Pittsburgh Land Bank: Resources & Final Public Meeting Posted on March 29, 2017 by wpengine What is a land bank exactly? This may be a question you’ve never thought about. But for folks like me, who look at the vacant property in our neighborhoods as an opportunity to enrich communities, I was keen on attending the first Pittsburgh Land Bank public meeting, which happened to be on the West End (also my side of town). The Pittsburgh Land Bank’s role will be to aid in the recycling and repurposing of land, stabilization of standing structures,…Read More
The stress of living with vacant land Posted on November 14, 2016 by Grounded Strategies There are over 45,000 vacant lots in Allegheny County. If you live here, it's likely you see vacant lots near your home or on your route to the grocery store, work, or school. Have you ever thought about how those vacant lots affect you and your neighbors? Does one lot really make a difference? Well, the research says "yes". One lot really does make a difference. The places that we live in are ingrained in us. When a vacant lot disrupts the…Read More
Using Community Input and Data to Make Informed Decisions Posted on June 10, 2016 by wpengine Some of the many things we love here at GTECH include community input, innovative solutions, working with great people to improve our region's community and environmental health, data, and transforming liabilities into assets. For these reasons and many more, we were very excited to partner recently with Economic Development South (EDS) and the Saw Mill Run Watershed Association (SMRWA) to conduct a Green Boulevard Property Acquisition Study along Route 51 and Library Road. The long-term vision for the Green Boulevard…Read More
What Prompted AE Works to B the Change & Become a B Corp? Posted on May 27, 2016 by wpengine Pittsburgh is home to four B Corps, businesses that have taken social and environmental factors into their business plans. With a traditional business, shareholders can challenge management decisions to maximize profits. When a business becomes a B Corp, shareholders no longer have that legal authority. This is a fascinating way to structure a corporation and often attracts shareholders despite the diminished power they wield. The GTECH Social Capital Council is a cadre of energetic and socially-conscious professionals who actively support and…Read More
Green Schools and Beyond Posted on April 15, 2016 by wpengine GTECH was able to attend the Green Schools Conference and Expo at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center from March 31 through April 1. Some would ask, why is GTECH at a Green Schools Conference and how does it apply to their work to date? While we don't work in a school setting, our Green Playces Initiative hopes to work with educators and students to help explore our natural settings and think about local environmental issues. Eco-literacy and environmental justice are issues…Read More
Community Benefit in Vacant Lot Maintenance Posted on April 4, 2016 by wpengine RSVP here! GTECH is partnering with UrbanKind Institute (Dr. Jamil Bey), Fourth Economy Consulting, Pitt’s University Center on Social Urban Research (UCSUR), A. Phillip Randolph Institute, City Source Associaties, KRJ Contracting, Landforce, the Hilltop Men’s Group, and YouthPlaces to help redesign the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) vacant land maintenance process. While the URA only owns less than 10% of the publicly owned vacant land in Pittsburgh, we want your input to help ensure more awareness, transparency, and ultimately community benefit. To begin…Read More
Building Blocks for Green Infrastructure Posted on March 16, 2016 by wpengine On March 7, 2016, over 60 people attended our Livability Solutions Green Infrastructure Workshop, co-hosted with One Northside. Attendees spanned a variety of sectors, including representatives of non-profits and public agencies, academics, citizens and more. Workshop topics included some of the Center for Neighborhood Technology's green infrastructure tools, including: Green Valuation Guide: a tool to help quantify the co-benefits of green infrastructure, including improved air quality, reduced cost of water treatment, reduced energy use and more. Green Portfolio Standard: a planning tool to…Read More
GTECH’s Policy Framework Posted on March 11, 2016 by wpengine GTECH is at a pivotal point in our young history, this April, GTECH will celebrate our 9th Birthday. We can no longer claim we are a young, scrappy startup organization and need to think about how and what contributions GTECH will make 5, 10, or 20 years from now to the Pittsburgh Region. Later this month, GTECH will officially roll out our Policy Framework document which will be used to to clarify our strategic relationship to key regional policy issues.…Read More
Incorporating Resilience Activities at the Community Development Level Posted on February 19, 2016 by wpengine "Urban resilience is the capacity of a community to anticipate, plan for, and mitigate the risks—and seize the opportunities—associated with environmental and social change." - The Kresge Foundation You may have noticed that we've been talking a lot about resilience from a variety of perspectives and scales. First, we talked about defining resilience and how it relates to community health. Second, we explored resilience from a national perspective, gaining insight into how cities across the country are developing strategies to…Read More
Analyzing Cost and Energy Saving from the HHIP Program Posted on January 5, 2016 by wpengine “The connection between health and dwelling is one of the most important that exists.” -Florence Nightingale As we enter the new year and get ready for winter, homeowners start to see their energy bills rise. When we use more electricity and gas to heat our homes, it's important to think about how to reduce our energy costs and our carbon footprint. GTECH has been running the Healthy Homes Incentive Program (HHIP) for a year and the results are worth sharing. To…Read More
The Power of Mapping Posted on December 18, 2015 by wpengine I’ve always been obsessed with maps. Something about being able to see the whole picture, looking down from an imagined space above, knowing where everything lays... As a kid, I’d look at maps and pretend - I’m hiking on this mountain, in these woods. I’m visiting this town, crossing that ocean. Or I’d make up lands of my own, the backdrop to some grand adventure. Later, as an architecture student, I started making maps to analyze real spaces. I’d plot…Read More
Resilience in Your Community Posted on December 11, 2015 by Grounded Strategies So we've talked about resilience in a national context, about policies and million dollar grants and about resilience on a city level. But what does all of that mean for the average person? For someone just trying to get by, who doesn't work in sustainability or in disaster relief. How does resilience influence my daily life? Resilience is important everywhere. It gets a lot of attention in this day and age because of the looming threats of climate change, the increasingly…Read More