“We meet you where you are” is more than just a phrase. At PACE, it’s a commitment.
PACE’s staple programming since 2006, the purpose of the Intensive Services Capacity-Building Program is to develop stronger, more resilient community-based nonprofit organizations to serve the community effectively and meaningfully.
Targeted support to the areas of most need is designed to strengthen community-based nonprofit organizations by helping them improve operational efficiency, adaptability and sustainability.
Through a competitive selection process, between 8 and 15 organizations are selected annually to participate in a managed program including organizational assessments, one-to-one consulting, peer learning, targeted capacity-building grantmaking, and the promotion of positive and open relationships with funders.
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Organizational assessments at the beginning of the program year to evaluate current conditions and determine capacity building priorities; and again, at the end of the year to measure organizational change and outcomes
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Organizational Leadership Team engagement
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Cohort & Peer Learning opportunities
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Targeted funding to support a focused capacity building project
We are now accepting Letters of Intent (LOI) for the 2026-2027 Intensive Services Cohort
CLICK HERE – to complete the LOI and register for the Information Session
The LOI is due to PACE no later than 5:00 PM on Monday, March 2, 2026
PACE Intensive Services Capacity-Building Information Session on Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 10am
All first-time applicants MUST attend, all other applicants welcome
PACE announces the 2025-2026 Cohort:
| Organization | Mission Statement |
|---|---|
| Bible Center Church-The Oasis Project | The Oasis Project’s mission is to create oases—places of peace, safety, and happiness in the midst of difficulty. |
| Cafe Momentum Pittsburgh | The mission of Café Momentum Pittsburgh is to transform young lives by equipping our community’s justice-impacted youth with life skills, education, and employment opportunities to help them achieve their full potential. |
| Handmade Arcade | Handmade Arcade empowers makers of all ages by providing them with professional development and connections to customers. |
| Homewood Children’s Village | To improve the lives of Homewood’s children and simultaneously reweave the fabric of the community in which they live. |
| Imagine Further | The mission of Imagine Further Collective (IFC) is to create more equitable access to preventative mental health services for Pittsburgh youth ages 6-18. |
| Kelly Strayhorn Theater | Kelly Strayhorn Theater is a home for creative experimentation, community dialogue, and collective action rooted in the liberation of Black and queer people. |
| MAYA Organization | MAYA’s mission is to empower BIPOC and marginalized birthing people and birthworkers, and to create positive change in the systems that impact them. |
| New Century Careers | The organization seeks to improve the lives of individuals through the development of skills that lead to good quality, family wage jobs and careers and contributes to the economic health of SWPA through meeting manufacturing workforce needs by working to deliver a capable workforce to employers of the region. |
| The Early Excellence Project | The Early Excellence Project is committed to narrowing the opportunity gap in early learning systems by enriching the education of Black and other marginalized children. |
| Union Project | Union Project uses the arts to bridge gaps between communities. |