Category: Inspiration

"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…

Next month, 7 projects in Hilltop neighborhoods will begin to see new life through ReClaim South: Sustaining Momentum. Enhancements planned over the next few months at Ambassadors' sites range from new gardening beds to community celebrations.  Before things get too crazy, we had a chance to sit down with Ambassador Linda Piso and talk about her plans for the 30/32 Grape Street Garden.   GTECH: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what motivates you to make a…

Operation Better Block's Junior Green Corps and GTECH are working together this Spring! This spring, we are kicking off a 4 part training program for the Junior Green Corps of Homewood.  The goal of these training sessions is to help the Junior Green Corps students understand the process of vacant land reclamation so they can share and practice such skills outside of the program. The bi-monthly educational sessions will extend from March through April and culminate in a final project on a vacant…

Pittsburgh is a city of neighborhoods. There are 90 of them, after all. Each one has its own charms, and problems, and groups of people working to solve them. But, like individuals, these neighborhoods often focus on their own challenges, and sometimes forget that other neighborhoods are working on very similar problems. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. At GTECH we champion these neighborhood heroes. We call them Ambassadors. They are Ambassadors to their community, and they work hard to…

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…

UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. South of Lake Erie, a businessman arrives in a pristine wilderness. He builds his first manufacturing plant and begins reining in enough profit on a product that “everyone needs” to allow him to open a second plant. And then a third. And a fourth. Soon the whole purpose of that once pristine natural environment seems to be the production of this good. The…

Chores. The grind. Tedium. Labor. Maintenance is rarely thought of fondly. And few people are inspired by sameness. We don’t wake up thinking, “Wow! My sidewalk remains unbroken!  The trees in my park are still standing!” Instead we prefer to imagine our creations as permanent, somehow set apart from time, and nature. But the only constant in nature is change: plants grow, spread, die, decay, become soil again; paint fades, chips, peels; wood rots; metal rusts; concrete cracks; even the…

  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…

Since last fall, our ReClaim South Ambassadors have been working hard planning their vacant lot project enhancements. A lot of good things are happening in South Pittsburgh and we are excited to help add capacity to 8 projects this year! To date, the Ambassadors have completed 5 training sessions for the Sustaining Momentum Program, and with only 2 more to go, on the ground implementation is quickly approaching. Here is a breakdown of what we have covered thus far in…