Pittsburgh Conservation Corps (dba Landforce) Planning

Throughout 2015, the Mount Washington Community Development Corporation, GTECH Strategies, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, UrbanKind, and the Allegheny Land Trust used support from the Hillman Foundation to research national models and inform the scaling and growth of the Emerald Trail Corps.

After examining over 25 programs in 15 cities, including site visits to Seattle Conservation Corps, the San Francisco Conservation Corps, Oakland Civicorps and The Greening of Detroit, the team helped develop an exciting and dynamic model to expand the Emerald Trail Corps program.

In 2015, ETC began the process of restructuring for expansion and launch, adopting the working name, Pittsburgh Conservation Corps until the organization settled on their permanent name, Landforce, in early 2016.

Now a fully functioning Land Stewardship and Workforce Development organization, Landforce continues to expand and innovate as they work to improve Allegheny County’s green spaces while connecting its underserved residents to meaningful employment.