The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Clayton native wins recognition in Pittsburgh

Musical to feature heart, drama of Clooney’s life
2/11/12
Band plays music for all generations
2/11/12
Protecting your child from sexual abuse
2/11/12
‘Fine Lines’ celebrates the art of drawing
2/11/12
‘Old person’ gets hope from young woman
2/11/12
> More lifestyle headlines

By Marc Katz, Staff Writer 7:12 PM Saturday, August 21, 2010

He is the director of an organization called J’Burgh, and in two years has been able to involve 800 of his target 2,500 young Jews in Pittsburgh, young men and women who previously felt unconnected not only with themselves, but the community at large.

But that isn’t all Clayton native David Katz has done to be chosen by Pittsburgh Magazine and the Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project, or PUMP, as one of their 40 under 40 honorees this year.

“We’ve done a lot of things with our organization, and GreatNonProfits.org did a Jewish People’s Choice Award, and our organization won,” Katz said. “But that’s not all I do. I was on the Jewish Community Council 2020 task force. I coach the middle school basketball for one of our congregations. I sit on a committee for the Allegheny Conference to help build a web site for people to find jobs in the city. And I’m very involved in the rest of the community other than the Jewish community.”

Katz, who graduated from Dayton’s Hillel Academy in 2000 and from Ohio State in 2005, first went to Pittsburgh as youth director at Beth Shalom Synagogue, then took his current job, which operates out of the Hillel Foundation at Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon universities. He is the son of Allan and Linda Katz.

He not only organizes activities for his target demographic, he helps find jobs and internships, which is a mission of PUMP.

“David is being recognized nationally in communities as far away as Seattle and even one place in Europe, Luxembourg, that are trying to follow the model with what we’re doing in Pittsburgh,” said Aaron Weil, executive director of Pittsburgh’s Hillel, which formed J’Burgh.

“That’s what makes it unique. It’s not just within the Jewish community. There’s a lot of interest in other ethnic communities to look at this model and see how they can replicate this, whether you’re Latino or Asian or Black or Jewish. There are a lot of commonalities that can act as attractive anchors. We’re going to expand on it and help other ethnic groups.”

That is PUMP’s goal, to keep young people in town. Katz helps also a group called Hometown Pittsburgh, with a goal of finding 25-40 college students jobs and internships in the city.

“We also require them to volunteer in the community,” Katz said. “We find that people who volunteer in the area will stay in the area.”

Honorees are not told they are under consideration. A friend wrote a letter of recommendation for Katz. Only after the selections were made did he find out. This is the 12th year for the award, which honors a large spectrum of influential people, such as business owners, CEOs, community activists, educators, elected officials, lawyers and entertainers, including last year Steelers’ quarterback Charlie Batch.

A selection panel of 12 judges reviewed a pool of more than 200 candidates and winners were chosen “based on their passion, commitment, visibility, diversity and overall impact on the region.”

“I was incredibly honored,” Katz said.

Contact this reporter at 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Share this article