A crop of young leaders will be presenting their ideas for building on established community activism on the Nortside tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m. at the New Hazlett Theater in Allegheny Center.

 

Under the auspices of the Coro Center for Civic Leadership, 17 young adults will take the training they have had for nine months into collaborations with community groups and even each other over the spring and summer.

 

The event is expected to draw about 100 participants, from the 17 young adults with project visions to representatives from numerous organizations with whom they might collaborate on existing or new projects. 

 

It is open to the public.

 

Coro last summer began training the 17 NEXT Leaders Northside — the second crop since the pilot project inthe Hill and Uptown. They were identified by veteran activists of numerous Northside non-profits and organizations for this role. The training and collaboration program lasts a year.

 

 NEXT Hill brought young adults from the Hill and Uptown into collaborations with community work there. Many of those relationships continue, and some of the new leaders have been hired by organizations to continue their work.

 

The event tomorrow is a launch of the project to bring the new visionaries into the sphere of Northside stakeholders, including business owners, organizations, invested residents, and established leaders.  The proposed ideas range in service scope from youth to community building to development of businesses and human services.

 

“Aging neighborhood leaders across Pittsburgh often ask us ‘Who will be the next generation of neighborhood leaders?’ said Greg Crowley, president and CEO of Coro Pittsburgh. “Where are the young people who will take over as we transition to less active roles in community service?’

 

“I think the Northside project opening will give confidence that indeed there are young people interested in becoming active in their communities and very much open to learning new ways of solving problems together.”

 

For more information contact Greg Crowley at 412-258-2689 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or visit the web site at www.coropittsburgh.org.

 

 

A home improvement show of sorts is produced in Regent Square every year about this time and it’s about that time: Saturday from 10a to noon at the Mifflin Avenue Methodist Church, 905 Mifflin Ave., Wilkinsburg.

 

This is the sixth annual home-improvement event and the first to offer an opportunity for young residents to advertise their baby-sitting, pet care, yard work and garage cleaning enterprises.

 

The “Basements ‘n@ Workshop” is free to the public. Each year’s theme is different. It  is a collaboration of the Greater Park Place Neighborhood Association and the Regent Square Civic Association. 

 

Industrious youth should get in touch with GPPNA president Katy Frey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , before the event if they would like to be there.

 

“This year, one of the things I wanted to do was to give the kids in the neighborhood an opportunity to advance their little businesses as part of the workshop,” Katy said.

 

Alina Keebler of the Regent Square Civic Association, said the event attracts about 80 people a year, which includes presenters. This year, Construction Junction will have a table. The East End Food Co-op provides refreshments. The Design Center brings free architectural advice to people who come with pictures and descriptions of their home improvement projects.

 

In the photo above, by Melissa Neely, Karen Hanchett of Karen's Creations presents "Doing Right by Your Home," a presentation about choosing appropriate paint colors and other exterior embelishments at the 2012 Exteriors 101 workshop.

 

 

Only one thing really matters in discerning the difference: pie is finite.

Among those who know of pi's  infinitude, most, I’d guess, still don’t know quite what to make of it. Its simple definition is “the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle,” a number that literally never ends and begins 3.14159... thus, 3/14.

 

That’s the day physicist Larry Shaw established the first Pi Day 25 years ago at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, where there is a parade today to honor it. Pretty certainly, the parade will come to an end at some point.

 

Here's another site, Project Mathematics, dedicated to the understanding of pi

 

Exploratorium’s site suggests some other hands-on pi activities, one of which is described below:

 

 

There will not be a test on this. 

 

The new Oakland Career Center is holding an open house from 4-5.30p today at 294 Semple Street, with tours of the renovation, refreshments and dedication of the JoAnn Fountain community room, named in memory of one of Oakland’s most active advocates.

 

The Oakland Planning and Development Corp. has a long-term lease with the city to operate its JobLinks and School 2 Career programs there. 

 

More than 100 volunteers helped renovate the space, including residents and students who cleared old appliances, scrap metal and more than 60 bags of recycling and 40 bags of garbage.