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NNIP PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
The Piton Foundation Institutional Setting A piton is "a steel spike used by mountain climbers to secure their lifeline—an essential support as they ascend difficult terrain" (see www.piton.org). This image characterizes the purpose of The Piton Foundation, a private operating foundation (started in 1976), whose mission is to provide opportunities for children and their families to move from poverty and dependence to self-reliance.
Piton develops and implements a variety of programs addressing three interrelated areas affecting Denver's low-income families and neighborhoods: (1) improving public education; (2) strengthening neighborhoods; and (3) promoting economic opportunity.
The Piton Foundation operates as the philanthropic investment division of the Gary-Williams Energy Corporation. The foundation is funded by the oil company and its principals. In addition, because of Piton's experience in investing funds and human resources in community-based projects, other foundations, government entities, and nonprofits fund the foundation to manage projects related to Piton's mission.
Neighborhood Facts Neighborhood Facts, project name of Piton’s data initiative, is directed by Matthew Hamilton. Started in 1991, the initiative was founded on Piton's belief that philanthropic and community-building efforts are durable only if they are based on reliable and objective information. In early 1998 Piton launched its web site, including Neighborhood Facts, a user-friendly, searchable database of neighborhood indicators, maps, and histories. In 2001, the web site was re-launched in both Spanish and English, adding whole new databases for Census Facts, providing 1980-1990-2000 Census data for every Denver neighborhood, and School Facts, providing detailed public education data for every Denver public or charter school. The foundation targets Denver’s low-income neighborhoods, training neighborhood residents in the use of information for social action, and providing technical assistance and support to community-based efforts.
Piton maintains an inventory of information on factors affecting the quality of life in Denver, including up-to-date statistics on population, demographics, income, employment, crime, childcare, welfare, child support, housing, health, and education. In Neighborhood Facts, foundation staff work most closely with residents but also with program providers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and other foundations to provide accurate and timely data, as well as to develop the skills of community stakeholders in the use of data analysis to effect beneficial change. The foundation also has developed a comprehensive communications strategy to distribute data, report on its implications for community change, and contribute to informed debates.
Piton's Neighborhood Facts is considered a core function of the foundation and is supported entirely by the Gary-Williams Energy Corporation.
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