INTRODUCTION

It has been a very active year at the Foundation. The Board of Directors has engaged in an extensive examination of priorities in the light of changing community needs. The Foundation will retain its opportunistic outlook but recognizes that it should not venture into fields with which it is not sufficiently acquainted such as medicine and public health. It also recognizes that the use of information technology, which has been a focus for the Foundation, is now commonplace. Therefore, it will only entertain technology proposals which break new grounds.

Several areas of continuing interest include job preparedness, teacher training and science education. Of particular concern is the engagement of disadvantaged young people in education and work.

The Foundation believes that civic improvement is particularly important at this time. The city is in transition to a time when quality of life is a driver of economic development and where downtown must become a distinctive cultural neighborhood. The North Side area of Pittsburgh, where Henry Buhl, Jr. lived, worked and is buried, remains of special interest.

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Two of the Foundation's early projects have received distinction as historic landmarks. Chatham Village has been of international renown since its early construction by the Foundation in the 1930's. The planned community was designed by Clarence S. Stein and Henry Wright, who have since been acknowledged as America's foremost urban planners of the Garden City movement. The buildings were designed by Pittsburgh architects Charles T. Ingham and William Boyd. The gardens and green space were designed by Ralph E. Griswold and Theodore M. Kohankie. On April 5, the United States Secretary of the Interior, Gail R. Norton, signed documents designating Chatham Village on Mt. Washington as a National Historic Landmark. This is the highest historic recognition awarded by the Federal government. Fewer than 2,500 properties in the nation are so designated out of more than 78,000 listings in the National Register of Historic Places. It should be noted that, constructed in the Depression, it provided gainful employment which was sorely needed.

On the local level, on July 26, Pittsburgh City Council designated the former Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science as a City Historic Structure. It was completed in 1939, designed by architects Ingham and Boyd. In 1994, the Planetarium became a component of Carnegie Institute until a new science center was built on the riverfront. The then vacant building was reopened in 2005 with support of the Foundation as an integrated extension of the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.

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This year, the Foundation lost to retirement, Albert C. Van Dusan, who has served the Foundation faithfully as a member of the Board for eleven years. Dr. Van Dusan carefully negotiated the successful merger of the Frick Educational Commission with the Buhl Foundation. His continued interest in the work of the Frick Educational Fund has been especially valuable, as has his long experience in higher education. The Foundation is very grateful for his encouragement and his expertise.