Grounded Strategies

Green Playces: McKeesport Design Charrette
2016-05-02 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | McKeesport City Hall, 500 5th Ave, McKeesport, PA 15132, McKeesport, 15132
Join us to help design our Green Playces: McKeesport Site. The site we will reclaim is located at 2216 Jenny Lind Street, McKeesport
Help us walk through the Three Themes of :

Outdoor Adventure
Music and Math
World Art Garden.

One Northside Traveling Block Party - Spring Hill Edition
2016-05-01 16:00 - 19:00 | Asylgärten Park, 2000 Rockledge Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, United States
The Block Party, a project of One Northside Pgh in partnership with The Buhl Foundation, is excited to announce it’s first of five events in 2016 taking place in Spring Hill on Saturday May 1st. The Block Party is series of mini arts festivals that will call attention to and celebrate the valuable resources and local identities of Northside neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. GTECH is pleased to be participating to gather community input our Northside Neighborhoood Connections urban trail project.
This free festival will feature:
• A mobile stage from Flyspace Productions featuring the local bands delicious pastries, Brewer’s Row and The Get Down Gang – all bands with at least one resident of Spring Hill!
• Food trucks will be onsite.
• Stories about the neighborhood are being collected onsite by The Saturday Light Brigade.
• Hands-on activities with Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse and Little House Big Art.
• Public art with AIR: Artists Image Resource
• Refreshments featuring the local, in-progress brewery, Spring Hill Brewing.
• Activities with Mattress Factory – Museum of Contemporary Art.
• Historical photos courtesy of Allegheny City Historic Gallery.
Brought to you by your friends at New Hazlett Theater, Deutschtown Music Festival and The Sprout Fund

Volunteer Opportunity with GTECH & Pittsburgh Marathon
2016-05-01 07:00 - 12:00 | Mile 18 Fluid Station, Homewood, Pittsburgh
GTECH is partnering with Pittsburgh Marathon, Operation Better Block, Homegrown – Phipps Conservatory, and Repair the World to activate Homewood’s award winning 18 mile fluid station with activities that will serve to enhance Homewood’s future greenspaces. GTECH will be building outdoor furniture and constructing planters from reclaimed materials, as well as decorating natural features that will be used on future Homewood green spaces.
This is a wonderful chance to take in the experience of the marathon as well as contribute to the greening of Homewood. If interested in volunteering please email Project Manager James Snow.
This event is part of the series Fuel Up, Redd Up, Get Up for Homewood. For more information on community engagement and volunteer activities for the series click here.

ReClaim South Ambassador - The Positive Effect Community Garden
2016-04-30 09:00 - 13:00 | The Positive Effect Community Garden
Join us for what will be a great workday at the Positive Effect Community Garden! The volunteer activities are listed below. Food and refreshments will be provided so please RSVP here, and be sure to mention the Positive Effect Community Garden. 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.

Volunteer Day at the Welcome Corner
2016-04-29 17:00 - 19:00, 2016-04-29 12:00 - 15:00, 2016-04-17 13:00 - 17:00, 2016-04-15 13:00 - 17:00 | A Place for Moms – Welcome Corner, Perryville Ave and Perryview St. , Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Last year ReClaim Northside Ambassador Cynthia Mendoza transformed a lonely vacant lot in Observatory Hill into a lovely space called A Place for Moms: Welcome Corner. This year, she’s looking to add more to the project. She hopes to add some garden beds, put more plants in the ground, and complete some pathways through the site.
Are you willing to help? Fill out this form and we will get back to you ASAP.

URA Vacant Lot Maintenance Program Meeting - North
2016-04-27 18:00 - 20:00 | PA
To register, click here.

URA Vacant Lot Maintenance Program Meeting - Central
2016-04-25 18:00 - 20:00 | PA

ReClaim South Ambassador Workday - St. Paul AME Community Garden
2016-04-23 15:00 - 19:00 | St. Paul AME Community Garden, 40 Orchard St, Pittsburgh , United States
Join us for what will be a great workday at the St. Paul AME Community Garden! The volunteer activities are listed below. Food and refreshments will be provided so please RSVP here, and be sure to mention the St. Paul AME Garden. 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: Front Entrance Beautification – Arbor installation, mulching entry pathway, and planting
Task 2: Garden Maintenance – Mulching between raised beds, amending garden bed soil, and disassembling existing compost bay (new compost bin to come!)
Task 3: Install privacy fence
Task 4: Tire bench installation

Volunteer to Redd Up Homewood
2016-04-23 08:00 - 12:00 | PA
Meet back up with the folks you met at the dinner to take part in Operation Better Block’s semi annual ‘Redd-Up’! Join in vacant lot cleanup, landscaping, beautification and neighborhood cleanup efforts throughout the neighborhood. This is a great way to serve your neighborhood and be part of a visible change in Homewood. Gloves, bags and tools will be provided for cleanup activities as well as light refreshments for volunteers who RSVP.
Registration will be at 8:00 am at the YMCA Basketball Court. For more information and to RSVP for the event, click here.

Pittsburgh Green Drinks
2016-04-22 17:00 - 20:00 | Energy Innovation Center, 1435 Bedford Avenue, Floor 1, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

URA Vacant Lot Maintenance Program Meeting - West
2016-04-20 19:00 - 21:00 | PA

URA Vacant Lot Maintenance Program Meeting - East
2016-04-19 18:00 - 20:00 | PA

Green Playces: Wilkinsburg Design Charrette
2016-04-19 11:00 - 12:15 | Hosanna House, 807 Wallace Ave., Wilkinsburg, PA, 15221, United States
Help GTECH build an outdoor classroom on a vacant lot next to Hosanna House.
If interested in attending please contact Ian Brown, Project Manager at GTECH Strategies, i.brown@gtechstrategies.org.

URA Vacant Lot Maintenance Program Meeting - South
2016-04-18 18:00 - 20:00 | PA

Fuel Up Homewood
2016-04-14 18:00 - 19:30 | 7800 Susquehanna St., Pittsburgh, PA, 15208, United States
Come celebrate Homewood and enjoy an agenda-free dinner! Take a seat next to your neighbors on Thursday, April 14th as the Steel City Road Runners, who are training to run in the Pittsburgh Marathon, serve a delicious meal. Help honor Homewood residents who are gearing up to run in the Marathon, get to know some new friendly faces and take an opportunity to reflect upon Homewood’s vibrancy and rich history with the people who know it best.

To learn more and to register for the dinner, click here.

Affordable Housing Task Force Deliberative Forum – Hill District
2016-04-05 18:00 - 20:30 | Hill House Association, 1835 Centre Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219, United States
The City of Pittsburgh is hosting four Deliberative Forums on the Affordable Housing Task Force’s mission to provide a more robust way for community members to give feedback to city officials and Task Force members.
Modeled after the highly successful Police Chief and Capital Budget public meetings, these new forums will give neighbors a chance to learn about the work of the Affordable Housing Task Force. The forums will also provide an opportunity for the community to provide input on affordable housing issues, specifically relating to policies, programs or initiatives designed to increase the supply of affordable housing in the City of Pittsburgh.
Each forum will include:

A brief overview of the Affordable Housing Task Force and Affordable Housing in Pittsburgh

Small group discussions of priorities recommended by the task force

Q&A opportunities with the panel members

All forums contain the same presented content, and are open to every resident of the City of Pittsburgh. Families are encouraged to attend and participate. For more information and to register, click here.

South Side Spring Social
2016-04-02 17:00 - 21:00 | Steel Cactus, 1831 East Carson Street, Pittsburgh , 15203, United States
Join our ReClaim Ambassador, Jamie, as he co-hosts the South Side Spring Social this saturday from 5PM-9PM at the Steel Cactus. Get tickets online, at the South Side Library, at the South Side Chamber of Commerce or at the door!
Enjoy music, food, cash bar, and neighborly celebrations! Tickets are $15 (21+ event)
Music, food, cash bar, meet your neighbors,

St. John's Green Community Conversation
2016-04-02 14:00 - 16:00 | Open, grassy area at St. John’s, 3336 Fleming Avenue, Pittsburgh
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) owns a large vacant lot in the Brighton Heights neighborhood called St. John’s Green. GTECH is working with the URA to collect residents of Brighton Heights ideas for what kind of greenspace they would like to see on the site. Since the Fall GTECH has been collecting input from residents to inform two site plans for St. John’s. Please join us on April 2nd for our final planning event to hear updates on the project, speak with neighbors and partnering organizations and provide your feedback and input on the proposed designs. Snacks and refreshments will be provided!

Sustainability Weekend 2016
2016-04-02 10:00 - 17:30 | Carnegie Mellon University Cohon University Center, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15221, United States
CMU Sustainable Earth is proud to present Sustainability Weekend 2016, Carnegie Mellon’s inaugural sustainability-focused conference, taking place on campus from March 31 to April 3. The vast majority of programming will be on Saturday, April 2.
Environmentalism often gets a bad rap. While some stereotypes are based off of fact (others less so), in 2016 we want to be thinking about environmentalism in the larger context of sustainability. In organizing Sustainability Weekend, the goal is to pique your interest and show you this larger context. Sustainability is holistic: it is political, personal, economic and social. It can dialogue with everything from urban planning to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Come learn, network and have fun!
Doors open at 9:00am. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Annual Women & Biking Forum
2016-04-02 09:30 - 15:30 | William Pitt Union, 3959 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
Join BikePGH and women from throughout the region at the 3rd Annual Women & Biking Forum! Register today to participate in a great day of meeting other women and trans identified people who bike (or are bike-curious). Whether you are interested in learning the basics of bike mechanics and methods to access athletic bike events, talking about biking with friends or coworkers, getting around town comfortably and confidently or becoming a stronger advocate for safe cycling, there will be a workshop for you! The day will end with an optional, low-key bike ride, further establishing the great community built during the forum.
For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Union Project Creative Conversation Series
2016-03-31 18:30 - 20:00 | Union Project, 801 N Negley Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15206, United States
Join Union Project on Thursday, March 31, for the launch of their new Creative Conversation Series. Rooted in their annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration, the Creative Conversation will be facilitated by community leaders Aerion Abney and Jay Oriola, guiding participants in important conversations around agape love, finding and defining community and inclusion. Through the series, they hope to grow people’s capacity to address issues of inequity in our community.
Each conversation will be shaped by those participating in this open format. We will share our unique perspectives, hopes and concerns – and then help challenge one another to take action in our lives to create positive change. For more information, click here.

Affordable Housing Task Force Deliberative Forum – East End
2016-03-29 18:00 - 20:30 | Kingsley Association, 6435 Frankstown Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15206, United States

Mapping 101 with ArcGIS
2016-03-24 18:30 - 20:30 | Grounded Strategies’ Office, 6587 Hamilton Ave., Pittsburgh, 15206, United States
Join GTECH Strategies for a ten-week course to learn the basics of GIS technologies (Geographic Information Systems), with a focus on the industry-standard ArcGIS platform by ESRI. Classes will be held every Thursday from 6:30-8:30pm at GTECH’s office. The course runs from March 24 through May 26. We will utilize lecture, hands on tutorials in the program, readings and application with a Community Project and Partner.
As for course goals, we will be covering:

Introduction to GIS
Finding, Downloading, Cleaning Data
File Geodatabases
GIS Outputs
Map Design
Spatial Data
Geoprocessing
Spatial Analysis

To sign up for the course, click here. To learn more about the importance and power of mapping, check out our blog here.

Growler Hour with ioby
2016-03-24 18:00 - 19:30 | East End Brewery, 147 Julius St, Pittsburgh, 15206
ioby believes that it should be easy to make meaningful change “in our backyards” – the positive opposite of the “not in my back yard” mentality called NIMBY. To do this ioby has designed a crowd-resourcing platform that mobilizes neighbors who have good ideas to become powerful citizen leaders who make positive change in their own communities. GTECH and The Sprout Fund have been partnering with ioby to support innovative and creative projects that focus on current issues and challenges affecting local communities. We invite you to experience these local projects and learn how ioby’s unique platform and their concept of crowd-resourcing helped drive these projects to success to make our neighborhoods safer, greener, more livable and more fun.
Join GTECH and The Sprout Fund to meet ioby Founder and CEO, Erin Barnes and the local citizen leaders who have implemented great ideas one block at a time with ioby. Enjoy growlers of local beer as you learn why ioby chose Pittsburgh to open their next office in Spring 2016 and their plans for growing positive neighbor-led change locally. This is a public event for non-profits, public agencies, municipalities, community groups and individuals that are interested in connecting their ideas with the crowdfunding resources to make it happen.
Arrive starting at 6 pm to grab one of East End Brewing Company’s beers and tacos from La Palapa’s food truck. Remarks introducing Erin Barnes, Founder and CEO of ioby begin at 6:30 pm inside the taproom.
The event is free to attend, but we ask that you please register to help us connect with you for the event.

Affordable Housing Task Force Deliberative Forum – North Side
2016-03-23 18:00 - 20:30 | Letter Carrier’s Union Hall, 841 California Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, United States

Affordable Housing Task Force Deliberative Forum – South Side
2016-03-15 18:00 - 20:30 | Lifespan Knoxville Resource Center, 320 Brownsville Rd., Pittsburgh, PA, 15210, United States

Adopt-A-Lot Information Session
2016-03-15 18:00 - 19:30 | Homewood Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 7101 Hamilton Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15208, United States
The Department of City Planning and the Office of Community Affairs is hosting an Adopt-A-Lot information session for the communities of Homewood, East Hills, Garfield, East Liberty, Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar and Larimer. These neighborhoods have some of the highest concentrations of vacant lots. The Department of City Planning has revamped the process for adopting a lot, and they would like to share that process with you.
