We Can Be podcast - The Heinz Endowments

The Heinz Endowments
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  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Those working for a more just world share their stories of community and possibility to host - and The Heinz Endowments President - Chris DeCardy. Episodes take you behind the scenes of in-the-news individuals and topics, revealing honesty, humanity and hope at every turn.

  1. NOV 25

    Riverlife's Matt Galluzzo raises the bar for riverfront preservation & community connection (S06E04)

    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.” Millions will see the life that the Pittsburgh region has built along its rivers when the NFL draft comes to Pittsburgh in April of 2026. Much of the beauty, public green space and vibrant activity along Pittsburgh’s Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio rivers can be traced to Riverlife. The organization was established in 1999 with key support from the Endowments and Heinz family members who recognized the enormous potential of visually and environmentally sound riverfronts.   “For me, the real beauty of what we’ve accomplished is that generations from now, people we will never meet are going to benefit from our work,” Matt says. “It is with this longitudinal view that we have developed our community-informed plans to ensure that folks in 30 or 40 years are going to have a healthy, high-quality experience on our riverfronts.”   Prior to joining Riverlife in 2019, Matt led the creation and implementation of the first Community Land Trust in western Pennsylvania and oversaw $200 million in public and private investment for the thriving riverfront neighborhood of Lawrenceville.   Immerse yourself in Riverlife’s successes, challenges and the high bar it has set as a national leader in riverfront preservation and sustainable development on this episode of “We Can Be.”   “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Special commentary in this episode by Endowments Managing Director of Arts & Culture Jasmin DeForrest. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Host and guest photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. Subscribe, listen and share new “We Can Be” episodes every two weeks on all major podcast platforms and YouTube. Use search term “Heinz We Can Be.”

    38 min

  2. NOV 12

    Breathe Project's Matt Mehalik leads clean air advocacy w/ tech, tenacity & community (S06EP03)

    “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 national standard for community-centered, data-informed environmental groups.   Two of their innovative tracking systems have gained national attention. Their Breathe Cam project is a 24/7 live video feed showing visual components of air quality in multiple locations. Their Smell PGH app, developed in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University's CREATE Lab (Community, Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment), gives citizens an easy way to report their air quality experiences.     With a doctorate in systems engineering and as a professor teaching sustainability and environment policy at Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University, Matt has helped guide a new generation of young people to environmental action.   Matt is co-author of “Ethical and Environmental Challenges to Engineering,” and is smart, caring and deeply dedicated to improving the air we share. Listen, learn and be inspired to act with this episode of “We Can Be.”   “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Special commentary in this episode by Endowments Climate, Environment & Health Senior Director Philip Johnson. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Host and guest photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. Subscribe, listen and share new “We Can Be” episodes every two weeks on all major podcast platforms and YouTube. Use search term “Heinz We Can Be.”

    44 min

  3. OCT 29

    125 years of groundbreaking, life-changing work of Sarah Heinz House w/ CEO Demeshia Seals (S06EP02)

    “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 being the first organization of its kind in the country to serve both boys and girls at a time when doing so was unprecedented. It has given youth community-building experiences in sports, nature, well-being and life skills ever since. Its accomplishments gained national attention once again when the organization became a charter member of the national Boys and Girls Clubs of America in 1930.   Demeshia joined the Sarah Heinz House in 2023, bringing decades of experience with companies including Massaro Construction and Nike Inc., where she led its skills development programs.   She now leads the Sarah Heinz House in serving more than 1,000 youth annually and in recent years has expanded its programs to include adults over age 60 and to focus on STEM, robotics and workforce development.   “It’s important that we change the manner in which we speak about what opportunity looks like and what success truly is for our young people,” Demeshia says. “Let's not shackle them with our limited understanding of what their opportunities could be. Let’s give them space to dream and become who they are meant to be.”   “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Special commentary in this episode by Endowments Vice President Carmen Anderson. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Host and guest photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. Subscribe, listen and share new “We Can Be” episodes every two weeks on all major podcast platforms. Use search term “Heinz We Can Be.”

    38 min

  4. OCT 15

    Tim Kaulen brings our industrial past into the future in a bold, beautiful & meaningful way (S06EP01)

    “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 Workshop began a decade ago as a mobile sculpture program that brought together high school students to learn safe welding and metal fabrication techniques, as well as artistic process, community engagement and team building.   Now with a permanent home in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood community, a neighborhood with a deep history in the region’s steel industry, Industrial Arts Workshop has served more than 600 students, with many going on to careers in both the arts and the welding industry.   The large-scale welded steel sculptures Tim and his students and have created in prominent locations across Pittsburgh are bringing the region’s industrial past into the future in a bold, beautiful and meaningful way.   Early in his career, Tim’s creation of a 25-foot inflatable figure made from recycled billboard segments was featured at the Burning Man Festival and exhibited in Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. His “dino-geese” painting on the 10th Street bridge on Pittsburgh’s South Side has gained mythological status, inspiring joy – and the occasional tattoo – among fans over the years.   “What's great for me is to see young people engage with public art and to see their curiosity and their imaginations change in the moment,” Tim says. “That is what public art is about: curiosity, questions, imagination and wonder.”    “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Special commentary in this episode by Endowments Senior Program Officer for Arts & Culture Mac Howison. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Host and guest photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org. New episode every two weeks.

    40 min

  5. 10/29/2024

    Uplifting voices of those facing health effects of fracking w/ environmental health advocate Tammy Murphy

    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 President Chris DeCardy met Tammy at a convening of environmental funders last year when she was the advocacy director at Physicians for a Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. She spoke movingly about her personal experience in helping amplify the voices of those experiencing serious health issues related to fracking. “It’s hard to talk about families who are losing their children, their spouses, or who have kids doing homework in hospitals because their parent is dying,” Tammy said. Tammy is fearless in speaking truth in corridors of power – evident when she led a demonstration inside the state capitol building with parents whose children had been impacted by fracking-induced health issues. Two days later, then-Governor Wolf announced Pennsylvania fracking health dangers would be investigated and funded. “Fossil fuel extraction companies find the product that they want to go after, and then they find the path of least resistance,” Tammy tells Chris. “They go into the communities that they find the most vulnerable and try to extract from there in a way that doesn't disturb the people with the most power. Because they know those with power would resist.” Be inspired by Tammy and the stories of the communities and families she had helped uplift in this episode of “We Can Be.”   “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Chris DeCardy photo: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

    30 min

  6. 10/23/2024

    Rainbow Serpent co-founder Marques Redd is reviving ancient traditions to create the future of art

    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 canon. He shares with Endowments President and podcast host Chris DeCardy why this dialogue is important, and how art creates a bridge for empathy and understanding. “Public artwork does have a psychic impact and can have a subtle kind of influence over people that might see it.” Marques says. “Ideas that may otherwise be passed over can be sparked into thoughtfulness and conversation when people engage with art.” A celebrated multimedia artist, independent scholar and traditional African cosmologist, Marques has had an impressive impact across the United States and in cities around the globe in the past several years. From the film “Obi MBu (The Primodial House)” to the groundbreaking glass sculptures and virtual reality of “Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers” to large-scale mural installations featuring effervescent, shining Black bodies that merge with a universe of stars, Marques and Rainbow Serpent’s art have been front and center in cities including Atlanta, Boston, Pittsburgh, Denver, Raleigh and Tampa, to name but a few. “The work is so political in the way in which it is raising questions around gender, sexuality, race and Blackness,” Marques says.  “I do think that through our art there is continued space for us to contribute to these issues, both here and around the world.” Listen to this episode of “We Can Be” to launch into Marques’ beautiful, fascinating and moving vision of the world.   “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. This episode presentation is a partnership between The Heinz Endowments and the  Heinz Family Foundation. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest and host photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

    34 min

  7. 10/16/2024

    Heinz Award winner & Taproot Earth's Colette Pichon Battle stands up to climate change inequities (S05E08)

    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 Hurricanes Helene and Milton and faces increasingly serious effects of climate change, her leadership is helping address the urgent need for knowledgeable insight and direction.   “It is an emotional moment because you know that people are not going to pay attention to this issue in a deep and real way until you're hit by it,” Colette tells host and Endowments President Chris DeCardy. “But it is also a moment where I am reassured that the work that I've committed my life to is the right work.”   Born and raised in a close-knit family in the Bayou Liberty region of coastal Louisiana, Colette spent time in Ohio at Kenyon College and West Africa after earning her law degree from Southern University Law Center.   After settling into her dream life as a lawyer in New York City, she was drawn back to Louisiana to find and assist family when Katrina struck the southern coastal region in 2005.   She founded the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy to help Gulf South communities of color in in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. In 2022, the organization transitioned into Taproot Earth, widening its scope to include BIPOC communities worldwide that are withstanding the worst of climate change.   “I think the problem at the root cause of the climate crisis is capitalism and an unjust economic system,” Colette says. “We have a value system that is rooted in extraction, and I think that's wrong. I think we should value creation. I think we should value love. I think we should have a different values system.”   Colette and her Taproot Earth team are uplifting those different – and better – values, community by community in the United States and around the world.   “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, & produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos & Tim Murray. This episode presentation is a partnership between The Heinz Endowments & the Heinz Family Foundation. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest & host photos: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries: Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

    37 min

  8. 10/09/2024

    Bringing solar's massive savings & workforce potential to light w/ Sharon Pillar, founder & exec dir Pennsylvania Solar Center (SE05EP07)

    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 DeCardy. "We are really seeing this proliferation and adoption of solar energy just taking off. And now with the Inflation Reduction Act, it's become an even bigger and undeniable game changer.”   From that first White House solar array in 1979 to the $90 billion in clean energy investment that came in the first six months of the 2022 IRA, a new generation of advocates is working tirelessly to bring the health, financial and workforce development benefits of solar energy to light.   Sharon has led solar and climate change programs at both PennFuture, a nonprofit that advocates for the clean energy economy, and the Solar Unified Network of Western Pennsylvania. She trained with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. She also is a nationally respected and trusted solar consultant who has helped organizations and municipalities seeking to finance and install solar projects.   She talks with Chris about the massive workforce potential the solar sector could see in the next decade and the challenges some communities face in advancing solar. In addition, she describes the eye-opening savings of $19 million over 25 years that a 2024 Pennsylvania Solar Center study found residents of two southwestern Pennsylvania cities could save if they embrace solar energy.   Sharon has clearly found her calling to, as Pennsylvania Solar Center says on its website, “help put solar everywhere under the sun.”   “We Can Be” is hosted by Heinz Endowments President Chris DeCardy, and produced by the Endowments, Josh Franzos and Tim Murray. Theme music by Josh Slifkin. Guest photo: Tim Murray; host photo: Josh Franzos. Guest inquiries may be made to Scott Roller at sroller@heinz.org.

    32 min
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Those working for a more just world share their stories of community and possibility to host - and The Heinz Endowments President - Chris DeCardy. Episodes take you behind the scenes of in-the-news individuals and topics, revealing honesty, humanity and hope at every turn.

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