Category: Events

Local nonprofits to release “Boom & Bust,” a documentary posing questions about the future of petrochemicals in Beaver County

Posted on by Alyse Horn

AMBRIDGE, Pa. — It’s on the minds of many in the county, though some more overtly than others. 

After five years of construction, hype from government officials and pushback from environmentalists, Shell’s petrochemical complex in Potter Township is slated to open in the coming months. In January 2020, RiverWise, a Beaver County-based sustainable community development nonprofit, alongside community leaders, took a week-long trip to numerous petrochemical complexes along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast.

RiverWise, key stakeholders from Beaver County and members of Allegheny County-based nonprofit New Sun Rising journeyed to Louisiana to get better acquainted with some of the petrochemical mammoths of the south. Traveling more than 2,000 miles, learning from organizational leaders, environmental advocates, community organizers, politicians and everyday residents of the region, RiverWise observed, asked questions and filmed extensive portions of the trip.

On Thursday, July 28, RiverWise, in association with New Sun Rising, will release “Boom & Bust,” a documentary illustrating the journey from Beaver County to the Gulf Coast region. Filmed, produced and edited by local filmmaker Christopher Padgett, the documentary is intended to spur conversation, elevate awareness and mobilize residents to think critically and ask difficult questions about the future health and vitality of Beaver County. 

In creating “Boom & Bust,” Padgett, who serves as Director of Communication for RiverWise and is the owner of Human City Creative, hopes the film accurately represents the complexity and beauty of Beaver County — and its complicated past — and breathes new life into the value of community-centered listening, engagement and sharing.

“Taking this trip with such curious and genuine community leaders was a powerful experience,” said Daniel Rossi-Keen, executive director of RiverWise. “For years now, Beaver County residents and leaders have been assured that the arrival of Shell will inevitably transform the region for the better. Our trip suggests that the story is far more complex and nuanced than that. We returned from this trip realizing just how much we have to learn and do if we want to ensure that our communities meet the needs of future generations of Beaver County residents. We are hopeful that this film will help to illustrate some of that story and encourage ongoing conversation about our region’s future.”

Like Rossi-Keen, Scott Wolovich, executive director of New Sun Rising, is hopeful the film can serve as a vehicle for community conversation around a pressing topic with far reaching implications.

“Spending time alongside people living in a close relationship with large petrochemical facilities was a moving experience,” Wolovich said. “By sharing what we saw, heard, and learned through this film, we’re hopeful that people in our own region will become inspired to pursue a future that works well for all.”

“For me, Beaver County is a beautiful and complex area. One of the county’s stories is a story of loss, hope and the search for what new life looks like,” Padgett said. “By sharing this story, I hope it can be an invitation to enter into those conversations more and more as a community.”

The film will premiere at 7 p.m. July 28 at Iron Horse Theatre Company, 348 Maplewood Ave. in Ambridge. The evening will feature the first official release of “Boom & Bust,” followed by drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Space is limited and registration is required. To register for the event, visit here. Find the film’s preview here.

The July 28 release of the documentary is one of several to take place in the coming months. A second showing will take place in Beaver County during the second week of August. A third showing is expected to take place in Pittsburgh toward the end of August. A virtual showing of the documentary will also take place in the coming weeks. Those who are interested can stay connected with RiverWise and New Sun Rising by following @getriverwise and @newsunrisingpgh on social media for the official dates and times of later film screenings. 

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RiverWise employs sustainable development practices to create a regional identity around the rivers of Beaver County. At the heart of this work is a concerted effort to organize stakeholders to dream, learn, and collaborate about the future of our rivers and the communities that surround them. For more information, visit: http://getriverwise.com.

New Sun Rising supports the people building vibrant communities through culture, sustainability, and opportunity. They provide capacity building, accessible funding, data, and creative advocacy to help nonprofits, social enterprises, and collaboratives lead and benefit from the future they envision. For more information, visit: https://www.newsunrising.org.

Human City Creative uses story-telling to listen, share and preserve stories of people and cities in process; to connect community by seeking understanding, grace, empathy, and celebrate the value of one another. For more information, visit: https://www.humancitycreative.com.

Data + Creative Advocacy initiative launches to promote impact, social innovation

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Graphic by Hunter Smith

To support the data needs of under-resourced organizations and communities, New Sun Rising (NSR) launched the Power in Numbers (PiN) initiative in 2019.

At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, June 29, Power in Numbers 2.0 kicked off with a virtual event to introduce two new resources, the Vibrancy Portal 2.0 data platform and the Creative Advocacy Playbook. The event, led by NSR Executive Director Scott Wolovich, had participants from the United Kingdom, California, and New York, among other locations. 

The Vibrancy Portal is a tool for nonprofit, social enterprise, and municipal leaders that aims to make data more actionable through greater access, insights, and integration. The new updates include a redesign of the user interface, more dynamic database structure, enhanced and expanded data sets, organizational ecosystem mapping, and the addition of Beaver County to the map.

“We know that for social innovation to grow, there needs to be investment in data and communications, and the ability to more effectively engage with the world around us,” Wolovich said. “Unfortunately, most small and community-led organizations lack this critical capacity.”

“Our own research showed that 80 percent of leaders placed high value on these things, but only 17 percent of them reported receiving related funding. This lack of investment really restricts their ability to compete for resources and grow their impact.”

The Portal serves to democratize data through two primary functions: a community data Explorer and organizational data Manager.

For the free and publicly available Explore website, NSR built upon work started with Carnegie Mellon University and participants in their own fellowship program to create a geo mapping application that is organized by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Although similar tools exist, most provide information at the county level and are not sensitive enough to show differing conditions between neighborhoods.

The Manager section of the website allows leaders to collect, analyze, and communicate data around 5 key areas: Issues, Capacity, Impact, Finances, and Reports. The site is password protected allowing teams to collaborate and encourage an actionable data model.

Lydia Moran of CONNECT, said they have been working with dozens of organizations over the last two years to create a multi-municipal climate action plan. During the Power in Numbers session, Moran also shared progress from the regional DISCOVER network. With so many different organizations involved across these efforts, a database like the Vibrancy Portal could make it easier to collect data and communicate regional impact.

“It’s really hard for us to talk about regional impact if we’re all measuring different things, and we’re not speaking the same language.” Moran said. “I’m very excited about this platform.”

The idea for the Creative Advocacy Playbook, which is being co-created with RiverWise, came from wanting to shift the paradigms and mindsets that hold existing systems in place and combat divisiveness while increasing engagement and awareness. The playbook will be publicly available and begin to support the launch of campaigns later this summer. While Wolovich admits there have been artists producing creative advocacy for years, “what makes this initiative unique is that it’s focused on building creative capital as an asset starting with the nonprofit and community itself.”

As far as the Vibrancy Portal goes, it is free, public, and ready to be explored. 

“It’s a dynamic ongoing project, and we’ll continue to build it out as we’re able to attract more resources,” Wolovich said. “We do have gaps in the data that we know are important for communities that we are working with, and welcome the help to identify or even think about different ways to approach those gaps.”

Although the initiative is in its early stages, one thing that has been made clear is that institutionally collected data largely shapes the narrative around communities. Power in Numbers helps under-resourced leaders work beyond the limitations of traditional data to more fully reflect, resource, and inspire the life of their community. 

Do you know an organization, issue, or community that would benefit from greater data utilization and creative advocacy? Email info@newsunrising.org to get involved.

Cultural festivals flourish through sustainable, collaborative values

Posted on by Alyse Horn

When it comes to setting the culture of community events, artists hold power. They create opportunities for others to become immersed in their environment and help establish sustainable, equitable pathways for the future.

During the weekends of May 14th and 20th, Pittsburgh saw the kickoff of festival season around the city, three of which included the Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books (GPFB), Millvale Music Festival (MMF), and Pittonkatonk. GPFB and Pittonkatonk being fiscally sponsored projects of New Sun Rising (NSR) and MMF as a project of Millvale Ecodistrict partner, Millvale Community Development Corporation (MCDC).

This was the first year of the GPFB and founder Marshall Coehn said well over 2,000 people pre registered for programs, which were all free and spread across six venues in East Liberty.

“The poetry tent was filled. The children’s events were filled. Billy Porter’s event was filled within the first 20 minutes it was announced,” Cohen said. “The feedback we are getting has been really good and we are very pleased with the turnout.”

Cohen attended his first book festival around 30 years ago in New York City, and since then he and his wife have traveled far and wide to experience others. The two that stand out to him are held in Los Angeles and Boston, and as the GPFB grows, he hopes to emulate Boston’s model. Cohen said he is sending out a survey to those who registered, and will be accessible on the website for those who attended the festival, to collect data on the event that will be used to entice more publishers and authors to participate next year.

“We want to get more national authors here, but at the same time give more Pittsburgh authors national exposure,” said Coehn. “Pittsburgh is now able to say, along with Los Angeles and Boston and Miami and Chicago, ‘We too have a book festival, here’s what happened at it and you should think about coming to it.’”

From the beginning stages of planning, which started pre-pandemic, Cohen said NSR was a tremendous help in knowing that he didn’t have to “worry about the administrative side of things.” Fiscal sponsorship through NSR allows leaders to focus on project design and implementation while NSR takes care of compliance, and reduces friction between the work required to manage funds and implement ideas.

Pete Spynda, co-founder and co-organizer of Pittonkatonk, has been fiscally sponsored for nearly a decade and said he has grown considerably with NSR’s guidance. Held in the Vietnam Veterans Pavilion, this was the ninth year of the festival. Filled with Balkan brass, cumbia, hip-hop, and big bands, “Pittonkatonk is music in public spaces that belong to everyone, with no stage, no doors, and no right way to express yourself,” according to the website.

“Ten years ago I didn’t know how to write a grant, and now I can connect with the foundation and think about building a sustainable festival mostly through their mentorship and I’m very thankful for that and the resources they provide,” Spynda said. 

Since 2018, NSR has collaborated with Pittonkatonk to run The Activist Greenhouse during the event, which is a community resources tent that connects people with social and environmental justice organizations. This year’s performers included May Day Marching Band, Casa San Jose, Afro Yaqui Music Collective, 1Hood Media, Sto-Rox Marching Band, Lemon Bucket Orchestra, Hugo Cruz and Caminos.

Spynda said there were around 10,000 people at the event this year, based on the estimate from Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC) after weighing the compost, recycling, and waste collected that day. Pittonkatonk and PCR have partnered since 2019 with the goal of making tonk a Zero Waste event. This year, Spynda said Pittonkatonk maintained an 83% diversion rate, meaning out of 827 pounds of trash, 274 pounds were composted and 370 pounds were recycled, and there were 40 pounds of reusable materials collected. 

“The first couple years of the festival I had to rent a dumpster and hauling service to get rid of all the trash. It was a lot and hard to manage,” Spynda said. “Thanks to foundations like The Hillman Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, and support of New Sun Rising we are able to pay for this resource and make the event even more sustainable.”

The Millvale Music Festival also went Zero Waste this year by partnering with PRC as well as NSR, Triboro Ecodistrict, and ZeroFossil. Melissa Mason, MMF organizer, said 90% of waste being diverted from the landfill is needed to consider an event Zero Waste.

“Last year we did pretty decent and it was our second year [going Zero Waste] so we had some numbers to compare it to,” Mason said. “In 2021 we were at 58% diverted and this year we were at 76% so that was a nice jump and the big difference was that we had compostable cups in all of our outdoor bars.”

The festival manages five bars and they also provided compostable cups to Grist House Craft Brewery. Mason said it was great to have NSR and the Triboro Ecodistrict stepping up to sponsor the Zero Waste initiative alongside PRC and ZeroFossil, because it showed the community’s support for going green.

This was MMF’s fifth year with 350 musical acts, over 40 visual artists, a mobile “stage” by Redfishbowl, and two new stages were added: The Purple Onion at the Millvale Food + Energy Hub, 112 E. Sherman St., and Distinctly U, 419 E. Ohio St. 

“I was at both The Purple Onion and Sprezzatura stages [in the Hub] and it was awesome,” Mason said. “I love the swanky jazz club atmosphere at Sprezzatura, and The Purple Onion kind of had this kind of speakeasy vibe. I hope we can start having more music there regularly.”

Virtual retreat brings together leaders of community transformation, creative expression

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Above: “Short Break” by Wildstyle Paschall for All317HipHop. Paschall was a speaker during the first Positive Deviants Virtual Retreat in May.

When you think of Positive Deviants, what comes to mind?

“Disruptive. Creative. Persistent. Aren’t afraid of being on the outside, on the fringe.”

It is that question, and those answers, that kicked-off the inaugural Positive Deviants for Community Transformation event on Friday, May 6. The virtual half day retreat had attendees from across the country and world connecting with organizers, featured guests, and fellow participants to uncover new ways of thinking and doing and expand the practice of positive deviancy. 

The idea for this pilot series came about when Positive Deviants in Dayton, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania joined together for a conversation around shared values and discovered a bond beyond geography and regional challenges; there was a kinship found through the innovative and transformative work that grassroots change agents were doing in their communities, often without recognition or sufficient resources. 

Retreat host James Saleem addressed the importance of the Positive Deviants approach to community transformation, saying, “In this moment, we have an opportunity for us to grow, trust, and build bonds with one another across these three regions and larger. It’s important to have a network of people who have the ability to open up certain doors that we can’t open up ourselves.”

DeAmon Harges, ABCD Institute faculty at DePaul University, founder of The Learning Tree in Indianapolis, and keynote speaker for the event, said “the most Positive Deviant thing we can do is be friends, and deviating from the status quo includes friendship.”

Speakers also included: Amaha Sellassie, peace builder, healer, practitioner scholar and co-founder of Co-Op Dayton and Gem City Market, a community-owned grocery store in Dayton; Jmar Bey, founder of South Hilltop Men’s Group in Pittsburgh; Wildstyle Paschall, musician, producer, and historian activist at All317HipHop in Indianapolis; and Glenna Jennings, photographer, associate professor of Art & Design, and creator of the Art and Social Practice course at the University of Dayton in Dayton.

Host James Saleem closed the retreat with a call to action: “”Please take this opportunity to broaden our reach by sharing your connections with us. Think about your communities. Nominate the positive deviants you know: deviant social workers, community workers, and artists- anyone breaking the mold to better our communities.”

This pilot series includes a total of three national conversations at the intersection of community transformation and creative expression, led by the people who are actually doing the work. The next two retreats will be held on August 12 and November 4. Register for the August retreat on EventBrite at this link. The Positive Deviants co-creation team is now accepting nominations for storytellers and artists for upcoming retreats, workshops, and social media boosts. 

This series was co-created by The Collaboratory, New Sun Rising, and The Learning Tree. Join the community, access resources, and spark a conversation in the forum at wearepositivedeviants.org.

Funding was generously provided by Grassroots Grantmakers, a national membership organization comprised of place-based funders, advocacy organizations and community organizers that values and leverages resident and civic engagement as a catalyst for creating and driving sustainable community improvement strategies.

Triboro Ecodistrict Workshop brings together regional leaders interested in learning sustainability strategies

Posted on by Alyse Horn

For well over a decade, Millvale, Etna, and Sharpsburg have been pursuing and implementing ecodistrict strategies, and on March 25-26 during the Triboro Ecodistrict Workshop, they were able to connect with regional and local leaders interested in pursuing ecodistricts in their own communities. 

The two day workshop at the Millvale Food + Energy Hub included speakers from the Triboro Ecodistrict and partners that have been key to the success of obtaining Ecodistrict certification; conversations were facilitated around topics such as coalition building, accessing resources, lean canvas development, and ecodistrict mapping. 

“It was interesting to learn about the activities, events and initiatives being spearheaded in these communities and how the ecodistricts work aligns directly with their work to create more partnerships, to work together with the municipalities, local nonprofits, and other individuals in the community,” said Andrew Johnson, director of community partnerships and sustainability at The Forbes Funds. “ It was very eye opening to see the good work being done.”

To help advance the Ecodistrict work being done by nonprofits and community members who attended the workshop, $1,000 mini-grant opportunities and technical support were made available through New Sun Rising and District PGH for five projects.

Applicants were asked questions around why climate action, resilience, and equity are important to their communities, and how the project will engage and educate residents around Ecodistrict quality of life areas (equity, food, energy, water, air, and/or mobility).

The communities awarded mini-grants include: Brackenridge, McKees Rocks, Meadville, Monaca, and Shaler.

Abbey Nilson, science teacher at Shaler Area High School, was able to attend the workshop on both days, and said the mini-grant will be used to explore making the school’s educational facilities more sustainable. For the Friday workshop, Nilson brought five students with her that helped brainstorm what they’d like to use the grant for.

“They really enjoyed the experience,” Nilson said. “A couple things they noted specifically was that they were treated like everyone else there and were able to converse about the topics at hand. It got them thinking about trying to take the model of an ecodistrict and applying it to our school.”

Nilson has been working with the Triboro Ecodistrict since she created the sustainability class in 2020 and said it has provided countless opportunities for her and her students to connect with community leaders on projects happening in the boroughs. Having the support of the Triboro Ecodistrict makes a bigger impact in the classroom by providing resources and an outlet for the students’ passion around equity and sustainability.

It’s that kind of grassroots level work that Johnson believes can create positive, transformational change throughout the region and beyond.

“The biggest thing I want to convey is that [the ecodistrict] model can change the world, and the work that is going on in the Pittsburgh region is attempting to change the world,” Johnson said. 

On Friday during the workshop, Etna Community Organization received $100,000 in state funding from Rep. Sara Innamorato, which will be put towards work on the new Etna Center for Community.

Etna-Sharpsburg Earth Day Challenge, Millvale Earth Day Clean-Up

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Friday, April 22 marks the 52nd anniversary of Earth Day with countless traditions being formed nationally and internationally over the years to commemorate the holiday.

For the past three years in the Triboro Ecodistrict, and specifically in Etna and Sharpsburg, a long held rivalry has given way for the lively and goodhearted Annual Etna-Sharpsburg Earth Day Challenge.

Taking place from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 23 this year, the litter clean-up challenge encourages residents to adopt streets in their neighborhoods to collect trash and beautify their borough.

“The Earth Day Challenge is a great opportunity for Sharpsburgers to get together to show how much we care about our town, clean up our streets, and outshine Etna in the process. I’m especially excited about the free tree giveaway this year through Tree Pittsburgh!” said Matt Briley from Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization.

The clean-up ends at 12 p.m. and will be followed by a celebration in Etna’s Riverfront Trail & Park with food trucks, beverage vendors, and a free concert featuring Sierra Sellers. The coveted Etna-Sharpsburg Earth Day trophy will also be handed off to the new reigning champion.

For Etna residents: the first 125 volunteers at the Etna Borough building, 437 Butler St., the morning of the clean-up will receive a free Etna-Sharpsburg Earth Day Challenge 2022 t-shirt. Supplies will be provided to volunteers and can be picked up at the borough building beginning at 8 a.m. Free saplings are also available from Tree Pittsburgh via this Tree Adoption form and can be picked up at the celebration in the park following the clean-up. Click here for the official sign-up sheet and to adopt a street.

For Sharpsburg residents: The first 50 volunteers to sign-up from Sharpsburg will receive a free Etna-Sharpsburg Earth Day Challenge 2022 t-shirt. Supplies will be provided by Sharpsburg Environmental Advisory Council and will be available at the Sharpsburg Borough building, 1611 Main St., the day of the event at 8 a.m. and in the days leading up to the event. Free saplings are also available from Tree Pittsburgh via this Tree Adoption form and can be picked up at the celebration in the park following the clean-up. Click here for the official sign-up sheet and to adopt a street. 

Millvale will also be celebrating Earth Day beginning at 8 a.m. at the Millvale Community Center, 416 Lincoln Ave., and then divide volunteers into four groups to focus on: street clean-up, playground prep work, Millvale Community Library clean-up, and trail building in Girty’s Woods. Protective equipment, trash bags, and high visibility vests will be provided based on the project. At noon, volunteers will be invited to join a celebration of food, music, and vendors at the future site of the new borough playground.

Special thanks to Etna-Sharpsburg Earth Day Challenge donors: The AM Group, Rear End Gastropub & Garage, Garden of Etna, Cop Out Pierogies, Triboro Ecodistrict, NC Hair Studio, and Farine Lawn Care.

Triboro Ecodistrict businesses, nonprofits can save by going solar

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Whether it’s cutting down on costs or lowering your environmental footprint, there are many reasons more and more organizations are choosing to go solar.

G.E.T. Solar Communities: Triboro, a local committee of residents and municipal leaders, from the Etna, Millvale and Sharpsburg neighborhoods that supports the economic and environmental benefits of going solar, is partnering with nonprofit Pennsylvania Solar Center to host a free informational meeting to businesses and nonprofits who want to learn more about going solar and how it can save them money. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6 at the Millvale Food+Energy Hub (112 E Sherman St).

The meeting will offer creative ways businesses and nonprofits can reap the benefits of solar energy. Attendees can expect to learn more about tax credits, financing programs and grants, technical assistance and how to select a qualified developer.

The PA Solar Center will also be issuing RFPs on behalf of interested businesses and nonprofits to solicit bids for the projects from qualified solar developers. They will review the bids with the businesses/nonprofits and help them understand each step of the way. 

The PA Solar Center will even offer a free assessment of your company’s solar potential to those who attend. Those interested in attending should be sure to register here.

Contact Leo Kowalski at leo@pasolarcenter.org for more information.

Etna celebrates long awaited Riverfront Trail & Park completion

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Above: Partners gather as Peter Ramage, president of Etna Borough Council, cuts the ribbon during the opening and dedication of Etna Riverfront Trail & Park.

October 22 was a momentous day for the Borough of Etna and community partners as they gathered to celebrate the completion of the Etna Riverfront Trail & Park with a ribbon cutting ceremony. 

A decade ago, the Borough and residents began reimagining what the long industrialized riverfront could look like through the Allegheny County Community Trails Initiative. This trail and riverfront development plan includes 17 municipalities and aims to expand the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, which will connect Pittsburgh to Erie when completed. 

“You didn’t just accept… that you couldn’t reconnect to the riverfront. You didn’t just accept that there was a horrible brownfield here that you were never going to get cleaned up. You really took your love for your community and stepped forward to make something great and I think that’s amazing,” said Lauren Imgrund, deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources. 

The park’s design elements include a stage, benches, greenspace, pavilions with picnic tables, a bike rack and repair station, all of which was decided upon by the community through public meetings with Environmental Planning & Design (EPD) and the Borough. When entering the park, there are bird houses and environmental signage provided by The Western Pennsylvania Audubon Society; along the perimeter are perforated metal panels with designs that tell a story of residents’ relationship with the riverfront and were created by EPD.

During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Mary Ellen Ramage, manager for the Borough of Etna, extended her gratitude to a plethora of partners that aided the community’s reconnection to the river, but the driving force behind the project was made clear.

“It did take so many partners working together, rowing together, but we wouldn’t really be there if it wasn’t for Mary Ellen. We wouldn’t,” said State Representative Sara Innamorato. “I am a proud member of her vortex, because you know what it’s like when Mary Ellen sucks you in, there’s no coming back out. [And] you know you’re going to… see things like this trail.”

Katie Kovalchik, director of landscape architecture and communication & technology manager for EDP, said Ramage is “a very strong-willed person” and recognized her trust in EDP with the creation of the perforated panels. 

Bike racks at the park.

“She’ll laugh about how we brought the idea of doing the panels to her and she asked, ‘Have you done these anywhere else before?’ And we said, ‘Well, no, but we know it will work,’” Kovalchik said. “She’ll credit us pushing her to go further, but it was definitely a great working relationship.”

For area residents, they’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Beverly and Eugene Gazdik live in Millvale, but they grew up and spent their formative years in Etna and have family who still live there. 

“We are so proud of what [Etna] has accomplished,” Beverly said. “Growing up in this area and seeing all the steel mills close… I still feel connected to Etna and proud of everything they’re doing here.”

“It’s exciting to see what the future holds for the next generation.”

The full list of partners include: Allegheny County, Friends of the Riverfront, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, McCollom Strategies, Darla Cravotta (Director of Community Relations & Special Projects to County Executive Rich Fitzgerald), RK Mellon Foundation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Southwest Planning Commision, Colcom Foundation, Fugh Foundation, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Western Pennsylvania Audubon Society, Henry L. Hillman Foundation, Allegheny County Health Department, Environmental Planning & Design, HF Lenz Company, Frank J. Zottola Construction, Eisler Landscapes, and most importantly, the residents of Etna Borough.

Class sparks environmental activism to Save Girty’s Woods

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Above: students with Shaler Area Middle School teacher Chris Lisowski (center) at a fundraiser for Girty’s Woods hosted by Sprezzatura in September 2020. Photo courtesy of Lauren Powell.

Girty’s Woods has been getting a lot of attention lately.

With Allegheny Land Trust approaching the March 31 acquisition deadline to preserve the 155-acre woodlands, and around $32,000 left to fundraise and secure the deal, the efforts of supporters over the last year will peak this St. Patrick’s Day at the Girty’s Woods Get Down.

The event, hosted by New Sun Rising and Mr. Smalls Theatre, will be an evening of live streamed music, a 50/50 raffle, and more to help raise the remaining funds to garner the $704,626 toal and purchase the land.

The importance of conserving Girty’s Woods from development for not only recreation opportunities and to protect native flora and fauna, but for the lands ability to absorb heavy rains that would otherwise flood Girty’s Run watershed, has inspired many within Millvale, Shaler, and Reserve Township to advocate for the purchase. 

It has also become an elemental part of a new sustainability class being taught by science teacher Abbey Nilson at Shaler Area High School.

“It’s a really cool coincidence that the class started at the same time there is this great need to preserve this forest in our district,” Nilson said.

The year-long class has around 70 Shaler juniors and seniors in the class, with that total being split into three sections. Around 50 of the students are taking the course for college credits through the University of Pittsburgh who partnered with Nilson and helped her create the curriculum for the class.

Nilson said the students in the class are taught to think critically about sustainability issues, like food production and energy consumption, by challenging them to change their lifestyle choices for a short time and document the experience. 

The support around Girty’s Woods, however, was refined over the summer when Nilson connected with Shaler Area Middle School teacher Chris Lisowski.

“He’s very into sustainability, and he told me about this grassroots group that was starting to meet over the summer regarding the preservation of Girty’s Woods,” Nilson said.

It was during these meetings that Nilson began to envision the role students could play in the preservation of the woodlands. In the classes she has taught over the years, it wasn’t uncommon for her to grow plants from seed, and when Nilson learned about logging in Girty’s Woods, she began to think about and research what it would take for her students to germinate and grow trees.

Lauren Powell, senior at SAHS, is in Nilson’s inaugural sustainability class and said the growing process has been “very interesting.”

“We are growing Kentucky Coffee Trees, Black Birch, and several other types [of trees]. The Kentucky Coffee Trees have been the most successful thus far, and germinated well,” Powell said.

After some months passed and it was clear to Nilson that the project was a success, she created a Go Fund Me campaign to sell the trees for a minimum donation of $15 to Allegheny Land Trust and raise money to help Save Girty’s Woods.

“It’s been going really well,” Nilson said. “Some students promoted it over social media and reached out to KDKA; they were interviewed by the local news. They’ve been getting businesses to post about it, and their efforts reaching out to the community have gone really well.”

Nilson said one of the first assignments she gave the class last fall was to visit Girty’s Woods, and she believes that initiated students’ connection to the land and gave them a sense of investment in the issue.

Powell said this class has inspired her to pursue a career in sustainability and she will be attending Point Park University this coming fall with a major in biological and environmental science, as well as interning for the Triboro Ecodistrict this summer.

“Mrs. Nilson has made this class more than anybody could have imagined. I thought I knew a lot about sustainability, and going into this class it has grown dramatically,” Powell said. “Her lessons are so fascinating… and I think she really highlights the importance of sustainability by making it fun for her students to get involved and positively help our climate.”

Allegheny, Beaver County artists to be featured in virtual event hosted by New Sun Rising, RiverWise

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Pittsburgh, PA —  A virtual gallery opening will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 29 for the six artists selected to participate in the Exploring COVID-19 Impacts Through Visual Art program, which provided $2,500 of direct financial support for each artist to create visual art reflecting the effect of COVID-19 on their community.

During the event, the artists will talk about their work and thought process on the creation of their individual pieces. Two artists will also be announced as overall winners and their work will be displayed via wallscapes at two public locations: Millvale Food + Energy Hub and a site to be determined in Beaver County.

More event information can be found here.

“The experience of COVID-19 has taught all of us that we are deeply connected to another,” said Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director of RiverWise. “This project is a great way of increasing connectivity between artists throughout Allegheny and Beaver County, while also showcasing how art can be a powerful way of responding to the many challenges we are facing as a region and a human race.”

The Allegheny County Artists include: Janel Young (JY Originals), painter and muralist; Juliandra Jones (PBJ Customs), painter and digital artist; and Natiq Jalil (The Art of Natiq), watercolor artist. The Beaver County artists include: Erin Ninehouser (The Listening Library), photographer; Marlon Gist, fine artist; and Katie Stone, ceramics sculptor.

“Hearing the stories of how artists are coping during this pandemic is as powerful as the art that has been created for this program,” said Dan Stiker, Director of Operations at New Sun Rising. “The virtual gallery opening will give us the chance to listen and learn from their experiences.”

The program is a partnership between New Sun Rising and RiverWise, supported by The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Emergency Action Fund.

 

Contact

Dan Stiker, Director of Operations, New Sun Rising
dan@newsunrising.org

Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director, RiverWise
daniel@getriverwise.com

 

About New Sun Rising

New Sun Rising supports nonprofits and small businesses to build vibrant communities through culture, sustainability, and opportunity. NSR believes that all people and communities hold the knowledge and power to make positive change. We envision a future where regenerative community development practices create the conditions for true social, environmental, and economic justice. 

About RiverWise

RiverWise employs sustainable development practices to create a regional identity around the rivers of Beaver County. At the heart of this work is a concerted effort to organize stakeholders to dream, learn, and collaborate about the future of our rivers. They encourage this process in two primary ways. First, they have formed ecodistricts in three communities (Aliquippa, Monaca, and Beaver Falls). Second, they are engaged in a growing list of projects aimed at activating community ideas and bringing sustainable development to life throughout Beaver County.

 

One Northside 2019-2020 Mini-Grant Showcase, upcoming mini-grant deadlines

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Pittsburgh, PA — At 12 p.m. on Monday, August 24, New Sun Rising (NSR) and One Northside (ONS) will host a showcase of resident-driven mini-grant projects that have been completed in 2019 through August 2020.

The event will be virtual and hosted via Facebook Live. Attendees should visit this link and RSVP to receive reminder notifications from Facebook. 

The upcoming application deadlines for the rest of the 2020 ONS Mini-Grants are:

  • Friday, August 21 at 11:59 p.m.
  • Friday, October 16 at 11:59 p.m.
  • November 20  at 11:59 p.m. (pending fund availability)

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and reviewed bi-monthly. 

The mini-grant program awards Northsider’s up to $1,000 to support small scale community projects that demonstrate pledged support of their neighbors, help strengthen connections, increase accessibility to resources, and/or activate significant places in their community. 

In lieu of the 15 required signatures for applications, grantees must have three references email vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org or call NSR at (412) 407-9007 to give their full name, Northside home or business address, and the name of the project they are supporting. References cannot be from the same Northside home or business address.

If you are working towards COVID relief projects, please reach out to vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org for an application noting what your project will help.

 

Contact

NSR encourages prospective applicants to email vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org with any questions or concerns about the mini-grant process in advance of preparing their application.

For mini-grant applicants, the preferred method for submitting your application is to use the online form accessible at: www.newsunrising.org/project/ignite-northside/

Printed applications are accepted by postal mail. You may also submit your applications as attachments to vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org. Postal mail submissions should be addressed to New Sun Rising, Attn. One Northside Mini-Grant, P.O. Box 58005, Pittsburgh, PA 15209 and must be received by the grant deadline. All projects must be completed by August 31, 2020.

In pre-approved circumstances, project leaders may submit for additional mini-grants. Only one mini-grant per project leader may be active at one time. Please contact vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org for additional information. 

 

About New Sun Rising

New Sun Rising supports nonprofits and small businesses to build vibrant communities through culture, sustainability, and opportunity. NSR believes that people and communities hold the knowledge and power to make positive change. We envision a future where regenerative community development practices create the conditions for true social, environmental, and economic justice. 

About One Northside

One  Northside is a community-driven initiative to improve the quality of life in all 18 neighborhoods of the Northside. Since early 2014, hundreds of Northside residents have engaged with local leaders and stakeholders in community-wide conversations to create a shared agenda for the revitalization of this vital component of the greater Pittsburgh region.

Celebrating Earth Day’s 50th solar return

Posted on by Alyse Horn

Above: Millvale neighbors work together in the community garden.

By Zaheen Hussain, Director of Sustainability

The first Earth Day was celebrated 50 years ago today. With COVID-19, I think we can all agree that this is perhaps one of the strangest Earth Weeks in the all the years we have observed this occasion.

Many of us with the privilege of being able to telework are settling into our routine after a month. Many of us who cannot work at home are counting our blessings and heading into our workplace in protective clothing, knowing we must fulfil our roles as essential workers with full courage on display. Then there are many of us who neither have the privilege of telework nor the status of essential worker, and with very limited aid, are struggling to make ends meet and are reliant on the goodwill of our neighbors to be able to put food in our bellies. Times are tough and Earth Day is the last thing on many of our minds.

While it feels like the fabric of our global society is being stretched to its furthest limits and the impact of this virus leaves a sense of walls closing in around us, fear not, for there are lessons to learn from the rock we call Earth, our home.

The biggest lesson the Earth can teach us in this moment is resilience. Okay, okay, I know, for those of us in the sustainability field, resilience carries an air of cliché. This next part gets a little dense, but bear with me.

The solar panels on top of the Millvale Community Center.

It is irrefutable that in the past ~200 years of our ~300,000 year existence, humans have created a shocking amount of environmental damage. We have left behind the Holocene, the epoch in which we developed as a species, and have entered a whole new epoch, the Anthropocene, characterized by both anthropogenic climate change as well as the geomorphological traces we will leave behind alongside our fossil record (roads, skyscrapers, mines, houses, you get the picture).

Despite this, scientists can say with confidence that human impact pales in comparison to the experiences our planet touts on its resumé. Earth has been a ball of fire. Earth has been a ball of ice. There have been extinction level volcanic explosions. There have been extinction level asteroids. Earth may have even been crashed into by another planet, the satellite remnants of which we can still see every day, lovingly calling it Moon.

All this to say, every time the earth has been knocked down, it has gotten back up, bold and beautiful, steadfast in its journey around the Sun and the Universe. It takes its punches, recalibrates and keeps moving, often in an existence that shares little resemblance to its prior state.

On this historic Golden Jubilee Earth Day, we can all learn from Earth’s lesson on resilience. When it feels like all the world’s weight is on our shoulders; when it feels like a cosmic body is smashing through our lives like a bull in a china shop, remember that we are all interconnected as a part of this world and we all share the spirit of resilience, baked into our existence.

Earth Day, after all, is more about us than it is about Earth. It’s about making sure that we respect and contribute to the balance of our ecosystems, not just because it’s “good for our planet,” but because if we don’t, we will work ourselves out of the environment in which we came to be, no longer able to survive as a species. 

In that same spirit, let’s continue to be there for each other in our time of need, because our individual resilience is woven into the fabric of our societal resilience. When one of us falls, we all fall a little bit. When we lift up those around us, we all rise a little bit. 

Donate to your local food pantry if you can. Volunteer from physical distance if you can. If you have a friend or neighbor in need, check in on them; see if there is something you can do to help them move through the storm. Make some masks if you can. Share some good news when you find it. Most importantly, take care of yourself. Go for a walk. Cook a delicious meal. Take a breath of fresh air (at least six feet away from a stranger though). Enjoy a hike in a nearby park. Go stargazing — with everyone driving less and there being less smog, the stars are brighter than ever! Ultimately, here’s to you, our resilient neighbor!

From the New Sun Ring team, we wish you all a great Earth Day today and every day!