Welcome Tom! An Interview with GTECH’s Newest PULSE Fellow

This month, the GTECH family gained another member. We are proud to welcome Tom Mulholland to the GTECH team. Tom is a participant in PULSE (Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience) an organization that places talented university graduates with partners at Pittsburgh nonprofits in order to develop the next generation of servant leaders in our city. Between conducting outreach for the Blight Bootcamp Conference and revamping the Lots to Love website, Tom has been pretty busy in his first few weeks. Luckily, we were able to sit down with him and ask him a few questions about himself, his community and his aspirations here at GTECH.

1. Tell me a little about yourself, where you’re from, etc:

I grew up in a small town in the southern tier of upstate New York. I attended college at SUNY Geneseo where I earned a BA in Sociology with a focus on Urban Geography.  After graduating, I moved to Pittsburgh and began working at the East End Food Cooperative. After some time, I entered into a service program for recent graduates called PULSE (Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience.) It was through this program that I came to GTECH.

2. What makes you interested in the work GTECH does?

I was very happy to find an organization that shares so many of my values, and has integrated those values so fully into their processes. GTECH, in each project I’ve seen it take on, has well-developed, community-based and environmentally holistic approaches. They take advantage of each step in a process as a way to build the assets of a place and community. I’m always interested to learn of a new project; to see the ways in which project leaders are innovating and testing new processes as well as the ways in which those plans were shaped and changed in their by the specific influence of places and community.

3. What’s your favorite thing about the neighborhood you call home now?

I currently live in Garfield. I like that when I’m walking around, I’ll be surprised by some expansive view of the city poking out from between the houses. I like that it’s down hill to go almost anywhere. I like that I’m so near a community garden, and am able to use my part of that space to experiment, learn, and relax.

4. What are you most excited to do while here at GTECH?

I really appreciate that GTECH’s overarching approach (Investigate, Act, Connect, Sustain) involves so many distinct opportunities for action … I am excited to find new ways to connect with others, to search for feedback and build connections with the folks doing work in their neighborhoods and the city at large. I am also excited to see more of the investigative process, from data collection to analysis and representation. I have a strong personal fascination with data visualization and mapping. Most of all, I am excited to see a project on-the-ground go from start to finish; to work together with community volunteers to see a place be physically transitioned from a blighted hazard to a real social and environmental asset, complete with stump-jumps, chalk-boards, flowerbeds and everything else that goes into a site.