Check out our August newsletter for updates from EJGP and upcoming opportunities in our communities!
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At a Glance

From the EJGP Project Team Desk

• Shape a Healthier Future: Letter to the Board of Health

• Our Next EJGP Full Network Meeting

• Have a Plan? Share it with Us!

• Regional Advocacy and Organizer Training Research Study

• Equity Researchers Working Group
   

Network and Community Updates

• Advocates tell Allegheny County Board of Health: More work needed on housing code overhaul

• Now Hiring!

• Project Manager, Justice Collaborations

• Positions at Just Harvest

• Download the new My Pittsburgh App!

• Measuring Up: Grading drinking water quality, affordability, and transparency practices in Allegheny County Water Systems

• Selling at Pitt: Farmers Market, Event Catering, & Handmade Merchandise

  
   

From the EJGP Project Team Desk

Shape a Healthier Future: Sign our Letter to the Board of Health Regarding the Search for the County’s Next Director

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) plays a vital role in ensuring the health and well-being of our community. From food safety to housing, air quality, and chronic disease, ACHD's work covers many critical areas. However, persistent geographical and racial disparities in exposure to health threats and outcomes demand urgent action.
 

 We believe the next ACHD Director should possess key qualifications and prioritize:

• Proven expertise in public health and addressing health disparities urgently.

• Implementing policies to combat climate change's impact on public health.

• Strong focus on transparency, accountability, and community decision-making.

• Building transformative relationships with communities.

• Collaboration with government departments for equitable health outcomes.

• Prioritizing health, security, safety, and well-being over profit.

EJGP Full Network Meeting

Our next Full Network meeting will be Wednesday, August 6th, from 9-10:30 a.m. on Zoom! The theme of this meeting will be on supporting and uplifting our LGBTQIA+ community. Speakers include Dena Stanley, Founder and CEO of TransYOUniting, and two other speakers TBD

EJGP Platform Update and Expansion

Throughout 2020 and 2021, Equitable and Just Greater Pittsburgh developed a 64-page platform that outlines our regional priorities across EJGP’s seven different topic areas: education, climate and environment, food, health, housing, livelihoods, and transportation. The platform was always meant to be a living document to be added to, revised, and adapted to address new and emergent issues in the region and remain relevant.
 

Over the next few months, we will be working on revising and expanding our platform to include new areas on immigrant rights and experiences, voting rights and democracy, public safety and legal justice, and data and technology. 
 

We want to hear what plans, platforms, and guides that you have developed or use to guide your equity and justice work! These can be local/regional, national, or international. Please email Eric with your plans and take our short survey!

Regional Advocacy and Organizer Training Research Study:

Working with researchers from the Pitt School of Social Work, Equitable and Just Greater Pittsburgh is hosting a Regional Advocacy and Organizing Training and Research Study beginning this month! This project will work with residents to increase civic engagement around equity and equitable development issues.

After an application period that included many submissions, we are excited to have selected 15 participants for the training research study. The participants represent a range of backgrounds, ages, and areas in the region including: Penn Hills, Homewood, Sheraden, McKeesport, and the Hill District. We held our first training session this Wednesday at the UPMC Neighborhood Outreach Center in East Liberty.

Equity Researchers Working Group 

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Equity Researchers Working Group meeting last week, where people shared how they learned how to conduct community-engaged research, best practices and guidelines, and how to design research with people based outside of the university. We know that August is a busy time, so we will reconvene this group in September.
 

If you have any questions or would like to join this group, please email Eric at eric@urbankind.org. Community groups and organizations who would like to provide input or learn more about research projects should reach out as well!

Network and Community Updates

Advocates Call for Better Revisions to County Housing Codes

Last month, our Community Networks Coordinator Eric Macadangdang joined other advocates in providing public testimony to the Allegheny County Board of Health on proposed changes to the county’s Houses and Community Environment regulation, known as Article VI, which has not been updated since 1997. Article VI governs policies including permit requirements, the minimum standards for safe housing conditions and the responsibilities of landlords and tenants.

Download the new My Pittsburgh App!

The new My Pittsburgh app was recently developed by Poly Platform, a local civic tech firm that participated in Pittsburgh’s recent PGH Labs accelerator cohort. The app is designed to connect residents with valuable information about city projects, summer programming, and city resources.

New Report on Water Quality, Affordability, and Transparency in Allegheny County:

To advance equitable access to clean and affordable drinking water across all of Allegheny County’s residents, the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory and Women for a Healthy Environment created standardized metrics to rate the performance of 36 individual water systems with respect to affordability, transparency, and water quality. Ratings were based on new information solicited from Allegheny County water systems and prior data collected in 2020 as part of the “Somethings in the Water Report”. This information and data were distilled into report cards for 36 individual community water systems with an environmental justice lens. This report documents that process, details the findings, and provides recommendations to move forward.

Selling at Pitt: Farmers Market, Event Catering, & Handmade Merchandise

Are you interested in selling your food or handmade products at the University of Pittsburgh? Join an information session on Tuesday, August 8th, from 5:30 to 7 PM at the Homewood Community Engagement Center (622 N Homewood Ave) fo local food vendors, caterers, restaurants, farmers and makers. Hear from representatives from Pitt Dining Services, America To Go, Pitt Eats, and University Stores on upcoming opportunities.

RSVP to JCB182@pitt.edu by August 4th!
 

You can learn more about supplier diversity initiatives at Pitt here: https://www.ppt.pitt.edu/suppliers/diversity-initiatives

For Pitt staff interested in learning how to purchase in more diverse and sustainable ways, learn more here: https://www.ppt.pitt.edu/how-increase-spending-diverse-local-suppliers 

Now Hiring