Community : For Good

It's too late to enter the mayoral primaries, but kids can get inspired to pursue other civic service by enrolling in this summer's Youth Civic Leadership program created by the Office of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and part of the servePGH initiative.
 
"It's a good chance for youth interested in making a difference, particularly in the public sector," says Rebecca Delphia, chief service officer in the mayor's office. Kids participating in the free six-session program, which meets two times a week for three weeks, get to do everything from exploring the training facility for the city's emergency personnel to seeing the drinking water treatment process of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) and meeting officials of the city planning department to see what tools they use in their work. The program culminates with a service project that each kid designs and executes him or herself.
 
It has its origins in the city's Civic Leaders Academy for adults, created several years ago. As a result of this youth version, says Delphia, there has been a real interest among the participants in learning about city careers and eventually seeking a post in city government.
 
Last summer, one participant learned about mini-grants for neighborhood projects available through the city's Love Your Block program. So he mobilized the sports teams and others in his school – Pittsburgh Obama – and partnered with the Save Race Street Committee in Homewood to transform two vacant lots into green spaces at Race and Collier streets. Another participant used his service project to partner with Zone 6 police in the West End for a playground revitalization, while another partnered with PWSA on storm drain stenciling, warning potential dumpers that each sewer drains to a river. One program graduate even joined the mayor's youth council.
 
Applicants must be 14-18 years old -- either entering 9th grade this fall or graduating at the end of the current school year. Application deadline is June 3; apply here. 
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Rebecca Delphia, Office of the Mayor

Spent the last few weeks hearing about "Lamb" and "Wheatley" and figured people were talking about food? Believe "Peduto" is just a sound that makes "Boy Mayor" Luke Ravenstahl laugh in Post-Gazette editorial cartoons?

Then at least one of these Democratic mayoral candidate debates and forums is designed just for you. Here's a handy guide to events involving Jake Wheatley, Bill Peduto, A.J. Richardson and Jack Wagner:
 

• April 6: A debate for mayoral and Pittsburgh School Board District 1 candidates will take place at Pittsburgh Obama school (515 North Highland Avenue, East Liberty) at 1 p.m. The event is presented by the African American Leadership Association and seven other groups. The AALA is inviting people to "like" them on Facebook or follow their Twitter account (@AALApgh, #race4pgh) and post questions to either source for use during the free debate.

• April 10: The Executive Women's Council of Greater Pittsburgh will hold a mayoral forum on "political issues relating to women business owners and executives, as well as issues affecting the economic stability of our region." Rebecca Harris, director of Chatham University's Center for Women's Entrepreneurship, is moderating the event, which will be held 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the River's Club, One Oxford Center, downtown. The cost is $40 for Council members and $65 for others. See their website for details. 

• April 17: South Side Community Council will hold their free "Mayoral Q&A" beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Brashear Association, 2005 Sarah Street.

 

• April 18: Billed as "an in-depth conversation … about the status of women in Pittsburgh and [candidates'] plans to support and improve issues that affect women in our community," this free event is sponsored by Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates & PAC. It will be held 7-9 p.m. in the Welker Room of James Laughlin Music Hall at Chatham University.

 

• April 30: Pittsburgh Social Exchange will host their debate 6-9 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel, downtown, moderated by Bill Flanagan, executive vice president and chief public affairs officer for The Allegheny Conference on Community Development. The evening includes a reception afterwards. Tickets are $10 for members and $40 for non-members (click here). 

 

• May 8: The Design Center is hosting a free mayoral candidates' forum on design, planning and public policy 6-7:30 pm, followed by a reception, at Point Park University's GRW Auditorium (414 Wood Street, downtown). It will be moderated by Diana A. Bucco, vice president of the Buhl Foundation. RSVP to 412-281-0995 or email here.

 
Writer: Marty Levine

WQED has begun a concerted effort to collect hundreds of stories of African-American men and boys talking about what they do to make a difference in their communities.
 
Thanks to a $390,000 grant from The Heinz Endowments, the media company is partnering with Black Male Engagement (BMe), which has already piloted this story-collection project in Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore.
 
The idea behind the project, says Darryl Ford Williams, WQED's vice president of content, is to hear in particular from black men who are involved in community service, as well as those who are doing things "on a smaller scale. Is there one person in the community, one kid on the street you're helping keep up with their homework?" Do their activities as a father, coach, Sunday School teacher or neighbor change their community or the lives of one person in a notable way?
 
Such positive activities are "never reflected in the media," Williams says, which mostly features African-American men when they are involved in crime, sports or entertainment. BMe will embody "the idea of improving the self-image in the African-American community and the way in the larger community we know, accept and relate to each other."
 
BME will continue the effort begun by WQED and the Endowments last year with its “African American Men and Boys: Portrayal and Perception” initiative, which included a televised town-hall meeting and four documentaries portraying African-American entrepreneurship, musical forms and media images.
 
The BMe project will also result in documentaries and a town-hall discussion this spring. Participants can upload their stories through BMe's online portal. WQED will also send out street teams to collect stories and hold BMe Days at local barbershops, churches and community organizations. Each story, 1-4 minutes long, will be collected on video, capturing each person's experience serving their community and their hopes are for its future.
 
"Ultimately, the goal is to connect people here in Pittsburgh with people in other BMe cities," Williams says. "How can they connect what they are doing in the community with what people are doing in Detroit? We hope to leverage the power of numbers."
 
Do Good:
Looking for additional places to aid the local African-American community? Connect with PACE: The Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Darryl Ford Williams, WQED

"We believe that there's never a reason to be bored in Pittsburgh," says Pittsburgh Service Summit organizer Tom Baker. The fourth annual Summit, to be held Feb. 26 at Carlow University "is a way for those in attendance to get activated and find out there are things to do." It's a kind of activity fair for young professionals, college students and community leaders to learn about community organizations offering service opportunities.
 
This year's Summit, run by Baker's local non-profit organization, Get Involved! Inc., will feature speakers Ian Rosenberger, CBS Survivor contestant and founder of an international humanitarian relief organization; Saleem Ghubril, head of the Pittsburgh Promise college scholarship fund; Kevin Kearns, professor of public and nonprofit management in Pitt's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and director of the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership; and WTAE-TV news anchor Sally Wiggin.
 
After joining past conferences, Baker says, attendees have reported that they've successfully connected with a new organization to which they could lend their talents as a volunteer. Organizations working the fair, he says, have even met and acquired new board members to help them out. "That's truly what we love to hear," he adds.
 
Baker recalls the moments that inspired him to become active as a volunteer. When he was about six years old, "I would literally follow my dad around to events" his father was attending as a Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher and children's author. When Baker's father died, when Baker was 12, his mother continued to encourage his activism, which took root when he attended Millersville University. But after college, Baker noticed that many fellow students lost interest in serving their communities.
 
"Our generation has to do more to step up and be active," he says. He's hoping the Summit continues to connect people with new organizations and new causes. "We're hoping to see 300 to 400 people there. It's a one-stop shop."
 
The summit will also honor many individuals with awards for their work locally, including:
 

• Get Involved! Male and Female Emerging Leaders (Frank Macinsky and Jessica Brubach);
• Dr. Tom Baker Community Leader Award (Vivian Lee Croft);
• Patty Verotsko Award for Child Advocacy (Bill Isler);
• Get Involved! Man and Woman of the Year (Bill Strickland and Mary Hines); and
• 2013 Western Pennsylvania Rising Stars, for professionals 21-30 active in charitable service: (Matthew Arch, Branden Ballard, Olivia Benson, Mark Bezilla, Brandon Blache-Cohen, Joseph Breems, Gina Carl, Chris Cavendish, Annie Clough, Jeremy Edge, Dennis Hazenstab, Carrie Hucker, Emily Kolek, LaTrenda Leonard, Lauren Mahoney-Yohman, Mary Parker, Robin Rectenwald, Jordan Shoup, Stephanie Sikora, Mahogany Thaxton, Frank Tigano, and Abby Sadowsky Bolton.

 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Tom Baker, Get Involved!

When kids think of birthdays, what comes to mind?  Parties, presents and a great cake, most likely.
 
Yet more than 2,000 kids in Pittsburgh never get the chance to experience any of those birthday novelties.
 
 Meg Yunn set out to change that.
 
Yunn was volunteering at an afterschool program for at-risk children in the city when she met a 12-year old girl named Beverly. While helping Beverly with a homework problem where she had to use the phrase “accustomed to” in a sentence, Meg prompted, “At a birthday party people are accustomed to eating what?”
 
“I’ve never had a birthday party or my own birthday cake," said Beverly.
 
“Beverly will never know how much her one sentence moved me,” Yunn says.
 
From that encounter, Beverly’s Birthdays was created as a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating the birthdays of homeless children in the Pittsburgh region.
 
Yunn began her campaign in June 2011 when she submitted her idea for spreading birthday cheer to the “BE BIG in Your Community Contest” sponsored by Scholastic. She won first place out of  1000-plus entries and was awarded a starter grant to kick off her mission. 
 
With seed money to put her idea into motion, the first Beverly’s Birthday party was thrown in February of this year, in partnership with Sojourner House MOMS for three girls at Sojourner House in East Liberty. The organization provides faith-based residential recovery for moms. Most recently, the Beverly’s Birthday team has formed a partnership with the Auberle House of McKeesport, as well.
 
The volunteers, better known as the “Cheer Squad,” fill a decorated birthday box with candy, trinkets and other fun items for the birthday child to receive on their special day.  In addition, the Cheer Squad visits the shelter one day a month to celebrate the birthdays that month with all the children residing there.
 
“I love the fact that we are bringing joy to these kids lives on their special day, a day they wouldn’t be able to have without Beverly’s Birthdays,” says Yunn, who was formerly director of volunteer programs at Washington & Jefferson College.
 
Want to get involved? Visit Beverly’s Birthdays website for volunteer opportunities ranging from baking cakes to sponsoring a birthday party.

Writer: Alanna Haefner, Pop City intern
Source: Meg Yunn and Katelyn Livingston, Beverly’s Birthdays

Nina Zappa, youth programs coordinator at Pittsburgh Cares, believes starting out as a young volunteer is the best way to learn the value of community service.
 
"If they first start building volunteerism at a young age, then they're more likely to volunteer as adults and be lifelong volunteers," Zappa says. "People sometimes overlook what youth can do. It's good for the community to see kids involved in service, and that they can make a positive impact on the community."
 
That's why Pittsburgh Cares is leading many of its agency partners once again in Global Youth Service Day -- actually Days -- from April 15 through April 22. More than 600 young people, ages 5 through 25, will participate in service projects in the area. Langley High School student will work with three groups: Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, to do community clean up; UPMC employees, to perform yard-work and porch cleaning for disabled and elderly residents in Penn Hills; and Gwen’s Girls, to clean and sort the group's donations. Upper St. Clair High School and Community East School will be volunteering at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. Girl Scout Troop 50261 and The Pittsburgh CLO Mini-Stars will host activities and play games with the senior residents at The Glen Hazel Regional Center.
 
And on and on. At press time, a few projects remained open, awaiting volunteer groups, such as planting flower beds and preparing the community garden for North Hills Community Outreach, helping to organize and repack donations at World Vision, and assembling safe-sex kits for clients of the Pittsburgh Aids Task Force.
 
Contact Zappa to connect with one of these opportunities.
 
"A lot of the youth who volunteered last year are coming back to volunteer again this year," she says. "They seem to have fun and really enjoy giving back to the community, and want to continue."
 
Do Good:
Check out  Carnegie Library’s online guide to other teen volunteering opportunities here.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Nina Zappa, Pittsburgh Cares

Keith J. Caldwell remembers his first two Inclusive Voices -- the annual event that connects Burghers with some of the region's more prominent citizens for lunch and conversation about the future of the city.
 
Caldwell, director of career services and alumni affairs at Pitt's School of Social Work, sat first with Rabbi Aaron Bisno of Rodef Shalom, whose group talked about reaching out to young people in the city; the next year he sat with Rod Doss, editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier, who "interviewed each of us, going around the table, about our experiences in Pittsburgh."
 
At his table, he recalls others from United Way, EQT, and the organization that runs the event: PACE, the Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise, which provides grants and technical assistance to local nonprofits in neglected areas of the city and county.
 
"It really becomes a table-wide conversation," says Caldwell, who is now a PACE board member. "The spirit of the event is informal, positive conversations with diverse people. We create a space where these folks can do what our tag line says: Converse, listen and learn."
 
Among this year's conversationalists at the March 30 event are:

• Eric Shiner, Director, The Andy Warhol Museum
• Kelly Kochamba, FBI Community Outreach Specialist
• Etta Cox, Jazz Vocalist
• Carmen Lee & Melanie Brown, The Heinz Endowments
• Michelle Bisno, Founder, Achievement in Motion
• Chaz Kellem, Pittsburgh Pirates
• Mario Browne, University of Pittsburgh Office of Health Science Diversity
• D. Jermaine Husser, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
• Reverend Glenn Grayson, Wesley Center AME Church
• Bob Fragasso, Fragasso Financial
• Steven Sokol, World Affairs Council
• Fred Thieman, Buhl Foundation
• Julie Hughes, President, Fifth-Third Bank of Western Pennsylvania

Individual tickets are still available, as well as tables for sponsoring groups. Caldwell knows of one table from his first year of Inclusive Voices whose members still get together. The value, he says, is in the unexpected mix of people and views from the featured guests and everyone else.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Keith J. Caldwell, PACE

Take note: Martin Luther King Day will be a day on, not off.
 
On Monday, January 16^th, a holiday for many, Pittsburgh Cares is featuring a full day of service activities for interested volunteers,  everything from lending a hand to teachers and students to helping remove tires. Click here to find out more.
 
And also on MLK Day, don't miss "Celebrating the Dream! MyBag, MyHome: Homeless by Choice Tour" at the University of Pittsburgh Frick Fine Arts Auditorium.

Keynote speaker is national motivational speaker Roy Juarez Jr. who will share personal stories from the HBC Tour and his life. As a teen, he was homeless and today he's spending two years traveling across the country, living in a car, to speak to youth and others.
 
"The HBC tour started as a dream to inspire youth and the reason I think it's so cool is his dream goes so hand and in hand with MLD Day," says Holly McGraw of Pittsburgh Cares.
 
Admission to the event is free if you bring new or used scarves, winter coats or gloves. Doors open at 12:45 and the keynote
speaker starts at 1:30.

Do Good: Volunteer today or in other activities throughout the week to celebrate Martin Luther King.

Writer: Pop City staff
Source: Holly McGraw, Pittsburgh Cares

SLB Radio Productions’ Saturday Light Brigade is looking for school-age kids who want to share their talent on the air, whether it’s in the arts or as a member of a community group.
 
Youth Expression Showcase (YES) features several kids each Saturday from 10:05-11:05 a.m. in a live performance and interview, and “the variety of things that we have is huge,” says SLB Staff Educator Liz Adams. That has included young classical musicians and singer-songwriters, a teen poetry group, and sometimes even community organizations with programs for young people. Kids from Three Rivers Rowing Association’s First Row program, for instance, were on YES speaking about the many ways their first experiences in the water made an impact in their lives.
 
“It’s a chance for young people to be the stars and to share what they are doing in the community,” says Adams.
 
Even though there are a lot of young artists displaying their talent, don’t think “American Idol” or “America’s Got Talent,” she says. YES is not a competition. There’s not even an audition, just a chance for the parents (and ideally the kid) to speak beforehand with Adams about what is involved in a YES appearance.

“We might be the first place their creativity or their project goes public,” Adams says. After all, she points out, “it’s not common for a nine-year-old to have a MySpace page.”
 
And there’s no reason to be nervous about the interview, she explains, since it’s all about why the children enjoy their art and what they enjoy doing in school and at home. SLB host Larry Berger, Adams says, “is very good at eliciting responses from kids, so it’s not an intimidating atmosphere at all. We try to make it as easy as possible for people to participate.”
 
Adams says the show can even feature visual artists describing their art – even if listeners can’t see it.
 
Doing the YES segment, Adams says, “I learn about new things every day, and it’s always really exciting.”
 
Do Good:
 

• Get involved with the Youth Expression Showcase by calling 412-586-6300 ext. 8 or emailing here.

 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Liz Adams, SLB Radio Productions

Gardening may be a seasonal activity, but Grow Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy are once again offering gardening assistance for the long haul.

The whole point of the City Growers initiative, says Judy Wagner, the Conservancy's senior director of Community Gardens and Greenspaces, is to make sure any new garden sites created are sustainable. "Sometimes it's the barriers in the way that just need to be [dispatched]," Wagner adds. "The community can usually do the rest."

Rather than money, the two organizations are offering technical assistance for planting community vegetable gardens over two years, including supplies and materials for constructing the garden, as well as assistance gathering people to help, and weekly visits and gardening advice.

Applications are due for 2012 gardens on Aug. 19. The proposed site has to be within city limits, on land owned by a nonprofit, or on public land. The group applying should be affiliated with a nonprofit, because they'll need insurance, a lead test on the site and the wherewithal to tap into city water -- plus the money to pay the water bill. While rain barrels may be used, rarely do they collect enough water for the needs of a garden this size, says Grow Executive Director Julie Pezzino.

Groups will be able to choose among commonly planted veggies as well as a few unusual varieties, and will be offered help identifying and treating diseases and pests. However, says Pezzino, "One of the things I always say about this program: This has amazed me from the start. [Applicants'] first interest is not food. Their desire is to get involved in something in their community … What we're really trying to build is community through food."

The program, concludes Wagner, "creates a really remarkable bond between people and we've seen it grow into other things."

Do Good:

Apply for garden assistance here or call 412-362-4769 or email here with questions.

Writer: Marty Levine
Sources: Julie Pezzino, Grow Pittsburgh; Judy Wagner, Western Pennsylvania

Grandparents who find themselves raising their grandchildren can't just repeat their roles as parents – they must adapt to the times, says Sister Georgine Scarpino, who runs the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Group in McKeesport.

In a previous generation, "computers weren't a big thing, cell phones weren't a big thing," she says. And bullying wasn't as prominent an issue either.

The group, which meets once on a month on a Friday morning at McKeesport's The Intersection agency (115 Seventh Street), is facilitated by a caseworker from the local children's and families agency Auberle. Members share issues, hear educational presentations, learn about services that can help, may get aid from a caseworker and can participate in respite care days in the spring and fall.

The next such day is May 27, when the group travels to a Latrobe house run by Sr. Georgine's order, the Sisters of Mercy, for meals, talks on stress and wellness, a chance to explore the extensive grounds and back massages.

On May 13, the group is headed to the North Side for a tour of Manchester Bidwell Corporation's horticultural facility, since members started a garden with their grandchildren last summer and are about to plant again in May.

Membership, says Sr. Georgine, is open to "anyone who can get to the Intersection by any means possible."

For more information, call 412-422-8020.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Sister Georgine Scarpino, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Group