Love Your Block projects complete, next round in spring

Mayor Ravenstahl’s first round of neighborhood Love Your Block projects have come to an end.  Rebecca Delphia, chief service officer in the mayor’s office, says 47 blocks were impacted by the program, with 5,800 pounds of littler collected, over 660 individual volunteers, and 3,000 hours of service.

The neighborhood projects were also able to leverage a combined total of $7,000 in additional resources, through cash or in-kind donations.

A total of 11 projects took place in different neighborhoods throughout  the city, and included improvements to basketball and tennis courts, establishing community gardens, and the creation of a pop-up café in front of a vacant storefront in Morningside.

“They’ve been diverse and they’ve been specialized to fit the needs of that particular community,” Delphia says.

Last Friday, Pittsburgh Allderdice High School celebrated enhancements to their athletic field, funded in part by the program’s $500 grant, marking the end to their fall project.

And the final Love Your Block celebration in 2011 will take place on November 11th, when the West End Village will hold a Veterans’ Day Celebration, unveiling enhancements to the Veterans monument located in front of the Carnegie Library on 47 Wabash Street.

Delphia says these projects are a good start for city-wide revitalization efforts.

“This is another tool that’s now available for communities that have been doing this work for a very long time, to move their visions forward,” Delphia says.

Applications for the Spring 2012 Love Your Block projects will be released in the early part of next year.

Writer:  Andrew Moore

Source:  Rebecca Delphia