Grounded Strategies

Green Playces Hilltop Workday
2016-06-08 10:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | ALEC, 827 E Warrington Ave, Pittsburgh, 15210, United States
Join GTECH and ALEC staff & volunteers on the Green Playces: Hilltop site. We will be building out components of the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Garden Resource Center Grand Re-Opening Party
2016-06-11 10:00 - 13:00 | PA
Join Grow Pittsburgh for the Grand Re-Opening to learn more about the GRC, sign up, and have fun!
A program of Grow Pittsburgh since 2013, the Garden Resource Center (GRC) reduces barriers to growing food while strengthening urban garden communities. Users of the GRC can rent garden tools (ex. shovels, tillers) like a library and also get access to bulk garden materials like compost and straw.
Activites:
10-11am KDKA Live Broadcast with Andy Amrhein and Doug Oster
Cooking demo by Chef Bill Fuller
Tool sharpening/repair (bring your tools from home!)
Kids welcome
To learn more, click here.

Nine Mile Run Bike Tour & Block Party
2016-06-11 12:00 - 17:00 | Biddle’s Escape, 401 Biddle Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15221, United States
Celebrate NMRWA’s 15th anniversary with a community Bike Tour and Block Party on Saturday, June 11th. The guided bike tour will cover 10 miles through the watershed communities of Wilkinsburg, Regent Square, Swissvale, Homewood, Edgewood, and lower Frick Park. Explore green rainwater initiatives and watershed features as you leisurely and safely traverse the watershed neighborhoods. The tour will both begin and end at Biddle’s Escape coffee shop, starting at noon and finishing around 3pm. Tickets are free for NMRWA members and $25 for non-members.
Each ticket purchase includes:
– 10 mile guided tour of the watershed
– Refreshments & Snacks along the route
– Leona’s ice cream sandwiches at the end of the tour
– Entry to win a free tune-up from Kindred Cycles!
To learn more, click here.

Green Playces: Hilltop Workday
2016-06-15 09:30 - 12:30 | ALEC, 827 E Warrington Ave, Pittsburgh, 15210, United States
Join GTECH and ALEC staff and volunteers on the Green Playces: Hilltop site. We will be building out components of the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Green Workplace Challenge Kick-off
2016-06-16 08:30 - 11:00 | PA
The Green Workplace Challenge is back again for another year of exciting competition!
Beginning with its first launch in September of 2011, the field of GWC leaders completed over 5800 measurable actions, saved enough energy to power 9700 average U.S. homes for a year (112,000,000 kWh of energy savings) at a value of over $8.9 million. Additionally, enough water was saved to fill Heinz Field with over 93 feet of water (Over 67 million gallons saved). In terms of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, participants saved over 25,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which translates to roughly 651 airline flights of 500 miles: 4.3 days’ worth of all flights leaving Pittsburgh International Airport on a given day. Check out the full details in the GWC infographics.
Let’s build off of this impressive record by doing even more in this fourth round of the competition!
New this year (click here for full details):

Revised Master Playbook with new actions
Earn ribbons and recognition for your completed actions using the new category playbooks
Compete on a neighborhood team
Equity actions
Compete on a team with other tenants in your building
Actions that reward tenant-landlord cooperation
More opportunities for innovative actions
Weekly sprint challenges

Special invitation to professional associations to rally your members to participate!
Last time 100 businesses, nonprofits, municipalities, and universities from southwestern Pennsylvania signed up for this yearlong competition to track and measure improvements in energy, water, waste, and transportation. Hear how the leading organizations and their employees achieved success. See how they positively impacted the region, from cost savings to resource efficiencies to an engaged workforce
Full agenda to be posted soon.

Green Playces: Homewood Workday
2016-06-16 12:30 - 14:30 | Homewood Green Playce, 7238 Fleury Way, Pittsburgh, 15208, United States
Join GTECH staff and interns to help spruce up the Green Playces: Homewood site. We will be doing maintenance on the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Makerspaces & Playces
2016-06-22 17:30 - 20:30 | Tech Shop Pittsburgh, 192 Bakery Square Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA, 15206, United States
We had a fun night of cocktails and laser cutters for our 21+ Night at the TechShop to benefit Green Playces. Mingle with Makers, Movers and Shakers enjoyed small bites, engaged in maker-centered games, and interacted with tool demonstrations that built educational play components for Green Playce sites.
About The Cause:
GTECH’s Green Playces initiative closes the gap between the lack of environmental education and access to safe, vibrant green spaces for youth who live in close proximity to blighted, vacant land by transforming vacant lots into meaningful outdoor making and learning spaces for STEM education and eco-literacy curriculum. See Green Playces in action.

ReClaim South Ambassador Workday - The Knoxville Incline Trail
2016-06-25 10:00 - 13:00 | Historic Knoxville Incline Trail
Join us for what will be a great workday at the Historic Knoxville Incline Trail! The volunteer activities are listed below. If you are interested, RSVP here, and be sure to mention the Knoxville Incline Trail.
Please come with long pants, close toes shoes, and a water bottle. GTECH will provide all the tools and materials necessary for the projects that day.
Task 1: Replanting perennials
Task 2: Mulching pathways
Task 3: Paint touch up on outdoor funiture

ReClaim South Ambassador Workday: Cara
2016-06-25 10:00 - 13:00 | Historic Knoxville Incline Trail
Join the GTECH ReClaim South team and our amazing Ambassador Cara Jette on her first workday of the season. Her site has been lush and beautiful since 2014, but on June 25th, it is getting a little maintenance and enhancements. Check out more info about the Historic Knoxville Incline Trail and how Cara has successfully transformed the area from run down to a beautiful greenway HERE
Workday tasks include:

Weed the pathway/benches
Weed / mulch around the planters near the bridge in preparation for the sign
Repaint the blue benches (over the graffiti)
Plant juniper bushes /mulch along the roadway in front of the boulders
Plant Pieris Japonica /mulch near the bridge and drop-off
Re-mulch the mulch pathway

Please RSVP using her project Facebook page HERE or by registering on our website HERE

Green Playces: Wilkinsburg Workday
2016-06-29 09:00 - 12:00 | PA
Join GTECH staff and volunteers on the Green Playces: Wilkinsburg site. We will be working on decking and planting! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Green Playces: McKeesport Workday
2016-06-30 18:00 - 20:00 | PA
Join GTECH staff and volunteers on the Green Playces: McKeesport site. We will be building out components of the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Independence Day
2016-07-04 | PA
The GTECH office will be closed on July 4, 2016, in observance of Independence Day.

Green Playces: Hilltop Workday
2016-07-12 09:00 - 13:00 | ALEC, 827 E Warrington Ave, Pittsburgh, 15210, United States
Join GTECH staff and Apple volunteers on the Green Playces: Hilltop site. We will be building out components of the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Green Playces: Wilkinsburg Workday
2016-07-13 09:00 - 14:00 | PA
Join GTECH staff and MAYA Designs volunteers on the Green Playces: Wilkinsburg site. We will be building out components of the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Green Playces: McKeesport Workday
2016-07-19 09:00 - 14:00 | PA
Join GTECH staff and Eat N’ Park volunteers on the Green Playces: McKeesport site. We will be building out components of the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Noah's Ark Community Park Volunteer Day
2016-07-23 09:00 - 11:00 | Unnamed Venue, 704 Market st , McKeesport, 15132, United States
On Saturday July 23rd at 9am there will be a Community Clean-up Day for NOAH’S ARK COMMUNITY PARK
This will be the one big clean-up day for the summer to get things in order.
Lunch will be provided
RSVP by email: rhonda.moorer@bnymellon.com or lionqueen728@hotmail.com.

Open Streets
2016-07-31 09:00 - 13:00 | PA
OpenStreetsPGH is a free event series run by BikePGH. They host three community-building, family-friendly, city-transforming events in Pittsburgh every summer. July’s route will include parts of the West End, Northside, and Downtown. Visit this link for a route map.
OpenStreetsPGH is part of a movement called Ciclovia, which includes 100s of cities across the globe. OpenStreetsPGH is also a group of businesses, neighbors, non-profits, and others who want to help Pittsburgh be the healthiest, most active, and happiest city it can be.

Green Playces: Hilltop Workday
2016-08-03 09:30 - 13:30 | ALEC, 827 E Warrington Ave, Pittsburgh, 15210, United States
Join GTECH staff interns on the Green Playces: Hilltop site. We will be building out components of the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

Learn, Climb, and Grow in Wilkinsburg
2016-08-10 10:00 - 11:00 | Hosanna House, 807 Wallace Ave., Wilkinsburg, PA, 15221, United States
Come preview Green Playces: Wilkinsburg on August 10 from 9-11am! There will be a short presentation and fun activities for children of all ages.

Final Wilkinsburg Green Playce Design

Green Playces: Hilltop Workday
2016-08-15 09:30 - 13:30 | ALEC, 827 E Warrington Ave, Pittsburgh, 15210, United States
Join GTECH on the Green Playces: Hilltop site for our final workday! We will be finishing components and sprucing up the site! Please RSVP to i.brown@gtechstrategies.org to attend.

5th Annual Two Wheels Lots of Green
2016-08-20 09:00 - 14:00 | Beltzhoover Community Center, 403 Gearing Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15210
Greenspaces are popping up all over South Pittsburgh. Learn the “story” behind GTECH’s vibrant community spaces at the Two Wheels Lots of Green bike tour. This year’s guided bike tour features unique greenspaces, including gardens, games, colorful trailheads, outdoor classrooms designed by youth, a ribbon cutting ceremony, and an historic incline site turned into a greenway, and more.
Refreshments such as iced coffee from Black Forge Coffee and bike-powered smoothies from Green Mountain Energy will be provided throughout the tour. Afterwards we will celebrate with a garden party at the Garden on Gearing with a food tent from Sweet Peaches and a pop-up playground with City of Play.
Register to experience these unique green spaces and meet the community members who made them possible. The ride will take place from 9 am – Noon, followed by the garden party from Noon – 2 pm.The ride will start and conclude at the Garden on Gearing. When registering you have the option to sign up for a shorter relaxed route (4 miles) or a longer rigorous route ( 7 mile route with some hills).

We are excited about how this event continues to grow and helps fuel GTECH’s mission! We have free tickets available for those who are in need of financial assistance. Contact Katherine Chamberlain at k.chamberlain@gtechstrategies.org or 412-361-2099 to use them.

Here is a video from our first Two Wheels Lots of Green event.

Sponsors

Pop Up and Play
2016-08-24 16:00 - 18:00 | PA
Join all of our partners at Green Playces: McKeesport for a Pop Up and Play extravaganza! There will be games, food, storytime, and a gardening project. For more information, click here.

Grassroots Green Homes Summer Celebration
2016-08-27 11:00 - 15:00 | Flagstaff Hill, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
GGH Summer Celebration & Toolkit Distribution Day
(Tools and Tips #5&6)
Saturday, 11am-3pm
Flagstaff Hill
(Schenley Park, across from Phipps)
food – games – prizes

Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference Early Bird Special Ends Today!
2016-08-31 08:00 - 23:55 | PA
Early Bird Rates end at 11:59pm EST TODAY! Sign up while you can and save $200!
Register by clicking the image below!

Labor Day
2016-09-05 | PA
The GTECH office will be closed on September 5, 2016, in observance of Labor Day.

Resilience Fair
2016-09-14 16:00 - 20:00 | Southside Market House, 1 Bedford Square , Pittsburgh, PA, 15203, United States
Join us for an update on the City’s Resilience Strategy, and come visit local speakers and resource tables that showcase city-wide resilience initiatives. Learn how we’re working to make Pittsburgh and our residents stronger, and how you can get involved. Bring your thoughts on what a resilient Pittsburgh should look like.

Green Playce McKeesport Volunteer Day with US Steel
2016-09-15 09:00 - 13:00 | Trinity Church of God in Christ, 2216 Jenny Lind Street, McKeesport, PA, 15132, United States
Join us for a volunteer day with US Steel on our Green Playces McKeesport site.

GTECH's Entrepreneurial Spirits
2016-09-17 18:00 - 21:00 | Wigle Whiskey Barrelhouse, 1055 Spring Garden Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, United States
Every year GTECH tests new ideas and innovative solutions with partners to transform blighted, vacant land into community assets. These ambitious projects produce creative solutions and products to tackle social issues and offer new ideas for wide-scale change. As social entrepreneurs our vision is to help Pittsburgh become the most innovative city for addressing vacant land and community disinvestment.
GTECH’s Entrepreneurial Spirits event celebrates and supports our ability to trial new ideas and test innovative solutions for fighting blight and vacancy. The celebration will showcase our history of applied innovation projects and partners, while raising support for GTECH to innovate and test future ventures. This year we’re partnering with Wigle Whiskey to offer an evening of inspired libations; including experimental brews, hopped whiskey, local food and great conversation at the Wigle Whiskey Barrel House.
Applied Innovation is GTECH’s program to research and develop new tools, partnerships, and value added products to improve the social, environmental and economic health of communities. The program has grown since piloting growing hops on vacant land, to building outdoor classrooms with Green Playces and launching an interactive online resource for reclaiming vacant land through Lots to Love.
Tickets for the 2016 event are $25 and include:

First 50 tickets get a custom g jar
Sample pour of beer from Allegheny City Brewing
Sample pour of cider from A Few Bad Apples
Wigle Whiskey Tasting
One full size wigle whiskey cocktail

Thanks to our generous sponsors for making this event possible!

Green Playces: Eat N' Park Volunteer Day
2016-09-20 09:00 - 13:00 | McKeesport Green Playce, 2216 Jenny Lind Street, McKeesport, PA, 15132, United States
Come volunteer at our McKeesport Green Playce and help finish out the site.

Email i.brown@gtechstrategies.org for more details and to sign up!

Pittsburgh Gives Day of Giving
2016-09-21 08:00 - 23:55 | PA
Day of Giving is Wednesday, September 21, 2016!
Day of Giving is a one-day online giving event organized by The Pittsburgh Foundation. The goal is to inspire the Greater Pittsburgh community to give together on one day to support the unparalleled work of our local nonprofits.
Join us in supporting the life changing work of our community’s nonprofits on Wednesday, Sept. 21 by donating online between 8 a.m. through 11:59 p.m.
