ImageboxSite LogoLeft ArrowPrevious ItemNext ItemRight ArrowBlog PostEventGrowIgniteLaunchLocationXMenuQuoteSearchGoogle PlusYoutube
New Sun Rising
Menu
Close
  • How We Work
    • Overview
    • Culture
    • Sustainability
    • Opportunity
    • Resources
  • Our Programs
    • Ignite
    • Launch
    • Grow
    • Fiscal Sponsorship
    • Vibrancy Funds
  • Projects We Support
  • About Us
    • We Stand Against Racism + Hate
    • What is NSR?
    • History
    • Team
    • Impact
  • Home
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Ways To Give
New Sun Rising
  • Home
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Ways To Give
  • How We Work
    • Overview
    • Culture
    • Sustainability
    • Opportunity
    • Resources
  • Our Programs
    • Ignite
    • Launch
    • Grow
    • Fiscal Sponsorship
    • Vibrancy Funds
  • Projects We Support
  • About Us
    • We Stand Against Racism + Hate
    • What is NSR?
    • History
    • Team
    • Impact
The Blog of NSR

Tag: Believe & Achieve Community Learning Hub

Mini-grantees adapt projects to meet Northside residents needs

Posted on November 14, 2020 by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: a student working at the Believe & Achieve Learning Hub in Spring Hill.

Sometimes, a little bit of funding can go a long way.

For those who live or work on the Northside, $1,000 is available to create projects that empower their communities and increase their quality of life.

Many of the programs this year had to rework their original projects to adhere to Covid-19 restrictions, but were able to overcome the challenges and meet the needs of both adult and youth residents. We talked to three current mini-grantees about how they adapted their projects and the importance of community during uncertain times.

Have an idea to better your community? The next deadline to apply for a mini-grant is November 20, 2020.

 

Photo courtesy of Ebony Lunsford-Evans

Growing with Farmer Girl Eb – Ebony Lundsford-Evans
Instagram @FarmerGirlEb

Gardening started as something to do with her children, and after successfully growing 30 varieties of produce and teaching other youth in the neighborhood to grow their own food, Ebony Lundsford-Evans developed the nonprofit 1sound for the continuation of providing thriving skills to communities.

This year she applied for a One Northside Mini-Grant to host youth and adult programming around how to successfully grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs, but had to change direction due to Covid-19. 

“I was stuck on what to do and then one of the senior citizens I had been working with in this program reached out to me during the pandemic,” Lundsford-Evans said. 

The individual was unable to access fresh food without putting themselves at risk by getting on a bus to go to the grocery store, so Lundsford-Evans decided to use her mini-grant to buy the supplies needed to build a raised garden bed outside of the Northside seniors home. After that, someone else asks Lundsford-Evans for help building raised beds outside of her church, which led to another community member walking up to Lunsford-Evans and asking how to garden.

“And that’s how it grew into 10 families,” Lunsford-Evans. “I had to put a cap on it.”

She said the ONS Mini-Grant has been “really great” in giving her the opportunity to educate first time gardeners and for others to learn about her nonprofit; she is currently looking for funding to expand the program and help people in other communities learn how to grow their food.

Her advice to gardeners?

“First and foremost, share anything that you learn with other growers,” Lunsford-Evans said. “Also, if you make a mistake don’t let that be so discouraging. You can sometimes throw seeds in the ground and grow a whole lot of something, but sometimes you put a lot of work into something and get nothing. Don’t let that defeat you; use it as a tool to keep going because eventually if you keep going, you’ll keep growing.”

 

Image courtesy of Theodora Cotten

PREP – Theodora Cotten

Being a certified reading specialist with a doctorates degree, Theodora Cotten is highly aware of the impact Covid-19 is having on children, especially those in kindergarten and first grade.

“My experience with [this age group] is when they miss out at the beginning, they have a hard time catching up later on,” Cotten said. “I like to see them get a firm foundation right at the beginning so they do well as they go through school.”

To ensure young students are getting enough interactive reading material, Cotten applied for a One Northside Mini-Grant to purchase a one year subscription of Highlights High Five Magazine for 25 children ages 5 and 6 years old. She said her project, PREP, “encourages and empowers parents to help their children with literacy.”

The colorful magazine includes stories, puzzles, cartoons and hidden pictures that aim to get children excited about reading, and because Cotten is purchasing so many subscriptions with the grant, Highlights is able to give her a discount allowing her to reach more students. 

During her career, Cotten has made a point to give books to preschoolers and newborn babies, once passing books out at Allegheny General and McGee-Womens Hospital in the maternity ward. She strongly advises parents to begin reading to their children at birth, because regardless of the baby not being able to understand what the parent is saying, “the baby learns speech from [the parent] and the baby will learn to like reading if [the parents] do.”

“This time I’m giving out books because [children] aren’t getting the firm foundation they normally get when they go to school and I don’t want any child to fall behind if I can help it,” Cotten said.

 

Photo courtesy of Stephen Weiss

Believe & Achieve Learning Hub – Stephen Weiss

Stephen Weiss, executive director at His Place, is no stranger to One Northside Mini-Grants. His organization has been able to utilize the opportunity for a handful of projects over the years like the implementation of their Peace Room, which is a dedicated space for students to decompress and learn different strategies of social emotional regulation. Or the Comic Book Shop, an after school reading program to enhance student literacy.

“It’s a fairly small investment in terms of grants, but it’s still able to have a really profound impact,” Weiss said.

This year, Weiss applied for a mini-grant to create the Believe & Achieve Learning Hub in Spring Hill where 10 elementary and middle school students are able to safely and virtually attend class during the weekdays with Weiss and His Place Data Analyst Melanie Sandoval standing by for support. When the kids get breaks between their class assignments, Weiss and Sandoval hold “multiplication ninja’s” and test the kids for fact fluency. Once they’ve mastered a different fact family they get a ninja belt, which is “surprisingly motivating,” Weiss said. 

The learning hub builds off of the organization’s after school and summer programs, which some of the students have been attending for almost nine years. 

“We wanted to be able to support them as much as possible with their school work, but also with the educational priorities we have set for kids,” Weiss said. “We have 12 different key outcomes for the kids in that program based on the data for what kind of academic, social, and emotional metrics coordinate with students succeeding later in life, especially students who are underserved.”

Alternations needed to be done to the space before allowing children in the hub, like purchasing individual desks and adding ventilation, but the mini-grant was used to help cover supplies for the students like headphones and the addition of a second interest line and boosters to keep all the kids online. Weiss said the learning hub has a capacity of 25 students, which they hope to reach once they have sufficient and stable internet connections. 

“From the administrative side, it’s relief to know we have a little cash to help cover the expected and unexpected expenses,” Weiss said.

 

New Sun Rising’s One Northside Mini-Grant Program is made possible through support by The Buhl Foundation.

Posted in ProjectsTagged Believe & Achieve Community Learning Hub, buhl foundation, farmer girl eb, growing with farmer girl eb, his place, his place pittsburgh, Ignite Northside, ignite Northside pittsburgh, New Sun Rising, new sun rising ignite project, nsr ignite, One Northside, one Northside mini-grants, one Northside pittsburgh, ONS, Pittsburgh, pittsburgh gardeners, pittsburgh manchester, Pittsburgh Northside, Spring Hill pittsburgh

Categories

  • Events
  • Programs
  • Projects
  • Resources
  • Uncategorized

Archives

Tags

  • New Sun Rising
  • culture
  • millvale
  • sustainability
  • opportunity
  • Triboro ecodistrict
  • Vibrant Communities
  • Climate Change
  • Vibrancy Funds
  • Pittsburgh
  • One Northside
  • entrepreneurs
  • Sharpsburg
  • Pittsburgh Northside
  • Etna
  • VibrantCommunities
  • Ignite Northside
  • networking
  • covid-19
  • EcoDistricts
  • organizational development
  • one Northside mini-grant
  • equity
  • Training
  • small business
  • nonprofit
  • evolveEA
  • Homewood
  • professional development
  • un sustainable development goals
  • Etna ecodistrict
  • millvale Ecodistrict
  • one Northside mini-grants
  • RiverWise
  • #Grow
  • Impact
  • heinz endowments
  • teaching artists
  • GROW residency program
  • business mentoring
  • Strong Ambitious Women
  • G.O. girls
  • protohaven
  • hillman foundation
  • ONS
  • ecodistrict
  • sustainable pittsburgh
  • google
  • technology
  • the Forbes fund
  • the partnership network
  • human services
  • grow pittsburgh
  • millvale food + energy hub
  • Sharpsburg ecodistrict
  • Sharpsburg neighborhood organization
  • EcoDistricts protocol
  • Pittsburgh Northside mini-grants
  • Coraopolis Youth Creations
  • love rocks cafe
  • beaver county
  • Triboro Ecodistrict Food Relief
  • brown mamas
  • Allegheny Land Trust
  • The Pittsburgh Foundation
  • covid-19 response
  • pittsburgh nonprofits
  • Power in Numbers
  • vibrancy portal
  • AffordableHousing
  • LaunchWilkinsburg
  • ignite
  • awards
  • ACTION-Housing
  • My Place
  • 1stLayer
  • Emily Marko
  • LaunchStoRox
  • PittMovers
  • SVP Full Circle
  • Unity Through Creativity
  • The Grouding Lab
  • Greater Valley Community Services
  • Legacy Arts Project
  • Coraopolis Community Development Foundation
  • Associated Artists Pittsburgh
  • director of culture and operations
  • operations
  • Pittsburgh fringe festival
  • levels consulting
  • work hard Pittsburgh
  • academy pgh
  • hilltop workforce development program
  • mini-grant street team
  • northside
  • one Northside street team
  • launch sustainability
  • Wilkinsburg
  • capacity building
  • Larimer
  • data
  • collaboration
  • advocacy
  • community development
  • nonprofit capacity building
  • Triboro
  • hurricane ivan
  • food
  • water
  • energy
  • air quality
  • mobility
  • the gardens of Millvale
  • the garden of Etna
  • Sharpsburg community garden
  • garden get down pittsburgh
  • EIS Solar
  • steel city energy conservation
  • sigma luminous
  • center for energy
  • university of Pittsburgh
  • energy grid institute
  • 412 food rescue
  • spruzzatura
  • the food trust
  • fractracker alliance
  • millvale ecodisrict
  • Jamie Johnson
  • NSR
  • Manager of Performance Improvement
  • Sharpsburg borough
  • Sharpsburg community vision plan
  • Sharpsburg Sustainability & Civic Engagement Center
  • sharpsburg community library
  • smiles and tiles day
  • SNO
  • EcoDistricts summit
  • city of pittsburgh
  • Etna eco park
  • ecodistrict celebration Fugh hall
  • emergence millvale
  • emergence Sharpsburg
  • emergence etna
  • emergence a women's collective
  • christ lutheran church
  • north hills community outreach food pantry
  • bread of life food pantry
  • first English lutheran
  • collective change partners
  • digital bridges
  • Style 412
  • sprezzatura Pittsburgh
  • sprezzaturapgh
  • tupelo honey teas
  • mckees rocks
  • crisis mitigation relief fund
  • Barrels to Beethoven
  • Hello Neighbor
  • Hill District Consensus Group
  • Kitchen of Grace
  • Inside Our Minds
  • Latino Community Center
  • Revival Relief
  • Zellous Hope Project
  • vibrancy awards
  • nsr vibrancy awards
  • south hilltop men's group
  • hilltop rising llc
  • earth day 2020
  • earth day
  • earth week
  • earth day 50th anniversary
  • earth week pittsburgh
  • earth day Pittsburgh
  • COVID19
  • Environmentalism
  • Humanism
  • etna community organization
  • bread of life food pantry etna
  • boys & girls club millvale
  • second harvest
  • roots of faith
  • Christ Lutheran Church in Millvale
  • North Hill Community Outreach
  • dinners for friends
  • dinners for neighbors
  • milldam community library
  • millvale development corporation
  • Borough of Millvale
  • Climate Protection
  • Resilience
  • EcoDistricts Certified
  • second EcoDistrict
  • world
  • pandemic
  • justice
  • race
  • responsibility
  • environmental justice
  • Allegheny CleanWays
  • Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania
  • BikePGH
  • Breathe Project
  • Center of Life
  • Communitopia
  • Conservation Consultants
  • Construction Junction
  • Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services
  • Friends of the Riverfront
  • Group Against Smog and Pollution
  • Green Building Alliance
  • Grounded Strategies
  • Homewood Children’s Village
  • Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance
  • Landforce
  • Nine Mile Run Watershed Association
  • PennFuture
  • Pennsylvania Resources Council
  • Pennsylvania Solar Center
  • Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens
  • Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
  • Plant Five for Life
  • Riverlife
  • Student Conservation Association
  • The Forbes Funds
  • Tree Pittsburgh
  • UrbanKind Institute
  • Venture Outdoors
  • Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
  • Women for a Healthy Environment
  • Exploring COVID Impacts Through Visual Art
  • funding
  • financial support
  • Triboro ecodistrict essential workers
  • essential workers
  • first responders
  • front line workers
  • one Northside mini-grant showcase
  • one Northside celebration
  • double L bar
  • double L
  • kiya tomlin
  • 2 sisters 2 sons
  • coronavirus
  • Allegheny County
  • Exploring COVID-19 Impacts Through Visual Art
  • Allegheny County artists
  • beaver county artists
  • arts
  • neighborhood allies
  • The Staunton Farm Foundation
  • Nonprofit Resilience Program
  • pittsburgh organizations
  • Healthy Leaders
  • Stronger Connectivity
  • Building Capacity
  • ignote vibrancy: collective impact
  • ignite workshop
  • open field
  • northview heights
  • crafton heights
  • Coraopolis Alliance for Excellence
  • SURGE Braddock
  • Change Agents Mentoring Peers in Sport
  • Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh
  • Youth Places
  • ARYSE
  • Somali Bantu Community Association of Pittsburgh
  • JFCS Pittsburgh
  • one Northside pittsburgh
  • pittsburgh manchester
  • buhl foundation
  • nsr ignite
  • new sun rising ignite project
  • ignite Northside pittsburgh
  • farmer girl eb
  • growing with farmer girl eb
  • his place
  • his place pittsburgh
  • Spring Hill pittsburgh
  • Believe & Achieve Community Learning Hub
  • pittsburgh gardeners
  • Triboro Solar Co-op
  • Solar United Neighbors
  • Henry L. Hillman Foundation
  • pittsburgh data culture
  • muffy mendoza
  • sustainable development goals
  • tides foundation
  • save Girty's woods
  • Girty's woods
  • mr smalls
  • Girty's woods get down
  • Shaler Area high school
  • Shaler Area middle school

New Sun Rising PO Box 58005
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
 USA

Email:

info@newsunrising.org

New Sun Rising is a GuideStar
Gold Participant

Connect with Us

© 2021 New Sun Rising. All rights reserved.

Website by Imagebox