Monthly Archives for June 2018


Camilla Cook: Tree Inventory Update #2

Since my last blog post, I have completed fieldwork for Block 1-5, which can be referenced in the map given in this post. Even though we have surveyed Helen S. Faison Arts Academy school, we are still having trouble identifying if the school has American Sycamore or its cultivated version, London Planetree in and around […]


Where is that?

When our team talks about working in specific Cluster in Homewood, you can see where we are working on this map, thanks to Operation Better Block. “Cluster Planning Map: Contrasting with past neighborhood-wide planning efforts, the Homewood Cluster Planning process more effectively engages community members by focusing on one part of the neighborhood at a time,” […]


Lauren Pepperman: Working on a new Storm Water Management course

For my internship, my primary focus will be planning and managing the creation of our green infrastructure course that we are (hopefully) offering to Chatham students and high school Homewood residents in the Fall. The class will be called “Storm Water Management in Urban Developments,” and will observe methodologies to reduce flooding in Pittsburgh, particularly […]


Updates from Morgan Block on Cluster 4

Through my first few weeks at Operation Better Block, I have been working on/following a green infrastructure project in Homewood’s Cluster 4. The green infrastructure project will be placed along Finance Street and aims to aid in reducing the storm water runoff that has plagued the street, cluster, and neighborhood. Port Authority is spearheading the […]


Updates from Lydia Aceto

My first weeks I helped out by organizing information about the various projects OBB has done. Through access to meeting notes and emails relating to the projects, I now have a deeper understanding of how non-profits create projects and how they go about reaching out to their community. It’s very rewarding to help OBB keep […]


Camilla Cook: Tree Inventory Update #1

Hello everyone! As my research project was mentioned in my introduction provided by Sherrie, I will get right into the work I have done so far!  My inventory consists of collecting data on location (street), tree species, diameter at breast height (dbh), degree/percentage + distance (to calculate tree height), soundness (condition) of the bark, and […]


Meet our Homewood Community Project Team!

Thanks, Bank of America! Thanks to the generous grant funding by Bank of America, Chatham University professor, Iris Grossmann, Ph.D., of The Falk School of Sustainability and Environment, was able to recruit a team of students and other faculty members to work on what we hope to be a multi-year community-based sustainability project in Pittsburgh’s […]