Pittsburgh is home to a vibrant community of people working to improve our environment and the spaces where we live. A new initiative is helping transform their visions into reality.Local nonprofit organizations New Sun Rising and RiverWise have selected 12 Western Pennsylvania projects for the Launch Environmental Justice (EJ) Incubator. The six-month program began last week and includes monthly operational strategy workshops, educational speakers and one-on-one technical assistance for the projects.Tyler Schaub is the environmental justice project manager for New Sun Rising and RiverWise. New Sun Rising is based out of Millvale and focuses on funding projects primarily in Allegheny County. RiverWise, based in Aliquippa, focuses on gaining community power through storytelling in Beaver County. The organizations make up the Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator, which collaborates with federally designated environmental justice communities to fund and implement projects that improve their health, climate resilience and economic opportunity.The ignite workshops – held in May in each river valley — were open to anyone with ideas or ongoing projects related to environmental justice. The optional pitch competition gave participants the chance to give a two-minute pitch of their projects. The winners of the competition moved on to the Launch EJ Incubator stage.“We’re working more intimately with these projects, helping them build out the gaps in their projects, and the goal is to be able to prepare these projects so after those six months they’re ready to hit the ground running, ready to accept funding, and like the model suggests, take those ideas off the paper and start bringing them into a reality,” says Schaub.Historic corner store turned gathering spaceGeneral Sisters, founded by Ginger Brooks Takashi and Dana Bishop-Root in 2009, is one of the projects selected for the Launch EJ Incubator.The former corner store and plumbing shop from the 1940s in North Braddock is being reimagined.The pair founded General Sisters with an “initial plan to make it a neighborhood grocery store (again),” Takashi says. “In 2009 we started to repair the building that we refer to as General Sisters. In this process of repair and designing, there was a threat of fracking in our neighborhood. So we had to pause work and focus on educating ourselves about hydraulic fracturing. So this shifted the direction for us.”The vision behind the space now is a space for gathering.People gather outside General Sisters in Braddock. The vision for the space is a community site to study the environment. Photo by Nida Rehman. “We’re starting to think more about the space as a site to study the environment, as an environmental justice hub, a place to study the air quality in our region.”The group worked with Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Urban Design students.The site sits just uphill from Edgar Thompson works, a reminder of the region’s industrial past.“It’s a visual reminder of the state of our air quality,” Takashi adds.The name, “General Sisters,” comes from the process of sistering, which is a technique to repair an old roof beam. “Instead of replacing it, if you want to reuse a beam that is partially damaged, you can take another piece of wood and attach it to it,” she adds. “We wrote the names of different feminists whose work we are inspired by on the boards. So they are now embedded in our building.”Takashi says the dream for the space is to have two paid staff members with regular programming and a place to hold workshops and events. Farm to table to the workforceCrop & Kettle is a New Brighton-based non-profit social enterprise that utilizes the food system to provide job training and social development. It was another of the projects selected for the incubator.The organization offers farm and culinary training, as well as practical job search training like resume and interview preparation. The students, staff and volunteers also operate a weekly produce stand with revenue supporting the training programs.Crop & Kettle graduates, staff and volunteers gather for a meal. The program offers farm and culinary training, as well as practical job search training. Photo courtesy of Tim Iman. Tim Iman is the founder and executive director. The program began in 2016 as a training program and evolved into the organization today. In 2023, Crop & Kettle provided more than 5,600 hours of job training to 10 students.“These sessions simply provide the time and space to take tangible action steps towards goals and projects that will benefit our communities over the long-term,” Iman says in an email to NEXTpittsburgh. “As leaders, we can very often get lost in the day-to-day grind of our respective programs and, although we develop plans and visions for future growth, we struggle to find the time and energy to bring those things to life.”Focusing on resiliencySchaub and Tacumba Turner, the environmental justice community coordinator for the participating organizations, will lead the cohort and will be inviting regional experts to offer expertise.Schaub adds that a focus on mental health is vital to the success of the projects.“(We emphasize) individual resiliency — making sure you’re taking care of yourself,” Schaub says. “Most of the people who are in this program who have environmental justice projects are living and working in a community that is an environmental justice area.”Project leaders participate in the ignite Mon Valley workshop. Photo by Rustbelt Mayberry Photography.The cohort will have access to Anese and Associates — a grant-writing firm with a track record of bringing in federal funding for environmental projects.“We have 70 fiscally-sponsored projects in our portfolio. So there’s a lot of data to inform the areas in which we’re hitting,” Turner adds.“The true purpose is to build a foundation for these projects,” says Schaub.The full list of projects selected:Wendy Whelpley, Beaver Falls Bike Trail Connector  Marcus Shoffner, Outdoor Inclusion Coalition  Tim Iman, Beaver County Regional Food Hub  Aquene Watkins-Wise, Healing House  Terri Minor Spencer, West End P.O.W.E.R.  Ginger Brooks Takahashi, General Sisters  Jeff Karwoski, Reforest Our Future  Annie Quinn, The Mon Water Project  Mary Alice Gettings, Aliquippa Food Co-op  Fitzhugh Shaw, NEBRS Land Trust  Ebony Lunsford Evans, Out of the End Incorporated  Raynise Kelly, Soil Sisters Plant NurseryThe post New incubator launches environmental justice projects appeared first on NEXTpittsburgh.