Educational Opportunities and Events Around Green Playces

Along with the flowers, trees, and shrubs, GTECH’s projects start to bloom in the spring. Our staff members are stir-crazy from the long winter and our projects are starting to heat up! This year our Green Playces initiative has four sites to design and build out at the Hilltop, Wilkinsburg, McKeesport, and the Hill District. Along with building out the sites with the help of volunteers, GTECH is exploring how our partnerships can expand into additional events and educational opportunities.

This past week we teamed up with staff from Propel Schools to chat with students from Penn State University’s Environment, Power, and Justice Class. We were able to meet with 26 students to discuss issues of environmental justice, inclusivity, and the importance of community support and involvement in projects.

We also presented to 50 students at The Future is Mine: The Consortium for Public Education event on April 22nd. The Future Is Mine (TFIM) is the Consortium for Public Education’s initiative that reaches into high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools to connect students to authentic career awareness experiences. GTECH and Allegheny Valley School District co-presented about creating socially minded entrepreneurs and how to involve community in local processes.

Take a look below to see the variety of events taking place over the next few months.

Events Coming Up:

5/10: Remake Learning Days: Green Playces and Innovative Tools to Empower Youth, 10:00-11:30am. GTECH will host a maker and creative thinker event on our Green Playces: Homewood Site with our partners APOST, Bible Center Church, and Megan Ciccicnoni from Fox Chapel Schools.

5/17: PCRG Mobile Summit: Addressing Northside Vacancy through Community Partnerships, 12:00-4:00pm. For this workshop, GTECH will partner with David White from the Pittsburgh Bike Share, Dianna Bucco from the Buhl Foundation, Kristen Golomb from Propel Schools, and Lisa Freeman, a GTECH Board Member and former Northside Ambassador.  The workshop will address the issues of vacancy and blight and the diverse partnerships that tackling these issues creates while working to create a better neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s Northside.

 

6/22: Makerspaces and Playces Event: Green Playces Fundraiser at
TECH Shop, 5:00-8:00pm. Join GTECH and the TECH Shop for a night of cocktails and laser cutters to celebrate and support Green Playces.  Mingle with Makers, Movers, and Shakers at this 21+ night to enjoy light fare, engage in maker-centered games, and participate in tool demonstrations that are building interactive components for Green Playce sites.

8/22: Two Wheels Lots of Green: Bike Tour through the South Hilltop including Green Playces Sites. Block off your calendar now to attend our annual biking event to highlight our work in the South Hilltop of Pittsburgh.

Check our events page as well as the Green Playces webpage often for volunteer opportunities throughout the spring and summer at our four sites.

Green Playces Hilltop Volunteer Day: 5/13 from 9:30am-12:30 pm

Green Playces: Wilkinsburg Volunteer Days 5/19, 5/24 and 5/26 from 10am-12pm

Happy Spring and we hope to see you out volunteering!