PITTSBURGH — Duquesne University has received a multimillion-dollar donation to establish an institute aimed at promoting wellness and opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The Pittsburgh-based Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust is gifting the Catholic school $12 million over five years to create the Institute for Disability Empowerment and Advocacy, or IDEA, school leaders announced this month.
IDEA will operate under the provost’s office and develop programming related to workforce development, assistive technology, advocacy and culture/entertainment for young people with intellectual disabilities.
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Larry Blair, a local attorney and trustee of the Trees Charitable Trust, said he believes the institute will be the first of its kind in the country. He envisions an immediate positive impact on Western Pennsylvania’s intellectual disability community in the workforce and beyond.
Workforce opportunities are especially key, as people with intellectual disabilities often have higher rates of unemployment and lower rates of college attendance.
“There are many young men and women who, properly placed, can come into the marketplace and do outstanding things,” Blair said. “(IDEA) has several ways it could affect, in a very positive way, this community in Western Pennsylvania.”
IDEA’s first executive director will be Bridget Green, who also is director of the private university’s special education program.
Other IDEA leaders will include Daria LaTorre, Duquesne’s vice provost for strategic initiatives, and Dr. Phillip Bryant, the Edith L. Trees professor of disabilities medicine in the Nasuti College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Schools that will collaborate with the institute will include the medical school, school of health sciences, school of education, college of liberal arts, school of business and law school, officials said.
Focused on the welfare of youth with intellectual disabilities and autism in the region, the Trees Charitable Trust was founded in 1956 upon the death of Edith L. Trees.
She and her husband, Joe C. Trees, had a son born in the 1930s with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, Blair said. The Trees, who had significant oil and gas assets in Texas, traveled across the country to find solutions to improve their son’s life.
When Edith L. Trees died, money that was not supporting her son’s care established the charitable trust.
“The sole mission of the charitable trust is intellectual and developmental disability,” said Blair, who has been trustee since 2018 and has served as counsel to the trust since 2002.
In the past, the trust has also supported Duquesne’s recently opened medical school, Blair said.
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