We Can Be podcast - The Heinz Endowments

Sonya Tilghman, Executive Director of Hazelwood Initiative, joins Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy for this episode of “We Can Be.”

Communities experiencing the exit of major economic drivers often face a fresh challenge when revitalization opportunities arise: how to ensure that their voice will be heard and respected so new business investments don’t push them out of their longtime homes and neighbo...

Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy welcomes Gillian Graber, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Protect PT. The grassroots community-based nonprofit works to protect southwestern Pennsylvania residents from the harmful health and environmental impacts of fossil fuel activity.

Gillian and her family settled in Penn-Trafford, an idyllic borough located along the border of Westmoreland and Allegheny count...

Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy welcomes Kendra Whitlock Ingram, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Kendra leads the Trust in overseeing one of the largest and most complex downtown arts and culture districts in the country.

With a dedication to inclusive and diverse programming, she began her arts management journey with a Duquesne University undergraduate internship with the Pittsbur...

Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy welcomes Chris Baxter, CEO, President and Founding Editor of Spotlight PA, an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit news organization dedicated to holding those in power accountable.

Mr. Baxter has more than two decades of journalism experience and has built his impressive career on a commitment to challenging that status quo. He leads Spotlight PA’s partnerships wit...

Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy welcomes Women for a Healthy Environment Executive Director Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis to “We Can Be.”

In 2007 a group of about 20 women attended an information-sharing conference in Pittsburgh that addressed links between environmental factors and women’s health. After the gathering, they determined that there was a need for continued questions and answers, research and...

Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy welcomes Matt Galluzzo, the president and CEO of Riverlife, which serves as the north star for the redevelopment of Pittsburgh’s riverfronts with high-quality design, accessibility and environmental integrity.

From ancient Greek philosophy to our country’s own Native American history, cultures around the world have embraced variations of the phrase “water is life.” Mil...

“Together, a network of public health professionals, air quality scientists, advocates and community groups can move the needle on air pollution,” Breathe Project Executive Director Matt Melahik tells host Chris DeCardy, president of The Heinz Endowments.

Founded with support from The Heinz Endowments in 2011 and now an independent organization, the Breathe Collaborative and its communications platform Breathe Project have set a ...

“My dream for every child is that they understand that there are no limits,” Demeshia Seals tells Heinz Endowments President and “We Can Be” host Chris DeCardy.

Demeshia is chief executive officer of the Sarah Heinz House, established by food entrepreneur H.J. Heinz’s son Howard Heinz on Pittsburgh’s North Side in 1901 as a resource for boys from immigrant families.

Two years later the Sarah Heinz House had the distinction of b...

“The value of public art is the space to ask questions and to imagine answers,” Tim Kaulen, founder and executive director of Industrial Arts Workshop, tells host and Endowments President Chris DeCardy in this episode of “We Can Be.”

A successful working artist and educator, Tim is also a thoughtful community advocate committed to public art, creative spaces and workforce development. Under his leadership, Industrial Arts Worksho...

For nearly a decade, Tammy Murphy has been on the front lines of the fight to protect families from the adverse environmental and health effects of fossil fuel extraction.

Tammy is the public policy and advocacy manager for Make the Road Pennsylvania, a nonprofit that builds power for justice in Latinx, immigrant, and working-class communities of color, with a key focus on climate and environmental justice.

Host and Endowments Pres...

Marques Redd, acclaimed artist and co-founder of multidisciplinary art collective Rainbow Serpent, is helping create the future of art by reviving ancient – and often erased – traditions.

By uplifting Black LGBTQ creativity and culture through the exploration of emerging technologies, innovative healing protocols, African cosmologies, and multimedia art, he is sparking important dialogue and reconsideration of the Western artistic ...

Colette Pichon Battle, Heinz Award for the Environment honoree and the vision and initiatives partner for the climate justice nonprofit Taproot Earth joins host Chris DeCardy. Colette  was inspired to shift her career from corporate law to environmental activism after her family’s experience in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina nearly two decades ago.

As the United States begins recovery from the historic devastation of Hurrican...

Sharon Pillar, Pennsylvania Solar Center founder and executive director, is continuing the solar energy advocacy started nearly a half-century ago by former President Jimmy Carter, who recently marked his 100th birthday.

“It’s a lot different now than it was when President Carter put those solar panels on the West Wing roof,” Sharon tells host and Endowments President Chris...

VoteRiders CEO and Executive Director Lauren Kunis is clear about what is at stake when it comes to those who are using false claims of voter fraud as the basis for enacting overly stringent voter ID laws. The laws affect 35 million voting-age citizens – a majority of whom are first-time voters, low-income residents, people of color and/or differently abled. 

“Those who are already underrepresented in our electorate are most harm...

Dr. Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, Allegheny Health Network’s first chief clinical diversity, equity and inclusion officer, wrote in a widely shared 2023 op-ed: “It is perilous to be Black and pregnant in America. We need to do better.”

The nationally respected expert in maternal and infant health equity is not afraid to speak out against health injustice or to amplify the startling differences between Black and white mothers and ba...

Jen Flanagan is founder and executive director of Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, an employment-based social enterprise that empowers people through food service training and life skills mentoring. With an impressive 93% placement rate in professional kitchens for those who complete their training programs, she and her team are giving brighter futures to hundreds who find themselves struggling to overcome systemic barriers at the mar...

Leah Penniman, “Farming While Black” author, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm and Heinz Award for the Economy honoree has a deep commitment to sharing regenerative farming best practices and land stewardship with Black, Indigenous and people of color. Addressing racism and injustice in the food system is a central focus of her work.

“When I was a young farmer growing up in the mid-90s and attending agricultural conferences and training...

Dr. George Thurston, internationally respected scientist, professor and pioneer in the study and communication of the effects of air pollution’s impact on human health joins the “We Can Be” family.

”Science is a way to bridge a lot of our societal division and distrust,” he tells Chris DeCardy, Heinz Endowments president and “We Can Be” host. “People trust science, and we have a responsibility to speak out when we can help.”

In...

Kilolo Luckett, nationally renowned art curator & founding executive director of ALMA | LEWIS, believes in the transformative power of art for both artist & audience.

“When we genuinely connect with art, we can dream whole other worlds of possibility,” she tells Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, who takes the wheel as our podcast’s host on the first episode of this new season of “We Can Be.” “

With nearly 25 yea...