SG CED Notes 11-4-11 (smartgrowthced@googlegroups.com)

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[Paula Levin]

just reviewed the notes...lots of great ideas.

I think you're absolutely right about our branding.

What if we try to capture both our theory and practice as smart growth club by including something like this on our web page, facebook, in our document headers, on our posters, etc.?
e.g.
Smart Growth Club:

• Promoting sustainable growth and community development through consideration of economic, environmental, and equity issues
• Connecting students to resources, experiences, and practitioners

Also, FYI: I talked with Anita Lengarvskey about helping us put together an alumni panel (hopefully spearheaded by a first year in cooperation with Anita) that would highlight the different levels of economic and community development in PGH. We thought focusing on pittsburgh would make it easier to put together the panel, which might be time sensitive if we want the event planning to be a training ground for first years.
Our quick brainstorm was something like this. it doesn't have to be these orgs, but something that shows the different levels of funding and organizing along with money flow would be cool/informational:

1. GTECH as grassroots org. trying to reduce blight and enhance green community features and create job training opportunities
2. ELDI as community development corp. that interacts with local residents and orgs
3. The state (or city?) CED office as a funder from which monies and program goals trickle down.

--
Paula Levin
M.S. candidate
Heinz School of Public Policy and Management
Carnegie Mellon University
paula...@cmu.edu

[Farhad Farahmand]

Good idea to connect with Anita, Paula. Another idea for the 'brand':  Smart Growth: achieving social equity through economic development and environmental conservation.

An alternative/complement to ELDI could also be OPDC, since they do a good amount of community engagement and redevelopment. Infact, they are in the midst of having their Oakland 2025 plan, which entails discussing with the community their likes/dislikes, and having urban design consultants (Pfaff and Studio for Space) come up with a sustainable plan for them. Some of the main issues include coexistence with students, vacant lots, crime, and public transportation. Let me know if/when you want me to reach out to them.

--
Farhad Farahmand

2012 Candidate, M.S. in Public Policy and Management

H. John Heinz III College

Carnegie Mellon University

[Rachel Canning]

I like the ideas of engaging OPDC --- ELDI gets too much play, imho. :-p

[Paula Levin]

I totally agree!
ELDI was just a placeholder as was GTECH.

Any chance there are Heinz alum at OPDC?
The panel doesn't have to be restricted to alum, but it's nice when it happens.

[Simone Rede]

No alumni that I know of, but Carolina worked there for a couple of months. I'm sure she can hook us up! There's one bad ass lady I've had some contact with but her name is escaping me at the moment. I like your tagline suggestion, Farhad!

[Paula Levin]

Farhad can hook us up wtih some non-alums, then, since that's where he's doing his internship.
the key here, though, is to find some first years to plan it (with the assistance of us second years), right?

[Christina Farber]

Hi guys,
I was just lurking and thought I would offer some ideas about local CDC alumni:

- Lucinda Beattie is a local alumna who words for the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership.  She is on my systems advisory board

- Greg Lagana would be a good person to ask; he will probably direct you to the alumni profiles in the Career Services office

Good luck,
Chris

[Simone Rede]

I didn't realize you were doing your internship there, Farhad. Thanks for tapping into that resource on our behalf!

[Farhad Farahmand]

Christina -- do you lurk often? Like, when I'm not looking?

Wanda Wilson is the ED at OPDC, and she could be down to make an appearance. She's been a Senior Planner for Pittsburgh and an Officer at PPND. Elly Fisher is my supervisor, who is the assistant director, a graduate of GSPIA, and awesome.

Perhaps we send out a general email to the list that reads something like the below. If we get some positive responses, I can see if Elly's interested:

"Smart Growth First Year Master's Students! We are looking for a team to be in charge of organizing an Alumni panel on various levels of community, economic, and sustainable development. We have a shortlist of professionals in the field in Pittsburgh, and we hope that you can reach out to them and organize the event. Of course second years will be around for you to delegate tasks to and answer questions, but we hope some you can get the great networking and Heinz event-planning experience that we had last year."