We facilitate the creation of vocational training and arts education centers around the world
We support our growing global network of centers
Our Story
Spreading Bill's Vision Around the World
In a run-down rowhouse and at nineteen years old, Bill Strickland founded around a pottery wheel what would grow to become a world-renowned Pittsburgh institution focused on arts education for youth and job training for adults. Today, Bill’s vision for the alleviation of human suffering through vocational training and cultural enrichment animates 17 centers in the US and abroad. Bill founded SGLI to support the centers he helped create, guide the creation of new centers, and train and mentor the next generation of social innovators and community leaders.
I am so excited for Bill Strickland to take this next step in doing what he started on the North Side in Pittsburgh: spreading his vision to help people find jobs and make a positive difference in other cities and communities around the world. The Strickland Global Leadership Institute is a wonderful extension of the work Bill began at Manchester Bidwell to help other communities start their own centers and make a positive impact on their most important asset, their people.
Our Network
Bill Strickland has helped create 17 vocational training & cultural enrichment centers around the world. SGLI is currently working to strengthen the connections and collaboration between these centers.
Interested in Learning More About SGLI?
Send us an email at info@StricklandGLI.org to get connected with someone at SGLI.
One of the most innovative social enterprise thinkers I have ever met. The ‘Strickland’ thought process is that of a highly trained jazz musician, coupled with a keen business sense . . . He is definitely one of my major heroes.
SGLI Fellowship Program
SGLI is currently developing a fellowship program to train social innovators in how to start and run vocational training and cultural enrichment centers.
Explore News & Updates
Encore: Bill Strickland on life, and the art of making the impossible possible
Back in the mid-1960s Bill Strickland was a directionless public school student in Pittsburgh who didn't really see a path for success for him or his fellow lower class, minority student friends. Then, one day he walked past a classroom and saw a teacher sitting at a pottery wheel...