Category: Projects

One Northside Mini-Grant adjustments amid COVID-19

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

The upcoming One Northside (ONS) Mini-Grant application deadline will remain March 31, 2020. Project applications submitted to New Sun Rising (NSR) by March 31 will receive a decision in April 2020. 

In lieu of the 15 required signatures for applications, grantees must have 3 references email or call NSR (412-407-9007) to give their full name, home or business address, and the name of the project they are supporting. References cannot be from the same Northside home or business address.

At this time, all grant deadlines have been extended to August 31, 2020.

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. 

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.

Contact

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.

 

Emergence strengthens Triboro communities through equitable opportunities

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Of the six Triboro Ecodistrict goals, equity is ubiquitous and acts as an umbrella for the remaining five: food, water, air quality, energy, and mobility. 

When implementing projects like solar panels, stormwater management, and community garden markets, bike infrastructure, and air quality monitors, each touch on equity, which can be hard to define and difficult to create projects around equity alone.

Emergence was created to address that goal, and is a group of local women within the Triboro that are working to strengthen their communities through social and environmental justice, human services, and health and wellness. 

Mandy Wolovich said she and Danielle Spinola, owner of Tupelo Honey Teas, thought of the idea “as a way to support women in business and the ecodistrict goals.”

Two of the women on the Emergence board, Wolovich and Tricia Sorg, are attorneys and one of the main initiatives they came up with is free legal clinics in Millvale, Etna, and Sharpsburg where community members can come to get advice on landlord tenant issues, family issues, and the like.

“It’s legal advice only, we don’t provide ongoing representation or anything like that,” Wolovich said. “But they can come in if they have a question, and if they want to follow up with me I am always willing to do that.”

Wolovich said the legal cafes have been very successful; Emergence has been able to stop illegal evictions, provide information for those who have missed bail hearings, and answer simple criminal procedure questions to help people avoid problems in the future.

“Questions can be very random,” Wolovich said. “We guarantee that it’s free and confidential and we’ll do our best to make sure they get pointed in the right direction if we can’t help them.”

Emergence has also created a traveling notary service, so some of the legal clinics can also provide simple wills for attendees when the notary public is able to attend. Wolovich said the only thing needed is a driver’s license, the names of those who an individual wants to leave their belongings to, “and we can have the will made while you’re at your church supper.”

Locations for the legal cafes include Christ Lutheran Church and North Hills Community Outreach Food Pantry in Millvale, Bread of Life Food Pantry at Calvert Presbyterian in Etna, and the House Diner at First English Lutheran in Sharpsburg. Wolovich said it would be helpful to have another site in Sharpsburg, and anyone with a location is welcome to reach out to emergencecollectivepgh@gmail.com. More information on Emergence: A Women’s Collective can be found on their Facebook page.

Triboro, Etna celebrate EcoDistricts certification

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: Mary Ellen Ramage, Etna Borough Manager, speaking with attendees of the 2019 EcoDistricts Summit about the future ECO Park during the Triboro Ecodistrict neighborhood tours.

In early November during the 10th Annual EcoDistricts Summit, the Borough of Etna became the world’s first certified EcoDistrict, a feat that Borough Manager Mary Ellen Ramage never thought possible because “it’s not something you ever think about.”

“Never in my life did I dream that I would be part of anything that was the first in the world,” Ramage said. 

Through a proclamation presented by Etna Mayor Tom Rengers, this Wednesday, December 11 will be recognized as Etna EcoDistrict Day, which coincides with the sold out EcoDistrict Celebration at Fugh Hall where the Triboro Ecodistrict partnership will be honored and Etna will publicly launch its EcoDistrict Plan.

Before embarking on the certification process, the borough already had a focus on sustainable practices including its Green Infrastructure Master Plan, Storm Water Management, and Green Streetscape projects, but the community’s interest in ecodistricts began in late 2016 at the EcoDistricts Micro-Incubator in Millvale.

Led by Triboro Ecodistrict Director Brian Wolovich and Millvale Sustainability Coordinator Zaheen Hussain, the micro-incubator informed participants of the EcoDistrict Protocol, how it worked when Millvale began the process in 2012, and practiced visioning sustainable development using the Protocol. Etna Community Organization (ECO) Board Member and borough resident Robert Tuñón said he and Mayor Rengers attended the workshop together.

“Both Etna and Millvale were making great strides in their physical improvements, but Tom knew the Ecodistrict movement in Millvale was catalytic in getting people to stay involved and volunteer,” Tuñón said. 

They left the micro-incubator and shared their knowledge with a small group of municipal and resident leaders, and started gathering information to create an asset based map that identified the positive things already happening in the community and how they could be built upon. Tuñón said these small meetings continued and slowly grew to around 40 residents before the initial public meeting in March 2018 that had over 100 people in attendance.

“We were shocked at the ability to have a grassroots movement start in the community with very little resources,” Tuñón said. “At the time we had no funding.”

Just a few months after the first public meeting, Etna received funding from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation through its partnership with the Triboro Ecodistrict, which also includes Millvale and Sharpsburg. The financial backing advanced Etna’s efforts and allowed them to hire evolveEA and begin an educational series that addressed a key component on the path to becoming an EcoDistrict: offer multiple rounds of opportunities for the community to give input and engage in the planning process, demonstrating that it’s an equitable plan.

Ramage said the educational series, a total of 35 public events, was “one of the most amazing things about the EcoDistrict process” and that she was “mesmerized” by residents engagement.

“People aren’t given enough credit,” Ramage said. “They just need an opportunity to learn and see how they can help and how they can be part of the change. It’s empowering.”

Including equity, communities pursuing the certification must address two other imperatives including “resilience with a broad lens that prepares for social, economic and environmental shocks and stresses,” and climate protection by building “a pathway to carbon neutrality,” according to the EcoDistricts website.

Tuñón said with the leadership of Alexis Boytim, Director of Etna Community Organization, three reports were submitted to EcoDistricts covering Equity, Resilience, and Climate Protection. 

After the third report was submitted, Boytim had a call with the national organization and that’s when she was informed that Etna was on track to become the first certified EcoDistrict. 

“We didn’t realize that would ever be a possibility,” Boytim said. “When we found out, we were excited of course, but recognized that we wouldn’t have been able to do that or even be where we are without the work done before us and [the partnership with the] Triboro.”

Tuñón echoed Boytim and said the Etna EcoDistrict would not have been imaginable without the guidance from Brian Wolovich in Millvale, Brittany Reno in Sharpsburg, and Mary Ellen in Etna.

“They were able to teach us from their lessons learned and pass those on to us, so in many ways some of the success we feel we’ve had was based on building off their experiences,” Tuñón said. “It all ties together.” 

A few projects on the horizon for Etna are the creation of the Etna Community Library and the Etna EcoPark planned for 37 Grant Ave. where a blighted building once stood and is now a vacant lot that the borough recently acquired. 

These projects are two reminders that the EcoDistrict certification is just the beginning. Over time, Etna must complete certain goals they set for themselves, track the boroughs progress, and report transparently to the national organization on how they’re doing, Tuñón said.

“The hard work starts now, but it’s work that you understand will make a difference far into the future,” Ramage said. “You have to leave it better than you found it… and that’s what EcoDistrict is all about.”

 

You might see varying forms of capitalization when exploring the idea of an ecodistrict in your community. This is intentional, and they each have their own meaning:

  • “ecodistrict” refers to the concept in the field of urban planning that integrates ecologically-sound practices with sustainable community development.
  • “Ecodistrict” refers to a specific community that is engaged in developing an ecodistrict. 
  • “EcoDistricts” refers to the parent organization that formulated and published the official Protocol and oversees a certification process. They are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon.

Click here to learn more.

Upcoming ONS Mini-Grant deadline January 30, 2020

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

The upcoming One Northside (ONS) Mini-Grant application deadline is January 30, 2020. 

Project applications submitted to New Sun Rising (NSR) by this date will receive a decision in February 2020. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and the next mini-grant deadline is March 31 of 2020.

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. 

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 1, 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. 

The ONS Street Team will launch early next year. Stay tuned for future announcements. Those with questions may email vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org.

 

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.

Millvale Food + Energy Hub supports boroughs Ecodistrict goals

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: The solar panel installation on the roof of the Millvale Food + Energy Hub.

The Millvale Food + Energy Hub, formerly and affectionately known as the Moose, has converted 112 E. Sherman St. into a place for equitable community development to grow.

The 10,000-square-foot building is anchored by owner New Sun Rising and tenants Sprezzatura, 412 Food Rescue, The Food Trust, and FracTracker Alliance. Chosen for their missions that align with the Millvale and Triboro Ecodistrict plans, these dwellers reinforce the Hub’s sustainable origins.

When the property was purchased in 2017, the goal was to help advance Millvale’s vision to become a “self-reliant urban solar village, and foodie paradise known for hyperlocal production” said Scott Wolovich, Executive Director at NSR. 

It was an “aspirational concept,” Wolovich said, but increasing resiliency through a solar microgrid, fresh food access and growing capacity are important pieces of Millvale’s EcoDistrict Pivot 2.0 plan. Originally there were plans for a rooftop greenhouse, but the cost of the structural reinforcements needed was impractical. That determination quickly ignited ideas of “what could happen up there from a solar standpoint?”

“We were connected with the Energy GRID Institute at the University of Pittsburgh and discussed the possibility of developing a microgrid onsite,” Wolovich said. 

To make it happen, NSR worked with a handful of partners from locally owned and operated small businesses to nationally recognized organizations. 

Allegheny County companies Perfect Electric and Steel City Energy Conservation were brought in to install the circadian rhythm lighting and electrical, while EIS Solar engineered and installed the customized DC microgrid system including the solar panels and battery packs. 

“The monitoring system is more advanced than a typical system we produce,” said Ian Smith, Director of Residential Consultations at EIS Solar. Smith said the project hit a point where he invited engineers into the conversation because of the level of complication and customization to integrate the batteries with the microgrid.

To build the microgrid, the components needed to be bought separately and then unified with the SigmaSmart System, which allows everything to “talk, listen and be coordinated together,” Wolovich said. 

The SigmaSmart System was created by Sigma Luminous, a national company that sells products through the electrical distribution market working with manufacturer sales representatives like Gary Britcher of Steel City Energy Conservation.

Robert McCoy, Director of Sales at Sigma Luminous for the Eastern Region, said the Millvale Hub is the first non military and non university project his company has been involved in.

“It’s a very industrialized product that is used in a nonindustrial application when you think about it with the [10,000-square-foot] Food + Energy Hub, and that’s what’s different about it,” McCoy said.

McCoy said the SigmaSmart System allows information to be collected on how much solar power is being generated by the solar panels, is monitoring the circadian rhythm lighting, which changes the color of the lights in correlation with the sun to save energy and improve mood, and is also monitoring the HVAC system and the rest of the power flowing through the building.

SimpliPhi Power batteries store energy harnessed from the sun.

“All the things this little Moose lodge can do and what it entails, I’ve never seen anything that did that much in such a small space,” McCoy said. “To be honest, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

As a grad student at the Center for Energy at the University of Pittsburgh, Michael J. Rooney, Program Officer at Hillman Family Foundation, advised Wolovich on the Moose project and conducted a high level feasibility study around what could be done with the space from an energy perspective using research and development software from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 

Considering the hardware that went into the building, a handful of vendors were explored to supply specific components for the microgrid such as the batteries, energy inverters, monitoring, and solar panels. There were deeper conversations with possible companies who would provide the controls, but by the time vendor selection came around, two leading companies that had been identified by the Energy GRID Institute to supply the controls were no longer producing solar microgrid hardware, Wolovich said. 

“The introduction to Sigma Luminous happened at a very critical time in the project,” Wolovich said. “We had opened up our search for the right vendor and talking with [McCoy]… there [was] a shared spirit of creativity in terms of building automation and educational opportunities.”

McCoy said after meeting Wolovich and learning the story behind the ecodistrict revitalization plan, he understood that the project was larger than the building itself.

Because the Hub now contains a DC microgrid, it’s able to provide uninterrupted communication and coordination out of the building during emergencies when the public grid may be down. If there is a flood, something that Triboro communities are familiar with, and the power goes out, the facility is able to continue running cooling and heating systems, refrigeration, lighting, provide internet, and become a shelter for Millvale during emergency communication efforts. 

Millvale is also considered a food desert, and having 412 Food Rescue and Sprezzatura in the building has helped combat the lack of fresh, affordable, and healthy meals by serving thousands of community members each month.

Hana Uman, Program Director of Special Programs & Projects at 412 Food Rescue, said the organization’s Co-founder and CEO Leah Lizarondo began conversations in 2016 during the Launch Millvale incubator about partnering with NSR in a larger capacity.

412 Food Rescue has been working with food retailers and nonprofits since 2015 to recover food, which would otherwise go to waste, and redirect it to food insecure communities. According to its 2018 Impact Report, 412 Food Rescue has currently salvaged over 2.5 million pounds of food that was redistributed to families in need.

Still, Uman said there are times when they can’t get produce to these areas fast enough, which led to finding space at the Food + Energy Hub to process and can produce for the Good Food Project. 

“The goal is to stabilize the surplus of food that 412 receives and transform it into meals and other products to benefit our nonprofit partners and communities as well as our organization,” Uman said. 

Ed Anderson, Culinary Manager at 412 Food Rescue, said his goal is to achieve zero waste status at the Moose by composting what cannot be canned, pickled, or prepared as a meal. He said he also envisions the space as “the next step for 412’s special projects, like food education programs and offering a comprehensive curriculum to nonprofit partners specifically targeting parents and caregivers of young children.”

Over the summer, Anderson cooked lunches for the Millvale Community Library’s Summer Food Service Program, which is federally funded and provides free meals for children 18-and-younger. Jennifer Saffron, owner of Sprezzatura, also provided meals for the program and is nestled next to 412 in the commercial kitchen they share inside the Food + Energy Hub. In November, Saffron will be opening a cafe at the Moose.

“Working in collaboration to develop a solar-powered building that supports different kinds of businesses has been a real learning experience—how much sun do we need to power up an oven that feeds thousands?” Saffron said. “There is more to discover, no doubt, and we can work together to community problem-solve for a sustainable catering and cafe kitchen, and a more sustainable future overall.”

Wolovich said Zaheen Hussain, Director of Sustainability at NSR, had brought forward an interesting point when they first began looking at the intersection of energy and food systems.

“As you have a more resilient clean energy system, you can actually increase food access by controlling the rent for food tenants through savings from the microgrid. This allows them to pay it forward by partnering with the Gardens of Millvale and participating in the Millvale Community Library’s Summer Food Service Program,” Wolovich said. 

Phase two of the Moose renovations have begun this fall using a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to remodel the lower level of the building and add an access ramp, which will make way for food storage and processing facilities as well as support from the Triboro Ecodistrict and Henry L. Hillman Foundation on a renewable energy workforce development training center. 

It’s been a heavy lift with many helping hands getting the Millvale Food + Energy Hub where it is today and it is pushing the possibilities in the areas of sustainable technology and innovation. Rooney said, in his opinion, the reason there aren’t more buildings like the Moose is because of the amount of time and level of creativity it took to bring all of the moving parts together.

“Scott basically project managed the building and his ability to do that and do it well was remarkable and made the project happen,” Rooney said. “Without that someone carrying the torch on a lot of these hard things, it doesn’t get done.”

Interested in touring the Millvale Food + Energy Hub and learning more about DC Microgrids? Attend “DC Microgrids in the Pittsburgh Region” on Tuesday, October 22 at the Moose. Attendees will hear from a panel of experts from organizations like EIS Solar, Steel City Energy Conservations, Perfect Electric, and others leading the development of DC Microgrid technology in the Pittsburgh region. 

 

Next One Northside Mini-Grant deadline October 31, 2019

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Pittsburgh, PA — The upcoming One Northside (ONS) Mini-Grant application deadline on October 31, 2019 is the last for this calendar year. The following deadline is January 30, 2020. 

Project applications submitted to New Sun Rising (NSR) by Oct. 31 will receive a decision in November 2019. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but those submitted after the Oct. 31 deadline will not receive a decision until February 2020.

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. 

NSR encourages prospective applicants to attend the next Open Office Hours to learn more about the mini-grant process in advance of preparing their application, which will be Monday, Oct. 21 from 1-2:30 p.m. at Woods Run Library, 1201 Woods Run Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.

Contact

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 1, 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.

Three boroughs, one green new plan

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: The Triboro Air Quality Monitoring Cohort gathered on July 24 in Sharpsburg to receive equipment and training from ROCIS (Reducing Outdoor Contaminants in Indoor Spaces) on recording air quality readings inside their homes.

Etna Mayor Tom Rengers was with Steamfitters Local 449 for 44 years, and a contractor with U.S. Steel for 18.

Rengers said over the decades, he has worked on coke batteries and installed piping for the Bruce Mansfield coal-fired plant in Beaver County; it was once the largest of its kind in Pennsylvania and currently slated to be deactivated by May 2020.

“We’ve used up fossil fuels on dirty energy… it’s nice to be involved now in cleaning up [our communities],” Rengers said.

Etna is one of three boroughs that make up the Triboro Ecodistrict, an initiative that began in 2012 when Millvale entered the first phases of ecodistrict planning with evolveEA and thus creating the Millvale EcoDistrict Pivot Plan and Pivot Plan 2.0, which focuses on food, water, energy, air quality, mobility, and equity. It was the implementation of this strategy that led to the collaboration with Sharpsburg and Etna.

Sharpsburg Mayor Matt Rudzki’s family has been in the area for five generations, and said these three river town neighborhoods “struggled with identity for a long time.” 

“River town used to be a dirty word and people didn’t want to visit our communities, but now river town is a destination,” Rudzki said. “There have always been great things happening here, and now we have the right people in the right places sending out that message and it’s attracting growth.”

This revitalization comes after decades of depression. In the 1980s when the steel mills closed, many families that lived in the area were forced to move away. Rudzki said that the City of Pittsburgh had “eds and meds that sort of saved them, but Sharpsburg, Millvale, Etna and other river communities didn’t have that saving grace.” 

On the heels of 25 years of disinvestment, Hurricane Ivan hit the Pittsburgh area in 2004 and devastated Millvale, Etna, and Sharpsburg. In the wake of the storm, brothers Scott and Brian Wolovich started recovery efforts that resulted in the creation of New Sun Rising, a nonprofit that has become an educator, resource provider, and activator of neighborhood scale innovation. But it’s first community project was the creation of the Millvale Community Library, the building where the Millvale EcoDistrict plan was born, which evolved into the Triboro Ecodistrict. 

Rudzki credits the rise of new leadership in elected and nonprofit roles to the reinvestment in the area, and to “organizations like the Triboro bringing three distinct but similar groups together that are working for a common goal.” 

Millvale Mayor Brian Spoales has been overwhelmingly supportive of the collaboration between the three communities and the ability to work together to obtain grant funding for similar projects. It’s something that Rudzki thinks the state and Harrisburg appreciate, too, because “instead of picking one community to receive funding, they can send it to all [three neighborhoods]. It’s one of the many reasons why the three boroughs took on the task of jointly updating their Comprehensive Plans and zoning ordinances in 2015 — to create multi-municipal goals and leverage their collective strength.

A common thread, and strength, that these three mayors have seen at Triboro meetings are the number of young and new residents who “are getting involved in anyway they can,” Spoales said.

“I pinch myself sometimes when I see young folks in these meetings,” Rengers said. “I like what they are bringing to the table. It’s a fresh take on some old ideas and it needed freshened up.”

Spoales remembers during the early ecodistrict planning days for Millvale there was a turnout from the younger crowd that knew what the ecodistrict was about and they have continued to show up and participate in the decision making process.

Rengers, Rudzki, and Spoales said that with their communities revivals, they are cognizant of gentrification, but it has been “exciting to see the town move forward as long as [they] can keep it equitable.”

The Triboro raises up resident voice in decision making, prioritizing the care for those most vulnerable, and working on housing issues. To date, over $200,000 has been invested into the Triboro Healthy Homes program, which has assisted 10 existing residents by increasing home safety and energy efficiency. Upcoming housing projects include additional Healthy Homes programs, solar panel installation, and the growing property ownership for residents like the project at 1141 North Avenue in Millvale (left).

Though the culture of these river towns has changed over the years, it has been redefined by the residents as a collective of culture, sustainability, and opportunity; or vibrant communities, if you will.

In June, Etna broke ground on its Riverfront Park and Trail that will feature a grandstand and scenic overlook, a blue water wall, and rainwater infiltration. It will also create a link for the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and the Pittsburgh to Erie Trail.

This past April, the Breathe Easy Millvale Air Quality Plan, which launch in 2016, won a national award and a key component of that plan turned the solar powered Millvale Community Library into a Clean Air Hub. Including healthy indoor air quality practices, there is also a live Air Quality Dashboard displayed in the library window that is increasing awareness about “local and regional air quality by displaying real-time data from outdoor sensors,” per evolveEAs website.

Last year, Sharpsburg installed solar panels on its library and in turn with gaining energy self-sufficiency, it is used as an educational tool for community members to get familiar with solar and become encouraged to try the panels on their own homes. There are also two community members, along with a couple each from Etna and Millvale, that are participating in the Triboro Air Quality Monitoring Cohort with ROCIS. 

ONS Mini-Grant applications being accepted now through 2020

Ignite Northside
Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: Melanie Sandoval reads with Aaron, a student from Spring Hill Elementary School involved in the after school reading program the Comic Book Shop, which received a 2018 ONS Mini-Grant.

Sometimes a lot of funding is needed to get a project off the ground, and sometimes it isn’t.

For those small-scale community projects, New Sun Rising’s One Northside Mini-Grants are back. Created to support community members in their efforts to elevate their neighborhoods, Northsiders can apply to receive $1,000 in funding to support initiatives that strengthen connections, increase accessibility to resources, and activate significant places in their community.

Applications will be released on August 1, 2019, accepted on an ongoing basis, and reviewed bi-monthly. Deadlines to submit applications is 11:59 p.m. on: August 31, 2019; October 31, 2019; January 30, 2019; March 31, 2020; May 31, 2020 based on the availability of funds.

One Northside Mini-Grants will be announced in September 2019, November 2019, February 2020, April 2020, and June 2020.

Grant recipients may also receive additional support through New Sun Rising and the One Northside Mini-Grant Street Team to develop their project and secure additional resources. Applications are currently being accepted for those who would like to join the Street Team; they must be Northside residents and will support community members in their efforts to advance the ONS vision.

Members of the Street Team will receive a stipend of $1,500 and must be able to commit 60 hours in total, including training, throughout the months of August, September, October, November in 2019 and February 2020. Individuals of the Street Team are expected to educate and support community members about ONS Mini-Grants and help submit applications, as well as communicate the mini-grant program with residents and program partners individually and at neighborhood events.

Individuals who are awarded mini-grants may be able to find additional funding through ioby, which gives local leaders the ability to crowdfund the resources they need to build real, lasting change from the ground up. Pittsburghers specifically have raised over $500,000 for community programs. Currently, the ioby One Northside Crowdfunding Challenge will double donations to Northside projects.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to attend Information Workshops to meet with New Sun Rising staff and the One Northside Mini-Grant Street Team to learn more about the application process. Additionally, the Street Team will be available for informal meet-ups at community locations as requested. Check the schedule online at www.newsunrising.org/project/ignite-northside  for workshop locations, dates, and times. Contact New Sun Rising staff with your inquiry or other questions by phone (412) 407-9007 or email vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org. If you’re interested in hosting an information session in your neighborhood, please let us know.

Interested applicants are invited to attend the One Northside Community Project Support Slam Kickoff event from 6-8 p.m. on August 21 to honor past grantees and share information about ONS and ioby. Location is to be decided and updates will be posted on New Sun Rising’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.

New Sun Rising is also seeking up to five community members to serve on the Mini-Grant Evaluation Committee, which will review applications virtually and meet six times over the coming year to discuss and approve them.

Those interested in becoming a member of the ONS Mini-Grant Street Team can send their resume or questions to vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org. This email can also be used to contact NSR for those interested in being on the Mini-Grant Evaluation Committee.

The preferred method to submit mini-grant applications is online at www.newsunrising.org/project/ignite-northside.

Printed applications will be accepted at the Allegheny and Woods Run Carnegie Libraries during normal business hours and by postal mail. Individuals can also submit their application 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, Pennsylvania 15209 and must be received by the grant deadline. All projects must end by August 1, 2020.

New Sun Rising seeks residents for One Northside Mini-Grant Street Team

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Pittsburgh, PA — New Sun Rising is set to lead the 2019 One Northside (ONS) Mini-Grant program and are in search of four Northside residents to serve on the Street Team that will support community members in their efforts to advance the ONS vision.

The ONS Mini-Grants award 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. 

Members of the Street Team will receive a stipend of $1,500 and must be able to commit 60 hours in total, including training, throughout the months of August, September, October, November in 2019 and February 2020. Successful applicants are also expected to:

  • Educate community members about ONS Mini-Grants
  • Support community members to submit their application
  • Communicate with residents + program partners individually and at neighborhood events to promote the ONS Mini-Grant Program

The Street Team should help increase access for community members to mini-grant opportunities and assist in diversifying the applicant pool. They will also serve as a brand ambassador for the ONS vision.

The ONS Mini-Grant Street Team should be community ambassadors and enrich the places where they live, work, and play. They should believe in investing in the future of the communities that sustain themselves and their neighbors.

Contact 

Send resume or questions to vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org. This is an independent contracting position and Street Team members will receive a 1099 at the end of the year.

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.

Music festivals strengthen cultural appreciation and community connections

Posted on by Scott Wolovich

The celebration of culture manifests in different ways, and on May 11 two Pittsburgh events will share the day to showcase local and international cultures through music and food: Pittonkatonk Mayday Brass BBQ & Potluck and the Millvale Music Festival.

While each has its own distinctive experience, these two events were created to be a platform for people to come together, highlight, and honor their communities.

Pittonkatonk

Officially dubbed Pittonkatonk in 2014, the festival was started to answer the call of HONK! in Cambridge, Mass. That three-day festival brings together brass bands from all over the country to celebrate community, music, and activism. Not only did it inspire Pete Spynda to start a Pittsburgh HONK! festival (Pittsburgh+HONK=Pittonkatonk), but there are also HONK! festivals in Seattle, Detroit, Austin, and over seas in Australia and Brazil.

“We gave ours a different spin and made it into a potluck,” Spynda said. “We also celebrate the justice organizations and activism for a day of celebration [instead of three].”

Unofficially, Pittonkatonk began as a party with What Cheer Brigade in a garage in Highland Park with around 100 people. As attendance rose each year and the event grew in popularity, the decision was made to move to the Vietnam Veteran’s Pavilion in Schenley Park. Last year there were over 5,000 people in attendance.

“I think Pittonkatonk really conveys true community spirit,” Spynda said.

For the potluck, hundreds of people bring a dish to share. The recipes usually tell an origin story of their own as participants are bringing their famous potato salad or their grandmother’s pierogi recipe, which in turn has “people from different backgrounds breaking bread together and listening to music from all over the world,” Spynda said.

This year out of the 16 ensembles, four are international and coming into Pittsburgh from Peru, Macedonia, Canada, and Cuba. Spynda said he is able to help pay for artists’ flights through grants, which is one of the elements New Sun Rising has been able to assist with since connecting with Pittonkatonk in 2014.

“They’ve really helped me and Pittonkatonk as an organization evolve in the sense of establishing a concrete foundation for what we are doing,” Spynda said.

The resource tent is one initiative that Pittonkatonk and NSR are collaborating on this year to represent and share information on over a dozen social justice organizations. And new to the event is the Artivist Greenhouse where Pittonkatonk will commission three Pittsburgh artists to write new songs in collaboration with social justice organizers. This project was created to encourage artists to form deep working relationships with environmental and social justice organizations that work to clean our air and water, support immigrants, and prevent displacement.

On May 10, the night before Pittonkatonk, there is a Youth Showcase at Salem’s Event Center from 6-8 p.m. presented by Remake Learning and the Grable Foundation. Ben Barson, member of Afro Yaqui Music Collective, has participated in Pittonkatonk for several years and works closely with the teens in the organizations education program to prepare for the performances. The teens participate with the performers during Pittonkatonk, but this is the first time there is an event specifically for youth involved in the event.

“It’s a beautiful opportunity for them to learn how to improvise, take risks, and perform in front out thousands of people,” Barson said.

Spynda said that for the past several years, City Council has declared the date the festival is held on as “Pittonkatonk Day,” but he hopes in the future the event could be presented by the City of Pittsburgh as well.

Millvale Music Festival

It’s around this time, after the band submissions have closed for Millvale Music Festival, that mayhem ensues, said Co-Founder Paul Bossung, Jr.

“We’ll book over 200 acts for this year, but over 460 have applied,” Bossung said.

The festival, now entering its third year, will have 22 stages set up throughout Millvale and 15 different businesses and organizations are involved with the event in some way.

The borough’s population almost doubles in size during the festival, which is a great opportunity for Millvale to show the opportunities is has to offer for potential future residents or small businesses. Last year, the festival brought over 5,000 visitors through Millvale.

“We have great breweries and businesses like Steel City Salt Company,” Bossung said. “There is so much opportunity here and you start to see the younger crowd appreciate that while their walking around [the festival].”

In 2018, Bossung said Sedgwick Street was strewn with artists who were performing live to accompany the bands playing. He hopes to continue that setup this year, and although he wasn’t able to confirm the details yet, Bossung hinted at the potential for a larger and reoccurring community art project.

The festival has also made some technological strides this year and will have televisions in each venue so event attendees can get live updates on the bands and shuttle schedules.

Bossung said what he believes makes this event unique is the amount of live performances happening within a five to ten minute walk, and also the places around Millvale where bands will be performing including the Millvale Food + Energy Hub at the former Moose lodge.

“Visitors get the chance to wander around town all day and to see all of the places that are unique and special to Millvale,” Bossung said.

RiverWise receives $160,000 for Beaver County initiative

Posted on by Scott Wolovich

BEAVER — RiverWise, a newly formed nonprofit project of the Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic Growth, recently received a $160,000 grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to fund a year-long pilot program aimed at using Beaver County’s rivers and their surrounding communities as wisely as possible.

“RiverWise is as creative a partnership as we’ve seen in many years in Beaver County,” said Jack Manning, Executive Director for the Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic Growth. “It’s a carefully planned effort to align the structure of the organization with the needs of our region. The focus on our rivers is important and long overdue, and the Beaver County Partnership is pleased to be supporting this work and its efforts at developing a regional identity with our rivers at the center.”

Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director of RiverWise, agrees with Manning. “The rivers of Beaver County represent one of our greatest and most enduring resources as a region,” he said. “Both symbolically and in actuality, our rivers span long-standing divides, draw us together and call for us to think regionally about our identity and our future. Historically, we have underappreciated the value of our rivers, and RiverWise seeks to begin reversing that trend.”

At the heart of RiverWise’s work is an ongoing effort to organize stakeholders to dream, learn and collaborate through action on behalf of Beaver County’s rivers and the communities through which they flow. As a way of guiding this process, RiverWise is leaning heavily on a new tool called “ecodistrict thinking.” For several months now, ecodistricts have been forming in Beaver Falls, Monaca and Aliquippa. This process will grow and deepen as the year progresses. Ecodistrict thinking involves careful assessment and planning about a community’s water, energy, transportation, air and food systems. It seeks to develop healthy systems that promote equity and participation for all members of a community.

Assisting RiverWise is New Sun Rising, a Millvale-based community economic development non-profit. According to Brian Wolovich, director of Triboro Ecodistrict and New Sun Rising’s consulting partner for RiverWise, “Ecodistricts represent a wholistic way of organizing that sees a community as an interconnected and multifaceted set of systems. Rather than only focusing on the physical infrastructure of a community, ecodistrict thinking seeks a broader approach to community development. Citizens of Millvale, Sharpsburg and Etna have used this method of organizing with considerable success in the Triboro Ecodistrict, and we are excited to see residents of Beaver County begin to engage with this kind of thinking.”

Scott Wolovich, Executive Director of New Sun Rising, thinks RiverWise is poised to lead some very exciting work with the people of Beaver County in the coming months and years. “We know that communities are complex ecosystems, and we have witnessed how a backbone organization like RiverWise can help stakeholders create a unified vision, make creative connections, and get to action. RiverWise is quickly becoming a leader in innovative thinking about developing clusters of Vibrant Communities in Southwestern PA. As the future of Beaver County becomes a bigger part of our regional story, New Sun Rising is excited to be partnering with them in this important work.”

In addition to forming ecodistrict communities in Beaver Falls, Monaca and Aliquippa, RiverWise is also working closely with Cathy McCollom, principal at McCollom Development Strategies, to promote projects and seek funding to build physical infrastructure along the
region’s rivers.

Funding for RiverWise was made possible through a creative partnership with the Beaver County Regional Council of Governments, who acts as a fiscal sponsor for RiverWise’s projects and whose recent strategic plan called for municipal activity aimed at achieving landscape-level change through thoughtful governance and community engagement. RiverWise and COG are working closely to align their efforts. Their collaboration will be on full display this summer during COG’s annual Local Government Conference focused on “Facing the Rivers.”

“Paying careful attention to our rivers raises all kind of issues of concern to municipal leaders,” COG President and RiverWise co-founder Rebecca Matsco said. “For the first time in quite a while, the work of RiverWise has initiated a truly regional conversation about what it means to steward our natural resources as municipal officials. The COG is honored to help lead these important conversations with the citizens of Beaver County.”

A calendar of public events for RiverWise will be published via social media later this month.

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Contact:
Daniel Rossi-Keen, RiverWise
386-748-3635
danielkeen@hotmail.com

Jack Manning, Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic Growth
724-775-3944
jmanning@bcchamber.com

More About the Partnership: The Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic
Development is a public/private partnership designed to leverage the multi-billion-dollar
investment by Shell Chemical in the county. Created by a collaboration of Beaver County
business and community leaders, the Partnership aims to attract business investment and
community development with the goal of having a positive impact on every aspect of life and
work in the region. More information is available at http://thebcpartnership.org/.