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Nonprofit Celebrates 21 Years of Outreach & Scholarship Program for Public Housing Youth

October 30, 2019

Clean Slate E3, the nonprofit affiliate of The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP), will celebrate 21 years of Clean Slate programming – and 10 years of the Clean Slate E3 Scholarship Program – during a benefit dinner held October 30, 2019, at Pittsburgh’s Grand Hall at the Priory, 614 Pressley Street, Pittsburgh, beginning at 6:00 p.m. The event will be anchored by a keynote address by former Olympian and WNBA star Swin Cash and will feature a special presentation in honor of Officer Calvin Hall of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, who was killed serving his community earlier this year.

HACP established Clean Slate E3 in 2009 in order to expand potential funding sources for activities that enrich the lives of HACP residents, including but not limited to: job training, educational enhancement and scholarships. Clean Slate E3 was named after the Housing Authority’s long-running youth outreach and education program Clean Slate and was dedicated to the mission of educating, encouraging and entertaining HACP youth. Since its incorporation, Clean Slate E3 has provided nearly 40 HACP residents with scholarships for post-secondary education. During that time, Clean Slate E3 has issued more than $225,000 in scholarship funds. The organization has managed its scholarship program in partnership with NEED since 2012.

“We started Clean Slate in 1998 in an effort to inspire our young residents to steer clear of the national drug epidemic and the gang-related crime that engulfed so many American cities,” said Michelle Sandidge, HACP Chief Community Affairs Officer. “Years later, we took the Clean Slate mission and established our own non-profit affiliate – Clean Slate E3 – in order to provide our residents the opportunity to take that inspiration and better their lives through higher education.”

Clean Slate E3 is also proud to announce that it will launch the Officer Calvin Hall Memorial Scholarship in 2020, in partnership with the family of Officer Hall. This scholarship will be provided to a resident of Northview Heights or Allegheny Dwellings – the communities that Officer Hall served during the last year of his life. Through contributions provided by the Hall Family, HACP employees, and a direct match provided by the HACP, roughly $25,000 has been contributed in Officer Hall’s name.

Including the funds provided for the Officer Hall Scholarship, Clean Slate E3 will raise nearly $80,000 from its benefit dinner and would like to extend its deepest gratitude to our sponsor organizations, including: Gateway Health, University of Pittsburgh, The Heinz Endowments, OSA Global, Comcast, Fox Rothschild, LLP, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, Highmark, Mistick Construction, Catalyst Communities, LLC, 84 Lumber, PNC, The Buhl Foundation, and One Northside.

“Clean Slate E3 aims to assist the most deserving public housing residents to achieve self-sufficiency through educational advancement. We have hundreds of exceptional students in our communities who depend on scholarship dollars to advance their education and we are extremely pleased to be able to contribute toward their growth,” said Clean Slate E3 President Caster D. Binion. “I am proud to announce that through this event, Clean Slate E3 will raise roughly $80,000 which will be used exclusively for providing additional scholarships for HACP residents.”

Next spring, Clean Slate E3 will accept applications from residents of HACP housing and encourages any graduating senior or family of a graduating senior within the HACP housing system to apply for the opportunity. Scholarships are available at: http://www.hacp.org/resident-services/e3 and questions about availability and/or requirements may be directed to cleanslatee3@gmail.com. For more information about Clean Slate E3 and the Clean Slate E3 Scholarship Program, contact Michelle Sandidge at 412-456-5058.

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