Leadership Pittsburgh

OUR COMMUNITY IMPACT

At Leadership Pittsburgh Inc, our passion is equipping leaders to accelerate the greater Pittsburgh region. Through the incredible work of our alumni, Leadership Pittsburgh Inc.’s fingerprints are all over our community.
No matter where you look, you can see the impact of our more than 2,000 alumni.

Did you know...

LPInc. alumni are two times more active than the national average as non-profit volunteers, and spend four times the number of hours in volunteer service than that of the national average.
72% of LPInc. alumni serve on boards of organizations addressing issues in the South-Western Pennsylvania community. More than half of these board members serve in leadership positions (Chairperson, Executive Committee members) on their respective boards.
100% of LPInc. alumni make financial contributions in support of non-profit organizations each year.

Leadership and Learning In Action

We believe that when people “do” they learn and when leaders give they “get”. In recent years, our classes of senior leaders have worked with area nonprofit organizations to identify, develop, and execute on mission critical projects. In the last five years alone nearly forty southwestern PA agencies have had the benefit of servant leadership provided by LP participants.

Click here for project summaries from some recent LP classes. We are proud of the work of our participants, grateful to the partner agencies, and appreciate the ability to be able to help them serve their mission while we serve ours of strengthening regional leadership through programs, partnerships and connections.

A FEW EXAMPLES:

Team Arsenal

Host Organization: Arsenal Family and Children’s Center

Team’s Project/Purpose: This team focused on conducting a high level financial assessment, helping to make the interior of the facility a more welcoming space for, and providing tools to help Arsenal with their messaging & marketing efforts. Over a four-day period, the team, their recruited volunteers, and Arsenal leadership, moved furniture, bought new furniture, cleaned the space and painted the majority of the facility. The team also created new content for a brochure and the website that set apart the organization by accentuating its mission while embracing its history. Finally, a member of the team will continue to provide pro bono printing services to Arsenal. Long term, the professionally designed materials will help them market their programs more effectively.

Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh Electronic Resource Center

Host Organization: Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh (WCS)

Team’s Project/Purpose: The LP group created a digital catalogue of WCS child resources organized to allow residents and former residents to access context specific resources at any time. They also collaborated with the WCS to design and organize the database using a mobile-friendly web platform integrated with WCS’s existing website. This Electronic Resource Library is intended to directly augment their goal of promoting the physical, emotional, interpersonal and social wellness of families, and to provide parents with easily accessible resources to aid in this process. The LP group deployed their strategic thinking and access to resources to develop a long-lasting resource that has had a direct impact on the organization’s mission delivery.

21 Day Family Fun and Engagement Challenge

Host Organization: Providence Connections

Team’s Project/Purpose: Based on needs-assessment conversations with the staff of Providence Connections, this team decided that their efforts would bear maximum fruit if they could help the Center increase parental engagement with the Center, and between parents and their children (particularly fathers). The project, “21 Day Family Fun Challenge”, included a kick-off event, take-home fun packs, and a “Celebration” to recognize positive parent-child interaction, incorporating a fun and circus-like atmosphere. The learning group partnered with 19 organizations to provide info and children’s activities to make this happen.

LDI Community Impact Projects

Recent Impact

The recently graduated class of LDI worked with the community of Sharpsburg for their Community Impact Project (CIP). Their initial plans were to develop and deploy project ideas around sustainability, with a specific focus on storm water management. They were well on their way when the COVID-19 reality hit our region. True to expectations from a high-performing, agile group of young leaders, the class quickly and successfully pivoted. Based on a revised community needs assessment, the last two months of the CIP involved collecting and donating PPE, cleaning supplies, and food items, among other efforts.

Prior years’ Community Impact Projects have highlighted the following neighborhoods: Uptown, the Hilltop neighborhoods, Fineview, Upper Lawrenceville, Mt. Washington, Larimer, California-Kirkbride, Wilkinsburg, Carrick, Millvale and McKees Rocks. We are grateful to each of the host communities for sharing their assets and dreams with us. Our classes have fallen in love with the communities that they have had the privilege to work with throughout their LDI year.

Projects in each of the host communities were unique – some were community festivals, one focused around the filming of a zombie movie called Spineview, another involved pulling off a mass wedding vow renewal to celebrate love in the community, a 5K and community festival in Mt. Washington’s Emerald View Park System, one “shined a light” on their community with a laser show, another focused on bringing fresh produce options to a neighborhood defined as a food desert, and another included a large-format public art installation.

We are grateful for the engaged support of Huntington Bank and Peoples for LDI’s PopUp! projects and their learning.

A FEW EXAMPLES:

Imagination Stations aimed to engage, delight and empower the youth of McKees Rocks by connecting them to mentors, organizations and businesses to help open their eyes and minds to future possibilities and help them reach for their dreams.

Taste of Millvale brought together chefs and residents of Millvale in a tasting event to help celebrate the borough’s 150^th birthday. A cookbook featuring the local residents’ recipes is available to borrow from the Millvale Community Library.

Inside Out Carrick captured the faces of those who call Carrick home in a public art installation to symbolize the past, present, and future of community and celebrate its residents.

Link on Penn the project gathered stories of local business owners and neighbors, old and new, as well as original poetry which were then featured through a #ListeningLounge during the day. The #wilkinsburgstories are available for preview on storycorps.org

Bright Night Larimer: A laser light show! the project culminated in celebration of the community with family focused events, showing off Larimer’s storied past, dynamic present, and potential future.

Emerald of Mt. Washington's 5K Race this project introduced the city’s new Emerald View Park System; engaged Mt. Washington residents – particularly families –in the event; and highlighted the area’s vibrant business district.

Spineview! the LDI class in collaboration with the Luma Institute, brainstormed and came up with an idea that both captured a unique aspect of Pittsburgh’s on-screen history and also served as a convenient metaphor for community development – Zombies!

The development, design and execution of the Community Impact Project/PopUp! Pittsburgh provides these emerging leaders, from our region’s corporate, public and nonprofit sectors participating in the LDI cohort, opportunities to hone the skills/strategies taught throughout the program which serve as the underpinning of their LDI program curriculum.

To learn more about the PopUp! Pittsburgh visit www.popuppittsburgh.com.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS - OUR STORIES

Impact as described by our program participants, alums, and partners.

Leadership Pittsburgh Leadership Development Initiative Community Leadership Course for Veterans

Now that we have experienced all of the sessions, I want to do it all again. I think I would appreciate it even more! The effort you and the staff put into the sessions is so obvious in the selection of speakers, the site visits, the discussion topics, really everything. Even after chatting with a few colleagues who are graduates of earlier programs (obviously not the best classes), this time last year I would not have anticipated the high level of engagement, insight, or opportunity that LPI presents to its participants.

Thank you for the experience.

LP XXXI Alum

Leadership Development Initiative

I moved to Pittsburgh after graduating from college and, after being here for a few years, realized that I loved the city and would be here for the long haul. The problem was that I felt like an outsider and didn’t have a good sense about how to get involved in the community in an interesting and meaningful way. I was working for a high-tech start up at the time and wanted to get involved in politics. A co-worker told me about Leadership Pittsburgh and, being younger then, I applied to the LDI program. LDI exceeded my expectations. The program was a broad and deep introduction to the region, its politics, its resources, and the entities actively trying to make the city better; it was like a Pittsburgh 101 course. I expanded my professional and personal networks, got involved with a few organizations in a leadership capacity, and ultimately made the connections that led to my becoming first District Director, then Chief of Staff, for US Congressman Jason Altmire. Without Leadership Pittsburgh, I probably would not be here.”

LDI Alum

Community Leadership Course for Veterans

Being a part of CLCV and being a part of the Inaugural CLCV at that, has been an extremely valuable experience for me. From the point of being selected, doors immediately began opening for me, from the experiences, to the networking, to the media opportunities, to the world of all Pittsburgh has to offer and places I never even knew existed here where I've grown up - it has all been such a valuable experience for me and has added several new tools to my professional toolbox and I look forward to, and plan on, staying connected to MANY individuals whom I've met throughout this journey.

CLCV I Alum

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