With the year coming to a close, we wanted to take a moment to look back on all of the great achievements of EJGP and the community that supports it!

Our Year
in Numbers

6 Full Network Meetings with 11 Incredible Guest Speakers

February 8th: Food & Education - click here for meeting notes

• Claudy Pierre - EAT Initiative

• Stephanie Lewis - Remake Learning

   

April 12th: Climate & Environment and Livelihoods- click here for meeting notes

• Tiffany Taulton - Hazelwood Initiative

• Markese Long - Partner4Work

   

June 14th: Livelihoods and Transportation - click here for meeting notes

• Cheryl Stephens - Pittsburghers for Public Transit

• Rochelle Jackson & Brynnaiza Young - Black Women's Policy Center

   

August 9th: Public Safety- click here for meeting notes

• Brandi Fisher - Alliance for Police Accountability

   

October 10th: Voting Rights - click here for meeting notes

• Lee Smith - New Voices for Reproductive Justice

   

 December 6th: Climate & Environment and Health - click here for meeting notes

• Ana Hoffman - CMU CREATE Lab

• Germaine Patterson - Women for Healthy Environment

Stay tuned for our 2023 meeting schedule!

105+ New Network Members

190+ Organizations Represented

3 New Initiatives Launched

• Cross-Community Network (CCN)

  • The CCN is a network of community groups, community-based organizations, and residents who want transformational, people-centered change in their communities and across the Greater Pittsburgh region.

• Equity Researchers Working Group (ERWG)

  • The Equity Researchers Working Group (ERWG) is a group of researchers, teachers, staff members and others from local colleges and universities who want to use their subject-matter expertise and influence to support community-driven transformational, people-centered change across the Greater Pittsburgh region. It is intentionally based outside of any one university. This group is about being in service to communities, non-profits, and other advocates. 

     

• AmeriCorps

  • EJGP and Dr. Mary Ohmer of the Pitt School of Social Work have been awarded a grant from AmeriCorps to support the development of community organizers and advocates. For this project, we will be facilitating a paid co-created organizing and advocacy training that will (1) pay training participants to plug in to the EJGP network, (2) pay people already in the network to work with the training participants, and (3) support the participants in executing a project that will benefit all of their communities. We are currently recruiting people to join the steering committee. Please contact us if you are interested

To plug in to any of these initiatives, contact Jason at jason@urbankind.org

Campaign Updates and Success

• **NEW** Level Up! Pay Equity Campaign

  • Spearheaded by the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, the Black Women's Policy Center (BWPC), and the Women and Girls Foundation, the Level Up campaign works to bring attention to the stark and compounding economic disparities felt by women of color hopes to grow support for equal pay for all.

     

    "Despite being awarded the title of “America’s Most Livable City,” Pittsburgh and the surrounding region continue to struggle with pay equity, especially when it comes to women of color. Employers in the Greater Pittsburgh region have the power to close the gender pay gap."

     

• Get the Lead Out: Lead Ordinance

  • On November 30, 2021 Pittsburgh City Council passed a Pittsburgh Lead Safety Law. This is a great step to further prevent lead poisoning in our children. and in our community. Get the Lead Out, Pittsburgh has worked with City Council to create a comprehensive Ordinance to address the most common pathways of exposure to lead in the city’s children. Since the creation of the Lead Safety Ordinance:

    • City Office of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections is working with Trying Together to work with childcare centers to be registered and get tested.

    • The City has provided notice to all of demolition contractors about Lead Safety Law.

    • All City of Pittsburgh facilities that youth access have had drinking water tested; only a few sites need to be remediated.

    • Rental registry is still in legal limbo.

       

• Fair Fares: Allegheny County Discounted Fares Pilot Program

  • Earlier this year, Rich Fitzgerald, and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services announced a 12-month pilot program to provide some low-income transit users with discounted transit passes, with the goal of potentially launching a permanent program in late 2023. This pilot is a huge victory for the campaign and marks the first step towards affordable public transit, a critical human need that, if met, would unlock access to healthy food, health care, child care, employment, and all of civic life. SNAP recipients can sign up here.