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2 Pittsburgh Organizations Receiving Part Of MacKenzie Scott's $2.7 Billion Donation

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - At least two Pittsburgh organizations are on the list of nearly 300 getting billions from MacKenzie Scott.

In a blog post titled "Seeding by Ceding," the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says she's giving away $2.7 billion to "high-impact" underfunded organizations. Two of those organizations are the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund and the Center of Life.

Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh, which is a joint grantmaking program created through a partnership between the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Endowments, says the fund "is where access and opportunity connect with Pittsburgh artists who are thriving in their creative process as a means and a way of life."

The Center of Life, based in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood neighborhood, focuses on giving kids life skills, education, training and resources to strengthen youth and their communities.

"Putting large donors at the center of stories on social progress is a distortion of their role. Me, Dan, a constellation of researchers and administrators and advisors — we are all attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change," said Scott.

"In this effort, we are governed by a humbling belief that it would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands, and that the solutions are best designed and implemented by others."

Scott has already given away more than $5 billion since she split from Bezos.

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