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…

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Citymart

Citymart was not a real store - I knew that much.  But I didn’t really understand the name until I dug a little deeper.  Browse around the organization’s website and you may come across this passage: “Citymart partners with cities to rethink their spending habits so they focus on what problems they need to solve instead of what things they want to buy. Cities will spend money in better ways, create new opportunities for local businesses, and find the best…

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We asked a bunch of 3rd graders….

...what they would do with a greenplayce. Part of what makes our Green Playces program so neat is our community driven design process. So we asked a class of third graders from McKeesport what they would like out of a greenplayce. We weren't really sure what we would get back. The results were pretty tremendous. We got letters from each student, and pictures from some. They described classes they would like to have outside, opportunities for education outside the classroom…

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Administrative Professionals Week!

Happy Administrative Professionals Week! Of course, we think you should celebrate them everyday, but still take a special moment this week to celebrate the Administrative Professionals that you know. Originally called National Secretaries Week, this celebration started in 1952, to recognize "the secretary, upon whose skills, loyalty, and efficiency the functions of which business and government depend." This week of celebration and thanks was originally a part of a movement to recognize the work of administrative staff, grow the field,…

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Green Playces Curriculum

The Green Playces team has been working with our fantastic partners at Allegheny Partners for Out of School Time (APOST) to design a series of lesson plans that can be used at any of our Green Playces sites throughout Allegheny County. Covering topics from Native Plants to Repurposed Spaces to Stormwater, these lesson plans are custom-designed by a local teacher for our sites. Each lesson is designed to take place over an hour, and is ideal for middle-school aged kids.…

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Urban trails around the country inform Northside trail planning

Here at GTECH, we spend a lot of time thinking about how people relate to the places they live. That's why we're so excited to be working with One Northside to plan for a trail system that would connect all 18 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh's Northside. This project stemmed out of our work last year mapping and cataloguing over 1800 assets in the Northside and responds directly to One Northside's goal of improving the quality of spaces and places in the Northside.…

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Healthy Neighborhoods, Healthy You

"America is built on the notion that we are our brothers' and our sisters' keepers, and that we all have certain obligations to one another. Never is that idea truer than when ensuring the health of the world our children will live in long after we are gone. This week, let us treat every child as if they are our own by accepting our responsibilities to leave them with a healthier, cleaner planet than we have, and let us continue…

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International Women’s Day

March 8th is International Women's day. Here at GTECH we have almost a 2:1 ratio (including Jasper) of women to men. Not that we're counting... I'd like to recognize International Women's Day by highlighting some of the amazing women we have on staff. In addition to their fabulous day jobs, these ladies spend a lot of time giving back to their communities, families and the world in general. In no particular order, meet some of our wonderful women and get a…

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Who owns vacant land?

Have you ever wondered who actually owns all of the vacant land around Pittsburgh? If so, then we have some answers for you! First, take a look at the map below to get a visual sense of the magnitude of vacancy in the City. The map marks vacant lots by owner, including the two largest land owners in Pittsburgh - the City of Pittsburgh, and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and private owners. You can click on the map for a larger, zoom-able…

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Share the Love on Valentine’s Day

  Roses Are Red, Violets are Blue, The lot next door is vacant, What should I do?   After Groundhog's Day, the biggest thing to happen to February is Valentine's Day. While the mere thought of candy hearts and doilies may make you shudder, not everything about Valentine's Day has to be cheesy. This year, try something different and point cupid's arrow at a vacant lot.   Across the country, organizations and cities are incorporating vacancy into their celebrations on February 14th. Here…

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ROCIS: What I learned

Let's start with a bit of trivia - True or False: According to the EPA, the air inside the typical home is just as polluted as the air outside. The answer is False, but maybe not for the reason you think. Believe it or not, according to the EPA, air inside the average home is two to five times more polluted than the air outside. I learned firsthand about this through participation in the second round of the ROCIS Low Cost Monitoring Project.…

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GTECH wins the Green Workplace Challenge!

We didn't just participate in the Green Workplace Challenge, we WON the Green Workplace Challenge. (And we have the trophies to prove it!) Green Workplace Challenge 2015 Results: Small Nonprofit Category Winner: GTECH –722 points Top Commuter Footprint Reducer: GTECH Strategies - 9.4% Reduction In case you missed the announcement - GTECH was the winner of the Small Nonprofit Category AND the Top Commuter Footprint Reducer of the 2015 Green Workplace Challenge (GWC)! You may remember the GWC from our September post,…

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