NSR Seeks Applicants for Equity + Capacity VISTA Position

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Scott Wolovich

New Sun Rising is now accepting applications for their 2018-19 AmeriCorps VISTA program. The NSR Equity + Capacity VISTA will help improve conditions which alleviate poverty by supporting local leaders who build culture, sustainability, and opportunity in their neighborhood. NSR encourages emerging leaders who value innovative, creative thinking in a flexible team dynamic while achieving their own professional and personal development goals to apply by contacting us at info@newsunrising.org. Candidate selection deadline is June 18th for a start date of August 2, 2018.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

New Sun Rising’s Vibrant Communities program promotes culture, sustainability, and opportunity in underserved neighborhoods throughout the Pittsburgh region. Program participants include social entrepreneurs, non-profit, and main street business leaders who catalyze regenerative community development grounded in equity, entrepreneurship, and place. Program investments are led by the community voice to ignite, launch, and grow organizations and collaborative initiatives. Core strategies include planning, connectivity, and resources to promote an authentic civic identity.

New Sun Rising programs support mission aligned partners in order to activate the vision and plans of underserved communities. Mounting evidence demonstrates that community revitalization does not typically benefit legacy stakeholders. By connecting and training local leaders, New Sun Rising helps the community prepare to benefit from the opportunities resulting from development.  The Vibrant Communities program focuses on building the software of communities, people and connections, in order to create economic opportunity. New Sun Rising and our network of partners create the following outcomes towards equitable community revitalization: increased skills and knowledge, financial resources, leadership capacity, support networks, cultural and sustainability impacts, and a replicable and scalable model for authentic community revitalization.

MEMBER DUTIES

The New Sun Rising Equity + Capacity VISTA will

1. Research and develop methods for measuring and communicating program impact
2. Research and submit grant applications for current and future poverty reduction programs
3. Assess Vibrant Communities partners through analysis and asset mapping
4. Develop systems and programs to build organizational capacity of small businesses and community organizations
5. Develop systems and programs to engage and support community residents

REQUIREMENTS

Education level: College Graduate

Desired skills: Recruitment , Fundraising/Grant Writing , Non-Profit Management ,  Writing/Editing , Leadership, Business/Entrepreneur , Community Organization , Communications , Public Speaking , Computers/Technology, Teamwork

The New Sun Rising VISTA program is supported by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation and held in partnership with Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group.

Manufacturing Vibrancy

Posted on December 3, 2017 by Scott Wolovich

Preparing for crisis is 90% psychological. Experts say that developing a plan, gathering resources, and communicating with others in advance are common sense strategies to increase your chance of survival. Assuming that you’re paying attention in the first place.

The check engine light is on

As living organisms we’re predisposed to work towards balance or homeostasis. So why aren’t we acknowledging indicators which predict a less certain future? It’s like we’re watching a movie, where the inhabitants of a blue marble speeding through the galaxy are heading towards disaster of their own making. You’re yelling to the one person that can save them, but she can’t hear you.

In our hyper-connected, accelerating, Darwinian society; survival of the fittest leaves the majority of our neighbors behind. Together, the world’s 8 richest people now hold more wealth than the 3.6 billion people representing the bottom half of our global village (Oxfam). The gap in economic opportunity between prosperous and distressed communities continues to grow.(Economic Innovation Group). And, the number of startup companies has decreased 48% in the midst of a 30 year decline in the US (Kaufmann Foundation).

Read our entire article on Medium to learn why social equity, entrepreneurship, and a renewed sense of place are critical for our survival

New Sun Rising Announces Director of Sustainability

Posted on November 9, 2017 by Scott Wolovich

New Sun Rising is excited to welcome Zaheen Hussain to his new position as Director of Sustainability. Still serving as the Millvale Sustainability Coordinator, this position will continue to fill the role as a shared community resource working to implement Millvale’s EcoDistrict Pivot Plan with the Millvale EcoDistrict Collaborative (Millvale Community Library, Borough of Millvale, Millvale Community Development Corporation, and New Sun Rising).

Previously sponsored through a Neighborhood Allies Catalytic Grant, his work at the Millvale Community Library over the years has also been funded by the Hillman Family Foundation and the Heinz Endowments. The transition to New Sun Rising from the Library has been seamless and continues to facilitate his ability to serve the collaborative partners, as has been the case since his start in June of 2015. Hussain has studied Environmental Science and Natural Resource Economics and is excited to be given the opportunity to implement “big picture” approaches to sustainability in his new position.

Hussain first came to love Millvale in 2012 when he was working for GTECH Strategies and partnered with Millvale to develop a comprehensive energy efficiency outreach plan through a neighborhood Ambassador program. In this role, he partnered with residents to develop educational programming surrounding energy efficiency and provided residents with tools to improve their own personal and household energy efficiency. During this time, there was a competition between neighborhoods in their pursuit of efficiency; Hazelwood, Homewood, and Millvale all participated and Millvale wound up winning the competition. As a result, they were awarded funds which were then used to create an outdoor kitchen at the Millvale Community Library that is now free for all neighborhood residents to use.

Hussain’s first big project when he started working in Millvale was the recalibration of the EcoDistrict plan. When he started, Millvale had already accomplished ~70% of the goals that they had set out to achieve in the areas of Food, Water, and Energy. It was a time to celebrate those accomplishments but also to revisit the EcoDistrict Pivot Plan. It was then that they added the areas of Air, Mobility, and Equity and extended the pursuit of these goals to 2030. The success of these early initiatives started small, were attained, and paved the way to take the community planning to a much larger scale, a task that Hussain is poised to facilitate. A number of the milestones and programs that Hussain has been elemental in the attainment of are listed below, by area:

Food – Partnership with the Pittsburgh Food Bank and the Green Grocer weekly market presence at GAP park, as well as the Launch Millvale Food Systems incubator with NSR

Water – The State of the Watershed meetings in which neighborhood partners from communities upstream combined efforts to alleviate the effect of stormwater runoff on Girty’s Run.

Energy – The solar array installation on the Millville Community Center; The installation of solar panels on the Millvale Community Library (managed by Brian Wolovich over the course of 3 years, resulting in a now self-sufficient building); The Millvale Teen Solar Fellowship.

Air – The collection of a baseline spread of air-quality data that was then compared to regional averages. It was found that industry activity in other neighborhoods has a direct impact on local air quality in Millville. That data is now being put to use in a partnership with Heinz to communicate these findings. Additionally, to pursue proactive steps to reduce the impacts on individuals through low cost and accessible interventions.

Mobility – Working with the Millvale Borough Bike-Ped committee for safer connectivity and to improve transportation options within the neighborhood and facilitating better connectivity to communities outside of Millvale.

Equity – Efforts to increase fairness in the future development of Millvale; to be sure that those who have been living in the community longest are not pushed or priced out. Teaching local teens new technology in an evolving industry landscape (the Solar Teen Fellowship, for example), affordable housing initiatives and the creation of partnerships with neighborhoods and organization outside of Millvale in the pursuit of this goal.

Sustainability is one of NSR’s core Vibrant Communities strategies, along with Culture and Opportunity.  Since joining the NSR team Zaheen has already accomplished a handful of great steps forward. He has been instrumental in the Millvale EcoDistricts being awarded a Heinz grant that will fund educational initiatives, proactive interventions, and public visibility projects surrounding the area of air quality. Additionally, we were honored to host the regional EcoDistrict Training Conference at the Moose and also received a grant to reconvene the Millvale EcoDistrict team in the near future — Hussain was indispensable in the coordination of this programming. The team is comprised of resident leaders, all focusing on the 6 different planning areas (Food, Water, Energy, Air, Mobility, Equity). The Millvale residents will be meeting to come up with strategies to attaining the goals set forth in each of those areas while also partnering with nearby communities (Etna and Sharpsburg) as a part of the Triboro Ecodistrict initiative. Through this work, Hussain hopes to better poise Millvale to be connected to regional initiatives that deepen his work here through the augmentation of shared resources.

Ignite Northside Peer Networking Event

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Scott Wolovich

It takes a village to build, grow and support business sustainability, and the recent Peer Networking Event at Alloy 26, 100 S. Commons, was an illustration of Pittsburgher’s contributing impactful ideas to better the 18 Northside neighborhoods.

Sponsored by Ignite Northside with Program Manager Ebony McQueen-Harris and Program Assistant Jamie Johnson, the September 21, 2017 event had Northsiders and outsiders sharing developmental advice on each others entrepreneurial ventures.

Cecelia Ware, creator of Saving Our Sons and Daughters, has attended several Ignite Northside events and appreciates how “Ignite is growing and connecting communities.”

Ware’s organization is a community-driven grassroots response to the issues of youth violence, and this summer she received a Neighbor-to-Neighbor grant from The Sprout Fund to create an eight week program for students at John Morrow Elementary School. The workshops target youth “who have had multiple suspensions or expulsions,” according to The Sprout Fund website, and “addresses ongoing issues of youth violence and lack of respect for authority by teaching critical thinking skills to help resolve conflict.”

For more information on the workshops and how to get involved, visit www.newsunrising.org/ignite-northside or email ebony@www.newsunrising.org. Ignite Northside is an initiative by New Sun Rising in partnership with the Buhl Foundation and One Northside, working together to help neighborhoods gain control of their narratives and opportunity.