2010 - Nine Mile Run Watershed Association

Nine Mile Run
Wa t e r s h e d A s s o c i a t i o n
2 0 1 0
A n n u a l
R e p o r t
Our Board
as of November 2010
Nothing we can do can change the past, but
everything we do changes the future.
— Ashleigh Brilliant
Table of Contents
Seeds of Change
Pockets of Change
Power of Change
2 2010 A n n u a l R e p o r t
Scott Rosenblum
President
John Schombert
Vice President
Misty Parshall
Treasurer
MaryRose Walko
Secretary
Bob Bingham
Andrew Butcher
Zelda Curtiss
Joanna Guziewicz
Jason Jesso
Patrick Loughney
Ellen Marcus
John Moyer
James Nesbitt
Peter Niederberger
Martha Riecks
Allison Sanders
Jennifer Thoma
Jonathan Schneider
Veronica Toran
Matthew Wholey
Lois Winslow
Margaret Zak
Staff
Brenda Smith
Executive Director
Lisa Brown
Director of Operations
and Outreach
Justin Hynicka
GreenLinks
Coordinator
Sara Madden
Program Coordinator
Luke Stamper
Education Coordinator
Judi Jungling
Office Manager
Molly Freedman
Intern
Contact Us
Tel 412.371.8779
Fax 412.371.1157
[email protected]
www.ninemilerun.org
*All photos courtesy
of John Moyer. Back
cover photo by Matt
Letter from the Executive Director & President of our Board
Since our beginnings in 2001, the Nine Mile
Run Watershed Association (NMRWA) has
worked for change - positive and powerful
change. Each presentation we do and every
program we create is designed to change the
way people think about our natural world,
challenging them to see the world differently
and motivating them to take action.
NMRWA’s educational programming this
year touched our youngest citizens, sowing the
seeds of change within them and inspiring the
next generation of environmental stewards.
By providing local students with meaningful
experiential learning opportunities, we
taught children to value their neighborhood
spaces and gave them the confidence to create
change in their communities.
We created visible signs of change by planting
more street trees and increasing the number
of rain barrels installed on homes in the
watershed. We also promoted pioneering
green technologies, like permeable paving
and rain gardens. These simple innovative
solutions serve to remind people that they
have the power to create a cleaner, healthier
future for Nine Mile Run.
With support from the Richard King Mellon
Foundation, we are now offering stormwater
mitigation strategies, such as rain barrels,
rain gardens, and tree planting, throughout
Allegheny County.
All of our work over the last ten years has been
made possible through the generous support
of our many members, friends, and dedicated
volunteers; thank you all for inspiring us to
continue our efforts to restore and protect
our urban watershed!
As we celebrate our tenth anniversary, perhaps
the most notable change for the organization
is the creation of a new social enterprise.
Scott Rosenblum, President
Brenda
Smith,
Executive
2010 Annua l R eport
3
S ee ds
4 2010 A n n u a l R e p o r t
of
Change
At NMRWA, we see each child as a seed of
change, a kernel of promise imbued with
the power to influence others and to build a
better future. Cultivating this next generation
of environmental stewards is one of our most
important and exciting challenges, and 2010
was a year for meeting that challenge.
students in learning and practice. A year
of planning and instruction culminated
in several day-long workshops and field
experiences in the Nine Mile Run Aquatic
Ecosystem Restoration. Four regional
schools and almost 180 students from grades
5 through 12 participated in this project!
In January, NMRWA worked with the
Wilkinsburg Middle School 8th graders,
teaching them about pollutants in our
water and how their individual actions can
directly impact the health of Nine Mile
Run. This learning experience included
classroom presentations, lab experiments,
and an invasive plant workshop in the Nine
Mile Run restoration area. 2010 also saw
the culmination of a yearlong partnership
with Earth Force Inc. - Youth Training Days.
Funded by the Heinz Youth Philanthropy
Program, Youth Training Days were designed
as service learning opportunities to engage
With funding from the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection,
NMRWA developed an innovative native
plant project for the Western Pennsylvania
School for the Deaf (WPSD). Each facet
of this program actively engaged students:
in-class presentations, field trips to the
restoration area, a native seed collection
workshop, and an opportunity for students
to sow and nurture native plants. Students
also reflected on their experiences by writing
in journals and creating a scrapbook that
documented the project.
By the fall of 2010, NMRWA had touched
over 1600 children with our programming
and received support for three new and
exciting projects. A grant from the Dominion
Foundation will sponsor and engage three
watershed schools in a watershed signage
contest. The Sprout Fund’s Spring Award
will allow us to increase biodiversity in our
neighborhoods with a school-yard rain
garden at the Word of God Catholic School
in Swissvale. Another grant from the Heinz
Youth Philanthropy Program will help to
transform the vacant lot next to Wilkinsburg
High School into a unique green space
designed to address the stormwater runoff
from an adjacent parking lot. This project
will include a rain garden, new trees, and an
outdoor classroom and seating area. Each of
these projects will be completed in 2011 and
create shared experiences for young people
that reveal vital connections to the natural
world and inspire students to create change.
Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix.
– Christina Baldwin
2010 Annua l R eport
5
Pockets
6 2010 A n n u a l R e p o r t
of
Change
Each year the Nine Mile Run Watershed
Association makes significant changes to our
watershed. Some of these changes may seem
small, but they are actually innovative and
cost effective green infrastructure projects
that not only reduce the negative impact of
stormwater runoff, but also help to restore
vital habitat, improve biodiversity, increase
green space, and beautify urban areas. Green
infrastructure includes planting trees and
installing rain gardens, rain barrels, and
permeable paving. These methods manage
stormwater runoff while enhancing the
quality of life in our neighborhoods.
In 2010 NMRWA coordinated two
volunteer plantings for street trees on sites
in the watershed, one along Schoyer Avenue
in Swissvale and another in Holmes Park in
Wilkinsburg. Once mature, these trees will
be environmental work horses, providing
shade, improving air quality, reducing urban
heat island effect, and absorbing excess
stormwater runoff. These additional trees
bring the total number of new street trees in
the watershed to almost 300!
NMRWA also designed and constructed
seven rain gardens throughout the watershed
as a way to promote this vibrant method
of managing stormwater to residents. Four
of the gardens are situated on residential
properties in Regent Square, Wilkinsburg,
and Squirrel Hill. One is located at Angel’s
Place, a local nonprofit that provides single
parents, who are full-time students, with the
help they need to complete their education.
Two additional gardens are located in public
spaces, one in Wilkinsburg’s Whitney Park
and the other at the former Edgewood Train
Station on Swissvale Avenue. Each garden
features a variety of native plants, chosen to
enhance biodiversity in the watershed.
In addition, NMRWA supported a permeable
paving demonstration site for a sidewalk in
Edgewood.
We hope this will encourage more
homeowners to think about permeable
paving options when replacing their
sidewalks, driveways and patios. Added to the
over 1400 rain barrels NMRWA has installed
throughout the watershed, these projects are
raising citizen awareness about the issues of
stormwater runoff and the benefits of green
solutions in addressing our region’s water
quality problems - proving that small steps
add up to big changes.
If you want change, you have to make it. If we want progress, we have to drive it.
-
—Susan Rice
2010 Annua l R eport
7
8 2010 A n n u a l R e p o r t
2010 A nnua l R eport
9
Power
10 2010 A n n u a l R e p o r t
of
Change
Through our many presentations to
community groups and civic organizations,
NMRWA continues to raise awareness about
Southwestern Pennsylvania problems with
stormwater runoff. The issues of nonpoint
source pollution and sewage overflows that
negatively impact our rivers and streams,
including. In 2010, we reached more than
2100 citizens, connecting them to the larger
issues and encouraging them to reduce their
stormwater footprints by making simple and
cost effective changes to their properties such
as installing rain barrels, constructing rain
gardens and planting trees.
However, we speak with many folks who are
not watershed residents and are interested in
having a rain barrel or rain garden installed
on their property. Unfortunately, NMRWA
has been limited in what we can offer those
who live outside the watershed. We wanted to
support these regional stormwater pioneers
by providing them with the same services
we give to residents of Nine Mile Run. To
that end, we began exploring ways to expand
our services beyond the Nine Mile Run
Watershed and sought funding to establish a
social enterprise that would allow us to offer
our residential stormwater management
services throughout Allegheny County. By
October, NMRWA had secured support
from the Richard King Mellon Foundation
and we eagerly began planning to launch the
new enterprise in early 2011.
to successfully advocate for legislation in
the City of Pittsburghy advancing green
infrastructure as a desirable alternative to
more conventional methods for mitigating
stormwater runoff. We are also active in the
Green Infrastructure Network. This group
has identified the best local examples of
green infrastructure, promotes residential
and commercial green alternatives, and
works to change our regional approach to the
issues of stormwater runoff, nonpoint source
pollution and sewage oveflows.
In order to in broaden our reach and
influence regional stormwater policy,
NMRWA joined with Pittsburgh United
You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
— R. Buckminster Fuller
2010 Annua l R eport
11
Thank You
2010 Funders & Contibutors
Funders
The Hauber Foundation
The Heinz Endowments
Youth Philanthropy
The Laurel Foundation
The Pennsylvania
Department of
Environmental
Protection, Growing
Greener II Fund
The Richard King Mellon
Foundation
The Rita McGinley Fund
of The Pittsburgh
Foundation
The Sprout Fund
The Western Pennsylvania
Conservancy/Dominion
Foundation
Partners
Allegheny Cleanways
The Borough of Edgewood
The Borough of Swissvale
The Borough of
Wilkinsburg
The City of Pittsburgh
Department of Parks
and Recreation
The City of Pittsburgh
Department of Public
Works
Earth Force Inc.
The Frick Environmental
Center
Friends of the Riverfront
GLENDA
12 2010 A n n u a l R e p o r t
The Looking Glass Institute
Penn State Cooperative
Extension
Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection
Phipps Conservatory
The Pittsburgh Parks
Conservancy
Pittsburgh United
3 Rivers Wet Weather
Tree Pittsburgh
The Western Pennsylvania
School for the Deaf
The Wilkinsburg
Community
Development
Corporation
A Midsummer
Night’s Storm
Sponsors
ALCOSAN
Elk Air Conditioning
and Heating, Inc.
G-TECH Strategies, Inc
Howard Berger
Lennon Smith Souleret
Engineering Inc
Sci-Tek Consultants, Inc
The Western Pennsylvania
School for the Deaf
In Kind Donors
3 Rivers Wet Weather
AgRecycle
ALCOSAN
Allegro Hearth Bakery
Al’s Fish and Chicken
Bruegger’s Bagels,
Squirrel Hill
BSA Troop 373
Calli’s
The Coffee Tree Roasters,
Squirrel Hill
DeFlavio’s
Friends of the Riverfront
Hometown Tavern
Make Your Mark Café
Murphy’s Tap Room
Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation
Point Brugge Café
Soul Food Connection
Test America
Wall-to-Wall Studios
The Western Pennsylvania
School for the Deaf
The Wilkins School
Community Center
Visionaries
$1000 and up
Nancy Bernstein and
Robert Schoen
Protectors
$500-999
Karen and John Baillie
Christopher and
Amy Bartels
Michelle Butler
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Jim Fleming
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Gilboa
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Loughney
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$250-499
Thomas Batroney
Zelda Curtiss
Henry Doherty
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and Bob Arnold
Mary Pretz and
Alton Lawson
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Sarah Ordaz
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$100-249
Anonymous (6)
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Drennan
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Supporters
$50-99
Anonymous (9)
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Leshko
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Brourman
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Members
$1 - 49
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We are very grateful for
the support of all of our
members and donors.
Every effort has been made
to ensure the accuracy
of this list. If errors or
omissions have occurred,
please bring them to our
attention by emailing
[email protected]
2010 A nnua l R eport
13
2010 Statment of Financial Position
2010
2010 Statment of Financial Position
2009 Statment of Financial Position
2009 Income
2010 Income
2009
2009 Statment of Financial Position
2010
2009
Statement of Financial Position
Income
December 31 2010
December 31 2010 Income
56%
0%
40%
0%
2%
0%
2%
1%
0%
Cash CDs
Grants Receivable
Other Receivables
2009 Income
2010 Income
Inventory
Prepaid Expenses
Net Furniture, Vehicles and Equip.
Accounts Payable
Accrued Expenses
December 31 2009
340,312.00
244,407.00
14,911.00
2,629.00
10,064.00
2,642.00
149.00
54% Cash 245,597.00
22% CDs
100,254.00
16% Grants Receivable
75,000.00
0% Other Receivables
1,750.00
2009
Expenditures
Expenditures
2% 2010
Inventory
10,984.00
1% Prepaid Expenses
2,910.00
4% Net Furniture, Vehicles and Equip. 15,645.00
1% Accounts Payable
6,167.00
0% Accrued Expenses
271.00
14 201 0 A n n u a l R e p o r t
86% Contributions
4% Grants
0% Membership Income
3% Program Fees
1%2010 Expenditures
Sale of Rain Barrels
5% Investment Income
1% Miscellaneous Income
Contributions
Grants
Membership Income
Program Fees
Sale of Rain Barrels
Investment Income
Miscellaneous Income
2010
2009 Expenditures
2009
Expenditures
December 31 2010 Expenditures
8,786.00
519,304.00
22,912.00
1,742.00
2009 Expenditures
16,554.00
3,296.00
28,558.00
December 31 2009 Income
81%
4%
1%
6%
2%
5%
1%
2010 Expenditures
87% Program Services
377,932.00
7% Management & General 32,233.00
6% Fundraising
27,156.00
December 31 2009 Expenditures
89% Program Services
453,168.00
7% Management & General 36,018.00
4% Fundraising23,002.00
3,789.00
314,993.00
15,739.00
3,346.00
23,909.00
6,018.00
18,590.00
The figures on this page are preliminary and not
audited. When completed, a copy of NMRWA’s
2010 audited financial statements may be
obtained by emailing [email protected].
2010 Annua l R eport
15
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