Our partner programs—working together to create a vibrant and diverse Pittsburgh
Catapult Greater Pittsburgh
Catapult Greater Pittsburgh connects families to emergency resources, peer-to-peer support, wealth building, trauma-informed financial counseling, and policy advocacy to ensure that systematically disenfranchised communities can meaningfully achieve economic justice and lead dignified and equitable lives. They do this through a host of different programs.
We work directly with Catapult’s D.O.O.R. and K.E.Y. programs to prepare individuals and families for homeownership and build generational wealth.
The Catapult Startup to Storefront program
Catapult’s Startup to Storefront program is a business incubator designed to help local, minority businesses thrive and prosper in East Liberty and beyond. It provides participants with support and technical assistance, ranging from setting up legal structures and understanding finances to networking, peer support, and one-on-one mentoring. Paramount Pursuits out of Ambridge, PA helps facilitate the program.
Each cohort is made up of 15 businesses. The first cohort launched in April 2018, the second in September 2019, and the third in January 2021.
Selection criteria for participating businesses:
Businesses must live or do business in the East End/Larimer community, have a business or business idea that aligns with the East Liberty and/or Larimer Community Business District plans, and be willing to work hard and succeed.
The goal:
To help local business owners get what they need to maintain or build successful, sustainable businesses in the East End, and also to provide a wealth-building opportunity that benefits the community as a whole.
Get involved + Contact
Catapult is always looking for partners, mentors, and workspace. If you’d like to get involved or learn more, reach out to them here.
Gallery on Penn
An extension of the Catapult Startup to Storefront program, Gallery on Penn is a retail incubator space for minority and women-owned businesses on Penn Avenue in East Liberty. With the support of ELDI, several Catapult businesses operate out of the space at a very low cost, allowing them to test and market their ideas without the burden of expensive overhead. (Gallery on Penn is temporarily closed but its space on Penn Avenue is secure.)
“With the development of a physical Catapult: Startup to Storefront space, we’re really excited to be able to offer this new opportunity to allow our companies to incubate their retail businesses on one of the busiest streets in the city,” said Tammy Thompson, executive director of Catapult Greater Pittsburgh.
Rising Tide Partners
The many successes in East Liberty, along with failures and struggles, have taught us valuable lessons on how to restore communities. These are lessons that can be useful to other Pittsburgh neighborhoods, which is why ELDI supported Kendall Pelling, our former director of land recycling, to launch Rising Tide Partners in 2020. This new regional land recycling nonprofit employs a unique model of community development, helping other neighborhoods across Pittsburgh take advantage of land recycling tools to realize their community plans while preventing displacement.