First Meeting of KICO Advisory Committee on December 15th

The first meeting of the Keep it Clean, Oakland (KICO) Advisory Committee will be on Thursday, December 15th, at 6pm in OPDC offices, located at 235 Atwood Street. The meeting will allow community members to present viable projects that can be done with volunteers.

The KICO Advisory Committee is a combination of students, residents, business owners, and property managers who are proven community leaders.  Each representative on the committee is an active community member and is dedicated to the improvement of their respective sub-neighborhoods of Oakland and Oakland as a whole.

Increase Your Giving Power on October 4th

Pittsburgh Irish Classical Theatre Offers Discounted Tickets to RACE

The Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, the University of Pittsburgh’s “Professional Theatre in Residence” kicks the fall semester into gear with the Theatrical Event of the Year, David Mamet’s RACE, opening September 8th and running through October 1st at the Stephen Foster Memorial’s- Henry Heymann Theatre.

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, David Mamet, creator of Glengarry Glen Ross, The Untouchables, and Speed-The-Plow returns with his most anticipated work in years. RACE: an incendiary story about the perceptions and realities that color our world and the subtle shades between being a victim and being victimized. RACE is set in the law offices of Jack Lawson, who is white, and his black partner Henry Brown. We meet them as they’re deciding whether to represent Charles Strickland, a white man accused of raping a black woman. And when a new legal assistant gets involved, emotions bubbling just beneath the surface explode! Race may be the central theme, but Mamet is also interested in how differences–in color, gender, ethnicity, and class–foster a lack of communication and breed resentment. This high-voltage, incendiary drama rips the cover off of what is thought, but never said, along the vicious path to justice.

Group rates start with as few as 10 people and can save you up to 20% off of single ticket prices, student tickets are always $20 to any performance. PICT is planning a panel discussion about the issues presented in RACE close to the end of the run of the production, date to be announced.  Also, already scheduled are our pre-performance lectures on Wednesday, September 14th and Thursday, September 15th, before the performance at 7 PM.

Please call 412.394.3353 and mention the code “OPDC” to get $10 off an adult ticket to any performance of RACE.   

Professional Planning Team Needs YOU to Complete Oakland 2025

Strolling down  Juliet Street on a recent sunny Saturday morning, one Oakland resident found himself surprised at what he observed in the community where he’s lived for years.“I’ve really gained a new appreciation for Oakland today,” remarked long-time Bellefield Avenue resident and advocate Jon Robison. “It’s amazing that years later, I’m still learning about all this neighborhood has to offer.”

Mr. Robison was one of many residents who did a walking tour of the Panther Hollow, Central Oakland, South Oakland, and Oakcliffe neighborhoods with the Oakland 2025 planning team, Pfaffmann + Associates and the Studio for Spatial Practice (SfSP).  Robison is passionate about improving access to public transportation in Oakland, one of the many important issues being addressed throughout the planning process, and eagerly took advantage of the opportunity to share these concerns with the consultants.

The Pfaffman/ SfSP team has joined OPDC in the Oakland 2025 planning process to create a shared vision for Oakland’s future by talking to the experts –YOU. Their work will build on the series of dialogues which Oakland community members completed this past spring.   The dialogues provided opportunity for open conversation about what’s working and what we’d like to see in the future; the information from the discussions is the basis for the plan recommendations we will be developing this fall.  The report is slated for completion by May 2012. While we complete the overall plan, the community is busy with three early-action teams created out of the dialogues. The action teams are addressing issues that you as a community voted on: Code Enforcement, Trail Building: connecting Oakland to the Eliza Furnace Trail, and Public Transportation.

This past weekend’s “walkshop” was the first of a series of opportunities for the Pfaffmann/ SfSP professional planning team to tour the neighborhood with residents and learn first-hand community assets, challenges, and aspirations.

An Oakland resident since 1968, Kathy Boykowycz has seen the neighborhood experience many transitions. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” she said, having also participated in past planning efforts of the 1980s-90s. “My hope is that Oakland will be redeveloped to attract families and other long-term, owner-occupant residents.”

There’s still time for you to tell the consultants what you want to change about Oakland! The next walkshop will take place on Saturday, October 1^st in the North and West Oakland neighborhoods. Even if you don’t live in these particular parts of the neighborhood, you may, as Jon Robison did, find yourself pleasantly surprised by what you learn. The schedule is:

North Oakland Walkshop: 10am; meet at the Irish Design Center on South Craig Street

West Oakland Walkshop, Oct. 1^st at 12:30pm; meet at the corner of Robinson Street and Allequippa Street (Trees Hall Lawn)

Additionally, we invite you to join a series of workshops on the common themes that emerged from the dialogue circles. Each Oakland neighborhood will have a full planning day with interactive workshop sessions and free dinner will be served. Meeting locations have not yet been determined, but the schedule is as follows:

November 1st: North Oakland
Session 1: 4-6pm
Session 2: 7-9pm

November 3rd: Central Oakland
Session 1: 4-6pm
Session 2: 7-9pm

November 8th: South Oakland & Oakcliffe
Session 1: 4-6pm
Session 2: 7-9pm

November 10th: West Oakland
Session 1: 4-6pm
Session 2: 7-9pm

Call for Posters: University Senate Invites Students & Faculty to Participate in Fall Plenary

The Senate of the University of Pittsburgh Fall 2011 Plenary Session
Community & Campus Partnerships for Health and Wellness

Thursday, November 10, 2011 ■ Noon – 3 pm
Assembly Room, William Pitt Union

CALL FOR POSTERS
Due Date: Midnight, October 15, 2011

The Community Relations Committee invites you to submit a poster for the 2011 Fall Plenary: Community & Campus Partnerships for Health and Wellness.  Join us for an opportunity to highlight your community engagement project during the SHOWCASE (poster session portion of the event) from 3:00 to 4:00 pm.  All members of the University – students and faculty – and local communities are eligible to participate.  Community engagement projects presented must include a mutually beneficial community-academic partnership.

Participants should submit, via email, a brief abstract (less than 250 words) of their community engagement project to Denise Chisholm, dchishol@pitt.edu.  Please include the names of the academic department(s) and community organization(s) collaborating on the project.  Work previously accepted and/or presented at another meeting may be submitted.

Submissions should include:

Name(s) of applicant(s)

Department/organization affiliation

Email

Telephone

(Student applicants – please include name and contact information of your faculty mentor)

Submissions are automatically entered in the SHOWCASE which will take place in the Assembly Room, William Pitt Union from 3:00 to 4:00 pm on November 10, 2011.

Plenary Objectives:

• To engage communities in basic research, program planning, and capacity building.
• To increase awareness of current community engagement research projects between the University and local communities.
• To facilitate connections between members of the University and local communities to promote the generation of community engagement research project ideas.
• To enhance strategies for the University and local communities to work together and collaborate to improve the quality of life for all residents in the Greater Pittsburgh region.