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Events

5th Annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Equitable Development Summit

"The Employment Goal - Minorities in the Workforce: Positioning Our Region to Prosper and Compete"
Thursday, December 11
8:30 am - 12:30 pm (8:00 am - Registration and Continental Breakfast)
Twentieth Century Club, 4201 Bigelow Blvd., Oakland
Fee: $10 Sustainable Pittsburgh members; $15 non-members
Register online
Contact: info@sustainablepittsburgh.org or 412-258-6642
Keynote: Radhika Fox, Associate Director, PolicyLink

Deploying talents of all residents and unleashing the innovation that comes from diversity in the workforce are essential for a region that strives to secure a competitive edge. Our region, with its stagnant population growth, can ill-afford to leave behind anyone not working to his or her potential.

More

Events Continued

Resources

River Alert and Information Network (RAIN)

Friday, October 10
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Riverside Center for Innovation, 700 River Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Directions are on this website.
RSVP: Adrienne Buka at ab@riversidecenterforinnovation.com or call 412-322-3523.

This is the last of the three regional meetings to get the word out about our efforts to establish a source water early warning detection system for the Allegheny, Monongahela and the Yough.

Film Screening of Burning the Future: Coal in America

Saturday, October 11
6:30 pm- 9:30 pm
Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Ave., Oakland
Tickets: $15 Adults, $10 Students
Visit www.mtwatershed.com for tickets or call 724-229-3550 for more information.

The Center for Coalfield Justice and the Mountain Watershed Association present a film screening and talk with writer/director David Novack, to discuss coal mining impacts in southwestern PA and beyond. This film tackles the “clean coal” message being so aggressively promoted by industry front groups, and shows the real faces behind coal mining in our area. Join us for an eye-opening evening discussion, reception and film showing to discover how coal-fired electricity and coal mining are tearing apart the fabric of our communities and our environment on a daily basis.

Get Energy Smarter Community Expo

Sunday, October 12
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
64 South 14th Street (at East Carson), South Side
Free
Contact: 412-431-4449

Hosted by Conservation Consultants, this family friendly expo will feature numerous exhibitors, giveaways, and contests! Get energy saving tips for the home, register to win a free home insulation package and trade in 3 of your old bulbs for 3 new energy saving bulbs. For more information visit www.getenergysmarter.com. And don't worry - Sunday the 12th is a Steelers bye-week!

Energy from Biomass and Waste Conference & Expo

October 14-16
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown
www.ebw-expo.com

As issues of energy security and environmental protection begin to dominate policy and the news, domestically produced energy from biomass and waste can provide an economically viable alternative to traditional energy sources. Now is the time for bioenergy in Pittsburgh as Pennsylvania’s natural resources and recent legislation put the state in prime position to be a national and international leader.

EBW is the premier North American showcase and educational forum for the growing business of using energy and biomass waste to clean & renewable energy supplies. In addition to a traditional technology exhibition, the event features two days of conference tracks featuring targeted market, technology, finance & investment, project development, and workforce development forums. Pittsburgh’s own Steel City Biofuels in conjunction with Freesen & Partner GmbH will host over 1,000 delegates from around the world at this 2nd annual Energy from Biomass and Waste Conference and Expo.

From Client to Citizen: Building Civic Capacity with the People We Serve

Wednesday, October 15
10:00 am – 4:00 pm
William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland
Fee: First session free (10-noon); Second session (1-4) is $25
Registration form for Second Session
Agenda for Second Session

Human service agencies have a distinctive role to play in partnering with clients and community members to address community conditions and public policy issues by fostering and supporting civic engagement. The first session, “Strengthening Authentic Voices: Human Services and Civic Engagement” features a keynote lecture by Peter Goldberg, CEO of the Alliance for Children and Families, a national nonprofit association representing more than 370 nonprofit child- and family-serving organizations. A panel of respondents and a general discussion will follow Mr. Goldberg’s remarks. The panel includes:
Diana Bucco, President, The Forbes Funds
Julie DeSeyn, Manager, Agency Investments in Financial Stability, United Way of Allegheny County
Adrienne Walnoha, Executive Director, Community Human Services
Sala Udin, President, Coro Center for Civic Leadership

For an in-depth examination of the why's, how's, and whereto's of developing and implementing civic engagement activities attend the afternoon workshop on "The Civically Engaged Agency." Links to the registration form and agenda for the afternoon workshop are above.

Lunch & Learn - Nonprofit Lobbying

N501c3 Advocacy & Lobbying Guidelines and Regulations
Thursday, October 16
11:30 am - Doors Open and Lunch; Presentation and Q&A begins at noon
PCRG Board Room, Uptown
RSVP by Tuesday, October 14
Contact: Jennifer Grayson at: rec@pcrg.org or 412-391-6732 x200

Please join Bob Damewood, Staff Attorney, Regional Housing Legal Services and the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group next Thursday in an informative presentation and follow-up discussion about the parameters around lobbying and advocacy for nonprofit organizations in Pennsylvania. What activities are considered direct or indirect lobbying, what are the legal requirements for nonprofits in tracking and reporting lobbying activities, and much more.

Heinz Talks: Climate Change and Energy Policy - Advice to our Next President

Monday, October 20
5:00 pm
Mellon Institute Auditorium, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
(please use the S. Bellefield Avenue entrance)
RSVP: Kristin Niceswanger at (412) 268-6066 or kristinn@andrew.cmu.edu no later than Tuesday, October 14.
More information at http://heinztalks.blogspot.com

What direction will the US energy policy take in the next four years?

Four leaders will give their perspectives on climate change and energy policy and the resulting impact on economic growth and technological innovation. The discussion will focus on bold and critical recommendations for our next president. Welcome and introduction by Teresa Heinz; moderated by Moira Gunn, host, NPR’s Tech Nation.
Speakers:
John Holdren, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, as well as President and Director of the independent, non-profit Woods Hole Research Center. He is also the recipient of the 7th annual Heinz Award for Public Policy.
Lee Branstetter, Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Heinz School and Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University.
Granger Morgan, Lord Chair Professor in Engineering; Professor and Department Head, Engineering and Public Policy; Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Heinz School, Carnegie Mellon University.
Melissa Young, second year student in the Heinz School’s Master of Science in Public Policy and Management program and recipient of the Otto Davis Scholarship.

Multi-Municipal Planning Basics

October 20 and 27
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm (6pm registration)
Penn State New Kensington, 3550 Seventh Street Road, New Kensington, PA 15068
Free
Registration methods: visit www.localgovernmentacademy.org, call 412-237-3171, fax 412-237-3139, or mail (address on brochure)
Contact: Anita Lengvarsky at alengvarsky@localgovernmentacademy.org
Brochure

Multi-Municipal Planning Basics is a free program specifically for those interested in learning more about multi-municipal planning. Training content is based on the “Growing Smarter” amendments to the Pennsylvania MPC and will cover a variety of topics including:
• Why Do It
• Community Visioning
• The Comprehensive Plan
• Zoning
• Subdivision and Land Development
• Open Space and Agriculture Preservation
• How to Finance and Administer a Multi-

Bring a Training “Buddy” -- If you are interested by the prospect of multimunicipal planning as a tool for effective land use management in your community, then this program is for you. However, as the name implies, “multi-municipal” means the participation of more than one municipality. Therefore, when registering for this free program, it is recommended that you bring at least one official from a neighboring community. Others from your community, including interested citizens, may also attend. Even if you and your training “buddy” haven’t formally started work on a joint project, you will want to attend this training together. By attending with a neighbor, you will obtain the program’s maximum benefit by being able to contemplate the “real world” circumstance of your community and those that surround and impact you.

2008 Greening Existing Buildings Exhibit

Tuesday, October 21
Duquesne University Power Center, 1015 Forbes Ave., Uptown
9:30 am
Fee: $20 Member* / $50 Non-Member / Space is limited!!
*Member price is available to members of BOMA, GBA, IFMA, IREM, NAIOP, Sustainable Pittsburgh and WPAA.
Registration form

Join BOMA and the Green Building Alliance for two seminars ("Generations at Work" and "LEED EB Overview") along with lunch and a Trade Show dedicated to 'green' products.

Best Practices to Revitalize PA's Communities

Thursday, October 23
8:30 am - 4:00 pm
Westmoreland County
Greensburg Garden & Civic Center, 951 Old Salem Road, Greensburg, PA 15601
Fee: $50 per person (includes tuition, materials and lunch) See brochure for discount information.
Brochure

The PA Downtown Economic Toolkit and Community Revitalization Guide are the newest and most innovative guides available to help you revitalize your community. In this course, our instructors will analyze the strategies that have proven to be most effective in attracting new residents, new jobs, and investments to some Pennsylvania communities. You will walk away with two things: knowledge about how to implement these tools in your community and a copy of each tool on a flash drive for later use. The outline to be covered is as follows: Why is Downtown Important?, Challenges of Planning for Economic Development Downtown, Zoning Tools for Growth, Additional Tools for Quality Growth, Downtown Economic Development Planning & the PA Municipalities Code, How to Attract High Impact Investment to Core Communities, Choose One Asset-Rich Redevelopment Area, Prepare Redevelopment Area for Market, Apply Strategies that Work.

Coalition Against Violence (CAV) Special Meeting

Thursday, October 23
5:30 pm
Freedom Unlimited, 2201 Wylie Avenue (Corner of Wylie and Kirkpatrick, next to NAACP Office)

This meeting will be with the President of CCAC, Alex Johnson and Esther Bush, President & CEO of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh to discuss a proposed joint effort with CAV to impact the presence of minorities in the trade unions. This is the proposed Youth Empowerment Project. It is vitally important that as many of CAV's community partners be present as possible.

Creating a Sustainable Organization

Thursday, November 13
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Regional Learning Alliance, 850 Cranberry Woods Drive, Cranberry Township, PA 16066
Registration information

An Interactive Forum for the HR Professional, CEO, CFO, Sustainability Director and...
Companies all over the world are embracing sustainability as one of the most important factors for staying competitive. With world-class experts both speaking and facilitating interactive sessions, this is an opportunity for participants to:
• Better define what sustainability means for your organization
• Improve your sustainability strategies - to increase profits and satisfy all stakeholders: employees, customers, vendors and shareholders
• Learn how local and national organizations have profitably implemented sustainable practices
• Understand how to build and maintain an adaptable sustainability culture
• Learn how to modify HR processes and functions to support sustainability

"The Impacts of the Foreclosure Crisis on Local Government”

2008 Wherrett Lecture on Local Government
Friday, November 21
8:30 am
William Pitt Union on the University of Pittsburgh campus
RSVP: GSPIAIC@pitt.edu or 412-648-2282 by November 4

The Innovation Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development are proud to announce that Dr. Susan Wachter will present the fall 2008 Wherrett Lecture on Local Government. Dr. Wachter is Professor of Real Estate and Finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and author of over 150 publications. Additionally, she is the former Assistant Secretary of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, former President of American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association and coeditor of Real Estate Economics, the leading academic real estate journal.

6th Annual Public Officials Design Charrette (PODC)

CALL FOR MUNICIPALITIES
Finalized Date and Times:
Friday, November 21
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Greentree Municipal Building
Free; lunch will be provided.
Open to limited number of municipalities.

Municipalities in SWPA, this is for you:
Free expert consultation on pressing sustainable community design challenges and opportunities.

Sustainable Pittsburgh's Sustainable Community Development Network, AIA Pittsburgh, and the Local Government Academy are now welcoming interested municipalities to propose to be "clients" for this free, half-day, hands-on, charrette-style consultation.

How it works: Up to five municipalities will be selected to benefit from the assistance of a team of pro bono experts. The municipality identifies a pressing sustainability challenge or opportunity and we assemble a team of experts to be on hand to work through the issue and generate practical solutions. Issues may relate to: main street revitalization, infill development, transportation access, energy efficiency or resource conservation, community development, a social or human service concern, community or green space, etc.

Are you an interested municipality? Please call 412-258-6643. We'll discuss your needs and determine if there's a good fit. All that is required is attendance from your municipality to include at least one elected official, a municipal staff person, and one community leader.

5th Annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Equitable Development Summit

"The Employment Goal - Minorities in the Workforce: Positioning Our Region to Prosper and Compete"
Thursday, December 11
8:30 am - 12:30 pm (8:00 am - Registration and Continental Breakfast)
Twentieth Century Club, 4201 Bigelow Blvd., Oakland
Fee: $10 Sustainable Pittsburgh members; $15 non-members
Register online
Contact: info@sustainablepittsburgh.org or 412-258-6642
Keynote: Radhika Fox, Associate Director, PolicyLink

Deploying talents of all residents and unleashing the innovation that comes from diversity in the workforce are essential for a region that strives to secure a competitive edge. Our region, with its stagnant population growth, can ill-afford to leave behind anyone not working to his or her potential.

This year's Summit builds on the momentum from last year's discussion from which a leadership group came together to identify actions to address our region's equitable development. Rising to the fore is the imperative of enabling all minorities to participate fully in the workforce and to live to their productive potential. As southwestern Pennsylvania comes together and more than ever acknowledges that its prosperity is directly linked to ensuring all residents have life-sustaining jobs and opportunity, it is apparent that ongoing disparities in living conditions for minorities are incongruous.

Our growing minority population is a stranded asset. Good jobs and income for minorities are keys to ensuring that we live up to the promise of being the nation’s most livable and prosperous region. During the Summit , Radhika Fox of PolicyLink will present a draft of a landmark framing paper, specific to southwestern PA, that substantiates this reality and imperative. This work will illustrates the productive role a fully employed minority population stands to play in the economy and will serve to catalyze much more than a lip service response concerning a targeted minority employment agenda. Summit participants will have the opportunity to help shape the paper and to advance partnerships and practical steps the region will take to remove barriers and to seize on minority employment as a vital part of our region's economic development strategy.

PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by Lifting Up What Works. Radhika Fox is a senior associate at PolicyLink and principal author of Shared Prosperity, Stronger Regions: An Agenda for Rebuilding America ’s Older Core Cities ; Expanding Housing Opportunity in Washington DC: The Case for Inclusionary Zoning; and Regional Equity and Smart Growth: Opportunities for Advancing Social and Economic Justice in America.

Presented by Sustainable Pittsburgh 's Sustainable Community Development Network and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs: Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership.

Sponsored by:
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
The Heinz Endowments

Resources

State Senator Darrell Steinberg tackles the connections between land use and greenhouse gas emissions

It’s no secret that reductions in carbon emissions will require smart land use and transportation. A new bill in the California State Senate, SB 375, would compel local planning agencies to make planning choices that reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). In order to discuss the details of SB 375-—which may become the next trend-setting piece of green legislation to emerge from the California State Legislature—-TPR was pleased to speak with the bill’s author, State Senator Darrell Steinberg. . .It is a very important yet fairly modest measure, because it requires the 18 metropolitan planning organizations across the state of California to show that their future planning scenarios will result in a reduction in carbon. The requirement will engage regions in a process similar to a process pioneered in my region of Sacramento, known as “the blueprint,” which essentially says that we need to plan as a region, not just as individual cities and counties. Air quality, traffic congestion, and carbon know no artificial boundaries. These issues must be tackled regionally.

Senate Bill 375: Redesigning Communities to Reduce Greenhouse Gases

Senate Bill 375 by incoming Senator Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg would be the nation's first law to control greenhouse gas emissions by curbing sprawl. SB 375 provides emissions-reducing goals for which regions can plan, integrates disjointed planning activities, and provides incentives for local governments and developers to follow new conscientiously-planned growth patterns.

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Designed to save - Two new buildings await certification for energy conservation

The energy company's new 309,000-square-foot offices--shaped like the corporate logo of a "C" with a smaller, stylized "E"--will join a new branch of the Washington Federal Savings Bank as Washington County's first two green buildings constructed by for-profit companies. The state Department of Environmental Protection built the county's first officially green building in the California Technology Park in 2003.

Developer's plan for Cranberry pleases supervisors

If his plans for the Village at Cranberry Woods follow suit, the township will get a mixed-use development that will combine apartment dwelling above street-level shops and offices, restaurants, hotels and perhaps a cinema. . .The land is zoned in a variety of ways, but the township has been working for several weeks on an overlay district that would allow a town center to be built on the land.

The suburbs as a museum piece

The three overriding themes are homes, cars and retail. About three dozen artists and architects blow past the narrow sterility and conformity found in Hollywood takes such as "The Stepford Wives" and "American Beauty" to offer neither a condemnation nor a celebration of suburbia but something trickier, a bit of awestruck contemplation of the way more than half of America lives. . .Scale models explore new retail trends. For one, as Mr. Blauvelt says, no new enclosed mall has been built in the United States since 2006. (The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, which opened off Route 28 in Frazer in 2005, may be among the last of its kind.) Retail's new wave is a "power center" such as The Waterfront, where a string of big-box retailers loom above an assemblage of smaller stores and restaurants dotting an asphalt sea. . .The suburbs of the next generation will be different, too. Light rail should go to more places, and the old "bedroom community" may evolve into more of a village with less driving and more walking. The big supermarket chains are already taking baby steps back toward small community stores. Barber shops and the like could move from the strip malls to the neighborhoods, too. Push mowers may take a little longer.

Highmark receives national ranking as innovative, green business, hiring 15 to 20

In addition, Highmark was lauded for its green efforts, reducing energy consumption at its 87,000 square foot LEED-certified data center in Hershey, PA. Highmark has cut $100,000 off its annual energy bill by reducing electricity consumption, a process that began with the simple step of eliminating 100 underutilized servers that were chugging away, wasting power. “We are especially proud to be recognized for our efforts to be environmentally responsible," says Tom Tabor, Highmark's senior vice president of information services." When we began thinking about a new data center a number of years ago, we realized being environmentally friendly was an important part of the project. This strategy goes beyond the data and center and is part of the entire information technology area.”

PPG Wins R&D 100 Awards for Two 'Green' Innovations

Green Logic paint detackifier is used by North American, European and Japanese automakers to denature and remove over-sprayed paint from the water wash system in automotive paint spray booths. The patented formula, which incorporates chitosan derived from crab, lobster and shrimp shells, provides an environmentally responsible alternative to detackifiers derived from non-renewable, petroleum-based raw materials or chemistries containing residual-free formaldehyde. Green Logic detackifier helps automakers realize performance gains in paint detackification and overall spray booth operations, while offering greater ease of operation and savings from reduced maintenance, chemical and wastewater treatment, and waste disposal costs.

Outside Agitators: Kicking your kids out of the house might be the best thing for them, Richard Louv says

But Louv says the tide is turning. He cites growing media coverage of, well, nature-deficit disorder. He noted that, on Sept. 19, the U.S. House overwhelmingly approved the No Child Left Inside Act, which would offer schools federal funding for outdoor recreation and environmental education. Louv also lauded philanthropic and community-based efforts nationally, including Sustainable Pittsburgh's Pittsburgh Outdoors Promise. The initiative, based on a program operating at City Charter High School, is in its fund-raising stage. It would help schools outsource some of their physical-education curriculum to groups specializing in outdoor activities and environmental studies.

Will Rescue Plan Simply Serve Sprawl?

Maybe it’s time, even as the billions of bailout dollars flow, for official Washington to get tough. It’s emerging as lender of last resort, asset manager for the wounded American taxpayer, assuming the responsibility for thousands of toxic mortgages on property that more diligent local planners might never have allowed to be built. So why could Washington not advocate — maybe even require as a price for the potential subsidies and loan insurance it may offer — compliance with planning rules aimed at promoting more economically robust, resource-efficient communities? Indeed, with solid place-based, home price data like Cortright’s, we now have information one could “take to the bank” in the form of “smart growth” underwriting standards to push qualified projects to the front of the line for speedy loan approval.

Public housing

While our national leaders chart a difficult political course to fix the economy, we need to get back to basics here in Pennsylvania.

Sustainable Pittsburgh presents at Duquesne Club downtown

Sustainable Pittsburgh's Executive Director, Court Gould, presented Business Innovation for Sustainability: Beyond Corporate Environmental Responsibility yesterday as part of Robert Morris University's "Speaking of Business" Luncheon. "Sustainability has been a focus of corporations, and we feel that it's necessary that Robert Morris University addresses this issue," said Dr. Kurt Schimmel, associate dean of RMU's School of Business. "The environment and 'going green,' have worked their way into a culture, and we know that this is something we can't ignore."

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Sustainable Pittsburgh affects decision-making in the Pittsburgh Region to integrate economic prosperity, social equity and environmental quality bringing sustainable solutions to communities and businesses.

Sustainable Pittsburgh benefits from support in 2008 from:

Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
Dollar Bank
The Giant Eagle Foundation
The Heinz Endowments
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Roy A. Hunt Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
University of Pittsburgh



Special thanks to the SP Members

Sustainable Pittsburgh
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1335
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 258-6642
fax (412) 258-6645
E-mail SP