PCRG Mobile Workshop Recap

PCRG’s Community Development Summit took place this week. The topic this year was Power of Place.

GTECH, along with our partners – Propel Schools, Healthy Ride, Manchester Growing Together Garden, and One Northside – hosted a mobile workshop: It Takes a Village: Addressing Vacancy Through Community Partnerships in Pittsburgh’s Northside.

There’s lots to love, because lots need love. And you can see it happening by bike!

The tour highlighted some of GTECH’s work with key partners over the past 3-5 years in Pittsburgh’s Northside – a community that emphasizes creativity and collaboration while tackling issues such as blight and vacancy.

Luckily the rain held off and we were able to highlight three of our projects and emphasize the collaborative process necessary to cultivate a powerful neighborhood where community takes shape and people want to live, work, and play.

Before we got going, David White, the Executive Director of Pittsburgh Bikeshare, ensured that everyone had a bike to ride and knew how to navigate the bike share system. He joined us for the rest of the ride (and even stopped to help some strangers with their Healthy Ride bikes along the way!).

At our first stop, Diana Bucco, the Vice President of the Buhl Foundation, talked about some of the work that GTECH has done on the One Northside Initiative, including our mapping of over 1,800 assets last summer, and the Northside Asset Inventory Mapping project work that’s facilitating a bike/walk transportation trail that highlights key assets in the community.

At our second stop, our tasty bag lunches from Bistro to Go were waiting for us (that potato salad was delicious!). Also waiting for us were a group of students from Propel Northside.

Kristen Golomb, the Director of Innovation at Propel Schools, talked about the Green Playces partnership, and the students shared with the group what their Green Playce means to them.

They showed off their “pet” – the garter snake that lived on site, and led the bikers in a hands-on planting activity.

This space might be someone’s second favorite place. Their home away from home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The PCRG mobile tour was a great way to experience the diversity of the Northside, and the potential for continued community growth that exists. Our students enjoyed meeting community members that were interested in the design of “their” space and were proud to share the positive changes that continue to occur.

-Kristen Golomb

 

 

We hopped back on our bikes to head to our third stop – Manchester Growing Together Community Garden. There, Lisa Freeman, the Program Manager of the garden (as well as a GTECH Ambassador and Board Member), talked about the Ambassador program’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood in addition to the level of community engagement the Manchester Growing Garden has afforded the community.

 

 

Thank you to those who made our mobile workshop such a success! We had so much fun riding with you.

 

Sad you missed out? Never fear! GTECH’s annual 2 Wheels Lots of Green is coming up this summer! Save the date for August 20th. In the meantime, don’t forget to #takehealthyride this Friday May 20th for Bike to Work Day!