Mental Health Cafe – Holiday Edition

For December’s Mental Health Cafe, join the Inside Our Minds Team for conversation, peer support, and mutual aid at Tupelo Honey Teas. We will have holiday cookies, but feel free to bring some of your own to share (be sure to mark all allergens / dietary needs if you do!).

Mental Health Cafe is a monthly community conversation on mental health, mental illness, and madness over coffee and treats. The event will focus on informal discussions and friendly peer support / mutual aid in a welcoming space for all. People are invited to participate actively or passively, or just listen.

Important Notes: Mental Health Cafe is a space for peers and allies to have open conversations that represent a wide variety of opinions and beliefs, some of which everyone may not agree with. As a community, we expect everyone to hold respectful conversations. Anyone who personally attacks, harasses, or discriminates against another community member will be asked to leave and will be potentially banned from future events.

Mental Health Cafe is not a substitute for professional mental health treatment. We are also NOT a support group. We can only provide friendly peer support and conversation. 🙂

Arrival Info

Tupelo Honey Teas is accessible for wheelchair and mobility device users through the Millvale Library accessible entrance. Nearby bus stops include the 1 and 2.

If you cannot find the group or are nervous/anxious upon arriving, please private message our Facebook page or text the Inside Our Minds phone line: (412) 438-3278.

The Inside Our Minds staff will have earplugs on hand for anyone who would like them. We also utilize a colored name tag system to display social interaction preferences (originally from the Autistic community).

Anonymous Open Mic, Featuring Writing Away The Stigma

Doors at 6:30pm | Performances begin at 7:00pm | Free Event

This special Anonymous Open Mic will feature readings from the teens from Creative Nonfiction’s Writing Away The Stigma program!

We will also be accepting anonymous and non-anonymous submissions from the general public. Submit your story here: https://goo.gl/forms/ojXcVE9cLedjIuN33

Host and Event Information

Anonymous Open Mic is a storytelling project working to build a community narrative around mental illness in Pittsburgh. Pittsburghers affected by mental illness can submit a short story, poem, or spoken word piece anonymously online. Community members can then volunteer to perform the anonymous works in front of a live audience.

Live sound and recording will be provided by The Social Voice Project, Inc., an innovative public interest media company. Learn more at http://thesocialvoiceproject.org.

Writing Away The Stigma is an opportunity for project fellows to write about how mental illness has affected their lives and then combat the shame and stigma surrounding mental illness. Learn more at www.creativenonfiction.org/stigma. The Writing Away The Stigma project was made possible by the Grable Foundation.

Inside Our Minds is an organization that works to elevate the voices of people with lived experience of mental illness and madness in Pittsburgh. Learn more at www.insideourminds.org. Inside Our Minds is fiscally sponsored by New Sun Rising.

FAQs

Is this event accessible?

The Millvale Community Library is wheelchair accessible and has accessible indoor restrooms. Our event will take place on the back porch and outside in the backyard. To enter the backyard area, you can enter from two locations: 1) from the front of the library on Grant Ave (partial stone path) or 2) in the back from Farragut Street (there is one large bump in this direction).

ASL interpretation will be provided by Sign Language Interpreting Professionals. Earplugs will be available for anyone who would like them. Please email contact@insideourminds.org with any additional questions.

Affordable Housing for Millvale, by Millvale pilot project kicks off

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Amy Edwards

Surveyed through the Millvale Library Community Needs Assessment and identified by the community led Millvale EcoDistrict Pivot Plan, affordable housing and workforce development emerged as key priorities. In support of these identified needs, New Sun Rising is leading a pilot project that will simultaneously work towards addressing these needs.

NSR will be providing programmatic development and technical assistance to build and strengthen the neighborhood-specific contractor workforce here in Millvale, while also supporting general workforce development and affordable housing needs.

Millvale-based development company and project partner, Chunky Skunk Holdings, has acquired a property at 1141 North Ave. in Millvale. The project will provide contracting work for local residents, and once rehabbed, become a pilot affordable housing project. The purchase of this property was made possible thanks to financing by the Borough of Millvale Revolving Loan Fund.

Brian Wolovich, the project manager for NSR, notes the ways in which this initiative is in line with community and EcoDistrict priorities,

The Millvale Ecodistrict Plan’s Equity section calls for action to “Maintain affordability and build community wealth” through encouraging “property acquisition by existing stakeholders to prevent displacement of current residents.” The Equity section makes multiple references to using a variety of affordable housing strategies. Also, the Millvale Community Needs Assessment identified a number of residents who are currently renting (and vulnerable to rising rental costs) who would like to purchase a home in Millvale and are interested in assistance. This program is also being developed in response to that resident feedback.

Zaheen Hussain, New Sun Rising’s Director of Sustainability will be completing Radon testing using radon monitors checked out from Millvale Community Library. Additional testing will identify environmental health conditions and potential hazards. The initial build-out will be completed with the help of community volunteers, and professional contractors hired will be Millvale resident contractors.

After the rehab process, the property will be made available for sale to an income qualified family from Millvale.

Those interested in becoming more involved in this process or who want to learn are welcome on-site on Saturday, April 28th for a volunteer Spring cleaning and open house.

Saturday, April 28th at 1141 North Ave. Millvale, PA

10:00am-12:00pm – Clean up and clean out with volunteers

12:00pm – Lunch provided

12:00 – 2:00pm – Open house and continued clean up as needed

Members of North Hills Community Outreach, The Borough of Millvale, Millvale Veterans of Foreign Wars, Millvale Community Development Corporation, Millvale Community Library, Business Association of Millvale, and Emergence will all have representatives volunteering and joining the clean up on the 28th.

Mental Health Cafe – February Edition

Mental Health Cafe is a monthly community conversation on mental health and mental illness over coffee (or tea!) and treats. The event will focus on informal discussions and friendly peer support in a welcoming space for all. People are invited to participate actively or passively, or just listen.

In order to ease discussion, each month will have a specific theme to start off the discussion. Then we’ll go wherever the conversation leads us! 🙂

February’s Theme: Relationships (Not Just Romantic!)

Learn more at www.insideourminds.org/mentalhealthcafe

Brrrr… What’s going on with that climate change?

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Amy Edwards

A re-blog from the Millvale Community Library…

Zaheen Hussain, NSR Director of Sustainability, has just published an article on the MCL Blog that speaks to the nuances between weather and climate and what that means in the context of Climate Change.

Read the full article here.

Interested in learning more? Join us at the Millvale Moose on Thursday, February 22nd at 6PM for a friendly conversation on climate change. We will walk through the latest research together to gain an understanding of why the climate is changing. Skeptical of climate change or still unsure? You’re more than welcome, as we always appreciate a healthy conversation.