Hello, I’m Tiffany! I am the founder of the Pittsburgh Village Project. My team and I are raising funds for a new initiative our organization launched in 2024 called Raise UP (United People). Raise UP brings together educators and families from diverse backgrounds to co-design STEAM workshops where young children collaborate on real-world environmental justice projects. By creating intentional multicultural learning spaces, we bridge racial and socioeconomic divides while fostering empathy, unity, and love. Through hands-on, developmentally appropriate learning, we empower children to problem-solve and grow together in diverse communities.
To paint a picture of our program, our first event was held at the local nonprofit makerspace Prototype Pgh in early summer 2024. Our team of educators hosted families with children ages 2-5 from 8 different Pittsburgh-area neighborhoods (including North Side, Monroeville and Moon Township to name a few), with 3 different languages spoken amongst the attending families. To celebrate nature and our communities, students engaged in a read-aloud, sketched a community mural, designed birdfeeders, painted planters and took a plant home to care for. Every family received a choice board of developmentally appropriate activities to take home that related to science, math or engineering activities related to their plant or birdfeeder. A community building time was embedded for parents to connect with one another at the end of the session as children played with Legos. 100% of our families reported satisfaction with the event and expressed interest in attending further events.
As a co-creator of the Raise UP initiative alongside my co-founder Barbie Vargo, it is crucial for us to remain true to our team’s organizational values- developing programs that are by the people, for the people.
Friends, colleagues and I have discussed a desire for our children to have more opportunities to engage with kids who come from backgrounds different from their own. This project sparks from our hope for less homogeneity and more unity and innovation in learning spaces.
Divisiveness, although rampant for adults these days, is not innate in children. Our role as leaders is to nurture the natural curiosity and love that young children have for one another.
The Greater Pittsburgh Area, although an incredible place, suffers from many sociocultural divides that can hinder children from collaborating across socioeconomic and racial lines with greater intentionality. The project provides an opportunity for children and their families to thrive together while doing developmentally appropriate projects that impact their communities.
Learning is one of the most beautiful things we can do together. This project is relevant and necessary for promoting a more just, unified and powerful future for our children.
In April 2020, as the pandemic disrupted education across Pittsburgh, under-resourced schools struggled with access to technology and equitable learning opportunities. Educator Tiffany Ward saw an urgent need for joyful, real-world learning and began designing projects that connected students to nature and hands-on academics. These early efforts evolved into The Pittsburgh Village Project—a fiscally sponsored project under the nonprofit New Sun Rising. The organization is dedicated to transforming education through culturally relevant, community-driven learning experiences.
Our model unites youth and families from diverse backgrounds in project-based learning that fosters collaboration, critical thinking, and real-world impact. Through community events, fellowships, and workshops, we engage learners from early childhood to grade 12 in STEAM, social justice, and service-oriented projects.
In a region where many schools remain racially and economically segregated, our work bridges divides, creating inclusive learning spaces where students develop the skills to work across differences. In partnership with families and communities, we empower youth to engage meaningfully in the world around them—revitalizing education and shaping the future together.
Funds will be used toward staffing our project (Yes, staffing! Hooray!). Staff will include a childcare team to co-teach during 6-8 events, curriculum writers and family focus groups who will help inform our programming. We will also launch our very first outdoor classroom and community garden between 2025–26. In addition to other grants and donations we have received, this fundraiser will support rental space, materials, and supplies for workshops that will occur in our outdoor classroom space. We thank you for your support and look forward to sharing powerful, sustainable outcomes with you!
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