CONNECT (Congress of Neighboring Communities)

As communities have alternated this past week between brush fires caused by drought and floods caused by storms, the role of our three rivers in our county’s health and economic development has really come to the forefront. So it is fitting that this year’s Ohio River Basin Alliance Summit took place at the University of Pittsburgh and that CONNECT—which was founded 15 years ago as part of the GSPIA Center for Metropolitan Studies with the goal of helping municipal governments work on their boundary -crossing water issues—should have a prominent role. In 2010 we began a partnership with 3 Rivers Wet Weather Inc and in 2014 we convened a Sewer Regionalization Implementation Committee. As a result of years of sustained collaborative effort, local governments have been able to significantly improve their stormwater management. A joint initiative with ALCOSAN was also started in order to take over the fragmented network of outdated sewer infrastructure running between municipalities, helping our members to reduce the strain on their budgets and bring better services to their residents. CONNECT understands how the economic and climate changes relate to one another and impact our communities. We appreciate ORBA’s recognition of our expertise in calling on our past board chair, Patricia M. DeMarco, Ph.D. to facilitate the plenary session, “Centering Communities and Environmental Justice Issues Across the Basin,” and inviting our director of community visioning and adaptation, Tiffany Taulton, MSPPM, EcoDistricts AP, to be a speaker on the panel. They shared the stage with another CONNECT friend, former Duquesne Mayor Nickole Nesby and Grand YNGA Chief Pomaj-chakmam-yajalaji in a discussion that was extremely well-received by conference attendees and will no doubt lead to new water partnerships in the near future between our organization, our municipal members and our region’s universities! #healthyrivers #stormwatermanagement #sdgs #rustbeltcommunities #armycorpsofengineers #environmentaljustice #ohioriver #cleanwater

We are excited to partner with the Pittsburgh Canopy Alliance to support tree plantings throughout Allegheny County that can improve air quality, neighborhood beautification, and resilience to extreme heat and rainfall events! The Alliance has thus far received $9 million in #IRA funding, but our team is working to grow that amount even further to help even more communities within the CONNECT (Congress of Neighboring Communities) footprint. If your community is interested in having a tree planting, our MEETING of interested municipal governments and partners will take place THIS THURSDAY, November 14th, at 10am. Our regularly meetings are a time for members to learn from each other’s successes and to devise plans for meeting regional challenges together. We’d love to receive your input as we plan for upcoming tree plantings and #resilient infrastructure projects in the coming year! Learn more on our website and follow us on social media for the latest member news. https://connectgovs.org (Below, photos from the Veterans Day tree planting along the Martin Luther King, Jr. Busway in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood. As part of the Canopy Alliance engagement committee, CONNECT’s director of community visioning and adaptation, Tiffany Taulton, MSPPM, EcoDistricts AP, was part of the planning for this Tree Pittsburgh event and attended it alongside other partners from The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, City of Pittsburgh, and veterans serving organization The Mission Continues. It was truly a time of celebration and it was great to see so many residents and officials join us—including U.S. Representative Summer Lee, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, City Controller Rachael Heisler, and PRT CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman.)

With all the focus on national elections, it can be easy to forget just how important local elections are. Our local governments have a huge impact on our everyday lives and are at the heart of everything we do at CONNECT (Congress of Neighboring Communities). From infrastructure resilience, to public health and safety, CONNECT is a proud partner of local governments throughout Allegheny County because we know we can do even more for our communities if we work together. If your municipality is not yet a member, check out our website or follow us on social media to learn more. And feel free to join us at an activity! There are many neighborhood tree plantings coming up this month with our partners and our bimonthly members meeting is next Thursday, November 14th. Pictured below: the November 2nd tree planting in Sharpsburg with Alicia Wehrle of the The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, CONNECT director of community visioning and adaptation, Tiffany Taulton, MSPPM, EcoDistricts AP, Sharpsburg Councilman David Breingan, Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization executive director, Jodi S. Klebick, Hampton Township municipal manager, Ryan Jeroski, and Volunteers of America with Sharpsburg residents.

💞 Urging everyone to take care of themselves today and check in with their people. In our winter meetings, the collective political overwhelm in local government was palpable and had already been increasing for several years- our word clouds asking member representatives how they were dealing with stress were a lot like Dr. Luger said: “people are smoking, drinking, and eating. We’re seeing spikes in blood pressure related to election anxiety.” 💞 We have to take better care of ourselves if we want to take better care of our communities -and part of that is knowing that this election cycle is a collective trauma like Rachel Handler's very funny and very true feature in New York Magazine depicts, especially for all of us in PA. 💕 Today I'm doing breath work, walking to the polls, going to lunch with friends and working on launching CONNECT (Congress of Neighboring Communities)'s wellbeing programming at our symposium in January! https://lnkd.in/eu5wW2Bt

Right now, there is a lot of federal funding being directed towards climate resilience—especially in environmental justice communities. CONNECT is expanding its network of university partnerships to make sure that our governments can have access to the data they need to make critical planning decisions, and support to help manage that growing collection of data. Many thanks to Penn State University for inviting our Director of Collaborative Funding, Rebecca Kiernan, and our Director of Community Visioning and Adaptation, Tiffany Taulton, MSPPM, EcoDistricts AP, to join their “Imagination Summit” at the Franco Harris Pittsburgh Center at Penn State in the Energy Innovation Center. We look forward to continuing the conversation around how universities can most effectively—and respectfully—work with local governments and community members to implement projects together that can lead to more government #internships for students, #inclusive #communitydevelopment, improved #publichealth, and more climate-resilient #infrastructure. City of Pittsburgh , UrbanKind Institute , Green Building Alliance , PUMP , Riverlife , Tree Pittsburgh , Landforce , evolveEA #climateresilience #justice40 #environmentaljustice #universitypartnerships #governmentinterns #nextgeneration #research #appliedresearch #communityresearch #communitypartnerships

From staff in Athens, Ohio last week to Seattle, Washington this week, our team is sharing their expertise and bringing back lessons from others to improve our communities here at home. This week, our LEAD team was at the International Deflection & Pre-Arrest Diversion Conference, sharing our region’s success with our Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. This program helps our police officers focus on true public safety priorities by connecting low-level repeat offenders with professional social workers that help them get jobs, housing, mental health care and drug treatment. The success of this program in reducing recidivism has made CONNECT’s program a model for the entire country. Congratulations to our LEAD team, Joey Brantle and Kelley Kelley, and our partners Passages to Recovery on your recognition and giving a fabulous presentation! #mentalhealth #publicsafety #recovery #drugaddiction #drugtreatment #housing #socialwork #lawenforcement #prearrestdiversion

We pride ourselves on having the information our members need to make important decisions regarding the future of their communities. In fact, our staff are recognized experts in their fields! To that end, they have been busy attending and presenting at conferences AROUND THE COUNTRY these past couple of weeks. Read up on the experience of our Director of Collaborative Funding, Rebecca Kiernan, at the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Workshop in Athens, Ohio that she helped to organize with the Appalachian Sustainable Finance Hub and Resilient Cities Catalyst. Also in attendance from CONNECT were Eric Raabe, Director of Infrastructure and Resilience, and former board chair, Patricia M. DeMarco, Ph.D.. Our region was also represented by the SWPA Municipal Project Hub and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. #sustainablefinance #solar #renewableenergy #climateresilience #appalachia ReImagine Appalachia; SOPEC — Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council ; Kokosing Solar ; Ohio University; Heartland Capital Strategies ; Milken Institute ; Ohio River Valley Institute ; Penn State Sustainability ; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) ; National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA); Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) https://lnkd.in/dFSNbiib

Through our work at the CONNECT (Congress of Neighboring Communities), we help municipal governments work together across their borders to bring resources to their communities more efficiently and economically—and to create a larger, more sustainable, impact. However, our partnerships with local nonprofits is equally important in achieving these goals. Thank you so much, Tree Pittsburgh and the The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, for hosting such a great workshop last week! You clearly laid out the numbers case for improving tree equity and diversity to improve climate resilience and public health. We look forward to hosting more workshops with you next year—specifically focused on municipal leaders and their staff. Stay tuned for the next CONNECT cohort forming soon! #communitydevelopment #treecanopy #urbanforests #urbanheatislands #stormwatermanagement #airquality #asthma #thrivingcommunities #sdgs #treeequity #sustainabledevelopment

Our partners are hosting a workshops next Tuesday, October 23rd, that is geared towards municipal governments looking to make their communities more vibrant and climate resilient. If you are looking to improve your public parks and #treecanopy, manage #stormwater, reduce the risk of extreme #heat, or improve your community’s #airquality, then next week’s workshop is for you! Allegheny County Conservation District, Allegheny Land Trust, Green Building Alliance, Sustainable Pittsburgh, Tree Pittsburgh #sustainabledevelopment #vibrantcommunities #climateresilient #greeninfrastructure #trees #grants #ira #resilientinfrastructure

On #WorldMentalHealthDay, please remember that you need to take care of yourselves first in order to take care of your communities! SAVE THE DATE for our upcoming event: "CONNECT for Wellbeing: From Burnout to Balance in Local Government Symposium," a wellness event dedicated to promoting physical, mental, and emotional well-being within our community to be held Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens on January 9th & 10th, 2025. Our symposium aims to address the critical issue of burnout in local government employees and elected officials and provide practical strategies for achieving a healthier work-life balance. #takecareofyourself #publicservant #mentalhealthmatters #pittsburgh #localgovernment