Mon Valley Community Group Wins $5,000 Community Impact Award

March 12, 2003

PITTSBURGH - Connect, Inc., which works to find temporary and permanent housing for homeless individuals and families, has earned a $5,000 Community Impact Award, an award sponsored by Dominion Peoples.

In the eighth annual award competition, Dominion awarded $60,000 to eight winners selected by a panel of judges from 51 nominations submitted by organizations throughout western Pennsylvania. The award recognizes cities or community groups that have made a major impact in the community. Grant funds come from the Dominion Foundation.

Connect, Inc., recently completed an innovative real estate project called Reed Avenue Place through a joint venture of non-profit and for-profit groups, county government and local government. The result is a campus-like setting, which includes a townhouse complex, a renovated church and a Family Center, which provides early childhood education.

"We are proud of the outstanding efforts of all the people involved in these award-winning projects," said Jay L. Johnson, president and chief executive officer. "Their work goes a long way in revitalizing our communities and making them better places in which to live, work and play."

Other Community Impact Award winners include:

  • The Progress Fund's enterprise development project which targets rural Pennsylvania by increasing access to capital for owners of small businesses.
  • Hosanna House, Inc., for its job training and job search classes program.
  • Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition and Stream Restoration, Inc., for its environmental project at Goff station.
  • Homeless Children's Education Fund for its Computer Learning Center project that ensures that homeless children have equal access to educational opportunities.
  • Adams Memorial Library, for its weekly Bookmobile project that helps increase library circulation by the thousands every month.
  • Conservation Consultants, Inc., for its Green Neighborhood Program, which provides energy efficiency and environmental education to targeted neighborhoods.
  • Nazareth Housing Services, for its Senior Homeowner Assistance Program, which assists income-eligible individuals in maintaining safe and affordable housing.

Dominion has a diversified and integrated energy portfolio consisting of about 24,000 megawatts of generation. Dominion also serves more than 3.8 million franchise natural gas and electric customers in five states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.

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Media: Denise Brundage or Elmore Lockley, (412) 392-2467