Spring
Supporting local, community-based biodiversity initiatives in and around Pittsburgh.
Students learn about pollinators and native plant species
The Outdoor Classroom, May 2011 photo: Joey KennedyCatalyzing Biodiversity
Spring was a funding stream that was developed by The Sprout Fund and sponsored by The Pittsburgh Foundation to support local biodiversity initiatives and inspire greater stewardship of the Pittsburgh region’s natural resources. It complemented and bolstered the efforts already underway in support of United Nations World Environment Day and the International Year of Biodiversity.
Biodiversity, or the variety of life on Earth, is essential to sustaining the living networks and systems that provide us with health, wealth, food, fuel, and the vital resources our lives depend on. The loss of biodiversity, due in part to human activity, has greatly accelerated in recent years. These irreversible losses impoverish us all and damage the systems we rely on every day.
Sprout designed, executed, and professionally documented a customized grantmaking and civic engagement program about biodiversity and environmental stewardship for citizens of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Following the submission of 75 requests for support in early fall 2010, The Sprout Fund engaged citizens from across the region in a comprehensive community decisionmaking process. In total, 21 biodiversity projects were supported with a total of $200,000.
The program demonstrated the value of biodiversity, catalyzed creative solutions, and increased understanding of biodiversity’s vital role in our lives both locally and globally. Spring is a prime example of how Sprout blended catalytic grantmaking with community building and storytelling to accelerate collective action.
Program In Brief
Years Active
2010–2011
Total Investment
$200,000
Funded Projects
21
World Environment Day 2010
Pittsburgh, North American host city
Spring Biodiversity Awards Program Recap
Highlights of funded projects supported through the Spring program.
Funded Project Highlights
Spring catalyzed community-based projects that creatively addressed local biodiversity challenges and inspired greater stewardship of our region’s natural resources. 2 levels of catalytic awards were available: $20,000 and $5,000.
$20,000 Projects
Projects from leading organizations for initiatives that addressed critical needs affecting our region’s biodiversity.
Community Tree Nursery
Providing a more diverse tree stock for local reforestation and ecosystem restoration efforts while increasing the public’s understanding of urban forestry.
Community Tree Nursery
$20,000, 2010 Spring project support
Community Tree Nursery, a project of Tree Pittsburgh, created a tree nursery to support their ongoing planting and public education efforts. The nursery provided a more diverse tree stock for local reforestation and ecosystem restoration efforts, while increasing the public’s understanding of urban forestry and the community’s stewardship of urban trees.
Garfield BioShelter and Food Systems Center
Building a permanent BioShelter greenhouse structure to extend the growing season on the farm located in the Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Garfield BioShelter and Food Systems Center
$20,000, 2010 Spring project support
BioShelter and Food Systems Center, a project of the Garfield Community Farm, was a permanent greenhouse structure designed to extend the growing season located on the farm located in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood and to expand educational offerings at nearby Fort Pitt Elementary School. Outfitted with passive solar technology and permaculture design, the facility allowed a larger window of opportunity for students to experience the farm and learn about health and nutrition, biodiversity, ecology and gardening as it extended the growing season deeper into the school year while also allowing the farm itself to grow more diverse foods that required longer growing seasons.
Heritage Seed Bank and Nursery
Maintaining a collection of seeds native to the region that are rare or “endangered” and using them to participants about seed saving and its role in communities throughout history.
Heritage Seed Bank and Nursery
$20,000, 2010 Spring project support
Heritage Seed Bank and Nursery, a project of Blackberry Meadows Farm, was an initiative to maintain a collection of seeds that are rare or “endangered”, are native to the region, and have a role in the region’s history or culture. Participants at the nursery learned about seed saving and its role in communities throughout history, while also sustaining the region’s native heritage and heirloom plants for future generations. Blackberry Meadows Farm also worked to stock public spaces and area gardens with these native plants to raise greater public awareness about the importance of protecting horticultural heritage.
$5,000 Projects
Projects from organizations or individuals that positively impacted our region’s biodiversity at the grassroots level.
Chimney Swift Towers
Constructing artificial habitats for migrant Chimney Swifts along riverfront trails to increase habitat options for the birds in the Pittsburgh area.
Chimney Swift Towers
$5,000, 2010 Spring project support
Chimney Swift Towers, a project of The Audubon Society of Western PA, constructed four new artificial chimney habitats for Chimney Swifts, neotropical migrant birds, along riverfront trails to increase habitat options for Swifts in the Pittsburgh area.
Growing Biodiversity
Creating a rain garden on the grounds of a school to use stormwater runoff to irrigate native plant communities.
Growing Biodiversity
$5,000, 2010 Spring project support
Growing Biodiversity: A school-yard transformation, a project of Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, created a rain garden on the grounds of the Word of God School in Swissvale that used stormwater runoff to irrigate native plant communities established in the garden.
Knotweed Knockout
Remediating an acre of knotweed-infested, city-owned land in the Polish Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Knotweed Knockout
$5,000, 2010 Spring project support
Knotweed Knockout, a project of Polish Hill Civic Association, remediated one-acre of knotweed-infested city-owned land in the Polish Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh using non-toxic cinnamon oil to kill the exposed knotweed plants and hinder their recurrence.
Pollinator Restoration and Education Program
Building and restoring native plant gardens that provide food for pollinators and increase plant, insect, and animal biodiversity.
Pollinator Restoration and Education Program
$5,000, 2010 Spring project support
Pollinator Restoration and Education Program, a project of The Outdoor Classroom, created new native plant gardens and restored existing ones in Upper St. Clair Township that provide food for pollinators and increase plant, insect, and animal biodiversity.
Shaler Area Green Initiative
Constructing an educational garden using native plants and trees for use as a functional outdoor classroom.
Shaler Area Green Initiative
$5,000, 2010 Spring project support
Shaler Area Green Initiative, a project of Shaler Area High School, constructed an educational garden using native plants and trees for use as a functional outdoor classroom. Using innovative sustainable growing methods like aquaponic fertilization, the garden and accompanying greenhouse cultivated native plants in a setting where students could learn about life and earth sciences, sustainability, and ecological stewardship.
Shelby Montgomery Community Garden
Restoring a blighted area of a neighborhood by creating a garden with native plants and providing training for local youth.
Shelby Montgomery Community Garden
$5,000, 2010 Spring project support
Shelby Montgomery Community Garden, a project of Manchester Beautification Committee, constructed a community garden in a vacant lot in the neighborhood of Manchester on Pittsburgh’s Northside. In addition to restoring a blighted area of the neighborhood, the garden was cultivated with native plants and other selected species and included training and educational programs for neighborhood youth.
Programmatic Activities
Throughout 2010 and 2011, Spring hosted networking activities like workshops, meet-and-greet happy hours, and local site visits. These events helped coordinate activity among organizations already working to enhance biodiversity and galvanize interest among individuals and community groups that had not previously worked on this issue. Additionally, Spring staged several major public events to educate citizens about biodiversity issues and offer concrete ways for them to get involved.
Biodiversity Symposium
On August 9, 2010, Sprout hosted the Biodiversity Symposium at the Cabaret Theater. The event featured presentations by local leaders in the academic, nonprofit, and government sectors to create awareness about biodiversity challenges.
Awards Ceremony
On December 14, 2010, local leaders, community members, and funded project managers gathered at the Union Project for the Spring Awards Ceremony and Reception.
Biodiversity Festival
On September 10, 2011, Sprout hosted a Biodiversity Festival to celebrate the accomplishments of the Spring program and showcase both funded projects and allied organizations.
Related Efforts
Spring was Sprout’s only program dedicated exclusively to biodiversity; however, Sprout supported many environmentally-focused projects both before and after the Spring program’s lifetime.
Community Connections
In 2008, Sprout’s Pittsburgh 250 program supported no fewer than 8 biodiversity projects across the region, which partially served as the impetus for creating the Spring program in 2010.
Garfield Hops Project
GTECH Strategies, in collaboration with Garfield Community Farms and the Hops Project, planted hops to increase biodiversity in vacant lots. They received a special grant of $10,000 that fostered collaboration among prior Spring projects.
Garfield Hops Project
$10,000, 2012 Spring project support
Garfield Hops Project, a project of GTECH Strategies, was an urban gardening initiative that turned vacant land in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood into a hop garden. In collaboration with the Hops Project and Garfield Community Farm, the Garfield Hops Project broadened the city’s agricultural sources, engages community residents and urban farmers, and produced a feedstock for locally sourced beer-makers like nearby East End Brewery, who used the hops in some of their brews. Like the Garfield Community Farm, the volunteer gardening site was another project of urban renewal and reinvention for the community of Garfield as it transformed from blighted neighborhood to model of sustainable living, providing residents with a meeting place for community building and enrichment.
Commemorative Postersave_alt
Sprout worked with Bearded Studio, the design lead for the entire Spring campaign, to create and distribute a summative poster for Spring that highlighted the program’s by-the-numbers impact.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all those who made this program possible!
Supporters
- The Pittsburgh Foundation
Partners
- Bearded Studio
Staff
- Dustin Stiver