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The Richard King Mellon Foundation has awarded the 51��Ʒ��Ƶ $250,000 to support the 51��Ʒ��Ƶ Black Faculty Development Initiative — a program that seeks to improve the lives of Black 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburghers by supporting research focused on equity, health and well-being in the city. This program is part of the larger .

A portion of the gift will fund three to five seed grants given to Black faculty-led research projects that specifically address health disparities. The grant will also support Black faculty retention efforts.

“Seed grants inspire creativity by giving researchers an opportunity to throw an idea out there and find collaborators,” said , 51��Ʒ��Ƶ’s associate vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion in the health sciences, who coordinates the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, students and staff for those schools.

“Our vision is to engage Black faculty members in experiences that will help to develop their career paths and give them a stronger sense of what they may be facing as their careers develop,” Davis said.

An interdisciplinary approach to an intersectional problem

The grant is dedicated to mitigating regional infant and maternal mortality within the African American community.

“The 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh region is challenged with regard to issues of racial equity and gender, and 51��Ʒ��Ƶ’s senior leaders are committed to leveraging the intellect, the experiences and expertise of our existing as well as new faculty to explicitly address the challenges of our region,” said , 51��Ʒ��Ƶ’s vice provost for faculty diversity and development.��

His office, along with the Center on Race and Social Problems in the School of Social Work, will steward the grant. Additionally, has joined the Office of the Provost as special assistant to the provost for race and the social determinants of equity, health and well-being. In this role, she will lead the Race & Health Collaboratory and work to implement the other core components of the Race and Social Determinants Initiative.

According to a 2019 report issued by 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh’s Gender Equity Commission, Black women in 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh are far more likely to die during pregnancy than their peers in other U.S. cities, and for Black 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburghers giving birth, 18 out of every 1,000 pregnancies end in a fetal death — twice the rate of white people giving birth in 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh.��

The seed grant program design encourages interdisciplinary collaboration to address this problem.��

“A diversity of viewpoints looking at a problem increases the likelihood that you will have a solution,” said Davis. “It gives me great hope for our capacity to come up with creative answers to some of our more daunting problems, ultimately making life better for Black women in 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh.”

Impact beyond research

The Richard King Mellon grant will have both immediate and far-reaching beneficial effects on the recruitment of students and faculty at 51��Ʒ��Ƶ who work in these fields and for whom these issues are important.

“This grant will support Black faculty at 51��Ʒ��Ƶ and advance our work to improve health and well-being in our communities,” said Sam Reiman, director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation. “The foundation is committed to addressing health disparities, particularly the higher rates of infant mortality that too often mean tragedy for Black mothers and fathers.”

51��Ʒ��Ƶ’s Wallace also noted that the impact of this work will extend beyond the region.��

“While 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh is certainly challenging for African Americans, racism and health disparities are not specific to 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh,” said Wallace. “I'm confident that what we learn will have implications far beyond Western Pennsylvania, and I also am excited by the fact that the institution where I serve is committed to improving conditions in the community in which it is nested.”

— Nichole Faina