Start a Love Affair with your Community. Posted on January 28, 2014 by Grounded Strategies This Valentine's Day why not fall in love with your community? At GTECH, we believe that environmental, economic and social problems degrade the health of our communities and create barriers to progress. The only way to conquer these issues is to speak up for the future of your neighborhood. That's why we want you to show and spread the love you have for your community. Share photos that inspire others with the best of what your neighborhood has to offer. It's…Read More
Favorite Moments 2013 Posted on January 27, 2014 by Grounded Strategies Our office closed for the holiday break, giving us an opportunity to spend time with friends and family. Just as quickly as you could say, “Happy 2014,” the past few weeks flew by. We took a moment to reflect on the year — five themes emerged as staff shared favorite memories. 1. Sharing the community-development limelight "So many wonderful moments, memories, and events from 2013. One that certainly tops the list is the opportunity to share the stage at Green…Read More
Grease for Good Posted on December 17, 2013 by Grounded Strategies Pittsburgh Oil Recycling Gets a Makeover. GTECH Strategies and Greenlight Biofuels partner to boost ReFuel Pgh ReFuel Pgh, a program run by Growth Through Energy and Community Health (GTECH) Strategies, up with Greenlight Biofuels for the collection and recycling of waste cooking oil to support sustainable community development activities in Pittsburgh. 100% of the volume of oil collected is processed in Pennsylvania for biodiesel, which has approximately 80% less CO2 emissions than petroleum diesel. Any facility that produces waste cooking…Read More
Talent City – Giving Power Away Posted on December 16, 2013 by Grounded Strategies By Andrew Butcher Recently I was invited to serve as a Screening Committee member for the Talent City Initiative. For folks who don't know about it - Talent City is produced by The Pittsburgh Foundation and The University of Pittsburgh's Institute of Politics designed to bring objectivity, transparency, and rigorous hiring practices to build the best available Senior Leadership to lead the City of Pittsburgh. The driving intention here is to elevate the standard and performance of Pittsburgh's city government through…Read More
Meet Noah: Special Projects Intern Posted on December 6, 2013 by Grounded Strategies Noah, a current student at Dartmouth University, is visiting family here is Pittsburgh. He decided to spend part of his holiday break interning with us, so we decided to ask him some questions about what he is working on. [one_half] [one_half] [one_half_last] Noah Rickerich year: Sophmore school: Dartmouth major: Economics and Philosophy [/one_half_last] GTECH: Where are you from originally? NOAH: I've lived in York, Maine my whole life G: So why are you here in Pittsburgh and interning with GTECH…Read More
The Bruner Loeb Forum: My Takeways Posted on November 20, 2013 by Grounded Strategies Recently, GTECH was invited to attend the Bruner Loeb Forum in Detroit for two days of discussion on vacancy and the associated issues currently being addressed in our nation's legacy cities. Designers, government officials, forward thinkers, funders and nonprofit leaders participated in a series of neighborhood tours, panel discussions, facilitated small group sessions and presentations. As the Director of ReClaim, I was interested in unearthing some lessons that other cities can teach Pittsburgh when it comes to issues of vacant…Read More
3 Ways to Recycle Smarter Posted on November 20, 2013 by Grounded Strategies Here at GTECH, we help turn waste into something useful.We jumped at the chance to see one of the most popular ways people do this: recycling! On Monday, we toured Waste Management's Greenstar Recycling Center with Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse. If you are a Pittsburgher or a resident of Allegheny County, you know all of your recyclables go into one big, blue bin. This is called single-stream recycling. After touring the facility on Neville Island, we came away with…Read More
Wethoptober Fest: a Success! Posted on November 1, 2013 by Grounded Strategies Beers, Bites and a Better 'Burgh. Thank you to everyone who came out to Wet Hoptober Fest this past October 3rd! Not only did we get to drink some great wet-hopped beers from East End Brewing and ate locally purveyed food from Marty's Market's Cafe, but also made new friends, learned about growing hops and interacted with this Garfield farms-based project. Together we raised over $500 for next year's urban hop farm. Also a shout out to Porter Loves Photography…Read More
Pittsburgh Environmental & Health Conference Posted on October 31, 2013 by Grounded Strategies Pittsburgh Environmental & Health Conference: Encouraging the Fight for Community Health in the 'Burgh Last Friday, October 25 - 300 Pittsburghers came to hear national and local environmental leaders lecture on topics ranging from reducing waste to building healthy communities. Naturally it felt like something GTECH should be involved in. Three of our staff members: Michelle McDonald, Travis Mecum and Zaheen Hussain got to take a day out of the office and experience the event. Who was your favorite speaker?…Read More
Community Sunflower Harvest in Homewood Posted on October 28, 2013 by Grounded Strategies This past Saturday beneath the shadow of an old warehouse that advertises, "We Buy Aluminum & Cans, Copper, Brass" old and new converged as all 11,000 square feet of Pittsburgh's largest sunflower garden in a community were harvested by over 150 volunteers in the Homewood on Frankstown Avenue and Collier Street. The volunteer group was made up of individuals from Operation Better Block (OBB), The University of Pittsburgh's Jumpstart program, which is a national early childhood literacy program that trains and…Read More
GASP 5K Posted on October 4, 2013 by Grounded Strategies Put Your Running Shoes on for Clean Air GTECH will be participating in Group Against Smog and Pollution’s Athletes United for Healthy Air campaign inaugural Clean Air Dash and Festival, brought to Pittsburgh with the support of the Breathe Project. We are looking for runners (or walkers) who are interested in supporting cleaner air and running with GTECH. If you are interested in being part of our team email Dan, d.certo@gtechstrategies.org. This 5K race event will be held October 19…Read More
Thanks! Posted on October 3, 2013 by imagebox GTECH says Thank You! We took a little time out from cleaning up lots, pouring oil, and checking in with our Ambassadors to get a little goofy and make a video that says how much we appreciate our donors. Presently your donations go to our operation costs that- quite literally- keep our lights on; they also get us the necessary supplies to host volunteer clean up days, bring vacant land projects to life and educate communities on alternative energy. So…Read More