May: Claire Miziolek

GTECH STRATEGIES
Sustainable Community Fellow

Volunteer Planting days. As part of the GTECH fellowship, I have been busy planting sunflowers for bio-fuel gardens. We planted:

--Uptown planting with 7 volunteers, 6 high school students in a mentoring program and their adult mentor
--Beechview with about 30 volunteers, kids and adults
--Shecona (at E. Liberty and Collins Ave) with about 12 residents of all ages
--Peabody HS lot with over 40 volunteers from Peabody, the neighborhood, and a Jewish congregation
of volunteers.
--Millvale all day planting and fence building, with multiple volunteer groups, about 25 volunteers
total.
--Jeanette St in Wilkinsburg for a two-day volunteer event, day 1 spreading compost with about 7
volunteers, day 2 planting sunflowers with about 12 volunteers.

Community/project meetings. As a representative of GTECH, I often go to different communities and talk to them about projects. This month, I:

--Met with the Green Up Lawrenceville team.
--Talked to about 10 residents of the Alpha Terrace block group on Beatty St. about involvement with
the Peabody lot.
--Met with the Larimer Green Team to take a walking tour of vacant lots in Larimer
--Met with the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation about a new project in S. Oakland
--Met with a group in Beechview who are planning summer activities.
--Met with an SCA representative and a Parental Stress Center representative to help plan a summer
garden tour.

Green Economy Initiatives. This month was a busy one with our Green Economy Initiatives. We:

--Met with the UGGC’s Regional Task Force twice to plan our Summit
--Had a monthly Green Jobs Advisory Board meeting
--Helped organize and execute the Green Pathways to Prosperity Summit. The goal of this summit was
to educate community leaders about opportunities and efforts in the green economy. At this
summit we had 14 speakers, over 80 attendees, and an awesome time! Some of my responsibilities
included coordinating the speakers, sending out invitations, reserving and figuring out location
logistics, preparing evaluations and sign in sheets, and coordinating the day-of.
--Sat in on a radio interview in anticipation of the Summit that my colleague Khari did with KQV News
Radio

Administrative Actions. Another responsibility I have at GTECH is to help with administrative efforts. This Month I:

--Helped 4 new interns get acquainted and acclimated to GTECH.
--Took notes and prepared documents for our May Board meeting.
--Took notes and action items for our weekly staff meetings.
--Took notes and action items for our weekly reclamation project meetings.
--Worked on the GTECH Newsletter which is due to be sent out today.

Other Education:

--Took a Tree Tenders Course for 3 weeks. Am now officially a Tree Tender!