{"id":237383,"date":"2026-07-07T10:59:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/237383\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:59:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:59:27","slug":"pittsburgh-tech-training-program-secures-135k-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/237383\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh tech training program secures $135k grant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Money Moves<\/a> is a recurring series where we chart the raises, grants, contracts, mergers and other funding news of tech companies across our regions. Have a tip? Email us at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s the money flowing?\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Pittsburgh\u2019s tech and startup scene, space exploration is having a multimillion-dollar moment. Plus, community programs to boost economic mobility are getting some love.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keep reading for the details.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Community Forge receives $135k for economic mobility\u00a0<\/p>\n

Community Forge<\/a> is getting a piece of a $21 million multi-year grant investment for its economic mobility<\/a> program, giving the organization stable funding through 2029 to keep building career pathways for local families.<\/p>\n

The community development nonprofit\u2019s program<\/a> will receive $45,000 annually starting this year, totaling $135,000 by the grant\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs parents advance on their journeys toward economic mobility, they demonstrate what is possible for their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derrick Shoffner, Community Forge<\/p>\n

\u201cA stronger workforce in Southwestern Pennsylvania depends on equipping adults with the skills needed for today\u2019s careers while inspiring the next generation to pursue educational and professional opportunities they may never have imagined,\u201d Derrick Shoffner, deputy director at Community Forge, told Technical.ly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Wilkinsburg-based org takes a relationship-oriented, multigenerational approach to workforce development. It starts by providing social services, like legal assistance or housing resources, to stabilize individuals entering the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, it transitions them into intensive workforce training through partners like the Pittsburgh Robotics Network<\/a>, Per Scholas<\/a> or Partner4Work<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs parents advance on their journeys toward economic mobility, they demonstrate what is possible for their children,\u201d Shoffner added. \u201cThrough our multigenerational initiative, we\u2019ll be helping families build lasting personal and financial stability that will strengthen the current and future workforce of our region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adults in the program are either enrolled in cohort-based technical training focused on high-growth industries, like advanced manufacturing, healthcare or IT, or receive individualized, coach-assisted skill pathways. Meanwhile, youth programming aims to foster career awareness in emerging industries throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\"TwoThe spring cohort of Community Forge\u2019s economic mobility program learn from organization partner Bricolage (Courtesy Mekai Mitchell)<\/p>\n

Community Forge plans to enroll 50 adults and 20 youth annually in its program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The grant was one of 138 programs funded<\/a> by the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, a philanthropic organization that donates to causes in Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Fayette and Westmoreland counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Community Forge was founded in 2017<\/a> to revitalize the former Johnston Elementary School in Wilkinsburg and build a more equitable economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The org serves as an example of economic development that focuses on building bottom-up relationships in the community rather than top-down approaches. Along with its economic mobility program, Community Forge also offers<\/a> a community space and events, tech education and violence prevention initiatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Astrobotic\u2019s new NASA contracts raise funding total to $900M<\/p>\n

NASA awarded Pittsburgh-based aerospace company Astrobotic about $298 million across two contracts last week to deliver a suite of payloads to the moon in 2028.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new contracts raised Astrobotic\u2019s total funding from NASA<\/a> to more than $900 million since it was founded in 2007.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With these latest funds, the company will fly two of its Peregrine lunar landers to the moon. The landers will carry a device that measures radiation, a camera system to observe impacts on the lunar surface and a small mirror-like device that will serve as a landmark to help future mission navigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AAstrobotic\u2019s Peregrine (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

The contracts offer Astrobotic another shot at getting its Peregrine lunar lander to the moon. Its first attempt in January 2024 failed after a critical malfunction<\/a> in the lander\u2019s propulsion system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience gained from our first two lander programs has matured both our team and our technologies,\u201d John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic, said in the announcement, \u201cand we look forward to applying those lessons to Peregrine-2 and Peregrine-3 as we continue supporting NASA in building America\u2019s Moon Base.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s contracts are part of Commercial Lunar Payload Services<\/a>, an initiative to pay American companies to build tech for the federal agency\u2019s mission to build a permanent lunar base.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The contract news comes after Astrobotic announced last month it was entering into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Voyager Technologies<\/a> for some $300 million. The deal is expected to close this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More money moves:\u00a0<\/p>\n

AI security startup Gray Swan raised a $40 million Series A<\/a> with plans to grow its team.<\/p>\n

AI hardware startup Hellbender secured $12.5 million in seed funding<\/a> to hire and expand manufacturing operations.<\/p>\n

Agility Robotics, an Oregon-based company with a significant Pittsburgh presence, announced its plans to be acquired<\/a> and go public at a $2.5 billion valuation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

KEF Robotics landed a $1.25 million Air Force contract<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nonprofit Catalyst Connection received $200,000<\/a> from the commonwealth to cover hands-on welding and sculpture programming, software training and transportation costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania awarded $3.1 million<\/a> in grants pairing nearly 50 student researchers with PA businesses to advance manufacturing innovation, including Carnegie Mellon students with HexSpline3D and Duquesne University students with Astrobotic.<\/p>\n

The City of Pittsburgh committed $1 million<\/a> to make the youth employment program Learn & Earn operate year-round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curtiss-Wright, a major manufacturer from North Carolina with a strong Pittsburgh presence, will invest $80 million to expand its operations in Cheswick and add 150 jobs. PA is providing $1.2 million<\/a> for the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Money Moves is a recurring series where we chart the raises, grants, contracts, mergers and other funding news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1160,227,676,73,75,74,2009,175],"class_list":["post-237383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-economic-development","tag-education","tag-funding","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-space","tag-workforce-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}