said, "People really want to get involved. I would really like to work to make sure PUMP is moving forward."
PUMP, she said, is for "young and young-thinking people in Pittsburgh." And it began with a newspaper article.
In 1995, Michelle Fanzo, then a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, wrote about her concern that after friends finished graduate school, many were leaving Western Pennsylvania to look elsewhere for career opportunities and more dynamic, vibrant cities.
Fanzo got phone calls from several young, like-minded readers. They began meeting in small groups in East End neighborhoods, where the group was born.
PUMP's membership reflects an engaged, well-educated and diverse citizenry. The group said 97 percent of its members are registered voters, with about 50 percent calling themselves Democrats and 18 percent Independent. Nearly 40 percent of members hold a graduate degree. Forty percent said they weren't born and raised in the region.
PUMP launched an initiative in 2004 called New Trustees for a New Pittsburgh, with the idea of increasing the number of young people on local non-profit boards.
The group teamed with the Nonprofit Leadership Institute at Duquesne University, the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University, Leadership Pittsburgh Inc. and Dewey and Kaye Inc. to create the initiative, financed by the Forbes Fund and the Mellon Financial Corp. Foundation.
The goal is to place 100 young professionals on boards each year. In addition, PUMP wants to made sure they succeed on the boards they chose to serve.
To that end, PUMP organized an education program in civic leadership featuring some of the city's best known leaders including philanthropist Elsie Hillman; Tom Sokolowski, director of The Andy Warhol Museum, and Bill Strickland, chief executive of the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild.
Since its inception, the initiative has placed 150 new trustees.
Besides joining nonprofit boards, PUMP's members also are a politically ambitious bunch. Last year, members ran for Pittsburgh City Council, the Pittsburgh Public Schools' board and the state General Assembly.
In a recent poll, members said they care the most about economic development, public education and transportation. Next month, PUMP will kick off a program that connects members to volunteer opportunities at their neighborhood schools.
