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Just as with any party, you're invited to drop by or stay for the entire Biodiversity Learning Party at Assemble in Garfield on April 10, 4:30-7:30 p.m.
 
Unlike most parties, however, you'll likely come away with less gossip but more brain cells, and it's an evening for all ages.
 
"It's almost like a science fair," says Assemble founder Nina Marie Barbuto, "where we have different experts presenting their expertise and offering hands-on activities."
 
These experts include everyone from college students talking about their academic concentrations to representatives of local companies and "straight-up geeks whose expertise has nothing to do with their jobs," Barbuto says. The biodiversity party will feature presenters from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Tree Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh biology department. Also manning and womanning tables at the event will be reps from Digital Dream Labs, which teaches computer programming to children by using play to link physical and digital spaces, and Tara Rockaway and Heather Mallak, whose Digital Salad mixes art, tech, and education about farming to create educational experiences that are both interactive and edible.
 
Learning party themes this year have been mapping and music/sound, and future ones will be centered on robots and energy.
 
"It's our goal to provide access to knowledge" -- and to make it "attainable and digestible," Barbuto says. "It should be real fun, and we always have free healthy snacks."
 
Her hopes for the party, she says, "start with just having the word 'biodiversity' as part of your vocabulary and seeing how this affects the world around you." Ideally, she adds, the younger attendees will emerge thinking, "I'm interested in nutrition but I never knew this had to do with biodiversity," or "Maybe I can be a scientist."
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Nina Marie Barbuto, Assemble

When famed chef Jamie Oliver came to Pittsburgh last fall to start his 10,000 Tables program, aimed at getting more families to enjoy the benefits of home-cooked, television-free meals, Bobby Fry, one of the creators of Bar Marco in the Strip, asked him what local business owners and chefs could do.
 
"Your role is to inspire and empower people," Oliver answered, as Fry recalls.
 
"I likened it to the analogy of young musicians inspired by rock stars and taught by their music teachers," Fry says. So he decided: "Somebody in the community had to be supporting schools and school cafeterias."
 
Fry gathered other local organizations and teamed with Kelsey Weisgerber, food service director at the Environmental Charter School, to start the Cooking School movement. Their goals: "Find a group of kids, give them the tools, knowledge and experience and let them have higher standards for food, and that will change the system" toward healthier school lunches.
 
The group first approached Pittsburgh Obama 6-12. Fry knew the school had its own kitchen, but he found a dormant home-economics classroom. The group cleaned it, bought each student his or her own carving knife, sharpener and cutting board and brought in 120 cookbooks from Bar Marco's kitchen for them to choose among.
 
Lots of kids picked breakfast cookbooks, Fry says. "We realized breakfast is a problem for lots of these kids," who have to leave home too early to get it and pass nowhere along the way even worth shopping for breakfast foods.
 
Fry has been inspired by the level of interest in healthy eating that he found at the school. "I thought I'd have to go in and get the kids excited about cooking. Same with the administration. They were already really on board. Everybody is ready to change school lunches."
 
"We've got to get them skills here that will get them a job," he adds about the Cooking School effort. "For working in a professional kitchen, all you need to start are the proper cutting skills" -- but those are the hardest skills to master, too.
 
Now the Cooking School teaches at the Obama school every Tuesday afternoon and brings a new chef every week. The program is being aided by Andrew T. Stephen, assistant professor of business administration and Katz Fellow in Marketing in Pitt's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, whose MBA students are preparing a video promoting it. Their early work is viewable here. Kids from other schools can submit proposals for the Cooking School to teach elsewhere. If applicant schools don't have a kitchen, perhaps the program will try to raise money to install one, Fry says.
 
You can help the Cooking School raise funds for cooking utensils and local produce through crowdrise and a current Facebook fundraiser.
 
Do Good:
Looking for additional ways to find out about local, healthier eating and bring the movement to your community. Check out the programs of Farm to Table Pittsburgh.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Bobby Fry, The Cooking School

"Asthma hospitalizations triple when schools start up again in the fall," reports Andrew Ellsworth of the new Healthy Schools Collaboration; that's partly due to paints, sealants, duct work and other maintenance performed over the summer and still leaking fumes and other materials into the air.
 
"If we can do something to minimize that impact and not see that bump in the fall," says Ellsworth, the Collaboration will be doing its job.
 
The program, funded by The Heinz Endowments, will help school districts institute new cleaning and maintenance practices, teaming and training teachers, staff, kids and the community to become educated on the issue and providing some materials and expert advice.
 
The pilot effort targets the McKeesport Area and Allegheny Valley school districts. "We wanted to serve districts that had fewer resources," Ellsworth explains. "They are the ones who tend to have more challenges with environmental health issues," thanks to a shrinking student population and tax base that does not allow for some of the needed building renovation and maintenance to avoid health risks like moisture and mold.
 
McKeesport, for instance, as a former mill town was a "booming metropolis, in a sense, prior to the collapse of the steel industry," he says, so the city has to manage lots of infrastructure. Allegheny Valley encompasses Springdale and Cheswick, which still have major manufacturing. "They are home to a number of facilities, including a coal-fired power plant that is literally next to the high school … and another power plant up the river," Ellsworth point out. "And those are a factor for student health issues."
 
Healthy Schools Collaboration will help each district identify what can be done with a low investment, such as:

• Substituting green housekeeping products for the myriad chemical floor cleaners, hand soaps and disinfectants schools employ. "They can have a large impact, because there is such a large quantity of them applied daily," he says.
• Creating better chemical maintenance to prevent potential spills and to keep students from getting access to the supplies.
• Reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides in the building and substituting less toxic substances.
• Preventing vehicle exhaust from coming into school buildings and reducing the idling of diesel buses outside the school as children exit schools at the end of the day.

All of this may have a negligible increase in initial costs for a district but will reduce the amount of supplies they need to buy, those shrinking their costs overall.
 
The initial phase of the Collaboration will last through the end of this school year. "We're really excited that these schools have stepped forward to tackle these issues," concludes Ellsworth. "We want them to be able to implement policies for how they're going to create a safer and healthier environment."
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Andrew Ellsworth of the new Healthy Schools Collaboration

For the past two years, New Voices of Youth has helped local young people get their ideas heard on issues important to them. Now this Pittsburgh Foundation program is teaming with the Heinz Endowment's Breathe Project to encourage young people to create new clean air-related science, art, performance or service projects that will encourage their peers to make a change in this area. They may also submit ideas for projects that raise awareness about Pittsburgh's air-quality problems or that improve the air quality. They can even submit projects that they have already begun at school.
 
The Web-based contest is open to students in grades 7-12. Submissions become eligible to receive grant funds of up to $2,500.
 
"Our air quality is among the worst for cities in the United States," says Marily Nixon, Breathe Project coordinator, "especially for particulate matter," as well as ozone levels and levels of toxics. "People who have been living in Pittsburgh for a long time remember when Pittsburgh was the Smoky City. Unfortunately, we still aren't at a level where the air is healthy to breath for all of us all the time." And these remaining forms of troubling pollution are relatively invisible to the naked eye, so unlike the sooty air of mid-century, "it is out of sight and out of mind," she says. "We believe healthy air goes along with a healthy economy where people want to be raising their kids."
 
What sorts of projects might be funded? Nixon points to youth-led efforts to give informational "tickets" to idling trucks about the pollution they create, and a flash mob last summer in Market Square whose participatns suddenly pretended to have breathing difficulties, then delivered a clean-air message to the lunch-time crowd.
 
"We do want to convey that the sky is really the limit," she adds. "Students could submit a song they wrote relating to air quality. They could submit a photo essay that captures an aspect of air quality or its effect on people. They could come up with a clean-air walking tour of Pittsburgh or a clean-air program to implement in their school. They could propose a science project that would help develop information about air pollution in their neighborhood. We really hope students will use their limitless creativity to propose projects that will speak to other students, and the community at large, about what clean air means to them."
 
Breathe and New Voices will work to partner students with adult mentors, which might include representaties of a nonprofit focused on clean air issues, to help them undertake their project. A Student Advisory Council will judge the contest and suggest their own ideas for projects.
 
"We hope to see fresh ideas, excitement, creativity and imagination coming from the students, because they are affected by this pollution and they are going to be living with the air for a long time," Nixon concludes. "They can take a new leadership role, advocating for change and creating change in this area."
           
The deadline for submissions has been extended to May 8.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Marily Nixon, The Breath Project

"I don't think young girls are encouraged to form a rock band as boys are," says Angela Stich. "Even when I wanted to play an instrument, my mom bought me a flute!"
 
Thanks to Stich, local girls starting this summer will have Girls Rock! Pittsburgh, a weeklong day camp to help them form bands, write songs and learn to play an instrument -- maybe even in that order.
 
Stich is co-directing the effort with Hannah Shaw, who has run a rock and roll camp for girls in North Carolina for the past several years that attracted more than 200 participants and now includes a school-year program. The first Pittsburgh camp for girls ages 8-16 will take place Aug. 5-9 at Shadyside's The Ellis School, with a performance showcase Aug. 9 at The Roboto Project in Friendship.
 
"I'm eager to see what kind of material 8-year-old girls will come up with," Stich says of the music-writing efforts, which will be one of the camp's main emphases. "I'm pretty excited about that. Some of them might not have the inhibitions others have to write whatever they want."
 
As for learning to play an instrument in one week: "It's something some of the parents have trouble grasping," she admits. "Some [girls] might just learn a few chords and write music that way." Others may learn to play a single song confidently after their camp experience. For those who already play a rock-band-worthy instrument, the week may offer them new licks and riffs. "We're trying to get away from an emphasis on expertise, or having to have formal, conservatory-type lessons. Maybe they'll leave camp wanting to learn that way, but that's not what our emphasis is on."
 
Girls Rock! is partnering with the youth staff of the Andy Warhol Museum on some art projects -- perhaps band t-shirt and button designs, Stich says. The week also includes workshops on zine making, deejaying and self-defense. The camp is seeking local volunteer musicians, artists, activists and mentors to participate.
 
The idea is apparently popular; the original group of 20 campers is already expanding to 30, due to demand, Stich reports.
 
Seeing girls in a band, "can be a very empowering experience for girls in the audience alone," not to mention the campers, she concludes. The girls in their new bands stand to gain self-confidence, and learn how to work on a team. Increasing the visibility of girls in the arts is another goal, she says, along with "creating an increased community for girls in music. There's always room for making those spaces safe for girls."
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Angela Stich, Girls Rock! Pittsburgh

The Education Partnership's three-year effort to give school supplies to schools where students lack even the basics is more necessary than ever.
 
"We're seeing kids coming to school with nothing," says the Partnership's Program Manager Andrea Zimmer, who oversees the free school-supply application process. "It's really setting them apart from their peers [socially] and putting them at a disadvantage compared to their peers."
 
From pens, pencils, glue sticks and notebooks and to reams of copy paper, the free-supply list is large, and it can be replenished once during the year. At schools' requests, the Partnership has also supplied such things as tee shirts, granola bars (with the help of General Mills and Giant Eagle) and incentive items for students, such as art supplies.
 
"At the end of this year's program, we'll have distributed 150,000 pencils," notes Zimmer. "I think that shows both the impact of this program and the need in the schools."
 
Applications for the 2013-14 school year are now available here. Schools in Allegheny and four surrounding counties -- Beaver, Butler, Washington, Westmoreland -- are eligible if at least 70 percent of their students receive a free or reduced-price lunch. That covers 100 schools in the five-county region, Zimmer says. Previous recipients are still eligible, but they must apply again. The deadline is midnight on March 22.
 
The Partnership will notify 20 selected schools in June and distribute the student supplies during an in-school distribution event in December.
 
"If a student's parent cannot afford to provide a lunch, it's unlikely that they will be able to provide all the school supplies that are necessary," Zimmer adds. Teachers on average spend $1,200 a year to supply their own classrooms and students, but that's an unsustainable situation. "We're trying to step in there and fill in that gap. And we're hearing very great results."  Children can concentrate on schoolwork without wondering how they can correct their notes or a test answer without an eraser, she says.
 
She urges schools that aren't familiar with the program to stop in to the Partnership office to learn more, or to call her at 412-922-6500. The group accepts donations, too, she adds.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Andrea Zimmer, The Education Partnership

Hilltop Computer Center in Knoxville was less than a year old last summer when Program Director Nicolas Jaramillo realized it didn't have enough activities for its youngest patrons. Kids 8-14 were coming in to use their computers, but just to watch Youtube videos.
 
"They'd use the computers as TVs, basically," Jaramillo says. Figuring the kids had "too much energy" for more classes after school, he decided instead to start a different sort of project, "so they'd be able to learn at their own pace and not realize they were learning."
 
They built a touch-screen computer kiosk from scratch.
           
"We didn't know how to build it" before conceiving the project, Jaramillo admits. "As one of the lead designers on the project said, 'It demonstrates the power of the Internet. All you need is access to the knowledge, and the power of the will to do it.'"
 
The kiosk is about five feet tall, with a 28 x 36-inch screen. The screen is ringed by LED lights along its perimeter. Their glow travels through an acrylic material and disperses across the screen. A camera tracks the light and registers where the light field is broken by a touch. The entire apparatus is run by open-source software.
 
It took the group of 15 kids the entire summer to build the hardware. The software took longer to calibrate. "It's been up for public use in our computer center for almost a month now as a beta test," Jaramillo says. The older kids, who stuck with the project longest, are now designing games and apps for the screen, starting with one that lets people tell their stories. Eventually, they'll add a videocamera to record people answering questions about their neighborhoods. Hilltop has also received interest from UPMC in having the group develop health-related apps.
 
Next, the kiosk will be housed in the Carnegie Library in Knoxville, but the future of the group, and of Hilltop, is uncertain. "It's a transient population, so it's been difficult to stay on track with the group," Jaramillo says. "We're still reaching out to people." And he has had to start an indiegogo campaign (Tinyurl.com/savethehcc) just to continue to operate as a center.
 
"We don't know how long we're going to be able to continue to be open," he says. Yet he still has plans for another group of kids. Next time, he says, they'll build a three-D printer. Concludes Jaramillo: "We're dreaming big, at this point."
 
Hilltop is supported by Google Pittsburgh, the Neighborhood Learning Alliance and the Thelma Lovette YMCA, and serves Allentown, Arlington, Arlington Heights, Beltzhoover, Bon Air, Carrick, Knoxville, Mount Oliver and Saint Clair.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Nicolas Jaramillo, Hilltop Computer Center

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh (BBBS) has long connected "littles," many of whom come from low-income, single-parent families missing a strong guardian for the child, with "bigs" who are willing to act as that older mentor. The organization's motto is "Start Something," which is why “STARTup SOMETHING” seemed like a great title for a new BBBS program that aims to introduce littles to entrepreneurship, technology careers and more.
 
"Both a startup and our littles are at the same place in the life cycle," says Stephanie Adamczyk, executive operations manager for BBBS. "Both are budding and both rely on mentorship to thrive and succeed."
 
The new program "exposes our littles to a workforce they may never have been exposed to," Adamczyk notes. And, like BBBS as a whole, it also teaches resiliency, "going on and finding something new," she says -- the idea that in this economy people are more often creating their own jobs.
 
Local tech incubators IdeaFoundry and ThrillMill are already on board as partners for the program, which will launch at the end of this summer. BBBS envisions six littles and their bigs joining for each STARTup session. First, an entrepreneur will meet with the group to describe his or her background and ideas, inspiring the kids. Next, the kids will be able to engage in a hands-on activity based on the entrepreneur's field -- creating a design for a graphic designer, for instance, or building a robot for a local tech entrepreneur.
 
Finally, they'll be able to pitch their ideas to the group, as if they were pitching to investors. BBBS is also partnering with TechShop in East Liberty's Bakery Square development to let the littles and bigs work on projects there. "We don't want their interest to fall flat after this is over," Adamczyk says.
 
BBBS is piloting the program in early August and looking for an advisory board.
 
"We like that this gives the startups the chance to give back to the community," she says.
"They don't have to wait until they have the financing. We hope our littles inspire them to keep going."
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Stephanie Adamczyk, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh

Lawyer Natalie Kovacic attended a conference for women entrepreneurs last fall, hoping to improve her own business as a financial advisor and estate planner.
 
Then she realized the conference she really wanted to attend: one for moms.
 
That's why the Lawrenceville resident is organizing Pittsburgh's first Mom Con for May 23 in Greentree.
 
"There are so many conferences held for women and for women entrepreneurs," she says. "A lot of us work for ourselves or we work [outside the home] but they don't talk about the other issues: How do I figure out how to be a good mom for my kids but still pursue my own passions and my goals for my life?
 
"Being a mom who works, there are two things that I struggled with, that I thought other women would benefit from having a conference about," she adds. First came the question of how to balance work, husband and kids. Second, as a young mom, she felt isolated. She was just weeks beyond passing the Pennsylvania bar exam at 23 when she and her husband discovered she was pregnant with their son.
 
"I didn't know any moms in Pittsburgh who had kids, nor did I know of any of the resources that were available," she says. "I had to figure it out on my own."
 
The Mom Con intends to help with both issues. Among the sessions are:
 

• Going Beyond “Balance”: Creating the Life You Want by national commentator and life coach Jenn Lee.

 

• Resilience for Moms and Kids: Raising People We Can Respect and Admire Without Losing Our Minds by local family physician Deborah Gilboa, whose Ask Doctor G blog has been featured in Kidsburgh.

 

• From Superwoman to SuperYOU! by Janelle Buchheit, author of Lunch Box Lessons: Snack Size Skills for Mind, Body and Soul.

 

• Junk Foods & Moods for the Busy Mom by Lindsey Smith, known as the "food mood girl."

 

• Owning Your Story by Jessica Strong, founder of Strong Trainings consultants, who often speaks about behavioral health.

 
In addition, there will be a parenting roundtable, networking and other events, including massages and color and image consultations during lunch.
 
The Mom Con will also connect attendees by geographic area, so neighboring moms can get together later.
 
"I would encourage moms to take the day for themselves and take time to regroup," Kovacic says. "I don't think enough moms do that."
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Natalie Kovacic, The Mom Con

The Month of the Young Child, celebrated every April, is unique to Pittsburgh: other cities in the U.S. only have a Week of the Young Child this month. Here's a guide to just a few of the ways you can get involved during the rest of this month:
 
All Aboard the PA Early Learning Train: April 15, 6-8:15 p.m., Glenshaw Valley Presbyterian Church
Experience the Imagination Playground, learn about financial literacy for preschoolers and relax while learning yoga for kids from PBS's Hooper. This event is open to the North Hills, Northgate, Pine-Richland, North Allegheny, Shaler, Hampton and Fox Chapel school district residents as well as to early childhood centers and providers in the North Hills. Teachers can get Act 48 credits. To register, email here.
 
Annual Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children (PAEYC) Celebration Dinner, April 16, 4:30-8 p.m., Carnegie Museum of Art
This event honors the vital work of early childhood care and education providers. Keynote speaker is Jerlean Daniel, executive director of the national group NAEYC. Participants will meet Lynn Zelevansky, director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, who will talk about the new Carnegie International Exhibit, with its focus on 'play and playgrounds' (see below), as well as other museum opportunities for early childhood educators and young children. Hors d'oeuvres, dinner, drinks and dessert will be provided, and parking is free. Cost: $9/PAEYC members; $14/non-members.
 
Action Day, April 23, for all Early Childhood, School-Age, and Out of School Time Educators and Providers
Get on the bus and speak up for the children in your care: call Molly in the PAEYC office at 412-421-3889 or email her here to join hundreds of early childhood advocates, school-age and out of school time educators/child care providers, parents and caregivers in Harrisburg to advocate for quality early childhood education. The group will gather at Pine Street Church (310 North 3rd Street, Harrisburg, across from the Capitol's main entrance) to check in, network, get materials and mentoring, and participate in professional development opportunities throughout the day, then walk over to the Pennsylvania Capitol Building to visit with state legislators, participate in a group rally in the Capitol Rotunda at 1:30 p.m., and watch the state legislature in action. Registration is required.
 
Play Day at the Carnegie Museums, April 27
The Carnegie International gathers the best in contemporary art from around the world, some of which is bought for the Carnegie Museum of Art's permanent collection.
 
Now the event is held about once every four years, and this year the three curators "collectively are inspired by the concept of play," says Marilyn M. Russell, the museum's curator of education. "They are very conscious of how important this kind of thinking is for artists, but really for all of us. We're interested in showcasing this from before people even enter the building."
 
Being constructed right now along the museum's Forbes Avenue entrance is the Lozziwurm, a play structure that is a brightly colored twist of tubes designed by Swiss artist Yvan Pestalozzi. Appearing for the first time in the U.S., it will be available for free play during the museum's regular hours beginning April 27.
 
Everyone can enjoy the chance to play on and in the Lozziwurm "and invent where you are," Russell says. "Are we climbing through outer space, or are we climbing through the underground like a squirrel or chipmunk, or are we making up our own place?
 
"Play is a really valuable and critical part of kids' and adults' lives as well," she adds. "Having these kinds of places that are places that kids can imaginatively and creatively play, that are free form and there aren't any rules to follow, allowing you to think of places that are outside your daily experiences, that are places where you can take risks … these are all the kinds of things we think are not important, but we join with PAEYC in saying these are intrinsically important things for kids to get a better sense of themselves. We hope these things will be better understood as critical parts of child development."
 
On April 27, the museums will also be free for kids 12 and the exhibitions will have additional features to aid in play and learning, such as the chance to experience puppet shows, invent stories and work with scientists, as well as lots of intergenerational art making.
 
Also joining with PAEYC in the summer, fall and through the end of the International, in spring 2014, the Carnegie is planning professional development for teachers, parents and others in the early childhood education environment, to help play become adopted throughout one's life. "It's fundamental to the art-making process and we think it is a way of thinking that adults should be open to throughout their lives," Russell says.
           
On June 8, the Playground Project will also open in the Carnegie's architectural hall. It's an exhibition about the history of playground design from the 1930s through the 1970s -- its heyday. "By making play experiences for kids completely predictable and safe, we eliminate the ability of kids to take little steps toward what it means to try something new," she says. This exhibit will show what it was like in a more innocent and perhaps less litigious time for playground design. Kids will even be able to design their own playgrounds, play spaces and objects in the Carnegie's summer camps this year.

It's hard to imagine an eight-month-old baby doing more than drooling and banging on an iPad, but The Early Learning Institute has discovered that kids this young can benefit from app-based therapies -- and so can their parents.
 
The Institute got a grant from the Verizon Foundation to buy 10 iPads to pilot a study of occupational, physical, speech and developmental therapies used with the 1,100 kids in their Early Intervention Program, which treats children experiencing developmental delays from birth to three in Allegheny and Washington counties. The idea is to help them achieve normal developmental milestones.
 
As a result, says Kara Rutowski, executive director of The Early Learning Institute, the kids have increased their vocabularies, learned to take turns, improved their balance, learned to make good decisions, increased their attention spans and expanded their abilities to express and understand language.
 
They've also to follow directions, match items, answer yes or no questions and identify family members, objects, colors and pictures. The eight-month-old is learning fine motor skills, to improve grasping and the use one finger at a time and other skills that will prepare this child to write, color, cut and perform other pre-school tasks.
 
The program uses mostly free apps so that each child's parents can use them at home to reinforce a kid's goals. Parents can also take their own smart phone or iPad in to the Institute between sessions to practice with the therapists. In addition, the Institute uses iPad learning for babies and toddlers in its socialization group, the Social Butterflies program.
 
"It's never too early to work on these skills," Rutowski says. "The beauty of it is, children are having fun. They don't realize they are working while they are using these things."
 
Do Good:
Searching for additional ways to help kids with special learning needs? Volunteer at the Children's Institute.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Kara Rutowski, The Early Learning Institute

Pittsburgh's first crisis nursery, Jeremiah's Place, is on track to open in 2013 as a way for families with the youngest children to find relief when their lives give them with nowhere else to turn.
 
Jeremiah's Place, which is still looking for a home, will offer respite care for kids up to 6 years old. Parents may drop off children without notice to relieve the severe stresses life gives to too many families: homelessness, job loss, or merely a single night when the mother is too ill, or delivering another child, and has nowhere safe and trustworthy to leave her other children.
 
"We have made some great strides," reports spokesperson Eileen Sharbaugh, part of the 22-person team organizing this effort, founded by Dr. Lynne Williams of East Liberty Family Health Care Center and Dr. Tammy Murdock of the Family Life Fund of the Children’s Hospital Foundation. Team members have met with other local nonprofits that work with children and parents, gathering more support, as well as county officials in the County's Office of Children, Youth and Families and area foundations.
 
All have been encouraging to their effort, Sharbaugh says, which is designed to take away one of the major risk factors for child abuse: "Parents really are trying to do their very best but sometimes the odds are so far against them. We're offering them something that is truly preventative. When the parent thinks they are about to lose it, there is somebody who will be there, in a very nonjudgmental way, to relieve their stress."
 
At the suggestion of the Forbes Foundation, the group has shifted their focus from buying a potential location to teaming with other local nonprofits with a similar clientele, where Jeremiah's Place could rent space for a pilot program of 18 to 24 months. In the meantime, they are conducting a public awareness campaign and holding initial fundraisers. The first has been dubbed "The Art of Love!"?
 
Set for 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the Pittsburgh Public Market (on Smallman between 16th and 17th streets in the Strip), it will offer art for sale that counters the negative images children are exposed to every day. Twenty-seven pieces by 24 artists -- weavings, photos, oils, acrylics, jewelry and others -- valued at $20-300 will be on sale, along with raffle items. As a bonus, some of the regular Public Market booths will stay open for the event.
 
For National Child Abuse Awareness Month next April, Jeremiah's Place has already scheduled a 5K run through North Park on April 27, 2013.
 
Do Good:
Looking for even more ways to help parents and kids? Aid them through the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh or UPMC’s Re:solve Crisis Network.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Eileen Sharbaugh, Jeremiah's Place

ASSET STEM Education, the South Side nonprofit that has helped school districts across the state implement hands-on curricula for science, technology, engineering and math learning, is holding its first, free STEM conference downtown on Feb. 18. Its aim, says ASSET Executive Director Cynthia Pulkowski, "is really to help people identify where their school districts are on the STEM continuum and decide where they want to go to. They'll be able to discover resources and practices to improve the STEM education at their schools."
 
With 75 school districts and universities already signed up -- not to mention representatives from nonprofit agencies, businesses, state government and elsewhere -- there's not much room left to register for spots, she says.
 
ASSET is teaming with the Norwin School District to bring the conference to the Convention Center, featuring keynote speakers David Burns, director of STEM innovation networks for the Columbus, Ohio R & D company Battelle and Dewayne Rideout, vice president of human resources for All-Clad Metalcrafters in Canonsburg. Burns will offer a national perspective on STEM education, while Rideoout will speak about teaming with several school districts' students to work on new products for the company.
 
Among the 22 breakout sessions are:

• Charting Your Course to a Successful STEM School/Program, with four ASSET officials describing the best practices of a model STEM program using a national rubric;

• Several sessions focusing on STEAM, which incorporates the arts into STEM, with representatives from Propel Schools and the Pine-Richland School District;

• Next Generation Science Standards and STEM, led by representatives of the Math and Science Collaborative at Allegheny Intermediate Unit; and

• Supporting STEM Education through Common Core, focusing on new, more rigorous state standards now being required of students.

"Teachers need to identify where the possibilities lie for their students in careers," says Pulkowski. To help, ASSET is also creating a STEM career database for schools to investigate possibilities for internships, mentoring programs and classroom visitors.
 
Conference-goers, she says, "will walk away with pieces they can go ahead and apply in their schools. I hope they can say, 'OK, I have a place to start.' I just want them to have some actual resources and some good planning."
 
Do Good:
Looking for additional ways to help local education? Contribute to the work of The Education Partnership in supplying classrooms with needed materials.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Cynthia Pulkowski, ASSET STEM Education

Betty Hill has been puzzled when local schools and foundations report that their anti-bullying programs are working, yet she still hears so often from LGBT students that they're being bullied.
 
"There's something wrong here," says Hill, director of Persad, which runs many programs for LGBT youth. "There's a disconnect that [schools] are not seeing. We want to get people involved and we want to get solutions. We can't just leave behind this whole group of LGBT kids who are not benefitting" from local anti-bullying efforts.
 
That's why Persad is teaming with local chapters of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and other organizations to hold a Safe Schools Summit -- the first of a three-part effort to bring local resources to bear on this continuing problem. The summit will be held in the Lexus Club at PNC Park on Jan. 16.
 
Nationally, GLSEN has been studying the school climate for LGBT kids for two decades. Their latest survey from 2011, just released, found that 90 percent of LGBT students say they have been verbally harassed, 39 percent physically harassed and 18 percent assaulted in the previous year due to their sexual orientation. Sixty percent report that they feel unsafe in school.
 
Bringing local experts on LGBT issues together with educators will attempt to bridge the gap between general anti-bullying approaches and the needs of LGBT youth. Part of the effort will include conducting the first comprehensive research on the local school climate.
 
The summit will feature national speakers from the Trevor Project (an LGBT youth suicide-prevention hotline), GLSEN, and PFLAG, as well as local school bullying research findings presented by Laura Crothers and Jered Kolbert of Duquesne University.
 
Apparently, says Hill, "kids do not label the negative things done against gay kids as bullying. So they don't use their anti-bullying skills because they don't see the anti-gay things as bullying." Finding out why this goes on, and what to do about it, is the goal of the Summit, whose third part she expects to be later this year. It will include a series of a focus groups with area students, parents, educators, and LGBT community-service groups to discuss local research and ways to proceed from here.
 
Do Good:
Looking for another way to help LGBT youth? Volunteer at the local Gay and Lesbian Community Center.
 
Writer: Marty Levine 
Source: Betty Hill, Persad

Pittsburgh's first crisis nursery, Jeremiah's Place, is on track to open in 2013 as a way for families with the youngest children to find relief when their lives give them with nowhere else to turn.
 
Jeremiah's Place, which is still looking for a home, will offer respite care for kids up to 6 years old. Parents may drop off children without notice to relieve the severe stresses life gives to too many families: homelessness, job loss, or merely a single night when the mother is too ill, or delivering another child, and has nowhere safe and trustworthy to leave her other children.
 
"We have made some great strides," reports spokesperson Eileen Sharbaugh, part of the 22-person team organizing this effort, founded by Dr. Lynne Williams of East Liberty Family Health Care Center and Dr. Tammy Murdock of the Family Life Fund of the Children’s Hospital Foundation. Team members have met with other local nonprofits that work with children and parents, gathering more support, as well as county officials in the County's Office of Children, Youth and Families and area foundations.
 
All have been encouraging to their effort, Sharbaugh says, which is designed to take away one of the major risk factors for child abuse: "Parents really are trying to do their very best but sometimes the odds are so far against them. We're offering them something that is truly preventative. When the parent thinks they are about to lose it, there is somebody who will be there, in a very nonjudgmental way, to relieve their stress."
 
At the suggestion of the Forbes Foundation, the group has shifted their focus from buying a potential location to teaming with other local nonprofits with a similar clientele, where Jeremiah's Place could rent space for a pilot program of 18 to 24 months. In the meantime, they are conducting a public awareness campaign and holding initial fundraisers. The first has been dubbed "The Art of Love!"?
 
Set for 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the Pittsburgh Public Market (on Smallman between 16th and 17th streets in the Strip), it will offer art for sale that counters the negative images children are exposed to every day. Twenty-seven pieces by 24 artists -- weavings, photos, oils, acrylics, jewelry and others -- valued at $20-300 will be on sale, along with raffle items. As a bonus, some of the regular Public Market booths will stay open for the event.
 
For National Child Abuse Awareness Month next April, Jeremiah's Place has already scheduled a 5K run through North Park on April 27, 2013.
 
Do Good:
Looking for even more ways to help parents and kids? Aid them through the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh or UPMC’s Re:solve Crisis Network.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Eileen Sharbaugh, Jeremiah's Place