Reimagining Your Space

Reimagine a Regenerative Future

Join the monthly Reimagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus, TCWAC+, meeting to imagine a regenerative future together Monday, July 6, 2020 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Emily Richie & Marissa Stakeley interns from Chatham Unniversity will be presenting the blueprints for the five main working groups (Food and Agriculture, Land Use/Land Management, Reduction of Single-use plastics, Health and Wellness and Renewable Buildings/Infrastructure). 

Register to get the zoom link to join Monday night @6:30. Whether you have attended before or not, you are invited to join in the discussion and participate in one of the working groups around a topic of your interest. 

Questions? Email reimaginetcwac@gmail.com.

If you'd like to take part in the newly launched podcast that sprang from Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus, Reimagine TCWAC+ called Journey Through Health and Wellness, please let us know by e-mailing to ReimagineTCWAC@gmail.com

Many blessings for a wonderful, balanced and blissful July!

You are invited to Reimagine TCWAC+ on Monday May 4, 2020 from 6:30-8:30 pm

Hello and happy end of quite the month of April 2020: This month will be one to remember for sure!

Join ReImagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus (TCWAC+) on Monday evening, May 4, 2020 at 6:30 pm for a few hours as we continue to envision sustainable economic development initiatives for our communities.

Speakers for this month's webinar include Denele Hughson from Grow Pittsburgh and Rhea Homa. Denele Hughson is the Director of Farm Education at Grow Pittsburgh and a resident of Turtle Creek. She will discuss how Grow Pittsburgh grew from a mere idea to a successful and influential nonprofit benefiting the greater Pittsburgh area; how they acquired funding and people-power; what obstacles they overcame; and valuable lessons that they learned for building a local non-profit. Rhea Homa is a Verona resident who will speak to low-waste living practices that have helped her and her husband survive the pandemic.

We will also have ample time to breakout into our project groups and continue moving forward with our ideas. If you haven't attended a meeting before or are not yet involved with a project group, this will be a great opportunity for you to learn about the projects and become engaged.

Please register on this google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6NzbhPKVJt4J-y2JbuICh5KtkSyKgrW2SQDdY6ZFe5Ux9UQ/viewform. We will email all registered participants a Zoom link prior to the webinar.

Contact Kelly at kelly.yagatich@climatereality.com with questions.

Happy Day and Save the Date: Monday, May 4, 2020 to Reimagine TCWAC+ starting from your yard, and April 19 and 22 for Earth Day at 50!

Passover 5780
Easter Sunday

Save the Dates:

Pittsburgh Earth Day at 50 on-line: April 19, https://www.eventbrite.com/o/pittsburgh-earth-day-2020-29557815443 & April 22, 2020 national Earth Day!

The next Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus on-line gathering is on Monday, May 4, 2020. Denele Hughson from GROW Pittsburgh will be the featured speaker for the May 4th meeting of Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.  Denele is an agricultural educator, the Director of Farm Education at Grow Pittsburgh and a resident of Turtle Creek.  She will discuss how Grow Pittsburgh grew from a mere idea to a successful and influential nonprofit benefiting the greater Pittsburgh area; how they acquired funding and people-power; what obstacles they overcame; and valuable lessons that they learned for building a local non-profit. 

Moving Gracefully, Organizing, and Thriving in Viral Times; Monday April 6, 2020 6:30 - 8:00 PM on-line

From Kelly Yagatich of the Climate Reality Project:

I hope this finds you well. Like every other group, our top priority is ensuring the health and safety of all of the people who are engaged in the Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus initiative during this uncertainty, while also making sure that we don’t lose our sense of community and purpose in the panic. The regularly scheduled Monday, April 6, 2020 will be a Zoom meeting from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. We want to provide you with the resources that you need to keep your families healthy while also providing you with tools to continue organizing around the projects we’ve started. The topic of this event will be “moving gracefully, organizing, & thriving in viral times.” Here is the description of what we will cover in the meeting:
With travel, events, and in-person meetings canceled, you might be wondering how to stay connected to your community and continue advocating for positive change. Reimagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus invites you to a virtual meeting to learn more about how to practice mindfulness and meditation at home, how to put together simple, inexpensive meals using plant-based ingredients, and how to use online tools to connect with other community members and organize. With these tools, you can continue planning campaigns to promote health and wellness and sustainability in your communities. Together, we can overcome the obstacles posed by COVID-19 and work to impact our communities in a positive way to bring safety, equity and sustainability to our region. From 6:30 to 7:30, we will provide you with the skills that you need to maintain a healthy mind and body in this time and resources to continue organizing virtually from your home. From 7:30 to 8:00, we will provide an optional virtual space for people to meet in their project groups from the last meeting and continue collectively organizing.

In order to attend, you must register in advance via this Zoom link. Once you register, you will be provided with a link for the meeting on April 6^th in your email inbox. You can also find all of this info (and share it with your friends) through the Facebook event. We hope that you will be able to join us and that you will invite your friends to join us as well.

Again, we understand that this is a difficult time for many people, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or other members of the ReImagine TCWAC+  planning team if there is anything we can assist you with, if you have ideas for future topics that we should cover, or if you have any questions or concerns.

All the best,

Kelly

Kelly Yagatich | Regional Organizer - PA

T: 202.567.6829 | C: 412.427.3232
E-mail: kelly.yagatich@climatereality.com

Reimagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed on February 21, 2020 -Visioning Session 2

Join community members from the Turtle Creek Watershed, Airshed, and beyond as they come together for the second ReImagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus (TCWAC+) visioning session. During the first visioning session held in December of 2019, community members had the opportunity to brainstorm sustainable, regenerative solutions that they want to see implemented in their communities. At this second meeting, after reviewing the data collected from the first visioning session, we will hear from Brandon Dennison of Coalfield Development and Patricia DeMarco, and following their presentations, community members will have the opportunity to participate in the next round of visioning.

Join us to Reimagine and Act:
Friday, January 21, 2020 at the Forest Hills Borough Building, 4400 Greensburg Pike 15221, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
EventBrite Registration Link: bit.ly/2RWOzdF for Visioning 2: A Sustainable Economic Transition on Facebook 

This event is free and open to the public. A plant-based lunch will be provided. Plates and cutlery will be provided, but if able, attendees are encouraged to bring their own. Pre-registration through Eventbrite is encouraged, though not required. Questions can be directed to sustainablemonroeville@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you there!

ReImagine the Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities Plus (TCWAC+) is an initiative to vision sustainable community development in the Turtle Creek Watershed, PA Congressional District 18, and Allegheny Council District 8.


More Information about our speakers:

Brandon Dennison:

Brandon is Ashley Dennison’s husband and father to their boys: Owen and Will. Born and raised in West Virginia, he is Founder and CEO of Coalfield Development, coalfield-development.org which incubates social enterprises designed to diversify Appalachia’s coal-based economy and cultivate opportunity for people facing barriers to employment. Dennison graduated from Shepherd University with a B.A. in History and a B.S. in Political Science. He holds a Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University. In 2017, Brandon was named West Virginian of the Year by WV Living Magazine. In 2016, he was named one of “40 Under 40: Young Leaders Who Are Solving the Problems of Today” by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He is winner of the JMK Social Innovation Prize, is a DRK Entrepreneur, and is an Ashoka Fellow.

As a college student, Brandon Dennison volunteered with his church to repair homes in West Virginia’s coal country. He never forgot seeing people his own age desperate for paying work. In 2010, Brandon founded Coalfield Development Corporation as a community-based non-profit organization providing affordable homes, creating quality jobs, and generating opportunities for full life for low- income families in southern West Virginia. The Coalfield Development Corporation offers on-the-job-training, education, and mentoring to people in the southern coalfields. Brandon was quoted in the Bill Moyers “Making Change” series, saying, “Our responsibility is to create opportunity, then to provide encouragement and build the self-confidence necessary for pursuing opportunity.” Coalfield Development has created more than 200 new jobs, over 50 new businesses, and more than 800 professional certification opportunities for unemployed people, many of whom were laid-off coalminers.

Patricia DeMarco:

Patricia M. DeMarco is a native of Pittsburgh, PA. with a doctorate in Biology from the University of Pittsburgh. She has spent a thirty -year career in energy and environmental policy in both private and public sector positions. She is a Rachel Carson Scholar and served as Executive Director of the Rachel Carson Homestead Association and Director of the Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham University. She holds the office of Vice President of the Forest Hills Borough Council. She sits as Secretary on the Board of Trustees for Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

Her book, titled “Pathways to Our Sustainable Future – A Global Perspective from Pittsburgh” explores positive pathways toward sustainability, based on 28 case studies in Pittsburgh. Inspired by Rachel Carson’s environmental ethic, the book was funded by the W. Clyde and Ida Mae Thurman Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation. It was published by The University of Pittsburgh Press in 2017. Order the book and find a book signing event here https://patriciademarco.com/book/

She is the Executive Producer of a documentary film with Mark E. Dixon, “The Power of One Voice- A 50 Year Perspective on the Life of Rachel Carson” and has served as technical advisor for a video series with Kirsi Jansa titled “Sustainability Pioneers” https://patriciademarco.com/film-video/