Launch Wilkinsburg

Launch Wilkinsburg is a civic innovation lab, supporting the development of a vibrant community through social businesses, nonprofit projects, and community engagement.

Meet the Projects

Vibrant Communities Focus

Launch Wilkinsburg is committed to equitable community development and implemented in partnership with the Wilkinsburg Chamber of Commerce. In order to determine which areas of impact are top priority, we reviewed community planning documents, surveyed stakeholders through our Vibrancy Index, and held an interactive public forum. This local stakeholder insight and discussions identified community values and priorities for development including:

Community Awareness + Engagement
Arts + Culture
Vacant Properties + Lots
Main Street Business Development
Education
Safety + Crime Reduction
Environmental Sustainability
Public Spaces

Additionally, the Ignite Wilkinsburg workshop connected over 30 startup leaders and mentors to further their plans, strategic connections, and identify resources.

Media coverage

Read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article

KDKA Sunday Business Page

Pittsburgh City Paper

Launch Hilltop

Launch Hilltop is an inspiration dojo, where a collective of passionate, driven entrepreneurs challenge perceptions to drive personal and community change.

Meet the Projects

Vibrant Communities Focus

Following neighborhood discussions and assessment with local stakeholders, the Hilltop neighborhoods anchored by the Allentown business district were selected as New Sun Rising’s second Launch community.

New Sun Rising’s Launch Hilltop provides services and programming to a number of organizations and initiatives committed to promoting inclusive neighborhood redevelopment, in partnership with local stakeholders such as Work Hard Pittsburgh, the Hilltop Alliance, Pgh Works, RE360, and others. New Sun Rising works closely with these partners, businesses and community projects to create positive opportunity and change with the community.

Learn more about the Allentown’s priorities for development through the Equity Cafe series: Discovery, Dream + Design, and Destiny

Listen to audio stories from community members

Launch Millvale

Launch Millvale is an civic innovation lab, where socially focused entrepreneurs create new opportunities around the food, energy, water, air, mobility, and equity goals of the community.

Meet the Projects

Vibrant Communities Focus

Initially building the local food system, Launch Millvale broadened to support sustainability leaders activating the Millvale EcoDistrict Pivot 2.0 Plan. The EcoDistricts community planning process, led by partner and

renowned Pittsburgh firm evolveEA, brings together citizens, neighborhood organizations, businesses, and local government to develop a unified vision for their community.

Social enterprises and initiatives supported by Launch Millvale receive services such as fiscal sponsorship, growth strategy, and funding. Activities are coordinated by Zaheen Hussain, the Millvale Sustainability Coordinator and NSR Director of Sustainability, in collaboration with the partners of the Millvale EcoDistrict Collaborative (Millvale Community Library, the Borough of Millvale, Millvale Community Development Corporation, and New Sun Rising).

Ignite Sto-Rox

Following a year of engagement and conversations, Sto-Rox community members have shared their values and priorities for development. In the coming year, the Launch Sto-Rox program will begin activating social businesses and projects which align with these priorities.

Our first opportunity for business and community project owners was the free Ignite mentoring workshop on November 11, 2017. Participants learned skills like how to improve their pitch, overcome barriers, connect with resources, and develop a plan for action.

Special focus on supporting Sto-Rox resident priorities: communication + community engagement, public safety initiatives, restaurant + food business development, job skills + creative professionals, health + addiction resources.

Presented in partnership with:

Immigrant + Refugee Welcome Mat

A program for immigrants + refugees with business ideas to identify resources, create plans, + build relationships.

The Welcome Mat, piloted in partnership with the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation, consists of learning events and support to help underserved entrepreneurs find assistance and start their business in Pittsburgh. Find out where to get help with marketing, operations, finance, and government regulations. Meet other like-minded business people who speak your language, increase your network of support, and get your business launched and growing with other immigrant and refugee leaders in your community.

Participants learn which local university programs, government offices and nonprofits can assist you to start your business. Find local trade groups or national associations in your industry and identify local online resources to get the information you need.

At each learning event, you’ll meet other business people and together form a Welcome Mat Peer Group. These groups work together and help one another think through and write a business plan. This business plan can help you attract investors, apply for financing and guide you to make your dream a reality.

Welcome Mat Peer Groups also serve as references and support when your are ready to apply for funding and implement their plan.

Urban Growers Cooperative

Using the concepts of the food hub movement and drawing inspiration from models used in cities across the country, the Pittsburgh Urban Growers Cooperative (PUGC) has emerged through the leadership of Pittsburgh Food Policy Council (PFPC), Healcrest Urban Farm and Grow Pittsburgh as a way to address the primary gaps in our urban farming system and make it more economically sustainable to be an urban farmer so that more may enter the field and find success. The PUGC steering committee formed in Fall 2015 and teamed up with New Sun Rising to explore the opportunity. The PUGC is exploring new funding and is prepping to launch in Spring 2017.

In the last 10 years, urban farming has experienced a huge surge in popularity, but the reality is that earning a sustainable income from urban farming remains a dream for most practitioners across the country, including in Pittsburgh. The appetite for local produce in Pittsburgh is high and growing, with chefs and other consumers consistently indicating a preference for local produce grown by farmers they know and trust. However, the small scale of urban farms makes it challenging to supply the consistency and quantity that these consumers require.

While many propose scaling up urban farms so they can compete with larger, rural producers, the “micro-farms” propagating in the urban environment have many advantages including small workforces and low overhead, flexible product lines, and very low transportation costs. Furthermore, these spaces provide important opportunities for supplemental income and part-time employment for many urban dwellers, many of whom would not have the transportation to reach rural farms.

In order to fully realize its objectives, the PUGC wish to include and elevate all urban growers who wish to build more economically, environmentally, and physically/emotionally sustainable farm businesses. If you are an urban grower in or around Pittsburgh who grows or raises food for sale – now or in the future – please provide us with more information about your project by taking this survey.