Tag: New Sun Rising

Jamie Johnson promoted to Director of Programs at New Sun Rising

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

New Sun Rising is happy to announce that Jamie Johnson has been promoted from Manager of Performance Improvement to Director of Programs for the organization.

Jamie Johnson, Director of Operations

In her new role, Jamie oversees the development, implementation, and strategic growth of capacity building programs that improve the vibrancy of disinvested communities in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“I hope to support more diverse and equitable opportunities for communities, not exclusive to geographically, to demonstrate their self-discovered abilities. Communities dictate what they need and how they should go about addressing their needs. I believe we serve at the pleasure of communities,” Johnson said.

New Sun Rising Executive Director Scott Wolovich said he is “extremely grateful to have someone as trusted, talented, and genuinely committed as Jamie to direct our capacity building programs into the future.”

“During her time with NSR, Jamie has demonstrated strengths in designing and managing complex programs with multiple partners, such as leading a program with My Place at Action Housing centered around providing employment stability, entrepreneurship, and personal leadership training for chronically homeless young adults,” Wolovich said. “When the opportunity came up to design and direct the Nonprofit Resilience Program, we had no hesitation that her prior experience in social work and knowledge around personal development would be a great fit.”

Jamie said she is eager to continue working on the Nonprofit Resilience Program, which allows her to apply her counseling education and training to support business leaders.

“There are many personal factors that contribute to a leader’s ability to advance an organization and team towards their mission,” Jamie said. “Knowing that their efforts contribute to the lives of those they serve, why not provide a way for them to take time to evaluate how they can better care for themselves?”

Second round of AER grantees receive $590,000, next application deadline March 18, 2021

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Last month, six organizations were chosen to receive funding from the Collective Action for Re-Imagining grant program. The initiative, managed by New Sun Rising (NSR), has distributed over $700,000 to eight collaboratives since September 2020.

This funding opportunity is for innovative projects in the arts sector that address structural challenges instigated or exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, and other needs that cultivate a stronger, healthier, and more equitable arts sector.

The upcoming deadlines for funding are Thursday, March 18 and Thursday, May 6.

The nonprofits that received funding last month include:

  • Lead Org: Hill Dance Academy Theater
    Project: Space and Place
    Funded Amount: $100,000
    Description:This project develops a Black-led and owned cultural arts facility located in the Hill community to provide space and place for Black dance, Africana visual creative arts, and the art of Photography and Media Production.
  • Lead Org: Silver Eye Center for Photography
    Project: SPACE
    Funded Amount: $100,000
    Description: The Small Pittsburgh Arts Coalition for Equity (SPACE), will work to make Pittsburgh’s small visual arts organizations more equitable, by creating the SPACE Fellowship, a leadership development program focused on supporting marginalized people who have not been historically welcomed into the field with mentorship, network building, and leadership training.
  • Lead Org: The Tull Family Theater
    Project: Arthouse + STEM
    Funded Amount: $100,000
    Description: This arts-led effort will connect BIPOC/underrepresented artists and arts organizations with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical fields, seeking to boost a hurting sector with fields differently impacted by COVID.
  • Lead Org: The Genesis Collective
    Project: The Genesis Collective
    Funded Amount: $100,000
    Description: The Genesis Collective (TGC) exists to create a thriving and supportive arts ecosystem in Beaver County. TGC connects regional artists to one another, to the community, and to those resources required for making art an indispensable feature of Beaver County’s identity.
  • Lead Org: Shana Simmons Dance
    Project: Virtual Dance Exchange
    Funded Amount: $100,000
    Description:The Virtual Dance Exchange Project will generate discussion about race and age diversity in dance through creating choreographic works filmed in 360 degree formats, researching the future of dance and the cross section of virtual reality, and creating more accessible programming that addresses diversity in dance specific to Pittsburgh communities.

  • Lead Org: Drinking Partners
    Project: FreshFest
    Funded Amount: $90,000
    Description: The project will provide a Covid-friendly environment for Black artists to thrive creatively and economically through digital media and the craft beer industry.

Made possible through the Arts | Equity | Reimagined Fund, proposed projects must include partnerships or networks composed of two or more 501(c)3 arts organizations, artist-driven projects, and/or unincorporated arts collectives. This program has an upper budget limit of $100,000 for activities that can be completed within 12 months. . 

For more information on the grant funding guidelines and application process, visit https://www.newsunrising.org/arts-equity-reimagined-fund/. 

Community Small Business Workshops helped participants adapt to Covid-19, meet needs of their market

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Over the summer, New Sun Rising hosted three virtual Community Small Business Workshops to help entrepreneurs access vital resources and navigate the changing Covid-19 landscape.

Catering to Wilkinsburg, Homewood, and the Hilltop, NSR partnered with local organizations in each neighborhood to create workshops that met the specific needs of those communities’ businesses. Jamie Johnson, director of programs at NSR, said a lot of the work with participants was around marketing and creating an online presence.

“Most of them had direct face-to-face contact as part of their business before Covid, and we were trying to help them find ways to still meet the needs of their customers while maintaining relevance,” Johnson said.

The two hour workshops gave participants the opportunity to connect with and receive financial support from Honeycomb Credit before being paired off with mentors, who Johnson had matched with mentees prior to the workshops. Participants were also asked to complete a Pivot Action Plan Lean Canvas before the workshop, which was given to their mentors “so they could maximize their time together and prepare for a pitch competition,” Johnson said.

Digital Bridges Executive Director Connie Capiotis was a mentor for all three workshops, and said after mentees completed the financial part of the workshop, they paired off their mentors to prepare for the live pitch competition with three judges from each community. 

Capiotis said having the Lean Canvas before the workshop was an advantage, because “it helps entrepreneurs, especially new entrepreneurs, fine tune their thought process.”

“As entrepreneurs, we like to be big, creative thinkers and a tool like the lean canvas helps to take these big ideas and flesh them out so you can set smart goals and action plans,” Capiotis said.

The workshops were an adaptation of the Ignite program that NSR has hosted in the past and it was the first time they had been held online to adhere to Covid-19 restrictions on large gatherings.

“NSR pivoting to a virtual platform to deliver the workshops was nothing short of a testament to the resources and skill sets within their staff. Covid presented a global learning curve impacting everyone,” said Ebony McQueen-Harris, relationship manager and strategist with Omicelo Cares and mentor for all three of the workshops.

Johnson said there was a “great turnout,” regarding the number of participants. There were over 30 registered, with 87% of participants being people of color and 47% were women.

According to NSR’s Vibrancy Index for Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Wilkinsburg ranks worse than 62.1 percent of the census tracts in Allegheny County; the Hilltop ranks worse than 45.5 percent, and Homewood ranks worse than 52.8 percent. Community Small Business Workshops like the ones held last summer also help the region make progress on Gender Equality (SDG 5) and Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), create Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), and decrease Poverty (SDG 1).

Each participant received a $150 stipend plus $1,500 of additional financial awards that were given out at each workshop, and ongoing entrepreneurial support.

“Following the workshop, they were connected to [Forward Cities] Resource Navigators Vernard Alexander and Samantha Black to help them get connected to additional resources and whatever they needed as they worked on their capacity,” Johnson said. 

Programs like these are dependent on funding; if organizations are interested in sponsoring one or several Community Small Business Workshops, please reach out to info@newsunrising.org. Funding for this program was provided by the BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Class sparks environmental activism to Save Girty’s Woods

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: students with Shaler Area Middle School teacher Chris Lisowski (center) at a fundraiser for Girty’s Woods hosted by Sprezzatura in September 2020. Photo courtesy of Lauren Powell.

Girty’s Woods has been getting a lot of attention lately.

With Allegheny Land Trust approaching the March 31 acquisition deadline to preserve the 155-acre woodlands, and around $32,000 left to fundraise and secure the deal, the efforts of supporters over the last year will peak this St. Patrick’s Day at the Girty’s Woods Get Down.

The event, hosted by New Sun Rising and Mr. Smalls Theatre, will be an evening of live streamed music, a 50/50 raffle, and more to help raise the remaining funds to garner the $704,626 toal and purchase the land.

The importance of conserving Girty’s Woods from development for not only recreation opportunities and to protect native flora and fauna, but for the lands ability to absorb heavy rains that would otherwise flood Girty’s Run watershed, has inspired many within Millvale, Shaler, and Reserve Township to advocate for the purchase. 

It has also become an elemental part of a new sustainability class being taught by science teacher Abbey Nilson at Shaler Area High School.

“It’s a really cool coincidence that the class started at the same time there is this great need to preserve this forest in our district,” Nilson said.

The year-long class has around 70 Shaler juniors and seniors in the class, with that total being split into three sections. Around 50 of the students are taking the course for college credits through the University of Pittsburgh who partnered with Nilson and helped her create the curriculum for the class.

Nilson said the students in the class are taught to think critically about sustainability issues, like food production and energy consumption, by challenging them to change their lifestyle choices for a short time and document the experience. 

The support around Girty’s Woods, however, was refined over the summer when Nilson connected with Shaler Area Middle School teacher Chris Lisowski.

“He’s very into sustainability, and he told me about this grassroots group that was starting to meet over the summer regarding the preservation of Girty’s Woods,” Nilson said.

It was during these meetings that Nilson began to envision the role students could play in the preservation of the woodlands. In the classes she has taught over the years, it wasn’t uncommon for her to grow plants from seed, and when Nilson learned about logging in Girty’s Woods, she began to think about and research what it would take for her students to germinate and grow trees.

Lauren Powell, senior at SAHS, is in Nilson’s inaugural sustainability class and said the growing process has been “very interesting.”

“We are growing Kentucky Coffee Trees, Black Birch, and several other types [of trees]. The Kentucky Coffee Trees have been the most successful thus far, and germinated well,” Powell said.

After some months passed and it was clear to Nilson that the project was a success, she created a Go Fund Me campaign to sell the trees for a minimum donation of $15 to Allegheny Land Trust and raise money to help Save Girty’s Woods.

“It’s been going really well,” Nilson said. “Some students promoted it over social media and reached out to KDKA; they were interviewed by the local news. They’ve been getting businesses to post about it, and their efforts reaching out to the community have gone really well.”

Nilson said one of the first assignments she gave the class last fall was to visit Girty’s Woods, and she believes that initiated students’ connection to the land and gave them a sense of investment in the issue.

Powell said this class has inspired her to pursue a career in sustainability and she will be attending Point Park University this coming fall with a major in biological and environmental science, as well as interning for the Triboro Ecodistrict this summer.

“Mrs. Nilson has made this class more than anybody could have imagined. I thought I knew a lot about sustainability, and going into this class it has grown dramatically,” Powell said. “Her lessons are so fascinating… and I think she really highlights the importance of sustainability by making it fun for her students to get involved and positively help our climate.”

New Sun Rising launches Power in Numbers initiative

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Pittsburgh, PA — To increase transparency between organizations and communities, and help them access the information and technology needed to reach their shared goals, New Sun Rising has launched the Power in Numbers initiative.

This initiative allows leaders to track and compare their progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through the Vibrancy Portal, a central technology data management system created by New Sun Rising. Participants will also benefit from technical assistance to improve data collection and communications.

“I see this as a way of really bringing the community in to understanding the importance of numbers and why organizations may ask them specific questions,” said Jamie Johnson, Director of Programs at New Sun Rising. “Then there is the opportunity to have that anecdotal and qualitative storytelling happening so it personifies those numbers and connects the community at the same time.”

By assisting organizations in collecting and managing their information, this initiative gives leaders the ability to generate insights across multiple data sets to improve their outcomes, produce better reports, and engage stakeholders through storytelling.  The information also contributes to a shared data resource, which serves to promote collective impact and advocacy.

“Power in Numbers allows me to do the capacity building work that I need to do without hiring an employee or spending funds that my organization doesn’t have,” said Muffy Mendoza, Executive Director of Brown Mamas. “This year, I was able to do some foundational work that I’d been putting off for years through the Power in Numbers initiative. It helped me apply for more funding and develop a strategic plan to guide Brown Mamas in the next 2-5 years.”

The Power in Numbers initiative is currently serving those that have participated in New Sun Rising’s capacity building or intermediary funding programs. 

New Sun Rising will host a workshop from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, February 23 for interested nonprofit and social enterprise leaders to learn more about bringing the power of data and collaboration to their work.

Power in Numbers was developed and launched through the grant support of The Pittsburgh Foundation and Google (Tides Foundation). 

 

Contact

Partnership or media inquiries about the initiative can be emailed to info@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.

Initiative launches to strengthen data culture, promote more effective collaboration between organizations, community

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: Community leaders gather for the EcoDistricts Incubator at the Millvale Food + Energy Hub in 2019.

There are handfuls of reasons as to why individuals choose careers in the nonprofit sector, but at the basis of them all is the desire to help others.

Whatever sector that may be, to make the greatest impact in the lives of the people they work with, a nonprofit is constantly learning information about the needs of the community and using it to secure resources that improve their conditions.

Essentially, data collection turns a person into a number. But if a nonprofit has the tools to take that data, flip it, and reverse it, they can successfully turn that number back into a person.

To increase transparency between organizations and communities, and help them access the information and technology needed to reach their shared goals, New Sun Rising launched the Power in Numbers initiative.

This initiative allows leaders to track and compare their progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through a central technology data management system: the Vibrancy Portal.

“I see this as a way of really bringing the community in to understanding the importance of numbers and why organizations may ask them specific questions,” said Jamie Johnson, Director of Programs at New Sun Rising. “Then there is the opportunity to have that anecdotal and qualitative storytelling happening so it personifies those numbers and connects the community at the same time.”

By assisting organizations in collecting and managing their information, this initiative gives leaders the ability to generate insights across multiple data sets to improve their outcomes, produce better reports, and engage stakeholders through storytelling.  The information also contributes to a shared data resource, which serves to promote collective impact and advocacy.

Brown Mamas Executive Director Muffy Mendoza said utilizing this initiative has been monumental for her small organization.

“Power in Numbers allows me to do the capacity building work that I need to do without hiring an employee or spending funds that my organization doesn’t have,” Mendoza said. “This year, I was able to do some foundational work that I’d been putting off for years through the Power in Numbers initiative. It helped me apply for more funding and develop a strategic plan to guide Brown Mamas in the next 2-5 years.”

Johnson said that a strengthened data culture can allow nonprofit and social enterprise leaders to see the areas where they excel and where they can improve, and then share that information back to the people they serve to ask what can be done differently as well as celebrate the areas where they are doing well.

“My biggest thing is getting away from people being boiled down to a number, but knowing that number represents a life in a community and how do we bring life back to these numbers? I think this is a way we can do that, but it’s going to take community understanding and buy in for that to really happen,” said Johnson.

The Power in Numbers initiative builds upon years of investment by New Sun Rising designed to strengthen the region’s capacity for data collection, collective impact, and the Sustainable Development Goals.  At launch, the initiative will serve nonprofits and social enterprises that have participated in New Sun Rising’s capacity building or intermediary funding programs. 

To learn more about how to bring the power of data and collective impact to your work, register for the upcoming Power in Numbers Workshop on Tuesday, February 23 from 12-1 p.m. Partnership or media inquiries about the initiative can be emailed to info@newsunrising.org. 

Power in Numbers was developed and launched through the grant support of The Pittsburgh Foundation and Google (Tides Foundation). 

Mini-grantees adapt projects to meet Northside residents needs

Posted on 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.

Sport for Good: Open Field promotes collective impact to achieve Sustainable Development Goals

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: A group of girls who participated in Open Field’s 2020 summer program.

Last September during New Sun Rising’s Ignite Vibrancy: Collective Impact, over 30 community leaders representing 10 collective impact projects were given the opportunity to pitch for $30,000 in total grants during the one-day workshop supported by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation.

The three pitch winners were: Coraopolis Community C.A.F.E (Coraopolis Alliance for Excellence), SURGE Braddock, and C.H.A.M.P.S Northview Heights + Crafton (Change Agents Mentoring Peers in Sport). In addition to funding, each received ongoing technical support from New Sun Rising’s GIT-COL initiative (Growing Impact Through Data + Collaboration).

We were able to catch up with Justin Forzano, Founder & CEO of Open Field, and part of the C.H.A.M.P.S partnership that also includes JFCS Pittsburgh, Somali Bantu Community Association of Pittsburgh, ARYSE, Youth Places, and the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh.

Forzano’s partnership received $5,000 to help support their programming, which utilizes the global game of soccer to promote social cohesion, increase life skills education, and improve the health and well-being of young people in Northview Heights and Crafton Heights.

Boys playing soccer during Open Field’s 2020 summer program.

“Attending the workshop with NSR and our communication with [former Director of Opportunity] Leigh [Solomon Pugliano] was helpful because it forced us to get out of the day-to-day and think about the bigger picture,” Forzano said. “It was nice to do not only for the sake of our organization, but do it in consideration and collaboration with other organizations to see where our future goals align.”

With C.H.A.M.P.S working in two different neighborhoods, Foranzo said they had always held separate meetings with a couple community organizations in each area to take care of planning for that neighborhood, and the Ignite Vibrancy: Collective Impact workshop was the first time representatives from each neighborhood came together around a table to identify common issues.

“That was an unexpected surprise, because I hadn’t really thought about doing that before,” Forzano said.

In particular, Open Field’s work with youth in Northview Heights promotes physical activity, life skills, and leadership in a deeply disinvested community. Residents earn a median income that is only 30 percent of the Pittsburgh average and 90 percent identify as Black, a population that is reflective of those hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis. According to NSR’s Vibrancy Index, the community ranks worse than 96 percent of census tracts in Allegheny County on Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities, due to racial segregation and income distribution. Through collaborations like C.H.A.M.P.S, Open Field and their partners are helping residents to lead and benefit from initiatives, which improve Health (SDG 3), Education (SDG 4), and Employment (SDG 8).  

“We are a pretty unique organization in how our intervention is sport based, specifically soccer… so one of the things we noticed is that all of these other organizations are providing a lot of wraparound services, and our interventions help address a lot of things they’re working on. So a consensus of us all talking together is ‘look at all these things we identify as issues that are common in both communities; look at all these things and all the ways an intentional sport for social impact program can address them; let’s work together to address these issues.”

Pittsburgh and a Global community will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Open Field, during “A Taste of Africa at Home” on October 24, 2020. Although the virtual event is sold out, you can still show your support through their online auction or by making a donation.

Nonprofit Resilience Program focuses on leaders wellbeing to create trust, connectivity and build capacity

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Pittsburgh, PA — Eleven nonprofit executives have been selected as the first cohort to participate in a three month resiliency program to address personal and organizational pressures that have been exacerbated by COVID-19.

The program began on September 1, 2020 and will conclude on November 23, 2020.

Hosted by New Sun Rising in partnership with Neighborhood Allies, The Partnership Network, The Forbes Funds, and made possible with support from The Staunton Farm Foundation, the Nonprofit Resilience Program creates a resource that assesses individual leaders and provides them tools for personal healthy mental habits. It also addresses the overall health of the organization and provides capacity building tactics and tools to better understand the symbiotic relationship between the two. 

“Seeing the impact of COVID-19 and the ever present history of our country’s issues around racism, it is time to find a way for our nonprofit leaders to identify the tools and skills that fill them back up so they can continue to pour out,” said Jamie Johnson, Manager of Performance Improvement at New Sun Rising.

The Partnership Network, a group of intermediary funders and capacity building organizations mobilizing the community and economic development sectors to solve complex community challenges, have identified four goals for this program: Develop Healthy Leaders, Create Trust and Connectivity, Build Organizational Capacity, and Strengthen the Talent Pipeline. These goals have been broken down into phases and will be addressed over the program’s timeline.

  • Phase 1: Healthy Leaders: Acknowledge and support the needs of people as individuals. Research shows that higher emotional intelligence facilitates stress resilience. An online Emotional Intelligence Assessment will be administered and Development Sessions are created based on the results.
  • Phase 2: Stronger Connectivity: People need to heal from past trauma in order to actualize their own potential and ability to support others. Collective experiences will be promoted based on empathy and honesty. Participants will develop trust and strengthen peer relationships in new ways to help them better manage adversity in the future.
  • Phase 3: Building Capacity: A leader’s health, mental and physical, and the health of their organization are interrelated. Gaining a greater understanding of operational strengths and weaknesses helps professional service contractors address and organization’s most urgent needs

“As public servants and dedicated leaders, we can often be so driven by our passions that the personal health of a non-profit director is often secondary to the work. Over time, this can lead to burnout, exhaustion, and institutional knowledge loss in the system,” said Stephanie Chernay, Chief Operation Officer at Neighborhood Allies. “This program is designed to center the leader and their needs to accomplish both their personal and organizational goals.”

Program participants include: Andrea Matthews – Brashear Association; Jason Flowers – Omicelo Cares; McKees Rocks CDC; Emily Mitchell – Urban Redevelopment Authority; Joanna Deming – Perry Hilltop Citizens Council; Jordan Coughlen – Alpha House; Amber Epps – Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation; Ariam Ford – Grounded Strategies; Denele Hughson – Grow Pittsburgh; Jona Reyes – Neighbors Helping Neighbors North Braddock; Alyssa Lyons – Green Building Alliance.

Co-developer of this initiative, Terry Doloughty of Boss Consulting, will also be one of the technical assistance providers working with non-profit leaders to help them establish strong personal and organizational health habits.

Developing resilience is a transformational process that occurs over time through a multifaceted approach. By strengthening individual leaders and their relationships with peers, this initiative will ultimately improve organizational sustainability and help to achieve greater impact. This program recognizes the health of the organization and the mental health of nonprofit leaders are intrinsically intertwined. 

—

CONTACTS:

Jamie Johnson, Manager of Performance Improvement, New Sun Rising
jamie@newsunrising.org

Stephanie Chernay, Chief Operating Officer, Neighborhood Allies
stephanie@neighborhoodallies.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 all 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 Neighborhood Allies
Neighborhood Allies’ mission is to support the people, organizations and partnerships committed to creating and maintaining healthy neighborhoods. They strive to support this mission by creating community partnerships, connecting distressed and transitioning communities with valued/vetted resources, and communicating and celebrating progress and success.

About The Partnership Network
The Partnership Network (TPN) is a group of intermediary funders and/or capacity building organizations working to mobilize the community and economic development sectors in the Pittsburgh region. TPN creates the conditions for change by collaborating to solve complex community challenges at the macro, meso, and micro levels of our communities. Collectively, TPN is focused on capacity building for the Community Development System to reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). TPN members are committed to being people-centered while implementing the following practices: Aligning Resources, Creating Transparency, and Articulating Shared Outcomes. Partner organizations include Allegheny Conference, The Forbes Funds, Grounded Strategies, Neighborhood Allies, NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania, and New Sun Rising.

About The Forbes Funds
The Forbes Funds advances the well-being of our region by helping human service and community-based nonprofits build their management capacity and increase the impact of their mission work. They support these nonprofits both as individual organizations and as a unified coalition of leaders, funders, and advocates working collaboratively throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.

Allegheny, Beaver County artists to be featured in virtual event hosted by New Sun Rising, RiverWise

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Pittsburgh, PA —  A virtual gallery opening will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 29 for the six artists selected to participate in the Exploring COVID-19 Impacts Through Visual Art program, which provided $2,500 of direct financial support for each artist to create visual art reflecting the effect of COVID-19 on their community.

During the event, the artists will talk about their work and thought process on the creation of their individual pieces. Two artists will also be announced as overall winners and their work will be displayed via wallscapes at two public locations: Millvale Food + Energy Hub and a site to be determined in Beaver County.

More event information can be found here.

“The experience of COVID-19 has taught all of us that we are deeply connected to another,” said Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director of RiverWise. “This project is a great way of increasing connectivity between artists throughout Allegheny and Beaver County, while also showcasing how art can be a powerful way of responding to the many challenges we are facing as a region and a human race.”

The Allegheny County Artists include: Janel Young (JY Originals), painter and muralist; Juliandra Jones (PBJ Customs), painter and digital artist; and Natiq Jalil (The Art of Natiq), watercolor artist. The Beaver County artists include: Erin Ninehouser (The Listening Library), photographer; Marlon Gist, fine artist; and Katie Stone, ceramics sculptor.

“Hearing the stories of how artists are coping during this pandemic is as powerful as the art that has been created for this program,” said Dan Stiker, Director of Operations at New Sun Rising. “The virtual gallery opening will give us the chance to listen and learn from their experiences.”

The program is a partnership between New Sun Rising and RiverWise, supported by The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Emergency Action Fund.

Contact

Dan Stiker, Director of Operations, New Sun Rising
dan@newsunrising.org

Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director, RiverWise
daniel@getriverwise.com

About New Sun Rising

New Sun Rising supports nonprofits and small businesses to build vibrant communities through culture, sustainability, and opportunity. NSR believes that all 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 RiverWise

RiverWise employs sustainable development practices to create a regional identity around the rivers of Beaver County. At the heart of this work is a concerted effort to organize stakeholders to dream, learn, and collaborate about the future of our rivers. They encourage this process in two primary ways. First, they have formed ecodistricts in three communities (Aliquippa, Monaca, and Beaver Falls). Second, they are engaged in a growing list of projects aimed at activating community ideas and bringing sustainable development to life throughout Beaver County.

 

One Northside 2019-2020 Mini-Grant Showcase, upcoming mini-grant deadlines

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Pittsburgh, PA — At 12 p.m. on Monday, August 24, New Sun Rising (NSR) and One Northside (ONS) will host a showcase of resident-driven mini-grant projects that have been completed in 2019 through August 2020.

The event will be virtual and hosted via Facebook Live. Attendees should visit this link and RSVP to receive reminder notifications from Facebook. 

The upcoming application deadlines for the rest of the 2020 ONS Mini-Grants are:

  • Friday, August 21 at 11:59 p.m.
  • Friday, October 16 at 11:59 p.m.
  • November 20  at 11:59 p.m. (pending fund availability)

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and reviewed bi-monthly. 

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. 

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

If you are working towards COVID relief projects, please reach out to vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org for an application noting what your project will help.

 

Contact

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.

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.

New Sun Rising, RiverWise announce financial support for artists to visually explore COVID-19 impacts

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Pittsburgh, PA —  Exploring COVID Impacts Through Visual Art is a program that will provide $2,500 of direct financial support for artists (up to 6 nonprofits, individuals, or small businesses) to create visual art reflecting the impact of COVID-19 on their community. 

Interested applicants must complete an initial application by July 3, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.  Applications received by the deadline will be notified of their status within one week.

Successful applicants will receive funds and technical assistance to support their project and must agree to the following conditions, which can be found here. If selected to participate in the program, artists must complete their artwork by July 24, 2020.

“Artists’ work often moves people to reflection, hope, and action. We are not merely viewing art, we are experiencing it. Like most of the workforce, creative’s livelihoods have been affected drastically. Our program hopes to provide some relief to the current pandemic and come together as a community,” said Dan Stiker, Director of Operations for New Sun Rising.

Nonprofits, individuals, and businesses in Allegheny and Beaver County are all eligible to apply. Applications to the Fund are to be completed online at this link or, if technology creates a barrier, through an application interview scheduled by emailing vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org. 

All applicants will be vetted by a diverse Fund Committee, composed of New Sun Rising, RiverWise, and community representatives, following the established Selection Criteria, which can be found here.

“There is a growing spirit of cooperation taking place between Beaver County and Allegheny County,” explains Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director of RiverWise. “We are increasingly realizing that our experiences and opportunities are very similar. And, more than ever, COVID-19 reminds us that we’re all in this together. So, we’re excited to see that reflected in art from around the region.”

The program is a partnership between New Sun Rising and RiverWise, supported by The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Emergency Action Fund.

 

Contact

Dan Stiker, Director of Operations, New Sun Rising
dan@newsunrising.org

Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director, RiverWise
danielkeen@hotmail.com

 

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 RiverWise

RiverWise employs sustainable development practices to create a regional identity around the rivers of Beaver County. At the heart of this work is a concerted effort to organize stakeholders to dream, learn, and collaborate about the future of our rivers. They encourage this process in two primary ways. First, they have formed ecodistricts in three communities (Aliquippa, Monaca, and Beaver Falls). Second, they are engaged in a growing list of projects aimed at activating community ideas and bringing sustainable development to life throughout Beaver County.