About
Learn more about the Powered & Prepared Initiative
The Powered & Prepared Initiative seeks proposals from nonprofit and municipal organizations in southwestern Pennsylvania for backup power solutions that allow those organizations to offer essential services during emergencies without disruption.
THE PROBLEM
Southwestern Pennsylvania has increasingly been impacted by severe weather events. In April 2025, severe storms swept across southwestern Pennsylvania causing widespread power outages and disruption. High winds uprooted trees and damaged power lines, communications towers, and critical infrastructure, leading to more than 679,000 customer outages at its peak (Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission).
The storm’s impact was uneven, affecting dozens of areas in a scattered pattern that made it difficult to quickly assess conditions and prioritize response. As a result, power restoration was prolonged in some communities, with outages lasting over a week. Additional storms on May 2 caused further outages and added complexity to ongoing recovery efforts. In addition to the thousands of homes and businesses that were impacted, many nonprofit and municipal organizations also lost power. Assisted care facilities were without power to operate elevators for residents with limited mobility. Food pantries had to discard spoiled food when refrigeration failed. Community centers for older adults and shelters lacked electricity to provide basic services for their clients. The spring storms of 2025, along with recent winter storms that brought freezing temperatures and heavy snows, exposed significant gaps in regional power resilience.
- WPXI: Community food pantry loses thousands of dollars’ worth of food after days without power
- Pittsburgh Business Times: Storm impacts Pittsburgh-area businesses, transit and more (updates and photos)
- Pittsburgh officials look to generators to keep public safety station power on in storms
Recent massive outages have underscored the urgent need for targeted investment in resilient energy infrastructure, ensuring that backup power systems are not only in place but capable of supporting essential operations when they are needed most. The Powered & Prepared Initiative seeks proposals from nonprofit and municipal organizations for backup power solutions that allow those organizations to offer essential services during emergencies without disruption.
Henry L. Hillman Foundation has compiled relevant information pertaining to backup power generation and emergency planning. We encourage participants to review these resources for more information.
JOIN US
The Powered & Prepared Initiative welcomes applications from nonprofit organizations and local government agencies in one of the 10 eligible counties in southwestern Pennsylvania:
- Allegheny
- Armstrong
- Beaver
- Butler
- Fayette
- Greene
- Indiana
- Lawrence
- Washington
- Westmoreland
We encourage potential participants to use our readiness tool to determine your fit and eligibility for the initiative.
Strong proposals for the Powered & Prepared Initiative will be led by a credible team with the resources, skills, and organizational capacity needed to successfully implement their backup power solution, and meet the four criteria outlined in the scoring rubric:
- Durable: Will the solution endure over time, while appealing to the specific needs of the community? Does the plan include ongoing maintenance and support that will maintain power reliability over the long-term?
- Integrated: Is the solution cost-effective, reliable, effective, and easily adaptable for a broad range of community needs? Could the solution be adapted or scaled to improve power resilience in other contexts?
- Impactful: Does the proposal address an urgent problem worth solving, and will it have transformative impact? Is it ambitious in number of beneficiaries, size of geography, or intensity of impact on a small but vulnerable group?
- Feasible: Does the team have the skills, capacity, funding, and resources required to implement and maintain the solution? Are there thorough, practical plans and a realistic budget to mitigate risk and succeed?
ABOUT THE AWARDS
The awards will be selected after a series of evaluation phases. Learn more here. Based on considerations that may include, but are not limited to, Evaluation Panel resulting rank order and a diversity of solutions, geography, and feasibility, the Selection Committee will select up to 15 Awardees to each receive $300,000 (USD) each.