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GTECH Strategies held its ReClaim Northside project kick-off Wednesday, April 22 at the Pittsburgh Project in Perry Hilltop. Almost a year after entering the vacant-lot-saving program, 14 community ambassadors from eight different Northside neighborhoods shared the progress of each of their respective projects. “We work with communities across Allegheny County to address land-use issues like vacant land because we view them as platforms for change, growth, engagement, learning, creativity and innovation,” Evaine K. Sing, GTECH director of operations & programming,…

Do you know of a vacant lot that needs love? It’s likely since there are 45,000 in Allegheny County. LotstoLove.org, which GTECH Strategies launched yesterday on Earth Day, is a resource for community groups and residents who “have an interest in small, resident-driven greening projects on vacant lots.” How? The website aggregates all the data and resources needed to overhaul a blighted lot—from how to assess the lot, raise funds and engage the community, to identifying ownerships and getting permission,…

Nine McKeesport lots will get an overhaul under a Pittsburgh-based program that officials hope will “begin a conversation about what else can happen here.” That's according to project manager James Snow of GTECH — or Growth Through Energy and Community Health — a community development nonprofit. GTECH Strategies provided $3,000 stipends obtained from the Benedum Foundation to nine ambassadors overseeing beautification projects from McKees Point to Penn State Greater Allegheny and the Reservoir area of the Seventh Ward.

About 60 students from four local high schools collaborated in a two-day session this month at the University of Pittsburgh to come up with ideas and create awareness for what has become a global water crisis. Students from Mt. Lebanon, Chartiers Valley, McKeesport Area and Elizabeth Forward took part in the Water Design Challenge, held March 11-12 in the William Pitt Student Union.

On February 26, 2015, GTECH Strategies became the first nonprofit ever to receive the Pittsburgh Business Ethics Award in the small business category. Hosted by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Society of Financial Professionals, the 14th annual luncheon event attracted 210 people Downtown at the Omni William Penn Hotel.

McKeesport area families and officials worked toward improving opportunities for youth by networking with community and human service organizations Tuesday evening. McKeesport Area School District, the city and ReClaim McKeesport — a project of GTECH Strategies — were partners in the gathering at Twin Rivers Intermediate School.

Pittsburgh joined the foundation’s “100 Resilient Cities” initiative, a $100 million program to help cities thrive amid rising uncertainty.

The third annual Hilltop Summit brought together nearly 100 representatives of Pittsburgh's Hilltop communities along with guests and elected officials to hear what has been happening in the neighborhoods over the past year.

McKeesport's religious and volunteer communities reached out to the city's less fortunate over the weekend, serving holiday lunches and dinners in advance of Thanksgiving. People gathered at ACTION-Housing's McKeesport Downtown Housing facility, Bethlehem Baptist Church, the Salvation Army and Creative Ministries on Saturday and Sunday to share fellowship and home-cooked meals. They came together in thanks as they enjoyed turkey dinners with stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams and sautéed green beans.

On her daily walk, Cara Jette takes public steps that connect Welsh Way, near her home in Allentown, to Brosville Street in the South Side Slopes. At the end of the ascent, she crosses a footbridge to get through what used to be a lumpy, weedy, trash-strewn lot that ended with graffiti-covered jersey barriers at the sidewalk.

With a Habitat for Humanity construction project on hold, ambassadors in the ReClaim McKeesport initiative are making the most of a Lemon Street lot. GTECH Strategies advisers, who are in McKeesport to take on their first beautification project outside of Pittsburgh this year, guided a handful of McKeesport's newly selected ambassadors through their first project Saturday. “This was a demonstration project to show our new community leaders some of the projects they can do next spring,” GTECH Strategies project manager…