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E-mailWomen, politics focus of grant given to college
Bill Zlatos is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-320-7828 or via e-mail.
The grant redesigns the original Center for Women in Politics in Pennsylvania, founded in 1998 by Hillman at Chatham, into the new Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy.
"The primary mission of the center is women and politics," Chatham President Esther Barazzone said Thursday. "We felt it was particularly important to have some group work on the issue of public policies as they affect women."
The foundation gave Chatham $250,000 in 1983 to establish The Elsie Hilliard Hillman Chair in Politics. It later contributed $575,000 to endow the chair.
The latest grant consists of $2.5 million to endow the center and $450,000 to cover part of its operational costs for the first five years.
The center received the latest grant because it meets the foundation's mission of improving the quality of life in southwestern Pennsylvania, Hillman President Ron Wertz said.
"It was through that effort that the college had made over five years in establishing the program and broadening its focus that we decided to endow the center," he said.
Among the disparities cited by the center is that Pennsylvania ranks 45th in the nation in the number of women elected to the state Legislature. Only 16 percent of the state's senators and 20 percent of its representatives are women. Nationally, women occupy 20 percent of state Senate seats and 23 percent of state House seats.
Locally, only two of nine members of Pittsburgh City Council and two of 15 members of Allegheny County Council are women.
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