For Good

Kids, jazz and other American music: at the crossroads, and in AAMI camp

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

"If you study jazz," says singer Jessica Lee, "you have the tools to do and understand blues, roots -- pretty much everything."

And if your school-age kids attend The Afro-American Music Institute's Jazz Camp -- back for only the second time -- they'll have a chance to practice and perform with top-notch professional musicians and educators.

Lee is one of the camp teachers, along with drummer Roger Humphries, Duquesne University Professor (and trumpet player) Sean Jones, AAMI founder and head Dr. James Johnson Jr., trombonist Dr. Nelson Harrison and others. The students will learn jazz improvisation, jazz history, and take part in a jazz combo rehearsal and vocal and instrumental ensemble. There are places for everyone, from beginners to advanced performers.

Lee is also the director of camp co-sponsor America's Music Crossroads Center, part of the Lawrenceville community incubator/accelerator Pittsburgh Gateways.

"A lot of kids today, they want to do original music," she says. "They might want to do something that is urban. If you study jazz, it gives you the basis to really do any contemporary American music as well."

The camp is primarily for at-risk kids from urban neighborhoods, who may not be able to afford other music camps. There is a $25 registration fee and $100 cost for each of the two camp weeks (August 8-20), "but scholarships are available, so nobody is turned away," Lee says. That includes those who don't own an instrument; the camp will have plenty of drums, keyboards and other instruments on hand. The only auditions are to determine a camper's prior level of musical training.

Do Good:

To register, call AAMI at (412) 241-6775 or click here.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Jessica Lee, America's Music Crossroads Center

Two foundations get in line to combat online bullying

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

"There aren't a lot of community resources invested in this new challenge" of cyber-bullying, says Chris Sweeney, board member of the Marcus L. Ruscitto Charitable Foundation.

That's why Ruscitto family members -- the late Marcus was founder and CEO of Stargate Industries -- decided to team with The Pittsburgh Foundation to create a new $50,000 regional initiative to combat bullying, and particularly the variety that sometimes plagues the Internet.

Sweeney says it will be the six-year-old Ruscitto foundation's signature issue.

In November, the foundations will convene up to 400 local educators, school counselors and administrators to hear Dr. Adolph "Doc" Brown, III. The inspirational anthropologist, who is a psychology and education faculty member at Hampton University, brings a message for students about how bullying can affect other kids, and how very serious the issue ought to be among students today. And he does that, at least partly, through song and dance. He addresses the bullies, the victims, and the bystanders, who do not feel confident enough to seek help.

Sweeney says the foundations will then solicit educators to submit creative ideas to stanch the flow of bullying in our schools, and will give funding to selected school districts to implement the best ideas.

"Hopefully then," he concludes, "we'll be able to announce any new ideas that have emerged."

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Chris Sweeney, Marcus L. Ruscitto Charitable Foundation

FitWits: Eating healthy is all its cracked up to be, says CMU and Eat'n Park

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Elvis Presley has re-entered the building � this time with a peanut-butter hairdo.

He's been re-dubbed Elvis Pretzley, and re-dipped (none of that processed cheese sauce for him), thanks to FitWits, a new collectible character card and text-messaging game at Eat'n Park designed to get parents and kids talking about healthy eating -- and acting on the idea too.

"Kids have so many negative characters in their daily lives," says Kristin Hughes, associate professor of design at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design, who leads the Fitwits team there. Hughes means negative food-pushing characters, of course, such as the sugary cereal shills populating grocery store shelves and TV commercials. The new FitWits characters, with their jokes, riddles, quizzes and recipes, may attract kids to multiple messages about healthy foods.

There's three-strawberry-headed Berry S'Mores, promoting a yogurt-and-berry variation on the campfire snack, or Phil and Spill, the taco twins, plus the Queen of Wheat and Sunny Yolk. FitWits worked with local fifth-grade classes to create the creatures. As for Elvis Pretzley, "I'm not sure how that one came about," Hughes says. But at least the youngsters may recognize the name from Penguins hockey games, if not ancient vinyl.

Kids can also use text-messaging to help Elvis Pretzley choose his meals while on the road during his singing career � presumably so he doesn't turn into a soft pretzel, wearing a salt-covered cape.

Also part of the FitWits team are UPMC St. Margaret Family Health Centers, The Heinz Endowments (which funded this anti-obesity effort with a $125,000 grant), Open Science Initiative (which created the text message game), and Tropo (which is donating text-messaging services).

Hughes is confident about the program's future impact. "The characters provide a level of comfort and ease for a parent and child to talk about the idea of healthy eating," she says. "I think that's the success of the program."

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Kristin Hughes, FitWits

First bed peace, then hair peace, now Market Square peace, at the MGR Youth Peace Rally

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

It's sometimes hard to see what consequences come from calls for peace, or public artwork, or even mass rallies, but MGR Foundation Program Director Meredith Hoppe says its Youth Peace Rally in Market Square on Aug. 9 will have a real impact on violence in Pittsburgh's neighborhoods.

The foundation's fifth annual rally is intended to provide a voice for local youth, all of whom come from Pittsburgh Public School's Summer Dreamers Academy and other youth development groups for city kids. About 300 will display their dance, music, artwork, and drama aimed at creating change in the area's more distressed neighborhoods.

"We focus on sharing stories as a way to create change," Hoppe says. "When individuals share their stories, a ripple effect occurs, allowing those stories to spread across a wide spectrum of people and groups. The individual stories from students taking a stand against violence reach those across the city who don't attend the rally, perhaps through word of mouth, the press, in the art that will live on after the rally, and online through social networking sites � Students will find new positive ways to express their voice and make it heard in their community. Many are excited and say they have never had an opportunity to get their voices in out such a public way."

Hoppe recalls the story of one young participant last year who was preparing his rally artwork when a cousin was shot and killed here, just a week before the event. He decided to attend the rally anyway. "He wrote a poem dedicated to the memory of his cousin and read it to a crowd of over 300 people," she says. "He was interviewed by the press that day, putting his voice into action �"

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Meredith A. Hoppe, MGR Foundation

MLK is also Moving the Lives of Kids through murals

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

When reached by phone in Wilkinsburg, Joy Taylor can hardly be heard for the sound of shouting children obviously having fun. Inside a church in Wilkinsburg, the kids are working on a mural about Pittsburgh's landmarks and history, using brightly colored paints.

Helping them create the scene are two adult artists -- hip-hop pioneer Paradise Gray and Aaron Regal, who used to be one of these kids painting murals. And this mural is one of 15 local kid-painted murals set to pop up around the area this summer, thanks to the MLK (Moving the Lives of Kids) Community Mural Project. Begun in 2004 by local mural artist Kyle Holbrook, it has sponsored more than 200 such murals in the Burgh and 500 across the country -- even a few in Brazil and Haiti.

These multi-week efforts to create murals teach pride in place, and offer kids the chance to do something the whole community can see and admire, Taylor says.

New this year is Fashion for the Future, through which at-risk girls learn the business with professional artists and designers, who help the kid make their own clothing line. The first group of girls is in the midst of the inaugural program in the Hill District today.

The MLK Community Mural Project is working in East Hills, Penn Hills, the North Side, Oakland, Hazelwood, McKeesport and elsewhere this summer. Taylor says it is always trying to expand its reach to new communities and new demographics each year.

"There are so many distractions that keep them from focusing on the positive in themselves," she says of the program's young participants. "They get an opportunity to give something back to their community and have a voice. A public art project really gives them a chance to say something -- and to say something positive."

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Joy Taylor, MLK Community Mural Project

What if a bunch of teens had $200,000 to give away? Ask the Heinz Endowments

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Heinz Endowments had involved young people in various aspects of its grantmaking process for a dozen years before staff had a revelation:

"We just thought, if we really wanted to have a youth voice in our grantmaking, we ought to let the youth start making grants," says program officer Wayne Jones.

Thus, in 2005 was born the Summer Youth Philanthropy Program in its current incarnation, which this year will allow 28 recent high-school grads to award $200,000 in grants for a more sustainable Pittsburgh. Jones directs the program. The interns decide on the focus of their philanthropy, solicit the proposals and decide on the most worthy programs. For 2011, working in partnership with the Sarah Heinz House, Adagio Health, Sustainable Pittsburgh, the Student Conservation Association and the United Way of Allegheny County, the group decided to offer funds around the issues of alternative fuels, arts education, sustainability; STDs and reproductive health, nutrition education and urban gardens, vacant lots, and employment for vulnerable youth. Proposals are due Aug. 1.

The interns' work sometimes has an impact on the Endowments' wider grantmaking, and even on their grantees. A few years ago, reports Jones, one team focused on youth gardening and urban farms, giving Braddock Farms a grant. Since then, the Endowments have done more grantmaking there. And an intern-funded Strong Women, Strong Girls Foundation program of environmental education and awareness inspired those young grant recipients to turn around and do a little youth philanthropy themselves.

Finding out how nonprofit philanthropy works has been "an eye-opener" for intern Ethan Busis, who just graduated from Shadyside Academy. His team has used Sustainable Pittsburgh's data on individual municipalities' sustainability efforts to devise $25,000 in potential grants to encourage alternative transportation and fuels. Their project is called A Vehicle of Change.

"We wanted to make sure it really went to a cause that helped municipalities become a leader in alternative transportation," Busis says. "We wanted them to spend the money well and become a start to their green transportation fleet and expand the [impact] beyond the money we were giving them."

Writer: Marty Levine
Sources: Wayne Jones, Ethan Busis, Heinz Endowments

QuickFlix teen video contest: Have camera, will dazzle

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Corey Wittig is very happy with kids' plans for the QuickFlix video contest this year:

"I've already heard a few teens talk about their filmmaking aspirations, including a teen who wants to be a director so he can make a CGI film starring crayons trapped in a hot car who are trying to escape before they melt.

"Brilliant."

Fledgling filmmakers ages 12-18 can submit a 1- to 3-minute video on any subject, although this year's contest -- which Wittig coordinates -- offers the library's Summer Reading theme, "You are here," and the collection of local stories at Hear Me as inspiration.

Also inspiring are the prizes: A Flip UltraHD Video Camera and $100 Best Buy gift card for the top individual entry and a $200 Best Buy gift card and $100 iTunes gift card for the best group effort. Second prize is an MP3 Player and $50 iTunes gift card; third place earns an MP3 Player and $25 iTunes gift card.

The deadline for entry is Aug. 1. Teens without a camera may be able to borrow one from the teen library specialist at their local branch.

Wittig, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's digital learning librarian in the Teen Services department, says QuickFlix aims to encourage cinematic creativity and just plain fun in the storytelling. For the first time, Filmmakers at the Center (a youth media program collaboration between Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts) has offered video workshops to help contestants prepare to shoot.

"Whether teens take the stop-motion animation class, or the digital filmmaking class," Wittig says, "they're learning some pretty fantastic skills, from the composition of a shot, and working with the cameras (as well as the editing software), to something as simple as successfully collaborating with their peers, working to create something unique." And they learn more readily because they're volunteering to learn, he adds.

Winners will be announced on Aug. 20, 2011 at a screening and reception.

Do Good:

Act quickly for a QuickFlix workshop; there are just a few left on July 13, 14 and 15.

Check out contest rules and workshop locations here, or call 412.578.2599 or email here.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Corey Wittig, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Three shades of green: fountain, treehouse, wishing well are therapy at Children's Institute ...

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

"It's going to be immeasurable, the change for the kids," says David K. Miles, president and CEO of The Children's Institute, about the new Nimick Family Therapeutic Garden that opened June 18 at the Squirrel Hill facility.

What was once a few flower beds amid crumbling flagstone is now a 10,000-square-foot garden designed to be enjoyed by children with severe disabilities. Along its path are a sunflower-shaped fountain whose flow can be changed just by rolling past; a ramp-accessible treehouse; a bench that plays sounds; a large variety of shrubs, flowers and ornamental grasses; and raised planting beds for the kids to practice fine motor and language skills as they learn to garden.

It also features special lighting, a wishing well, sculptures and a pavilion. The idea is to engage the senses and provide a relaxing escape for both kids and their loved ones. The garden is accessible via a new path running from the Institute's Shady Avenue parking lot along the garden to Northumberland Street.

Miles, once a teacher in the Institute's day school, is certain current teachers will be using the garden for lessons in the fall. But he was happy to see families already enjoying the place -- including neighborhood kids. "It's only been a few days and I'm already overwhelmed with how many people are using it," he says. "We're really inviting the community in to find out what we're about."

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: David K. Miles, The Children's Institute
Image courtesy of The Children's Institute

No bug spray, Kool-Aid or sleeping bags, but how about some protocol? Try 'Ambassador' camp

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Here's one camp where you won't need a baseball glove or the ability to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together. In fact, the whole idea of this camp may be putting fires out. Metaphorically, that is.

The second annual "I Want to be an Ambassador!" camp is seven days for 8th to 12th graders to learn negotiation, analysis and communication. It's likely the only camp that includes a roundtable of local business leaders, apart from that Northern Virginia tennis camp, "Lobs and Lobbying."

Set for June 21-29, "I Want to be an Ambassador!" takes places mostly at the Senator John Heinz History Center and concludes with a trip to Embassy Row in Washington, D.C. trip, where students will glimpse the workings of ambassadors on their very doorsteps.

"Through the art and skills of diplomacy, [campers] will learn leadership qualities and a very broad range of skill sets you aren't normally exposed to in a classroom," says Jacqueline McWilliams, coordinator of Luminari, the nonprofit behind the camp. Other highlights of the seven days include cultural field trips, guest lectures, an intro to foreign languages and writing systems, lessons on media literacy, and kickball.

Okay -- no kickball.

Luminari hopes to match last year's total of 19 participants. Sign up before the country gets involved in yet another war.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Jacqueline McWilliams, Luminari

Psychoanalytic Center symposium to offer youth violence solutions

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The 50th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center in Shadyside is being celebrated in the most serious way: with a two-day "Symposium on Reducing Youth Violence: Models for Success" on June 16-17 at Manchester Bidwell Corporation. The two organizations hope to bring together representatives of social service agencies, the health-care system, law enforcement, local communities and others to work more closely to temper youth violence. Sessions will feature experts on what Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center President Howard K. Foster, M.D., views as a deepening crisis -- but one with solutions.

"If you can stop the violence in an individual � if you can help a teenager be aware of their anger and get a sense of the serious consequences of being violent, and channel their anger and their impulses into more constructive angles," Foster says, then there is hope for that individual.

The symposium stemmed from a meeting between Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper and local community leaders, including Manchester Bidwell head Bill Strickland, whose 43-year-old nonprofit includes the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild art programs for kids and Bidwell Training Center for adults. Manchester Bidwell "is a model program," Foster says -- "there's never been a violent act there in the history of the after-school programs and job training programs." He credits the organization's practice of treating people with dignity, fostering creativity and generally creating the right environment for young people to prosper.

Foster hopes all those in attendance will become aware of the multiple causes of violence, the tools they might use to help counsel individuals, and new long-term strategies and useful programs -- "so there is more of a sense of hope among people who work in the area of youth violence," Foster says.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Howard K. Foster, Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center

Trying to ensure summer has a happy ending: "One World, Many Stories"

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

If the shoe fits -- read it.

That's the message (sort of) behind the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's summer reading program this year, which has "One World, Many Stories" as its theme.

"Everyone has a Cinderella story," notes Georgene DeFilippo, the library's youth services coordinator. So it's possible for kids to find attractive, familiar stories while exploring unfamiliar cultures, she says.

Whatever your kid finds to read over the summer, it's mostly important that his or her eyeballs continue to cruise across the prose (or poetry) during the months away from compulsory learning.

"That's one of the important things about summer reading -- that kids read what they want to read," DeFilippo says. Magazines, graphic novels -- just keep the words flowing. She even recommends that vacation car trips include a few borrowed audio books from the library's collection.

"There is a lot of research out there that kids who read throughout the summer are more likely to retain more of what they learned the previous year," she says.

To encourage kids to read outside school, the Carnegie will hold its annual Extravaganza on June 12 outside the main library branch in Oakland. It will feature a steel band, balloon art, belly dancing lessons, and the chance to play cornhole with the Pirates, complain about the heat and/or rain with WTAE Chief Meteorologist Mike Harvey, shop for craft items at the I Made It! Market, and more.

Plus, of course, you can sign up for the Summer Reading program, get your free t-shirt and check out a season's worth of activities at your local Carnegie branch.

Do Good:

• Find the right Summer Reading event for your kids by searching the Carnegie's online list by date, location, age, subject and other factors.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Georgene DeFilippo, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Schoolkid in landmark case is now woman inspiring new Pitt Constitution course for highschoolers

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Mary Beth Tinker was only 13 in 1965 when she, her brother John and other junior-high kids decided to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands. Her school in tiny Atlantic, Iowa banned her and four others from returning until they gave up the armbands. With the ACLU, Tinker was the lead plaintiff in the subsequent Supreme Court case, which ruled that students need not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

Tinker didn't find the courage of her convictions on her own. "We were motivated by examples we had in our lives, like so many young people," she says. That included both her parents; her father, a Methodist minister, lost his church after helping its youth group protest a whites-only pool. "They taught us you should act out your principles, not just on Sunday, but every day," Tinker says.

On June 2, she helped kick off a new University of Pittsburgh program that will bring Pitt law students into local high-school classrooms this fall to teach a course on the U.S. Constitution, leading to possible participation in the National Moot Court competition. It's part of the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, which is only in 10 other U.S. cities.

Kevin Deasy, associate dean of students at Pitt's law school, says he hopes the program will not only help students understand the legal system and their rights, "but also instill in them an appreciation for what education can do in their lives," leading to college and careers � perhaps even in the law. It should also be a useful experience for Deasy's own students; there's no better learning tool than needing to master a subject in order to teach it.

For her part, Tinker hopes the program teaches kids how to be active citizens. In 1965, young people "were saying, in a democracy we can do better. And that's been the role of young people so many times throughout history," Tinker observes. "We have ideals in our own country, but we haven't met them. We have a justice system that is not always just -- that's true -- which is all the more reason why young people need to be aware and a part of finding solutions."

Do Good:

• Get inspired by reading more about the Tinker case.

Writer: Marty Levine
Sources: Kevin Deasy, Pitt School of Law; Mary Beth Tinker

The ultimate sports injury? Trouble breathing, says Athletes United for Healthy Air

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Jamin Bogi sees people jogging along the main streets of their neighborhoods during rush hour and wonders whether they realize that, in an effort to keep themselves healthy, they could also be doing themselves some harm.

That's because southwestern Pennsylvania's air has high levels of sooty particles, and the deeper breathing caused by exercise means taking in greater amounts of the particles too. It's worst right next to a bunch of idling polluters.

The local Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) chapter, where Bogi serves as education and outreach coordinator, has started Athletes United for Healthy Air to educate people -- particularly young people -- about the effects of air pollution during exercise.

And if you do anything outside besides sitting, Bogi says, "you're an athlete. You shouldn't have to calculate, am I harming myself more or less" by exercising.

One simple, if partial, solution is to take your exercise to the side streets. GASP has joined with Venture Outdoors to offer a series of 3- to 4-mile strolls through city neighborhoods to promote off-main-road exercising and the superior sights and sites that can be found off those beaten paths.

Bogi is hoping the new campaign, which will include a variety of educational and active approaches in the future, also inspires people to agitate for air pollution controls -- and encourages potential Pittsburghers not to pass the city by. He recalls moving here with his wife several years ago and researching the area. "Everything about Pittsburgh looks wonderful," he says, "except for all of the press about the bad air."

Do Good:

• Lace up your walking shoes for the next Side Street Stroll, in the Strip on June 11; sign up here.

• Get involved in GASP's other issues here.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Jamin Bogi, Group Against Smog and Pollution

Giving caregivers a break is elementary for Watson

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

"I've never had children, I've never been around children, and I don't know a lot about children with disabilities," MaryJo Alimena Caruso recalls one 60-year-old woman announcing to her. Yet this woman still wanted to volunteer for CareBreak, the Watson Institute program that matches adults with families whose children need constant care -- and who could use a weekly break in the action.

CareBreak volunteers don't have to have any particular experience, Caruso says -- just the desire to volunteer for something that lasts. "They want to make a difference in a way that develops a relationship," says Caruso, who is CareBreak's coordinator. In the case of the 60-year-old volunteer, who cautioned that she was rather immobile besides, CareBreak matched her with a small child who must use a wheelchair, and they've been together for 10 years now.

"I think of it like a dating service," Caruso jokes. The program serves kids up to 16 years old in Allegheny and Beaver counties and the Cranberry Township area of Butler County.

Besides providing companionship for the child, volunteers may do therapeutic or purely fun activities with him or her, in or outside the home (where possible), as well as helping with school work, developing social skills, and performing basic care and feeding.

The respite these volunteers give to families and other caregivers goes beyond the several-hour break. Not only does it reduce their stress level and the secondary health issues that often accompany stress, it gives them another adult with the potential to see their children as just kids, which doesn't happen often enough in public.

The program, which is free, is relatively small, serving 54 families currently, but Watson is always looking for new volunteers. Concludes Caruso: "We also recognize that our kids need a break from their parents."

Do Good:

• Need CareBreak? Request a Family Registration form at 412-749-2863 or 866-893-4751.

• Want to volunteer -- or create a respite program on CareBreak's model? Call 412-749-2863 or email MaryJo Alimena Caruso.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: MaryJo Alimena Caruso, Watson Institute
Image courtesy of the Watson Institute

Longest, biggest run ever in the state for the most special Olympics

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

The run-up to the opening ceremonies for Pennsylvania Special Olympics' biggest contest will be its longest journey tote ever.

Starting from home plate at PNC Park on the morning of June 7, members of law enforcement agencies will relay the torch for 150 miles to Penn State University's Beaver Stadium for the 2011 Summer Games on June 9. Locally, participants in this first ever "Be a Fan" Torch Run include members of the Pittsburgh Police, State Police, FBI, the district attorney's office, Secret Service and Federal Air Marshals, as well as police from Clairton, Penn Hills, Findlay, and Murrysville. The trek to light the Flame of Hope will take three days and involve 40 agencies altogether.

According to Kraig Makohus, local Special Olympics spokesperson, Darrel Parker of the Allegheny County DA's office has been instrumental in growing agency involvement from 12 to more than 200 over the past two years, raising $200,000.

"The funds raised are only part of what the police officers give," Makohus says. "Athletes say that the police officers involved with the Torch Runs give them acceptance, friendship and encouragement."

More than 20,000 kids and adults with intellectual disabilities participate in the Special Olympics, which involves them in year-round training and competitions, all of which are free. The state organization is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year

Primary sponsors of the Torch Run are UPMC, the UPMC Health Plan and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

Do Good:

• To volunteer, become a coach, enter someone to compete or otherwise support the Special Olympics, click here.

• To support a torch run team, click here.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Special Olympics of Pennsylvania

Kidsburgh : For Good