Complete absorption, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from glindsay65′s photostream

Pittsburgh is Kidsburgh because a group of Pittsburghers are dedicated to making Pittsburgh “the best place for kids on the planet.” As Executive Director of The Grable Foundation, Gregg Behr, puts it, “In one word, “Kidsburgh” conveys an idea and sensibility that Pittsburgh is committed to improving the lives of children.’ Kidsburgh is a portal for all the best that Pittsburgh has to offer to the children in this region. You can go to their website to find “Cool Things to Do with Kids in Pittsburgh,” or news stories of particular interest to parents, or even a slide show of striking images of the next generation of Pittsburghers. You can also sign up there to receive their Kidsburgh is Pittsburgh quarterly newsletter and visit the Kidsburgh page at Pop City.

Kidsburgh was recently featured on an episode of WQED’s onQ. The program took a look at the Kids & Creativity movement. Just as Pittsburgh’s own Fred Rogers used the latest in technology 50 years ago (television), today’s tech leaders are finding new ways to engage kids using the very latest in digital technology. This is not technology for technology’s sake. Rather, it’s a recognition that many of today’s kids are already swimming in a digital sea and that we need to both find a way to keep up with those who are and to ensure that all are well prepared for the jobs of the future. This is technology as a means to an end — to put together the right brain and the left brain and the artist and the technologist.

Please share Kidsburgh with anyone you know who cares about the well-being of kids in our region.

Commencement Processional , a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Earlham College’s photostream

Did you know that the average debt load for the two-thirds of college students who take out loans to pay for college is $24,000 by the time that they graduate — and that this is up 6% from just a year earlier? Now couple that statistic with one by the Corporation for National & Community Service which ranks millennials as having the lowest rate of volunteerism and you begin to see a bigger problem. Millennials are saddled with huge debts which prevent them from giving the time to service projects and civic engagement that they would like to do and that their community needs.

Enter SponsorChange.org. SponsorChange.org believes both that non-profits deserve the best talent and that higher education should be accessible to everyone and they’ve found a way to make that happen. Their motto is “You Serve. They Sponsor. Change Happens.” It works like this: SponsorChange.org finds donors to raise funds to sponsor service projects at non-profits, they find non-profits who have a need for skilled college graduates for projects, and then they recruit college grads to complete service projects in exchange for student loan payments.

It’s a Pittsburgh-based organization founded by brothers Raymar and Robert Hampshire. They have four main goals:

- Promoting financial literacy among young professionals

- Working together with faith-based organizations to help mobilize its congregations to serve

- Partnering with corporations to create customized employee volunteer programs

- Assisting elected officials in mobilizing young volunteers to government programs

CNN recently aired a piece on SponsorChange.org. It looks at Gretchen Jacobs’ story. SponsorChange.org connected Gretchen with CommuniTeach — an organization which helps people share their skills with their neighbors and learn new ones. CommuniTeach got a motivated college grad who they could not have afforded to hire on their own and Gretchen received valuable professional experience in addition to direct payments to her college loans. A win-win situation.

You can go to SponsorChange.org’s website to sign up to be a donor, a participating recent grad, or a non-profit organization.

Morning Break, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from NewEndProductions’ photostream

The Shyne Awards recognize the positive achievements of young adults (ages 13 -19) and gives them the opportunity to “shyne.” It’s open to young people in Southwestern PA including Allegheny, Westmoreland, Washington, Greene, Fayette, and Butler counties. Nominations can be made from February 1st to May 1st and the awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, August 27, 2011 at the August Wilson Center in Downtown Pittsburgh. Awards will be given in the following categories:

Academics: The individual must display exemplary academic standing, and community information on how their ability to achieve assists their and will benefit the community-at-large.

Arts: This category includes various forms of the arts including music, dance, vocal and visual arts. The applicant must provide in this area supporting documents that will display and communicate their designated achievements and success.

Community Service: The individual must communicate an area(s) in which they are providing a service to an individual, group or organization. Supporting documents must communicate number of years, time and talents have been donated to a specific cause(s); goals and outcomes applicant wishes to accomplish through their service.

Entrepreneurship: Information about the business, how many years the young adult has been in business, service/product they provide and how their business benefits the consumer/community.

Service in Ministry: Information must be provided about the individual’s involvement in ministerial activities, the length of time serving, the impact and the goals the individual wishes to accomplish serving in this capacity.

Science: This category is designated for young adults who display exemplary talents in one or more of the following areas: chemistry, biology, astronomy, geology and/or physics.

Overcoming Obstacles: This category will spotlight an individual who has encountered an extreme circumstance and chose to rise above and achieve their goals. Examples are, but not limited to, a death, environment, and accident or illness

Young Adult Group: An assemblage of individuals engaged in a collective activity involving, but not limited to, music, ministry, and/or community service.

You can learn more about the award rules here and download an application to nominate a worthy young adult here.

As their website proclaims: “It’s not just an event. It’s a movement!”

Here’s a recap of last year’s awards:

Light bulb, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from zetson’s photostream

Luminari is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to connect like-minded visionaries to bring ideas to life. It’s a place where designers, artists and creatives can work with entrepreneurs and professionals. Scientists and teachers can connect with event planners and connection makers to create a plan and put it into action. Their ultimate goal is to “broaden minds and inspire innovation.”

An example of one of their projects is a program called “I Want to be an Ambassador.” Last year, they conducted an 8-day camp for teens organized with the University of Pittsburgh Honors College which concentrated on building negotiation, analysis and communication skills culminating in a two-day trip to Washington, D.C. where students met with actual diplomats. Councilman Bill Peduto has also worked with Luminari founding member Hilda Pang Fu to help mentor young Pittsburghers to become civic-minded individuals.

Luminari is always looking for new ideas and innovators from many disciplines to become part of their “inspiration lab.” You can find out more about their work at luminari.org.

Child Holding Green Plant, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Pink Sherbet Photography’s photostream

What would our world look like if instead of our best and brightest college grads needing to take whatever job they could find right out of school, they could focus their energies and passions on building a sustainable society?

TerraShift is a Pittsburgh-based social venture which offers fellowships to recent college graduates and young professionals that include hands-on work experience, skill-building workshops, networking, and independent study time. It also gives them the time, space and support to do this by covering all their living expenses for one year. TerraShift’s focus is on giving these young people the skills and experience to go on to meaningful careers in the fields of sustainability, social justice, and societal progress. TerraShift then helps to place their fellows in effective change-making organizations (entrepreneurial, organizational, and institutional).

Here’s where your involvement is key. The Unreasonable Institute is a mentor-intensive program for startup entrepreneurs hungry to tackle the world’s greatest social and environmental problems. They’ve launched a competition in which the public votes with their wallets to decide who will be accepted into their institute. Forty-five finalists were chosen from across the globe and TerraShift is one of them. In order to win, they need to be one of the first twenty-five finalists to raise $8,000. To prove their entrepreneurial mettle, they must achieve this goal with the broadest support possible — meaning for this first week of the competition, supporters may not donate more than $10 (contribution caps increase incrementally each week). The competition aims to reach one million people worldwide.

You can view TerraShift’s video entry below. Once you have, you can tell the world that Pittsburgh is a city that supports social entrepreneurs by heading over to the Finalist Marketplace and making a contribution to TerraShift.

Who is Guyasuta? He was a Seneca chief who led the French and the British through the wilderness of western PA.

Six years ago, Councilman Peduto captured his spirit and created a Fellowship for young and young hearted Pittsburghers to help form public policy through a unique process. This year you are invited to be a part, as we study triple bottom line economics and see how it can be utilized to revitalize our neighborhoods. The fellowship is looking for young, committed residents of Western PA that plan on staying in the area for at least the next 2 to 5 years.

The first presentation of the fellowship this year, The New Deal/ A Better Deal – A Context For Historical Change, will take place on Thursday, October 29, 2009 6:30pm – 8:30pm at AVA Lounge, 126 S. Highland Avenue, 15206.
Just email pat@jacksonclark.net to sign up or learn more, or visit www.guyasutafellowship.com.

On Sunday, Pittsburgh Police Officers and Pittsburgh teenagers met at Mellon Park for the third annual Battle of the Badge basketball tournament.

Neighborhood teams from around the city came together for a day of basketball, live music and food.  Local businesses donated prizes food and raffle prizes, and The Marilyn G. Rabb (MGR) Foundation ran an art station.

The winning team came from Career Connections Charter High School.  Read more about the event here.

On Saturday, Allegheny Commons in the North Side was filled with teens from throughout the Pittsburgh region, all gathered to do one thing – play ultimate frisbee. Councilman Bill Peduto stopped by the tournament to watch the nine teams from schools throughout the region compete, with the ultimate goal of raising money to give back to the community.  The nrg Powered by Pittsburgh ultimate frisbee tournament raised a total of $1,000 that day, and over 100 local teenagers participated in the day’s activities.  The money raised will go to Venture Outdoors Pittsburgh.

The Penn State Hershey Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion’s program nrg Power by Choice is a campaign that encourages teens to get active, with the goal of combating the growing problem of childhood obesity.  It encourages teenagers to pay attention to healthy eating habits, and healthy physical activity habits.

Tonight, Councilman Bill Peduto will be a guest at the Strong Women Strong Girls Jump into Spring jump-rope-a-thon. More than 200 girls and adult supporters will participate in this jump-rope event, which will raise money for the foundation.  Other celebrity guests will include Teresa Conn, founder of the Pittsburgh Passion, and members of the Pittsburgh Steelers team.

Strong Women Strong Girls is an after school program for underprivileged girls in grades 3 -5.  The goal of the program is to help these girls build positive self-esteem and skills that will make them into strong women.  Girls are paired with undergraduate women from local colleges to serve as mentors.

The annual Pennsylvania Federation of College Democrats convention was held  in Oakland at the University of Pittsburgh in early April this year.  Students who attended the convention got a lesson in local government at the City Council Roundtable, which was one of several opportunities that the students had that weekend to interact with local and state politicians.

Councilman Bill Peduto, Council President Doug Shields, and Mac Booker answered questions from students, and spoke about their role in City government.  Topics of discussion included everything from the issue of the City County merger, to the background of the panelists and how they became involved in local politics.