Community Foundation of Westmoreland County

Welcome to our News Room. Use the links, above, to access current and archived news releases, as well as news coverage of our programs and donors, listing of upcoming events and stories from our own publications.

For media inquiries, please contact Doug Root at The Pittsburgh Foundation at 412-394-2647 or rootd@pghfdn.org. 

Community Forum

News Release

Small communities are big winners in Revitalizing Westmoreland grants

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, May 16, 2018 – A community-focused program that encourages new, creative ways to revitalize communities in Westmoreland County has made $143,000 in new grants to small communities. The grants will fund nine small-to-medium sized innovative, capital projects. To spur local investment in the projects, communities that receive Revitalizing Westmoreland grants must also raise additional dollars on their own to fully fund the projects.

News Release

Critical Needs Alert raises $1.1 million to #FeedPGH

People experiencing food insecurity in Western Pennsylvania got a major boost last week when their neighbors donated $522,500 over a 16-hour period to The Pittsburgh Foundation’s #FeedPGH Critical Needs Alert. The May 1 online giving event, which was fortified with a $600,000 incentive pool from the Foundation and its donors, raised $1.1 million for Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties’ food pantries and the organizations that supply them. 

Stories

Women of Purpose

An endowed scholarship fund at The Community Foundation of Westmoreland County supports scholarships from a historic women's organization.

Stories

Sounding the Alarm

PENNSYLVANIA — specifically, native son Benjamin Franklin — created the concept of volunteer fire brigades, which have served small communities since 1736. But nearly three centuries later, rural communities like many in Westmoreland County are struggling to maintain that selfless tradition.

Faced with a sharp decline in volunteer firefighters, philanthropic and emergency services officials turned to a federal government program to make Westmoreland the proving ground for a novel recruitment strategy.