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BlackPittsburgh.com
BlackPittsburgh.com was started using a grant from the Sprout Fund
This is the core of the original proposal for the project
Project Description
A major issue facing the Pittsburgh region today is the exodus of young talent. With this exodus the region not only loses their sons and daughters, but also a wealth of fresh, innovative ideas, talents, and determination essential to shaping our region in the new millennium. A professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Richard Florida, hosted several focus groups with university students and asked them why they believed young people choose to leave this region-a recurring factor, lack of diversity.
As a young African-American woman, who came to Pittsburgh for graduate school, I was also concerned about what I perceived to be a lack of diversity in the region. I remember attending Black Student Organization meetings and complaining about not being able to find a place to get my hair done. Or talking with fellow African-American woman who were upset about not being able to find a place where they could eat "black food." Out of all the African-Americans in my class, I was the only one to stay in the region after I graduated. I remember the point when I decided there was potential here. It was five days before my wedding day, and I wanted an African headwrap to wear with my dress. I searched high and low-yellow pages, internet, etc., and could not find a shop that made African apparel. My classmates said that I was out of luck and there were no "black shops," in Pittsburgh-then I ran into Connie, as African-American woman, who was an administrative assistant at the Heinz School. Although I was extremely embarrassed to ask, I told her my situation and asked if she had any recommendations. Connie immediately gave me a list of places and directions-I had my headpiece made at Bleumadooh's African Market Place in Homestead.
You see, it is not that there are no resources for African-Americans here in Pittsburgh; there are plenty of resources from the Midnight Espresso Series to the Wood Street Emporium in Wilkinsburg to Bleumadooh's in Homestead. The services and resources are out there, people just need one central location to find them-that is where BlackPittsburgh.com comes in.
Right now, there is not a website or resource guide that lists black owner businesses, services, events, organizations, and other resources in the Pittsburgh region and our plan is to fill that much-needed void. BlackPittsburgh.com will be a "black yellow pages," listing area resources and events geared towards African-Americans. We will maintain an updatable database of black owned business, restaurants, and services in the region. We will host a bulletin where people can post events and have dialogues about issues facing the region and African-Americans. We will also link to organization websites that young African-Americans might be interested in like the NAACP, the African-American Chamber of Commerce and PUMP.
Audience
Our primary target audience is African-Americans in the region, both native and "imported," between the ages of 18 and 35. In addition, our secondary target audience is young adults of any race, between the ages of 18 and 35 who are interested in multi-ethnic culture, events, activities, etc. We plan to advertise heavily before the site is launched to build our database of services, businesses, etc, and get ideas for what people would like to see in the New Pittsburgh Courier, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The City Paper, the African-American Chamber of Commerce, local area churches in predominantly black communities, university campuses with a focus on minority student organizations, etc. We then plan to have a huge push right before launch announcing the effective launch date and possible launch party.
Geographic Impact
We hope to impact the entire region, but believe that our primary effect will probably be concentrated in black communities and neighborhoods throughout the region, like East Liberty, Homewood, Beltzhoover, etc., and in and around the colleges and universities. In the end, we would hope that African-Americans in the region have a resource that provides them with easy access, at their fingertips, of information by and about them. In addition, we hope that young adults, once they have knowledge that those resources exist and an easy way to find them, will make a more informed decision about what this region has to offer African-Americans when deciding to remain in the region or leave.
Implementation
We would secure website hosting and domain name registration for a minimum initial period of 10 years;
We would solicit input from African-Americans in the region, i.e., students, residents, business owners, etc., by advertising in the New Pittsburgh Courier, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The City Paper, the African-American Chamber of Commerce, local area churches in predominantly black communities, university campuses with a focus on minority student organizations, etc;
We would compile the information we have received into a database that can be updated, edited and searched via the worldwide web. A listing on the site for regional businesses and inclusion in the database would be free of charge;
We would design and build a website that included, but is not limited too, the previously described database, events calendar, public notifications, online bulletin boards and discussion forums pertaining to issues facing the African-American community;
We would advertise heavily prior to the launch about the effective launch date and possible launch party;
Timeline - We would begin in July 2003 and launch the site in January 2004.
Stakeholder Connections
We would seek input from the African-American Chamber of Commerce and regional chapters of the NAACP. We will contact the organizations, and set up meetings to explain what we are trying to accomplish. We will gain their input as well as offer to link to their existing websites or offer them web space for their organization if they do not have web presence.
Community Connections
As mentioned previously, we will seek input from the African-American Chamber of Commerce and regional chapters of the NAACP. We will contact the organizations, and set up meetings to explain what we are trying to accomplish. We will gain their input as well as offer to link to their existing websites or offer them web space for their organization if they do not have web presence.
Measures for Success
Initially, we will measure our success by tracking the number of visitors and "hits" at the site. In the long term, we will send out a survey to participating organizations and businesses requesting feedback on whether or not BlackPittsburgh.com has been beneficial to their businesses. In addition, we will post a user satisfaction survey on the site.
Other Resources
We expect to incur some minor costs for software licensing.
Background & Experience
Our interest in this project is explained in the first part of this application. But again, as a young African-American woman, who came to Pittsburgh for graduate school, understand the frustration with the apparent "lack of resources," for African-Americans. And I believe it is essential to let other young African-Americans know that there are plenty of resources from the Midnight Espresso Series to the Wood Street Emporium in Wilkinsburg to Bleumadooh's in Homestead. The services and resources are out there, people just need one central location to find them-that is where BlackPittsburgh.com comes in.
I will be handling the data collection, solicitation for participation, presentations and advertisement of the website. I have a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from the Heinz School, Carnegie Mellon University and my concentration was in economic development and policy analysis. I have extensive data collection and research experience working as a consultant for Three Rivers Youth, as a systems project at the Heinz School, and developing developed a financial model to curb financial problems and allow for improved service delivery to clients. In addition, as an intern for the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development, I designed a Neighborhood Indicators Project that analyzed various performance factors at a neighborhood level and developed a preliminary design for an information system to compare NIP data across neighborhoods.
My husband, Brian Viehland, Owner, Viehland.org, would be doing the web site development including writing html code, developing graphical user interface, overall site design, writing perl scripts, and formatting database information to allow for easy web access. Previous site development and maintenance include sites such as The Wilkinsburg Web (www.wilkinsburg.org), Mifflin Avenue United Methodist Church (www.mifflinave.org), and coolchyck.com (viehland.org/coolchyck - no longer active, but archived here).
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