A $750,000 gift from the Gismondi Foundation has created the Gismondi Neighborhood Education Program that will allow Pitt to increase its in-school and out-of-school educational support programs in Homewood, the Hill District, Oakland and greater Hazelwood.

The gift from Pitt trustee John Gismondi, a 1970s alumnus of both the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Law, and his wife Lisa, follows the foundation’s $325,000 award to create the PittEnrich program, which combines in-school tutoring and Saturday learning-through-play sessions in Homewood to help students there improve reading and math proficiency.

The new gift will bring staffing and infrastructure to the Neighborhood Education Program in partnership with elementary schools and community groups in Pitt’s “Neighborhood Commitment” areas. It will help encourage family participation, provide transportation and meals, hire and train Pitt School of Education students as tutors, create access to instructional coaches to assist tutors and bring to the program culturally and developmentally appropriate content.

John Gismondi said he hopes that this gift will support the program for at least the next five years.