[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 26 (Monday, February 25, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S801-S802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, as I have every year since I came to the 
Senate, I rise to commemorate Black History Month. This year, we are 
privileged to recognize Bill Strickland, a man whose approach is unique 
and whose accomplishments are of great consequence to African-
Americans, and in fact, to all Americans. From the age of 19, Bill 
Strickland has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of those living 
in poverty, to give them a setting they can thrive in and a future they 
can take pride in.
  Bill grew up in the Manchester neighborhood of Pittsburgh, on the 
city's north side. Prior to the decline of industry in the city in the 
mid-1960s, Manchester was a solid, working class community. But by the 
time Bill was in high school, the area around him had slid into urban 
decay and instability. Though surrounded by poverty, Bill's mother was 
determined to provide a safe environment for her family. And though she 
didn't have a high school diploma herself, Bill's mother held firm to 
the belief that a good education was the ticket to a better life. At 
Oliver High School, when he began his senior year Bill had neither 
plans for after graduation or a clear picture of what his future might 
look like.
  Then one day while walking down the hallway at school, Bill was 
attracted by the smell of fresh coffee. The coffee, along with the 
sounds of jazz, led Bill to the art room in Oliver High where he 
watched a pot being formed from a mound of clay on a turntable. Seated 
at the potter's wheel was Frank Ross, Oliver High's art teacher who 
would become Bill's close friend and mentor. Over the next year, in the 
calm atmosphere of Frank's well-lit art studio, Bill would develop a 
talent for ceramics. As importantly, it provided a safe and stable 
sanctuary from the chaos of the streets. At the potter's wheel Bill 
found his passion, and although he didn't know it yet, he was also 
forming the beginning of a vision that would become Manchester Bidwell 
Corporation.
  In 1967, Bill graduated from Oliver High School and, at the instance 
of Frank Ross, applied to the University of Pittsburgh where he was 
accepted, but only as a probationary student. Although he had begun his 
studies full-time, Bill never lost the connection with his 
neighborhood. In the summer of 1968, as Manchester grappled with the 
racial tensions that swept many inner cities, Bill decided to open an 
arts center in his neighborhood. He had seen the power a bright, 
orderly, safe place like Frank Ross' studio and the artistic work done 
there had had on his own life. He wanted to give the young people of 
Manchester a place where they too could escape the effects of economic 
and social devastation and experience something beautiful. A 
conversation with a young minister working in the area led Bill to his 
first $25,000 in funding and the Manchester

[[Page S802]]

Craftsmen's Guild was born as an after-school art program in a donated 
row house on Buena Vista Street. It was not an overnight success, but 
Bill never gave up. When young people in the neighborhood weren't 
immediately taken with ceramics, Bill redoubled his efforts, hitting 
the streets to reach out to as many people as possible and bring them 
to his center. People noticed Bill's efforts and the popularity of the 
Guild grew. As more people came to the center, the center needed more 
clay, more wheels, and Bill needed to secure more funding.

  Along the way, an interesting phenomenon occurred. Teachers began 
noticing that their students who regularly went to the Guild were doing 
better academically and behaving better in school. Without intending 
to, Bill had stumbled across a simple, yet empowering, philosophy--
environment shapes people's lives. By providing a safe space for the 
Manchester youth, and by introducing them to the beauty of the arts, 
Bill was simultaneously inspiring a large-scale change in his 
community.
  Despite starting as a probationary student, Bill graduated from Pitt 
cum laude with a BA in History in 1970. Bill continued to work with the 
Manchester Craftmen's Guild and a few years after graduation, he became 
director of the Bidwell Training Center, a school whose mission was to 
provide education in the building trades disadvantaged and dislocated 
workers. When Bill assumed his role as head of Bidwell, what he 
discovered was a dilapidated warehouse in a seedy parking lot and a 
$300,000 back tax bill from the IRS. But Bill saw its potential and 
didn't give up. Bill began to transform Bidwell into a forward-thinking 
school that offered its students a real chance to dramatically improve 
their lives. He realized that the changing job market required less 
focus on construction trades and redirected Bidwell's focus to the 
hightech and medical industries. He also forged important partnerships 
with corporations like IBM, Heinz) and Bayer to design curriculums that 
would train the workers that employers needed. While he worked to 
improve the staff and the quality of the education, the nature of 
Bidwell's funding meant that Bill could not address what he saw as one 
of the institutions central flaws: The building. With funding for 
social projects harder to come by in the 1980s, Bill was forced to lay-
off nearly one-third of his staff just to make payroll. But despite the 
set-back, in his own eyes, Bill's vision was clearer than ever. Bill 
realized that what he needed to make Bidwell succeed was a center of 
which students, faculty, and neighbors could be proud.
  To achieve his dream, Bill contacted legendary Pittsburgh architect 
Tasso Kastelas, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, to design a world 
class center in one of the worst neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. For 
$10,000, Bill commissioned the architect to build a model of what would 
later become the home of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation, as the 
combined programs of the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and the Bidwell 
Training Center would come to be known. Bill had a vision for his 
building and the conviction that the future of his cause lay in its 
construction. Just as he had done before, Bill took it upon himself to 
turn his dream into a reality and spearheaded a $6.5 million capital 
campaign. Model in hand, he implored the Pittsburgh corporate community 
to help fund his dream. When the city's corporate donors, who had 
supported him previously, told him that Manchester didn't need such a 
spectacular center, he told them in no uncertain terms that it did. 
When he was told he needed matching funds to obtain his corporate 
pledges, he turned to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for additional 
support.
  In 1986 the new 62,000 square foot arts and career training center 
opened. Originally the center consisted of studios as well as 
classrooms, workshops, gallery spaces, and a 350-seat auditorium. Over 
the years the building has expanded as Bill's vision expanded. In 1987 
the jazz hall, which has seen performances from the likes of Dizzy 
Gillespie and Nancy Wilson, was added and in 2003 the 40,000 square 
foot state-of-the-art greenhouse opened. The center currently provides 
training in fields as varied as gourmet food preparation, chemical, 
office, and medical technologies, and education arts programming in 
ceramics, design arts, digital arts, and photography.
  Bill's center and his students success stories are a testament to the 
power of social entrepreneurship. What began as a mission to provide an 
escape from the ghetto has produced unparalleled results in educational 
empowerment and community growth. Manchester Craftsmen's Guild ``Youth 
in Arts'' is a program that strives to educate and inspire urban young 
people through the arts. Ninety-three of the high school students who 
participate in the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild ``Youth in Arts'' 
program graduate from high school, a noticeable improvement over the 
national graduation rate of 75.5 percent. The Bidwell Training Center 
has changed lives by providing market-driven career training to 
disadvantaged adults in transition. Its training programs continue to 
place skilled technicians in middle-class jobs at companies such as 
Bayer, Mylan Labs, and Heinz. MCG Jazz, Manchester-Bidwell's record 
label, has been nominated for seven Grammy awards and has brought four 
home to Pittsburgh. The orchids grown in the facility's greenhouse have 
won Best in Show at a Western Pennsylvania orchid fair and are even 
available for purchase at Whole Foods. And while they are learning 
medical coding or how to center clay, each student is fed a gourmet 
lunch prepared by culinary students in the center's top-of-the-line 
kitchen.

  Realizing the opportunity to strengthen other communities and effect 
change on an even larger scale by using the Manchester Bidwell model of 
community and educational development as a template, Bill helped found 
the National Center for Arts and Technology to replicate the Manchester 
Bidwell education model across the nation. NCAT collaborates with local 
nonprofits and businesses to assess their community's needs and then 
works together with the community to design a fitting center for arts 
and technology. Bill's Pittsburgh model has been replicated in San 
Francisco, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New Haven, Connecticut and Grand 
Rapids, MI. He gained some powerful backers including Jeff Skoll, 
founder of eBay and the Skoll Foundation. The Skoll Foundation was one 
of Bill's earlier investors; it recognized the potential of his 
programs to drive large scale positive social change by using 
entrepreneurial discipline and methods. With the Skoll Foundation's 
help, Bill clarified his sales pitch--that he could help solve problems 
faced in communities, had a strategic business plan showing the 
benefits of working together, and offering people meaning and hope 
through transforming experiences.
  Bill has said that ``environment determines behavior'' and he has 
created a remarkable environment where men and women living in poverty 
are treated with dignity and respect. Knowing firsthand that poverty 
creates self-defeating assumptions and restrictive labels but does not 
define a person's potential, Bill has dedicated his life to changing 
the lives of others by offering them hope, meaning, and belief in the 
power of their own creative possibilities. Bill's methods might be 
unconventional, but his results are success stories of epic 
proportions. And so in the Senate today we express our gratitude to 
Bill for never giving up on the poor kids or his vision. His passion 
and his belief in the abilities of each and every individual that walks 
through his doors has touched lives far beyond Manchester and, thanks 
to his tireless efforts, truly has the potential to reach around the 
world.
  I thank Bill Strickland for his contribution to the City of 
Pittsburgh, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and our Nation.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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