IF YOU RECEIVED A NEED GRANT BETWEEN THE YEARS OF 1963-2000 INCLUSIVE,
WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK!

NEED is a service of the country’s turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s.  Led by two of Pittsburgh’s pioneering women, Marion Jordan and Florence Reizenstein who were members of the Urban League’s Education Committee, the non-profit began as a temporary effort to find funds for 76 black high-school students who had been accepted to college, but, unfortunately, could not afford to experience the benefits and rewards of higher education.  As time and ideologies changed, NEED has evolved into a nationally recognized college access program that is supported by the corporate, philanthropic and general communities.  NEED is designated as an Education Improvement Organization (EIO) through Pennsylvania’s Education Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and, as a college access program, offers grants, scholarships, mentoring, counseling and internships to help underrepresented, low-income and first-generational youth in college and career opportunities and options.  Since its inception in 1963, NEED has supported approximately 19,000 deserving youth by providing over $19 million in grant allocations.  These grants have helped to empower Pittsburgh’s and the region’s next generation of leaders and to overcome financial, social status, educational and cultural barriers.