For Good

There are so many free, outdoor activities at the 26th Annual Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival May 16-20 in Oakland, from storytelling to dance and magic, that “some people miss that it’s a theater festival at its heart,” says Pamela K. Lieberman, the festival’s executive director.
 
Lieberman is hoping that one festival event in particular inspires patrons to try some of the ticketed theater performances. Artist Alan Parkinson is back with another Luminarium, called Mirazozo – a colorful, football field-sized inflated light labyrinth. The experience of being inside this structure, she says, could “help inspire audiences to see something [else] that is in a more traditional theater setting.”
 
They include “Plop!” by Australia’s Windmill Theatre, a play about a courageous rabbit, the unpleasant Plop and the fear of the unknown, geared to the very youngest children, ages 1 to 5. “Children are ready to see theater when they are that small,” says Lieberman, but “it’s a new aspect of the field,” and parents may not yet understand how their kids can benefit from, and enjoy, theater as preschoolers.
 
Other theatrical features are World of Rhythm by Netherlands’ Drums United, featuring percussion from across the globe; Dudes, described as a “mix of song, dance, juggling, puppetry and slap-stick comedy” for 6-year-olds and up, also from the Netherlands; Scotland’s Shona Reppe Puppets performing Cinderella; and Origami Tales from Kuniko Theater, whose folded paper creations are part of Japanese storytelling.
 
The free activities encompass everything from last year’s Silent Disco (offering kids headphones that pick up several DJs) to a hula-hoop maker and interactive demonstrations by artists who have won the Sprout Fund’s Spark Awards for innovative ideas at the intersection of the arts and technology aimed at children.
 
“Our mission … is that the children are seeing culture and art from around the world, and walking away with new ideas and creative inspiration,” says Lieberman. “It’s really important that families are experiencing this together. We’re now seeing the third generation come through as audience members, so it’s really exciting.”
 
Do Good:
Join the Kids+Creativity network for the latest on the intersection of education, arts and technology – and to lend your own talents.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Pamela K. Lieberman, Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival

The Pittsburgh Promise scholarship fund for Pittsburgh Public Schools students is celebrating its first year of awarding $40,000 to qualified seniors – twice the scholarship level of previous years – with four events across three weekends: community-service days, a career fair, a dance marathon fundraiser and a gala.
 
First up is the community-service weekend.
 
On May 31, seniors who are eligible to receive the scholarship and graduate – potentially 1,100 district students – will be fanning out across the city to participate in up to 40 different service projects selected by Pittsburgh Cares.
 
“We wanted [students] to have the opportunity to say thank you to the city,” says Gene Walker, the Promise’s benchmarks manager, “and to start their life of volunteering.” Also participating that day will be students who are enrolled in the Promise’s Community College of Allegheny County extension program, which is in its third year. This program helps students who showed potential to be Promise-ready when they graduated from high school but weren’t eligible for the Promise at the time, due to a low grade-point average or other factor. If participants get through the highly structured extension program at CCAC, they become eligible for the Promise for their remaining three years of college.
 
Volunteering on June 1 will be some of the 3,200 current college students and graduates who received the Promise scholarship in previous years.
 
The upcoming service weekend will be followed by a “Career Launch” career fair June 7-8, aimed at the 400 college grads who have received the Promise, as well as those who haven’t graduated yet but who could use help with resumes and interview preparation.
 
The dance marathon June 14-15 at Sunrise Stage AE will feature performances by Ashanti and G. Love and Special Sauce and DJs, and will be hosted by Kiya and Mike Tomlin, with proceeds going to the Promise. 
 
Just as the Promise is designed to aid the academic achievements of students while keeping them in or near Pittsburgh, these celebratory events are “our way of getting [students] out there and hooked into Pittsburgh, whether it’s for a job or volunteering,” concludes Walker.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Gene Walker, Pittsburgh Promise

Even though clean energy sources like wind and solar are everywhere, there are particularly Burgh-ish reasons to switch to them, says Tiffany Hickman, Western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (or PennFuture) – and reasons not to doubt their usefulness.
 
“We have cloudy days here and a lot of people think that solar is not a viable energy here,” notes Hickman. Actually, she says, many local solar suppliers are getting “great results” from solar energy installations. “Wind is becoming a big thing in Pennsylvania in general,” she adds, and people throughout the state may not realize that, thanks to electricity deregulation, they can now choose to purchase 100-percent wind-powered electricity from certain companies.
 
That’s why PennFuture is holding the final part of their FutureFest, called “Clean Energy Matters,” on May 24 at the Phipps Conservatory. The event is geared to homeowners who want to know more about their options, students who are interested in learning more about sustainable technologies, and people in the energy industry.
 
Main presenter Andrea Luecke of the national Solar Foundation, which promotes sun-powered energy through education and research, will present the latest perspectives on solar use and how its implementation is getting past recent hurdles.
 
Local presenters include Tony Prelec of Pepco Energy Services, who will discuss the hot topics of thermal storage and landfill methane; Frank Bursic of Rentricity, who will talk about hydrokinetic energy recovery (capturing the energy created by water rushing through our pipes); and Katie Belessa of EverPower Wind, who wants you to buy local wind.
 
“It’s part of a sustainable future for Pennsylvania,” Hickman says. “Pennsylvania can be a very strong purveyor of wind here and set a standard for the rest of the country.”
 
Do Good:
Learn more about the environmental needs specific to our region at the Frick Environmental Center.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Tiffany Hickman, PennFuture

Everything seems to be happening at once in May, so get ready:
 
The kickoff for Great Outdoors Week is May 9 in Market Square, with a climbing wall, raffles and more – just the start of 60 events in more than a week, lasting through May 20, from a medicinal plant walk and bird-watching hike to a bicycling event involving the Over the Bar Café on the South Side. Highlights include the three signature GOW events: Learn to Row and Paddle (on May 11, with the Three Rivers Rowing Association); National Bike to Work Day/Car Free Fridays (on May 18, with Bike Pittsburgh), and the May 19 Venture Outdoors Festival (sponsored by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield).
 
Enjoy Pittsburgh’s outdoor amenities while you can, says Ginette Walker Vinski, spokesperson for Sustainable Pittsburgh, lest the state assembly votes yes on the governor’s budget cuts to the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund. "This is Pennsylvania's only funding source that directs funds to parks, land trusts and recreation." Vinski points out. In the past, it has supported the Three Rivers Heritage and Montour trails, along with amenities at state parks and forests, including visitor centers, parking lots and rest rooms.
 
The 30^th annual YWCA Tribute to Women Leadership Awards Luncheon () on May 16 this year is honoring eight women for their contribution to the local YWCA’s mission of empowering women and eliminating racism. They include the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s Jane Werner; Heidi K. Bartholomew of FedEx Ground; the FISA Foundation’s Missy Unkovic; Donna L. Imhoff of CCAC; Helen A. Davis of Davis Eye and Wellness Center; Jeannette E. South-Paul, chair of the Department of Family Medicine at Pitt’s School of Medicine; Susan Frietsche of the Women’s Law Project; and Christy Uffelman of Mascaro Construction Company
 
"What we look for,” says Maggie Jensen, CEO of the YWCA of Pittsburgh, “are women with professional accomplishments but also volunteerism -- that they contribute to the community above and beyond what they do professionally."
 
Equality Pennsylvania is having its first fundraiser in Southwestern Pennsylvania on the evening of May 10, celebrating two years of statewide accomplishment on behalf of LGBT Pennsylvanians.
 
Executive Director Ted Martin points to several important accomplishments since 2010, including the passage of 12 local non-discrimination ordinances that make it illegal to fire or deny public accommodations to someone because he or she is LGBT; the founding of the LGBT Equality Caucus in Harrisburg, which Martin believes may be the first in a state legislature; and the group’s support for LGBT candidates through the Equality PA PAC.
 
Locally, Martin is also pleased to see the Pirates release an “It Gets Better” video recently as part of the campaign to encourage kids not to be bullied by anti-LGBT attitudes. Still, he notes that 70 percent of Pennsylvanians remain uncovered by nondiscrimination laws, which the group is working to rectify. "So much of what we do is letting people understand who we are, what we are doing … and why we are doing it," Martin says.
 
Finally, don’t forget that May 13 is Mother’s Day. Through mom’s day (and from June 2-17 for Father’s Day too), you can head to SLB Radio Productions at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to have your kids make their own Audio CD Cards, complete with handmade decorations. Last year, more than 500 kids ages 5 and up preserved their voices and sentiments for mom.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Sources: Ginette Walker Vinski, Sustainable Pittsburgh; Maggie Jensen, YWCA of Pittsburgh; Ted Martin, Equality Pennsylvania; SLB Radio Productions

For 25 years, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild has displayed and celebrated student art from Pittsburgh Public Schools. But for the newly dubbed MCG Invitational, opening on May 10, the pioneering arts-education organization will also be including art from students in five suburban school districts – West Mifflin, Wilkinsburg, Duquesne, Homestead and McKeesport – who will join in the competition for more than $100,000 in scholarships, awards and prizes.
 
“We are glad to have the chance to regionalize” the event, says Dave Deily, director of MCG Youth & Arts. "The regionalization has helped with drawing a high level of art in all mediums. This is one of the strongest shows we've had."
 
The show’s entries incorporate drawings, watercolors, oils, charcoals, ceramics (both sculptural and functional), textiles, photography, printmaking, and mixed media, including a large-scale hanging piece made from at least 1,000 Port Authority bus passes.
 
Alecia Shipman, who attended MCG classes from 2000 through 2002 while a student at Schenley High School, remembers winning the Eleanor Friedberg Art Scholarship (via The Pittsburgh Foundation) for her ceramics. Her MCG art portfolio got her into Alfred University, where she earned a BFA in sculpture. She subsequently became a certified teacher and taught art, then received a Master of Art Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Today she is cultivation manager for downtown’s August Wilson Center, running their educational programs, including those in the arts.
 
The MCG experience, Shipman says, “gave me an appreciation for what art can mean for a person who is in such a critical time in their lives. It was a chance for people to have such positive role models in their lives, both extra-curricular and academic.
 
"There's a lot of things you can do after 3:00" while in high school, she notes – some of which can get kids in trouble. "It gave me an opportunity to do something productive with my spare time. That ultimately prepared me for my future in the arts."
 
The MCG Invitational Awards Reception begins at 6 p.m. on May 10 at MCG. The exhibit of student art is open for two weeks.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Sources: Dave Deily, MCG; Alecia Shipman

The role of encouraging science education in students “is just a critical role that can’t be over-emphasized,” says Robert Bazell, NBC News’ chief science correspondent – the keynote speaker at this year’s Carnegie Science Awards, to be held May 11. And the Carnegie Science Center “is one of the best” at it, he says.
 
Bazell was born in East Liberty to a father who worked at Westinghouse and had graduated from what was then Carnegie Tech, but he moved away with his family at age 4. He will talk about the importance of instilling enthusiasm for all STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math – early in a child’s life, starting with an appreciation for nature, which evolves into an understanding of the importance of scientific inquiry. Our economic future depends on new generations gaining expertise in STEM subjects, he says” “If we don’t have that, we’re in trouble.”
 
Being honored this year for their science and technology achievements are more than 20 individuals and companies. PPG Industries, Inc. will gain the Advanced Manufacturing Award, while the Catalyst Award goes to Illah Nourbakhsh of Carnegie Mellon University, and the Corporate Innovation Award to Daedalus. Educators at all levels will be honored as well. Lillian Chong of the University of Pittsburgh will receive the Emerging Female Scientist Award, and Nick Kuhn of ALung will receive the Start-Up Entrepreneur Award. The Entrepreneur Award goes this year to Henry Thorne of Thorley Industries, while the Environmental Award will be given to Tom Joseph of Epiphany Solar Water Systems.
 
Bazell assures that the general public doesn’t need to earn a science degree to understand today’s scientific developments, but laments that the media space for scientific reporting is shrinking – and that opinion has come to overshadow fact in the public’s mind.
 
“When you look at something like global warming … the science is seen as confusing and there are economic interests who have an interest in making it confusing,” he notes. The science itself, however, is clear. “Whenever it’s been hijacked, it can lead to a lot of bad consequences.”
 
Do Good:
See what they're doing to promote informal STEM education at the YWCA's Stem Impact Team here.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Sources: Robert Bazell; Carnegie Science Awards

Elizabeth Posney has finally reached what she calls "the Olympics of science fairs" – the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) (www.societyforscience.org/isef/), a program of the Society for Science & the Public – to be held May 13-18 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
 
"The competition is stiff,” she notes – after all, she’ll have 1,599 competitors. “I expect to go and make connections and do other stuff that's important to my future."
 
Right now, Posney is a 17-year-old junior at Freeport High School and lives in Sarver. Twice she’s made it to the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair. But this is her first entry into the big time. For her project, she rebuilt a model human knee joint out of leather and springs and simulated forces, impacts and rotations on the knee, showing when the knee would experience various injuries. She says the project helps in her biology class right now and will aid her physics class as a senior.
 
The importance of entering the fair "is more than just learning about [science],” Posney says, “it's learning how to do it. It's learning how to talk about your project, so it's learning communications."
 
She doesn't know what she wants to do for college and a career, but her number one choice is physical therapy. Her experiment in biomechanics certainly relates to any career in PT.
 
Wendy Hawkins, executive director of the Intel Foundation, says the ISEF aims “to encourage young innovators to explore their curiosity for how the world works and develop solutions for global challenges.” And the ISEF has seen student projects turn into professional research and discoveries. “We see this every year in this competition,” Hawkins says. “In fact, this year alone, we have 32 finalists who have already received patents, and 383 – that’s 25 percent – are currently seeking patents.”
 
Indeed, among Pittsburgh finalists alone there are projects detailing an alternative cancer treatment, a navigation device for the visually impaired using an iPhone, and a vehicle powered by pavement heat. All of these and more are competing for more than $4 million in awards.
 
Concludes Hawkins: “We see a driven group of high school students who often already have career goals in mind.”
 
Do Good:
Check out what Asset Inc. does as a nonprofit aiding science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education statewide.

Writer: Marty Levine (forgood@popcitymedia.com)
Sources: Elizabeth Posney; Wendy Hawkins, Intel

"This play is like a punch in the gut," says Bricolage's Producing Artistic Director Tami Dixon, who co-stars in the current production of "Dutchman," which confronts race relations in America. "It will leave the audience speechless. But we didn't want to send them away like that."
 
So for the seven remaining performances through May 12 of this 1964 play by LeRoi Jones (now Amiri Baraka), Bricolage is hosting post-play conversations led by local conversation starters. They include Bernadette Turner of Addison Behavioral Care, who will lead dialog asking "How prejudiced are you?"; The Post-Gazette's Tony Norman, who will address "Is there only one way to fight a revolution?"; Dr. Kimberly Ellis, who will direct "The battle over black imagery in the 21st century"; and the group WWHAT’S UP? (Whites Working and Hoping to Abolish Total Supremacy Undermining Privilege), whose members will talk about challenging racism.
 
"Dutchman," a two-character one-act, involves a kind of Adam and Eve story between a white woman and a black man, taking place entirely in a subway.
 
"It took the theater world by storm" when it opened, Dixon says. "It pulled no punches. [Baraka] is more than honest."
 
She hopes the same will be said of people who stay for the post-play dialogs. Not that she found the subject of race relations in Pittsburgh easy to address herself. In planning the dialogs, "I felt a little inarticulate and paralyzed by this issue," she admits. "We don't even talk about [race] out loud …"
 
However, dialogs after the show's first week "have been so amazing and enlightening," she reports. "Our hope is that this is just the beginning. We don't want the conversation to end when the show closes."
 
Get tickets for the play here.
 
Do Good:
Get involved with Pittsburgh’s Black & White Reunion.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Tami Dixon, Bricolage

Photograph by Jason Cohn.

Rachel Carson's landmark environmental book, Silent Spring, debuted 50 years ago, and Chatham University's Rachel Carson Institute is holding a symposium May 11-12, with the National Aviary, to mark the event. 
 
"This book provoked a lot of questions, a lot of backlash," notes Carson Institute Director Patricia DeMarco. "We're looking back at some of the science that has happened since then." The symposium will also examine the changes in public perceptions about environmentalism, in nature writing and in views on Carson's book itself. 

Scientists, including keynoter Louis J. Guillette, Jr., who studies the effects of environmental toxins on alligator reproduction, will address environmental contaminants and health. Steve Latta, of the National Aviary, studies a small meadow bird as an indicator of ecosystem health in places where Marcellus shale is being fractured for gas extraction, will also tackle the subject. Holly S. Lohuis of the Ocean Futures Society (run by Jean-Michel Cousteau), will talk about lessons from the sea, while Dr. Terry Collins, professor of green chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, will lead discussion about the increasing burden of non-biodegradable compounds that accumulate in our bodies.
 
"Your average newborn has 227 synthetic chemicals in their body at birth," DeMarco says, pointing to an annual count by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Collectively, we are exposed to an increasing number of contaminants … and the coordinations [with increased incidents of disease] are not innocuous."
           
A panel titled "Challenges for the 21^st Century" features both Carson's son and a representative from the National Fish and Wildlife Service -- where Rachel Carson once worked -- who works at the agency's Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, which was the topic of Carson's first work for NFWS.
 
"The Image and the Message" will gather reporters, artists and filmmakers to address the challenges of communicating environmental science to the public and "the use of public media to neutralize environmental concerns," DeMarco says. The event also includes the chance to hear a recording of one of Carson's speeches and the participation of Linda Lear, a Carson biographer.
 
Tickets for the symposium are available here.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source:  Patricia DeMarco, Rachel Carson Institute

Many families in the Hill District are enthusiastic about the opening of the new Thelma Lovette YMCA, says Michele Rone Cooper, executive director of McAuley Ministries. "Yet lower-income families were concerned about being able to afford memberships," she says.
 
That's why McAuley, which gives grants from the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, stepped in with $70,000 to subsidize memberships for 100 families -- part of the current round of more than $310,000 in grants given to the Hill District, Uptown, and West Oakland to support health and wellness, community development, education and other programs.
 
A grant of $25,000 is helping to create the Pittsburgh Wealth Building Initiative, a collaboration of Duquesne University and Urban Innovation21. It is based on successful programs in Cleveland and elsewhere that look at anchor institutions in a community and ask what services and goods they need the most, then help create organizations -- often coops and employee-owned companies -- that serve those institutions. The idea is to generate well-paying jobs and build up local businesses.
 
A part of the city's Housing Authority called Clean Slate E3 is known for its state-of-the-art media training for teens, and $23,500 will help five kids in their after-school program produce a documentary on the closed Schenley High School and its significance to the Hill District. Another $23,770 will send four staff members from Mercy Behavioral Health to the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare for a week-long course in mental-health first aid: how to recognize and respond to signs of mental-health issues and substance-abuse problems. The group will then hold 10 workshops for approximately 250 people in community, to pass on their knowledge.
 
For a full list of the latest McAuley grants, click here.
 
Do Good:
Get involved with another one of McAuley’s grantees on the Hill, Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh, which has been concerned with abandoned properties, public safety, greening the community, transportation and public art since 2007.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Michele Rone Cooper, McAuley Ministries

Photo courtesy of the Thelma Lovette YMCA.

Nearly 400 high-school students from 24 local school districts are set to see for themselves what the working world is like, and what careers are possible for their talents.
 
The Consortium for Public Education’s annual Student Leadership Conference, April 26 and 27, will send students everywhere from Allegheny General Hospital and Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center to Clear Channel Communications, Dollar Bank, Electric Owl Studios, United Way of Allegheny County and Urban Design Associates.
 
"Every year, we try to have a very widespread series of site visits so they can see there are multiple pathways" to their careers, says Steve Seliy, associate executive director of the Consortium. Students learn what education and other preparation people need for various careers, how they ended up in their jobs, and how they continue to succeed.
 
"Some of these kids don't think about themselves going to college," says Seliy. But, he adds, "in the 12 years that we've been doing this, I cannot think of one kid we've had who participated who [later] dropped out of school." In fact, at least one former Conference student is now a teacher supervising attendees.
 
Carnegie Museum of Natural History is hosting the Conference’s central events, including a dinner and dance, as well as speakers and workshops.
 
Performance poet Vanessa German, from Homewood, will speak again this year. Last year she so inspired the students with her life story that “she had 400 kids stand up and spontaneously give her a standing ovation," Seliy reports. Former pro basketball player Toby Knight, also a Pittsburgher, will speak about his journey as well; today he runs a business that builds sports complexes and sports fields for school districts, and serves on the Consortium board.
 
The workshops, which are created and designed by the students, teach communications, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.
 
"In the big conversation that goes on about education, we often don't listen to the very kids we're there to serve," Seliy says. Having teachers and advisors attending the conference “goes a long way toward making them think about getting their kids involved in a conversation about making their schools better.
 
"By the time [students] leave, they are one high school,” Seliy says. “They realize there are more similarities than differences. A dairy farmer from Greene County is talking to an inner city kid from Carrick. They can realize that their ambitions and their aspirations are shared by other kids."
 
Do Good:
The Student Leadership Conference will be held in conjunction with Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board’s Imagine! Career Week, April 26-May 4, which puts a different spin on connecting teens and future jobs here.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Steve Seliy, The Consortium for Public Education

Quest Therapeutic Camp, a successful program out west for 6- to 18-year-olds with mild to moderate social and emotional challenges, is coming to Pittsburgh for the first time this summer.
 
The three- to seven-week experience is designed for kids who theoretically could attend a typical camp "but would end up on the margins [and] wouldn't necessarily fit in socially," says Dr. Jordan Golin, director of Squirrel Hill Psychological Services, which is teaming with Quest for the camp. "It's really an intensive therapeutic program using a camp format. The intention is really [for kids] to develop more positive social relationships and to manage their emotions more successfully."
 
The camp was begun in California by child psychologist Dr. Robert Field in 1989, who was born in Pittsburgh. The day is very structured and uses a cognitive-behavioral approach to its therapeutic elements. Kids can earn points toward purchase of items in the camp store, and there are also music and drama classes, swimming and other sports, as well as field trips.
 
Quest runs June 25-Aug. 17 on the Carnegie Mellon University campus. Campers must attend for at least three weeks to get the full impact of the program. During the following school year, once-weekly sessions are also offered to maintain and build on the camp’s effects, so kids don't experience a drop in good behaviors or an increase in anxiety and other difficulties.
 
"The kids really enjoy the camp,” Golin says. But, he adds, "the parents don't only want their kids to have fun during the summer, the parents want them to move beyond some of the challenges they're experiencing throughout the year."
 
Do Good:
Squirrel Hill Psychological Services is a division of Jewish Family & Children's Service of Pittsburgh, which has other services for special-needs kids, available here.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Dr. Jordan Golin, Squirrel Hill Psychological Services

Four local nonprofits have collaborated to use the same chief financial officer in a pilot program – and the groups and the CFO say the idea is working very well.
 
"Everyone is really coming to the table and embracing the change,” says Kevin Gieder, the group’s CFO, who joined the effort after working as Finance Group Leader at the H.J. Heinz Company. “It's making my job very easy."
 
"It is a unique collaboration, and it's been really, really nice working on the types of solutions that nonprofits work to address,” says Andrew Butcher, CEO of GTECH Strategies (Growth Through Energy + Community Health), who joined the leaders of Construction Junction, Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, and Tree Pittsburgh to form the Environmental Finance Collaborative in December 2011.
 
Aided by the Richard King Mellon Foundation and Dewey & Kaye Consultants, the Collaborative groups began formulating their plans in September 2009, determining how organizations can share services to be most cost-effective.
 
“The indicators of success,” says Butcher, “will be improved financial performances for all the organizations, improved financial management, and cost reductions." All the organizations, he says, "can be much more strategic in developing business plans and more tactical in our day-to-day financial management."
 
The effort is unique in Pittsburgh, Butcher believes. While the way nonprofits operate involves more relationship-building than the for-profit world, Gieder says much of the financial management is the same – albeit on a smaller scale. And he sees early progress that is “pretty astonishing. It's really exceeded my expectations ... Sometimes change takes longer than you want it to. I thought I'd have to do a little more of a sales job." But, he says, the groups together greeted him wholeheartedly and executed their parts very well so far, creating ways to have more useful discussions with their boards, for instance, about financial directions.
 
"If we're effective in this -- if this really works,” says Butcher, “we might have a really interesting model for how nonprofits can work together to increase their impact."
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Sources: Kevin Gieder, Andrew Butcher, Environmental Finance Collaborative

If only history was this interesting when we were in school.

Leave it to the Ellis School to come up with The Medieval Faire, a hands-on learning, two-day event April 26 and 27 that includes subjects such as military and political strategy, art history, physics and engineering and hierarchy in social class. There's jousting, human chess, catapulting and feasting along with storytellers and musicians.

It’s pure experiential learning, in that it allows the girls to experience what life would have been like in Medieval Europe," says Kitty Julian of the Ellis School. "In history class, the girls study the feudal system.  We discuss the lives of nobles and peasants, and we learn about the roles that people played in society.  Before the Faire, girls pick parts from a deck of cards.  Twelve of the girls are members of the nobility and clergy, while the rest are peasants. Just as a person’s role in Medieval Society was determined by their birth and family (something over which people had no control), the students’ roles in the feast are determined by picking a card out of a deck. At the feast, the peasants serve the nobility and perform for the lord’s entertainment. Peasants get to eat only what is left, and only after the nobles conclude their feast."

To prepare for human chess, the girls learn about the game and what each piece represents and they play computer chess. Right after the feast, the lord of the manor and the bishop battle one another in a game of human chess, using the members of court and peasants as chess pieces. "Games of human chess were often played during the middle ages, so our game lets the girls experience a little bit of the era," says Julian.

The two-day faire, which is only for students, is a tradition at the Ellis School and takes place this Thursday and Friday on the campus at Shadyside.

Writer: Pop City staff
Source: Kitty Julian
 

The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project began simply enough – with a tweet. North Side social worker Sue Kerr had taken her clients to a food bank and noticed people struggling to exit with thin plastic bags. “It was just a mess, because people were having to use so many bags,” she recalls – and chasing runaway produce that escaped from split plastic.

The bags had been donated, which was lovely, but “Instead of donating disposable bags, we ought to donate tote bags,” she tweeted.
 
A Pittsburgh Foundation official was the first to send her bags. Since the effort began in earnest a year ago, the project has collected and donated 13,000 reusable bags to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne for distribution to more than 300 food pantries in 11 local counties.
 
This week, from April 15 through April 21 (just in time for Earth Day), 11 people locally have taken up the Challenge to avoid disposable bags for their everyday purchases. They include KDKA news anchor Kimberly Gill, Toonseum head Joe Wos, Lil Burghers blogger Becky Willis and former City Council member Doug Shields, among others. Many are blogging or tweeting about it, including Gills, who marveled at the task of exiting Target after having forgotten to bring her own bag.
 
“We made some allowances and tried for it to be interesting and fun and a little uncomfortable – that’s where you learn,” says Kerr. “The biggest issue is going against the norm.
 
“There are reusable dry-cleaning bags” which resemble garment bags, she notes, “but cleaners don’t understand.” Kerr uses a bag lined with repurposed billboard material to transport messy takeout, but that presents its own challenges: “Calling up on the phone and saying, ‘Please don’t give me a bag’ is daunting.” Some of her local shops recognize her tote bags by now and no longer suspect her of shoplifting, but every time she goes to certain big-box retailers with empty tote bags in her cart, she says, she is followed by security.
 
“That’s okay,” Kerr says. “Being at the forefront of re-useable bags is going to put you in some situations that are awkward and uncomfortable. But someone has to do it.”
 
She anticipates new challenges for next year’s Challenge, such as trying to eliminate plastic produce and bulk food bags from grocery stops – all without increasing consumption at the same time by forcing people to buy specialty bags for a lot of tasks.
 
Kerr points to the South Hills Interfaith Ministry, where one of its food banks is currently overstocked with tote bags because patrons have so readily adopted their own tote bag habits. “That’s a wonderful example of what we’re trying to do,” she says, “changing the way a system functions … and having people take ownership.
 
“It’s just a matter of stopping and thinking, ‘Do I really need a bag?’”
 
Bag your own tote-friendly volunteer opportunities here.

Do Good:
Have some hard-to-recycle e-waste, household chemicals or meds that are hard to get rid of safely? Get the Pennsylvania Resources Council recycling schedule here.
 
Writer: Marty Levine (forgood@popcitymedia.com)
Source: Sue Kerr, Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project