State of the Land Report: May 2022

Welcome to the State of the Land Report! May 2022 The State of the Land Report is our monthly update where we will be educating and sharing out about everything you need to know about vacant land policy in the City of Pittsburgh!  Cats Corner in the the Hill District,  by CommunityCare Hill District Advocacy Network Thank you for subscribing to our advocacy network, if you have not already done so please subscribe here. Grounded is working to improve the condition of vacant…

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State of the Land Report: April

Welcome to the State of the Land Report! April 2022 The State of the Land Report is our monthly update where we will be educating and sharing out about everything you need to know about vacant land policy in the City of Pittsburgh!    Advocacy Network Thank you for subscribing to our advocacy network, if you have not already done so please subscribe here. Grounded is working to improve the condition of vacant lots by developing sustainable solutions that can address…

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State of the Land Report: March

Welcome to the State of the Land Report! March 2022 The State of the Land Report is our monthly update where we will be educating and sharing out about everything you need to know about vacant land policy in the City of Pittsburgh!  Lots of Wildflowers - Meadow St, Larimer Advocacy Network Thank you for subscribing to our advocacy network, if you have not already done so please subscribe here. Grounded is working to improve the condition of vacant lots by…

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State of the Land Report: February

Welcome to the State of the Land Report! February 2022 The State of the Land Report is our monthly update where we will be educating and sharing out about everything you need to know about vacant land policy in the City of Pittsburgh!  Advocacy Network Thank you for subscribing to our advocacy network, if you have not already done so please subscribe here. Grounded is working to improve the condition of vacant lots by developing sustainable solutions that can address the…

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State of the Land Report: January

Welcome to the State of the Land Report! January 2022 The State of the Land Report is our monthly update where we will be educating and sharing out about everything you need to know about vacant land policy in the City of Pittsburgh! Advocacy Network Thank you for subscribing to our advocacy network, if you have not already done so please subscribe here. We must ensure that the process of land recycling and maintenance is conducted equitably, transparently, and through an…

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State of the Land Report: December/End of Year Wrap Up

Welcome to the End of The Year State of the Land Report! December 2021 The State of the Land Report is our monthly update where we will be educating and sharing out about everything you need to know about vacant land policy in the City of Pittsburgh!  Advocacy Network Thank you for subscribing to our advocacy network, if you have not already done so please subscribe here. We must ensure that the process of land recycling and maintenance is conducted equitably,…

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Lisa Freeman: Healing Community through Urban Gardening

Who is Lisa Freeman? A “badass social worker” of 35+ years.  Founder and CEO of the Manchester Growing Together Farm. Founder and Proprietor of the Freeman Family Farm. “Unbought and unbossed,” just like her hero, Shirley Chisolm.  Lisa is a soldier for the people at heart. “Everything I say is what I mean. If I said it, I’mma stand up to it.” “I’m not a friend of politicians because I call them out, I look for ways to be on…

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Bill 299_Press Release

Pittsburgh City Council CityFarms Project Resolution 2020-0299 Recommitted by City Council   Pittsburgh, PA:  April 28, 2020, Pittsburgh City Council recommitted Resolution 2020-0299. This bill would have authorized the Mayor and the Director of the Department of Public Works to enter into a Project Cooperation Agreement or Professional Services Agreements with Grounded Strategies for the purposes of implementing a CityFarms pilot project on city-owned vacant land. The resolution is expected to be updated to include an RFP process. Grounded Strategies,…

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TRUSS: Masoud’s Takeaways

The second annual Three Rivers Urban Soils Symposium (TRUSS) was a wonderful event where soils experts from around the United States gathered to collectively discuss the unique characteristics and challenges of urban soils. An eclectic gathering of "dirt-worshippers" and "tree-huggers" all deeply concerned with revitalizing our urban environments through careful stewardship of soils, the presenters included individuals from academia, farmers, remediation specialists, and worm ranchers (among others). Even though the attendees and presenters came from such a diverse array of…

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Enviornmental Justice Town Hall Experience

Project Coordinator, Odera Igwe, attended the Environmental Justice Town Hall meeting in Philly and below are the main takeaways from her experience On November 2nd, 2019 I attended the APHA Environmental Justice Town Hall in Philadelphia PA. This town hall was an opportunity for Environmental Justice leaders all around the country to come together and discuss the Environmental Justice (EJ) issues they have encountered in their communities. The main objective of this town hall was to improve the understanding of…

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RVP Reflection Series: What did Masoud see?

Throughout my experience at the Reclaiming Vacant Properties (RVP) conference in Atlanta this year, I encountered a storm of new, fresh, and different ideas about how to address many of the concerns generated by cycles of disinvestment within 'rust belt' cities. Beyond these techniques though, I think the far more valuable treasure gleaned at this event comes in the form of contacts and relationships with other folks performing similar work in parallel with Grounded across this country. Their insights, challenges,…

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Planting Seeds for the Future

Pittsburgh, as the nation within which it resides, has a storied past awash with inequality. Both here and in the United States at large, a great deal of this inequity stems from the fact that the means of production (mainly land) are controlled by a small number of people relative to the total population. Historically, this has been the case for just about as long as this country has existed. As our worries mount in the face of climate instability,…

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