By Sean P. Ray | Managing Editor

NORTH SHORE — Celebrating 10 years of supporting the Northside, The Buhl Foundation’s One Northside initiative gathered at Acrisure Stadium on Feb. 18 to look back at what might be the first half of the organization’s existence and accomplishments, as well as look to what the future may hold.

One Northside was founded in 2014 in order to increase the amount of support the Buhl Foundation was providing toward the Northside, the hometown of Henry Buhl Jr., who established the foundation in 1927 upon his death.

According to Diana Bucco, president of the Buhl Foundation, the organization was only giving about 25% of its support to the Northside in 2014, with 70-75% going toward other regional projects.

“The board thought maybe we could flip that and, in the process, help to ensure the Northside is part of the great transformation that’s happening city-wide,” she said.

One Northside was set up with a promise to focus on the Northside for “at least 20 years,” marking the celebration as the possible halfway point of that commitment. The goal was to move 75% of The Buhl Foundation’s grant making to the Northside community.

Today, One Northside has supported its community through various programs and initiatives. Among its successes are more than 2,462 Northside students who have received weekend food through the organization’s Backpack Program, helping to oversee a 74% reduction in crime in Northview Heights and a 25% increase in enrollment at Perry Traditional Academy, according to One Northside. In total, the organization has dedicated $26 million to the Northside over the past decade, according to Bucco.

As a teaser of what will come next, a video shown at the Feb. 18 celebration indicated that One Northside would soon receive a new website, one dedicated to helping residents get easier access to services that can help them.

Bucco, speaking at the celebration, acknowledged that One Northside is still finding ways to best benefit the Northside, even after its decade of existence.

“While we have made great strides, 10 years later, we’re still learning,” she said. “Sometimes we got it right, and sometimes we didn’t. But most importantly is that we didn’t stop.”

The commemoration event included congratulations from Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey.

After the Buhl Foundation decided to increase support to the Northside , the foundation began by interviewing around 400 Northsiders on what the community needed to succeed. The feedback from these interviews formed the five pillars of One Northside:

• Education: Representing supporting children to better prepare the next generation.
• Employment: Representing partnerships with companies to provide jobs, career programs and training.
• Health: Representing coordination of health and human services to meet physical, social and emotional needs, as well as improving nutrition access.
• Place: Representing increasing access to quality, affordable housing for residents.
• Safety: Representing the building of trust between residents and law enforcement, as well as establishment of neighborhood watch organizations and accessible safety centers.

There was one other valuable piece of information gained from these interviews as well.

“The other thing we learned that was so important was that the secret sauce to this whole process was the Northsiders,” Bucco told The Chronicle in an interview.

Indeed, much of One Northside’s celebration was taken up by recognitions given to Northsiders who helped the organization in its mission, as well as a few residents of other areas who helped out. Among those recognized, termed “champions” by One Northside, were Ben Soltesz (who organizes Northside Music Festival), Erin Tobin (outreach coordinator for Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy) and Pastor Ed Glover (founder of Urban Impact).

According to Bucco, the number of Northsiders involved in One Northside has only grown over the years, and she said that the Northside community “really sees this as their initiative.”

Looking toward the future, Bucco said some of One Northside’s goals for the next 10 years include making Perry High School into a “high-performing, 21st century school,” expanding the successful policing efforts at Northview Heights to the entire Northside and helping out “under-employed Northsiders,” meaning those who have the skills to move up in their jobs, but can’t for various reasons.

An additional focus will be getting residents to “plug into” the support infrastructure that already exists, something the new website will focus on.

To learn more about One Northside, visit onenorthsidepgh.org.