PPG paints the town with Colorful Communities program

PPG’s Colorful Communities program is spreading brilliant color throughout Pittsburgh classrooms and community centers this month, after making a brilliant splash with the global initiative last summer.

Last year, PPG committed $10 million to the 10-year initiative to revitalize cities where the company has a presence. With help from the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, the leading paints, coatings and materials manufacturer will continue the program in Pittsburgh by beautifying community centers in Pitcairn, Homewood-Brushton, the Hill District and Shadyside.

Sue Sloan, executive director of PPG Foundation and Corporate Global Social Responsibility, says the decision to partner with the United Way enabled them to extend their reach to more areas throughout Pittsburgh.

“We wanted the United Way to identify sites in communities with real need that were providing services for after-school activities, particularly reading and STEM,” says Sloan, referring to education that stresses the importance of science, technology, engineering and math.

PPG officially launched the Pittsburgh program last year by awarding a $50,000 grant to the Propel Schools Foundation, which was used to fund the renewal efforts and the science programs at eight elementary-level Propel public charter schools.

This year, PPG invested around $750,000 into renovation efforts at four different sites, where employee volunteers will brighten more than 20,000 square feet of classrooms, corridors and programming space using PPG Paints products. So far, over 60 Pittsburgh-area volunteers, all from PPG, the United Way, the community and local government, gathered at YWCA Homewood-Brushton, where they painted four pre-school classrooms, and at Propel Pitcairn.

They also enlisted the help of local artists Lynne Mack, who will use the donated paint to create original murals in the spaces.

On Aug. 20, the group visited the Hill District to paint a teen lounge at the Jeron X Grayson Community Center. On Aug. 25, they also took their brushes to the walls of the Boys and Girls Club in Shadyside.

In total, PPG anticipates completing around 30 Colorful Communities projects this year, which more than doubles the 11 projects the company completed in 2015. Other areas slated to benefit from the 2016 Colorful Communities program include Oak Creek, Wisc., and Cleveland, as well as cities in 20 countries around the world.

In addition to providing much-needed cosmetic lifts to the program’s chosen sites, PPG also offered $10,000 program grants to each Pittsburgh organization dedicated to STEM education programming.

However, Sloan believes a new paint job is enough to do a world of good.

“We firmly believe that when children have the opportunity to be in a more pleasant, colorful environment, it really helps them in their learning process,” says Sloan. “And people are just happier when their surroundings are more beautiful.”