Pittsburgh River-Focused Nonprofits' Merger Becomes Official
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
22 June 2015
By Natasha Lindstrom
The 90-foot floating science lab known as RiverQuest no longer is
a sinking ship.
The financially foundering North Side nonprofit, formerly called
Pittsburgh Voyager, is merging into Rivers of Steel Heritage
Corp., a Homestead-based nonprofit that aims to preserve Western
Pennsylvania's natural, historical and recreational resources.
The boards announced the merger agreement Monday on RiverQuest's
dock outside the Carnegie Science Center. The votes followed a
year of studies and negotiations to ensure a merger was a viable
solution. The state must approve the legality of the merger before
it becomes official.
“This adds a whole new dimension to our programming, and it's
something we've always wanted to get into — it's been really
difficult for us to get on the river,” said August Carlino,
president and CEO of Rivers of Steel, who said he read about
RiverQuest's dire straits in the Tribune-Review in April 2014.
He plans to maintain the school-based program and expand use of
the boat to paid tours, including ones marketed to out-of-state
visitors on motor coach tours.
Rivers of Steel is acquiring RiverQuest's assets — namely, a boat
valued at $2.5 million and the educational curriculum aligned with
academic standards at schools. Carlino said he values the
expertise of RiverQuest's boat crew and teachers, most of whom
will stay on as employees.
Since its 1995 inception, RiverQuest has hosted field trips for
more than 100,000 children in grades K-12 and served another
100,000 members of the general public. Last year, the program
hosted 8,000 to 9,000 students. Lessons ranged from collecting
water and mud samples and analyzing the contents under microscopes
to learning about water conservation and protection amid the
natural gas drilling boom.
“We worked really hard on this merger, and it's nice to see it
come to fruition, but more importantly, I'm really pleased that
our educational tour program is going to continue,” RiverQuest
President Jim Roddey said. “It's an important service to the
community because we're teaching young people about the economy,
ecology, commerce and the roles the rivers have played in the
history of our whole region.”
That educational program, however, likely will be put on hold this
fall while the boat gets “repowered” with a hybrid engine, which
was one condition of the merger, Roddey said. The goal is to
resume school-based tours by spring.
Some merger details are being worked out, including how many board
seats Rivers of Steel will extend to RiverQuest board members, and
how many administrative staff from RiverQuest may lose jobs.
Roddey said laid-off employees will be offered severance pay;
Carlino said he's hopeful that they apply for positions under
Rivers of Steel.
RiverQuest's financial woes coincided with school districts'
tightening budgets. It depended on schools providing students free
busing and paying a $30 fee per student. It finished the fiscal
year ending June 2014 with a $220,000 deficit — despite slashing
expenses from $2.1 million in 2013 to $1.28 million, tax records
show.
Rivers of Steel spends $1.26 million annually and finished the
year ending December 2013 with a $465,000 surplus and $5.1 million
in net assets.
It manages one of 49 national heritage areas and a state heritage
area. Its major projects include the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin,
The Bost Building in Homestead and the Battle of Homestead site at
The Waterfront.
Natasha Lindstrom is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach her at
412-380-8514 or nlindstrom@tribweb.com.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/8598769-74/riverquest-rivers-steel#ixzz3drnv3p26