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The Blog of NSR

Tag: equity

Leaders find support to better themselves, their organizations through Nonprofit Resilience Program

Posted on August 20, 2021 by Alyse Horn

Above: A Mentor Partnership of SWPA webinar with young professionals sharing the name of someone who they have felt mentored by. The partnership provided mentors to Nonprofit Resilience Program participants.

Nonprofit leaders are at a high risk of burnout and mental health impacts, a serious concern which was only exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. 

Even before the pandemic began, the need to create a program that helped community development organizations strengthen the wellbeing of their leaders was imminent, said Jamie Johnson, Director of Programs at New Sun Rising.

Photo courtesy of Assemble, who participated in NRP and agreed to be mentioned in this blog.

Through conversations between New Sun Rising, Neighborhood Allies, The Forbes Funds, and other members of The Partnership Network (TPN), the Nonprofit Resilience Program (NRP) was established to support the leaders of community development organizations across the region. The program was made possible by the generous support of the Staunton Farm Foundation and the Jack Buncher Foundation. 

“Exhaustion, lack of access to growth and learning opportunities, and little to no support for mental health needs was not uncommon,” said Stephanie Chernay, Chief Operating Officer at Neighborhood Allies. “This trend is especially apparent among women and minority leaders of nonprofits.”

Now with its third cohort completed, the Nonprofit Resilience Program has four goals: develop healthy leaders, create trust and connectivity, build organizational capacity, and strengthen the talent pipeline. 

Jamie Johnson, Director of Programs at New Sun Rising, said each cohort has built upon the one that came before it, but the second cohort (which took place in January 2021) tackled the particular challenge of navigating the impacts from the previous year, or the new normal. 

“This cohort, just like the others, proves how important and valuable it is to support our nonprofit leaders,” Johnson said. “The development of a space where they can place their hearts and issues on the table to be accepted and not judged is at the core of this program. We hope the nonprofit community finds opportunities such as this worthy of investment.” 

Christine Kroger of Neighborhood North Museum of Play who participated in NRP and agreed to be mentioned in this blog.

In late 2019, The Partnership Network (TPN), a group of intermediary funders and capacity building organizations mobilizing the community and economic development sectors to solve complex community challenges, met to discuss how they could better support community development organizations across the region. They found that the answer was, in part, by supporting their leaders.

The program contains three three phases that focus on: Healthy Leaders (individual self-care), Stronger Connectivity (relationship building), and Building Capacity (leader + organizational development). 

“I felt the Nonprofit Resilience Program was one of the few professional development opportunities that I attended that focused on the individual and made an effort to see everyone as a person and not just a part of an organization,” said a Nonprofit Resilience Program participant.

Johnson said confidentiality of participants’ names and their organizations was intentional in creating the program so leaders would “feel comfortable enough to be transparent about where they are at.”

“It allowed participants to become vulnerable enough to share their concerns and weaknesses, and anything they may be dealing with, professionally or not, with each other,” Johnson said.

Kelly Burgos Harper, Board President of Monaca Community Development Corporation, who participated in NRP and agreed to be mentioned in this blog.

The first cohort in 2020 included 11 nonprofit leaders from both small and large organizations ranging from staff sizes of 1 to 100+. Out of the 11 participants, seven identified as Black and four as white. Seven participants also identified as heterosexual women, two as heterosexual men, one woman as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and one person as lesbian, gay, bisexual.

The second cohort included individuals who all identified as women; out of the eight participants, one identified as Asian, two as Black, four as white, and one as Caucasian and Puerto Rican. Eight participants identified as women in the second cohort, and one woman was pansexual. The third, funded by The Buhl Foundation, were all Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

“Supporting the mental health of our nonprofit leaders is a necessary step to creating a more efficient, impactful community development system,” said Chernay. “The Nonprofit Resilience Program creates a space where leaders can be honest about their challenges, build trust with their peers, and access individual and organizational capacity building assistance.” 

Due to the success of the program, The Staunton Farm Foundation has committed to funding two more Nonprofit Resilience Program cohorts.

Posted in ProgramsTagged equity, neighborhood allies, Nonprofit Resilience Program

NSR awards over $2 million to grantees through Arts | Equity | Reimagined fund

Posted on July 29, 2021 by Alyse Horn

With the fourth and final round of Collective Action for Re-imagining (CAR) grants released, New Sun Rising has awarded a total of $2,090,190 to 23 collaborations between 97 arts organizations.

Under the Arts | Equity | Reimagined (AER) fund, the Collective Action for Re-imaging program was created to employ new, novel, and innovative ways of working together to address the dramatic shifts that have been instigated by the COVID-19 crisis, and that also addressed opportunities and solutions to reposition the arts sector for a more sustainable and equitable future. 

Twenty-six review panelists participated in recommending funding for 45%, or 23 out of 51, proposals submitted to the program. Out of the funded proposals, 52% were led by BIPOC. The Covid-19 Arts Working Group (CAWG) ultimately approved the recommendations at the end of each grant cycle.

New Sun Rising believes that the AER-CAR grantees represent the largest investment focused on collective action and equity ever made into the Pittsburgh metro area’s arts ecosystem.

The locations of the funded projects include: City of Pittsburgh (14), Allegheny County (5), Beaver County (2), Westmoreland County (1), Cambria County (1).

The nonprofits that received funding in the final round include:

  • Lead Organization: The Legacy Arts Project
    • Funded: $100,000
    • Hotline Ring is a shared, virtual fundraiser presented on July 15 that brings together the aligned missions of seven arts and culture organizations led by and/or in community with Queer, Trans, and/or People of Color to create an opportunity for giving thsat has an enourmous impact in our region.
  • Lead Organization: Block Chronicles
    • Funded: $100,000
    • Block Chronicles and Casa San Jose are collaborating to develop the PGH Latinx Artist Residency (P-LAR), a 10-month opportunity for emerging Latinx artists in Allegheny County, who will receive support in career development and sustainability.
  • Lead Organization: Bloomfield/Garfield Corporation / BOOM Concepts
    • Funded: $100,000
    • BOOM Concepts and Black Unicorn Library & Archives Project will formalize their 7 year partnership by identifying ways to uplift, overlap, and assimilate best practice of both entities in efforts to present a stronger unified program and production portfolio.
  • Lead Organization: Touchstone Center for Crafts
    • Funded: $100,000
    • The Alliance for Creative Rural Economies (ACRE Project) will be a scalable model to bring creativity-driven, COVID-19 responsive, economic development to rural areas across western Pennsylvania and beyond; meeting creatives where they are in their artistic career journeys and offering multiple levels of support and resources to achieve business stability.
  • Lead Organization: Pittsburgh School for the Choral Arts (dba Pittsburgh Girls Choir)
    • Funded: $75,000
    • The establishment of a formal and permanent affiliation between Pittsburgh Girls Choir and the Pittsburgh Camerata for the purpose of sharing administrative leadership, staff and other resources in order to enhance community connections, programming and outreach. 
  • Lead Organization: Neighborhood North Museum of Play
    • Funded: $74,325
    • Playful Learning Initiative will strengthen the community by connecting the arts and education ecosystems to benefit both artists and students. They will activate a group of Teaching Artists and install educational art to make learning through the arts accessible to all, especially in communities of color heavily impacted by COVID-19.

For more information about AER, click here.

Posted in ProgramsTagged Arts Equity Reimagined, culture, equity, opportunity, sustainability, Vibrant Communities

Justice, Race, and Responsibility

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Alyse Horn

Above: Photo from the NEXTpittsburgh article, “More than 30 Pittsburgh environmental groups stand behind this statement on justice, race, and responsibility,” published on June 18, 2020.

During the COVID-19 crisis, the people of southwestern Pennsylvania have learned much about who we are, who we want to be, and the need for unity and leadership in the face of loss and uncertainty. The pandemic continues to cause great change, even as we navigate what it means to reopen. Recent events in Minneapolis and across the nation are reinforcing the critical need to intentionally address racism and develop systems that work for everyone. 

This turbulent time presents a unique opportunity to rebuild a stronger, more resilient region together. A responsible recovery from COVID-19 and from our legacy of racism begins with addressing the essential challenges before us and planning our best next steps. Now is the time to build a society that is truly founded upon justice for all, and comes from understanding and respecting the interconnectedness of all people, our health, our environment, and our prosperity. 

Tragedy has caused the nation to focus on rectifying discrimination in the criminal justice system that unfairly targets Black and Brown America. This type of discrimination is not the only evidence of structural racism in our society. We must acknowledge that racial justice is interwoven through all conversations, including those about health and the environment. For example, as we have seen from CDC data, COVID-19 is widening existing racial gaps in health equity. Similarly, vulnerable populations are disproportionately impacted by pollution. A responsible path forward, and likewise, a responsible recovery, takes information like this into account, and makes sure that workplace and governmental policies support, not hinder, our ability to be healthy and to fix our systems and communities so they are fair for everyone. Our organizations stand aligned with all who are committed to building on this moment of anguish toward a just future. 

A responsible path forward intentionally strengthens the resilience of our natural world and ensures a healthier region, including clean air, clean water, access to outdoor green spaces, and a stable climate—for all. Reductions in carbon emissions and increases in clean energy usage will help curb the increasing extreme weather impacts already being experienced in Pittsburgh, like flooding and poor air quality—also disproportionately felt. 

A responsible path forward means, too, an investment in a sustainable, equitable economic future. Responsible stimulus investments in infrastructure, transportation, food systems, energy, etc. are tools to simultaneously advance our well-being, environmental performance and economic prosperity. Clean energy jobs are an important driver of regional job growth of which we should take full advantage. However, to realize this promise, it is required that we remove barriers and be deliberate about an effort to ensure that Black and Brown residents, and others who have been excluded from full participation in the economy, are included. 

Our organizations will use the wealth of knowledge and the resources we have to make connections, listen to community voices and priorities, and help create a responsible recovery from COVID-19 and from the terror of racism. This is a critical moment for the region, one where our moral path forward and practical measures for rebuilding align. As organizations dedicated to promoting the conservation of this region’s natural assets and protecting the future of the people living in it, we urge other leaders in the region to be proactive in their planning. We have the tools to meet the challenges before us. Together, we will rebuild a more resilient, even greater Pittsburgh region, for all. 

Signed by: 

Allegheny CleanWays, Myrna Newman, Executive Director 

Allegheny Land Trust, Chris Beichner, President & CEO 

Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, Jim Bonner, Executive Director 

BikePGH, Scott Bricker, Executive Director 

Breathe Project, Matthew Mehalik, Executive Director 

Center of Life, Tim Smith, Executive Director 

Communitopia, Katie Modic, Executive Director 

Conservation Consultants, Inc., Jeaneen A. Zappa, Executive Director 

Construction Junction, Mike Gable, Executive Director 

Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, Emily A. Collins, Executive Director and Managing Attorney 

Friends of the Riverfront, Kelsey Ripper, Executive Director 

Group Against Smog and Pollution, Rachel Filippini, Executive Director 

Green Building Alliance, Jenna Cramer, Executive Director 

Grounded Strategies, Ariam Ford-Graver, Executive Director 

Grow Pittsburgh, Jake Seltman, Executive Director 

Homewood Children’s Village, Walter Lewis, President & CEO 

Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance, Matt Elliott, Executive Director 

Landforce, Ilyssa Manspeizer, Executive Director 

New Sun Rising, Scott Wolovich, Executive Director 

Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, Brenda Lynn Smith, Executive Director 

PennFuture, Jacquelyn Bonomo, President and CEO 

Pennsylvania Resources Council, Justin Stockdale, Managing Director 

Pennsylvania Solar Center, Sharon (Pillar) Grace, Founder and Director 

Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Richard V. Piacentini, President and CEO 

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, Catherine Qureshi, Acting Chief Operating Officer 

Plant Five for Life, Christine Graziano, President 

Riverlife, Matthew Galluzzo, President & CEO 

RiverWise, Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director 

Student Conservation Association, Jennifer Meccariello Layman, Regional Vice President 

Sustainable Pittsburgh, Joylette Portlock, Executive Director 

The Forbes Funds, Fred Brown, President and CEO 

Tree Pittsburgh, Danielle Crumrine, Executive Director 

Triboro Ecodistrict, Brian Wolovich, Director 

UrbanKind Institute, Jamil Bey, President 

Venture Outdoors, Valerie Beichner, President & CEO 

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Thomas D. Saunders, President and CEO 

Women for a Healthy Environment, Michelle Naccarati- Chapkis, Executive Director 

Posted in ResourcesTagged equity, Vibrant Communities

One Northside Mini-Grant adjustments amid COVID-19

Posted on March 27, 2020 by Alyse Horn

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.

 

Posted in ProjectsTagged culture, equity, Ignite Northside, One Northside, opportunity, sustainability, Vibrancy Funds, Vibrant Communities

Emergence strengthens Triboro communities through equitable opportunities

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Alyse Horn

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.

Posted in ProjectsTagged equity, Triboro ecodistrict

SNO secures home base for sustainable, civic engagement initiatives

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Alyse Horn

Above: Brittany Reno, Executive Director of Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization, standing outside of the building that SNO closed on in September 2019.

During the summer of 2013, Brittany Reno was rounding out her first year of AmeriCorps and was given the opportunity to do a service project in the neighborhood she had moved to earlier that year: Sharpsburg. 

The event, dubbed Smiles and Tiles Day, was a public art project that brought kids and their family members out to the 16th Street Park to paint ceramic tiles that would become a mural, which was put on display at the community library and is still there today.

“People were so excited about it and wanted to do more, and everybody had all these great ideas,” Reno said. “I wanted to give them some structure to make the ideas happen, so I started Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization (SNO).”

It began with a two-page Word document and a board of local volunteers, with Reno leading the organizing. In 2016, SNO received funding for operations and programs from the UPMC Health Plan, First National Bank, Giant Eagle, and the Hillman Foundation, and the board created a hiring process to find an executive director. Reno, who was not on the board, applied, interviewed, and got the job.

Sharpsburg Mayor Matthew Rudzki said before SNO there were residents and allies putting in work to rejuvenate the borough, but there was “trouble getting traction.”

“What SNO brought to the table was an umbrella organization with terrific leadership to rally that energy into one focused goal: the revival of our community,” Rudzki said. “The pieces of the puzzle were always there; we needed the glue to get them to stick together.”

Until recently, Reno was running the organization out of a home office and traveling to meetings around the community every day—literally “meeting people where they were”—or holding them at Brother Tom’s Bakery, the Sharpsburg Community Library, and other local spots. She said she felt like a “nomad,” but that it felt good to have people visiting the Sharpsburg business district and for her to “bring people here and show them everything I love about Sharpsburg and the great people who live here.”

Reno giving Triboro Ecodistrict Advisory Board members a tour of the buildings upstairs apartment.

Today, Reno will soon be able to invite visitors to 511 S. Main St., the location of the building that the neighborhood organization closed on this September and will use as the home base for its operations and community organizing workshops in the form of the new Sharpsburg Sustainability & Civic Engagement Center. The building itself was built around 1900 and the last occupant was a small business owner who made significant repairs to make the building more accessible and safe. Along with providing the organization a space to hold day-to-day activities, there is also an upstairs apartment that SNO will rent out to cover the mortgage payments and eventually “become a source of sustainable unrestricted revenue” for SNO, Reno said. 

Shanna Carrick, SNO Board President, said a handful of other locations were considered, but in the end they ended up finding “the perfect building.” 

“For the last two years we’ve been saying we wished we had a space to hold public meetings with residents to talk about the ecodistrict and the different needs we have in the community,” Carrick said. Now, thanks to support from the Hillman Foundation, UPMC Health Plan, and First National Bank, they have that space.

As well as a meeting place for people to organize and advocate for things they want to see in the community and region, the building will serve as an example for solar energy and flood retrofitting, and give residents access to real-time air quality data. Reno said SNO is working with EIS Solar, who has created a layout for the solar panels and previously completed the installation at the Sharpsburg Community Library, but the roof will be replaced before the installation in the spring.

“We really want this space to provide an opportunity [for the community] to interact with new, green technologies and see what they’re all about and how they can help people beyond just being good sustainability investments for the environment,” Reno said. 

Using solar to power the building will reduce operating costs and provide results comparable to the outcomes expected by the solar installation on the Sharpsburg Community Library. Every dollar saved through solar can be reinvested back into the community resulting in longer library hours or more funding for programs.

Reno said she is excited to demonstrate how solar can be a viable source of energy for Sharpsburg and showing how much energy will be generated minute-by-minute, and in turn how much money is being saved, as well as how much the installation is saving the building in carbon dioxide emissions.

These initiatives fall in line with the Sharpsburg Community Vision Plan, which was built over two years of local stakeholder engagement on the foundation of the Sharpsburg and Triboro Ecodistrict priorities including: equity, food, water, energy, mobility, and air quality. 

“The plan is for this space to be a real civic engagement hub where people can learn about the community vision plan, get more involved in the community and local government, learn about resources for starting a local business, and learn about green technology and different opportunities for jobs and education in that field,” Reno said. “They can share their feedback on the plan and share their knowledge about life in Sharpsburg, the history of Sharpsburg, or whatever it is that they’re passionate about.”

After SNO secures its occupancy permit, the organization will open its doors with a community celebration and open house in the winter. Supporters can help cover start-up costs for SNO’s Sharpsburg Sustainability & Civic Engagement Center at 511 S. Main St. by making a tax-deductible donation at https://www.paypal.me/sharpsburg or by sending donations to 511 S. Main St.

Posted in ProjectsTagged culture, equity, opportunity, Sharpsburg ecodistrict, sustainability, Triboro ecodistrict

Three boroughs, one green new plan

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Alyse Horn

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. 

Posted in ProjectsTagged equity, Etna ecodistrict, millvale Ecodistrict, Sharpsburg ecodistrict, Triboro ecodistrict

Launch Sto-Rox participants share personal + professional outcomes

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Alyse Horn

Above: Launch Sto-Rox participants at the Showcase + Celebration held in May 2019.

Lawshawn Reed started her company Strong Ambitious Women in 2015 to offer strength based services surrounding self-esteem and confidence in young girls.

Reed works in Pittsburgh Public Schools and the inspiration for her to start her business came from seeing young children dealing with difficult issues or traumatic experiences that in turn impacted their self-esteem.

“I wanted to show them how to reclaim and reprogram their minds, and how to navigate through life and understand themselves,” Reed said.

She said even though the company was founded four years ago, she was struggling to adequately maintain the financial side of her business and understand they kind of service she was providing.

“I was mentoring [kids], but I didn’t understand the kind of mentorship I was providing and Launch Sto-Rox helped me identify that,” Reed said.

Launch Sto-Rox is a 12-month Vibrant Communities program from New Sun Rising for small businesses and entrepreneurs whose core concepts aligned with the Sto-Rox community’s priorities for development. The program concluded this spring and held a showcase and celebration in early May. Over the past year, program participants worked with coaches and focused on strengthening four key areas: business plans, connectivity, resources, and identity.

“Overall [the experience] was exceptional,” Reed said. “It challenged me to do more research and be more intentional on what I do and understanding the worth of myself and the company.”

Tino Brockington felt similarly. His business PittMovers is a moving service company based in McKees Rocks and caters to residents within the city limits. Brockington said he learned how to structure his business in a way that is “more predictable” so they can forecast and plan accordingly, but he also appreciated being able to connect with other small business owners.

“It gave us the ability to network with other individuals experiencing the same thing we were going through,” Brockington said. “[It gave us] a better focus on what we are working towards, because at the end of the day we have the same goal and that’s to be successful.”

The program allowed Brockington to think critically of PittMovers and how he can better service the community, and he said Launch Sto-Rox opened him up to creating a moving assistance program for local residents who do not have the means or the ability to move on their own.

“[Launch Sto-Rox] is a great starting point for any small business,” Brockington said.

Reed agreed, saying that it’s a valuable program for a small business owner in any stage of development.

“Anyone looking to identify their company and understand the necessary steps to take to grow their business, or they just want to know how to start the business and become vital in whatever they’re doing, this program will be a benefit for them.”

Posted in ProgramsTagged equity, Launch Sto-Rox, opportunity, Vibrant Communities

My Place partnership provides added support for at-risk youth

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Alyse Horn

Teenage years are a turbulent time for most, and as young adults begin to enter their early 20s it can become a complicated journey to find ones place in the world.

Even with a stable living arrangement it can be a difficult age to navigate, but for those who are chronically homeless the focus transitions from self-discovery to survival.

For young people in that situation and who have aged out of the foster care system, ACTION-Housing began My Place, a program for young adults between the ages of 18-24 to provide rapid rehousing, employment, and mental health support for those who are homeless or are at risk.

These young adults stay in the program for up to 24 months in a 1-bedroom apartment in the Pittsburgh area and the goal is to enable the participants to ultimately live independent, self-sufficient lives. Since 1957, the organization has been assisting individuals and families in difficult situations. Within the past year, the My Place program has helped 49 young adults.

This spring, New Sun Rising was contracted by ACTION-Housing to build upon the success of My Place to provide increased support for residents’ employment stability, entrepreneurship, and leadership. The program is delivered through three workshops a month with individual artists Quaishawn Whitlock of 1stLayer, Lashawn Reed of Strong Ambitious Women, and Emily Marko.

“We’re meeting them where they’re at,” said Jamie Johnson, My Place Program Coordinator and Manager of Performance Improvement at NSR.

“Some have goals of wanting to be business owners and some need employment right now, but they’re also dealing with personal things like mental health issues and learning disabilities,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to help them develop stable employment to maintain a living situation on their own.”

Those involved in the program do so voluntarily, which Johnson said can raise issues about attendance consistency, but she, the artists, and Lead Facilitator Brettney Duck of G.O. girls have been putting in the effort to develop trust and transparency.

The program staff focus on four development initiatives: planning, connectivity, resources, and identity. Lashawn Reed of Strong Ambitious Women said she touches these four areas, but mainly she is working with the young adults on creating identity.

The main age demographic that Reed works with is usually in 5th or 6th grades, and that can be easier to instill confidence and “plant the seed.” Its been more challenging to work with young adults who have already “made up their mind” about who they are.

“Now you have to convince them that they can be that confident person,” Reed said.

She uses her self-esteem building and strength based services to coach those in the program on creating a brand and teaches them how self-worth and confidence can impact their businesses. All three of the artists are small business owners, which gives them a chance to talk honestly about their own entrepreneurial journeys during their workshops.

Johnson said they have a steady group of three to five youths in the program. Up to 10 young adults are able to join My Place, but the smaller group has worked out well and staff has been able to give enough attention to each individual to work through their personal and entrepreneurial endeavors.

“They’re a resilient bunch of young adults,” Johnson said. “I feel like as long as we can make an impact and help [them], we are happy regardless of the number.”

Posted in ProgramsTagged culture, equity, opportunity, sustainability, Vibrant Communities

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