Paul Vandeventer is headed to the city on October 18 to help us answer what he calls a critical question: How do you build the civic coalition that will lead to a lovely, livable, prosperous, inclusive and engaged Pittsburgh?
"There is a real opportunity in reinvention" at this moment to redefine Pittsburgh as a global presence, he says. "At every stage of the [previous] reinvention process the city has emerged, prospered and regenerated itself in a way one cannot argue is similar to any other city in the United States …"
Vandeventer, head of the California-based
Community Partners, is the author of
Networks that Work. He will be part of a panel titled "Tipping Pittsburgh : A Conversation about a Civic Culture that Challenges and Transforms."
The event, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel in Downtown, will team him with local leaders from nonprofits, government, businesses and others for the discussion co-sponsored by Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, Leadership Pittsburgh Inc., Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management, and
Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development.
"I'm hoping there's opportunity for transformational change in how people think about Pittsburgh and how people talk about it," says the Partnership's Deputy Director Maureen Hogan. She notes that her organization has recently shifted its concentration to providing multi-neighborhood community development so that larger areas of the city learn to collaborate.
Vandeventer believes this event will put the city's tipping point in the hands of those who can actually effect change. "One of the great things about Pittsburgh," he concludes, "is that this is a place that has the wherewithal, the flexibility, the resilience to reinvent itself."
To register for the evening, which includes a brief reception, hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar, register
here by Oct. 1.
Writer:
Marty Levine Sources: Paul Vandeventer, Community Partners, and Maureen Hogan, Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development
Image courtesy of Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development