A $100,000 donation from former Steelers running back Chuck Sanders' foundation to the Pittsburgh Initiative to Reduce Crime, formally announced today, brings to $350,000 the funding available for services to ex-gang members trying to turn their lives around, officials said today.

The donation by Chuck Sanders Charities will be administered through Pittsburgh Community Services, which also has $125,000 it raised privately and $125,000 from the city of Pittsburgh available to help young people referred through the gang-violence program. That program is designed to identify members of violent groups, send a strong message that killing will not be tolerated, offer alternatives, and then collectively punish groups that continue to engage in gunplay.

Pittsburgh Community Services will take referrals from the gang-violence hotline, which is (412) 255-2374. It will interview young people seeking to leave the gang life, counsel them and link them to other organizations when appropriate.

Mr. Sanders' grant will allow the organization to pay subsidies to employers who hire the young people.

"This is all about changing one's life path," said Cecelia Jenkins, executive director of PCS.

Mr. Sanders said he and his wife have decided to dedicate a fraction of the revenue from all of his businesses, including Urban Settlement Services, to the gang-violence program -- a commitment he said will "be a couple of hundred thousands of dollars more over the next couple of years."

"This begins the corporate backing this program needs to really accelerate," said Councilman Ricky Burgess, who along with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl shepherded the city's development of program, modeled on Boston's much-imitated Operation Ceasefire. Mr. Sanders' "gift gives us a component that other cities probably don't have."

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