Kevin's Remarks on Volunteerism
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Monday, November 2, 2009
PITTSBURGH PRIDE CORPS REMARKS
Kevin Acklin | November 2, 2009
Good morning. Thank you for being here today.
Standing behind us, keeping guard over the Brookline business district, is the Brookline Cannon. It’s an old World War II cannon that was dedicated in 1946 as part of Brookline's Veteran's Memorial.
Restoring this cannon was the first project undertaken by Renew Pittsburgh, the all-volunteer organization I co-founded and directed as a way to revitalize our city one great neighborhood at a time. We scraped and sanded and painted. We worked for hours on this little park, because we wanted to make a difference in Brookline, and because we knew that this is the kind of hard work we need in our neighborhoods.
Since that first project, Renew Pittsburgh has worked in Greenfield, Troy Hill, Homewood, Sheraden, Elliot, Oakland, Bloomfield, Brighton Heights — in so many neighborhoods. In the last year and half, we’ve undertaken more than two dozen projects all across Pittsburgh.
That kind of volunteerism and coordinated, community-oriented problem solving is what we need to protect our neighborhoods and make them attractive destinations for young families. That’s a reality I saw first-hand in my work with Renew Pittsburgh, and it’s one of the most important reasons why I’m running for Mayor.
It's why today, I’m promising a renewed commitment to volunteerism in our City. One of my first acts as Mayor will be to create the Pittsburgh Pride Corps, a city-backed non-profit that will energize our most important assets — the people of this great City and their love of our neighborhoods. The mission of the Pride Corps will be to lead clean-ups, plantings, park projects, to volunteer as mentors in our schools, and to promote other neighborhood improvement we need in the City of Pittsburgh.
It will be funded the same way we fund Renew Pittsburgh — through donations from the corporate and non-profit communities. And it will be staffed just like Renew Pittsburgh is — through the hard work and dedication of Pittsburghers all over this great City. We know this will work, because we’ve been doing it successfully for the past two years. But we need to think bigger and better if we’re going to get the work done that our neighborhoods require.
This is the type of Mayor I will be. I’ll reach out, I’ll lead by example, and I’ll inspire people to participate in their neighborhoods and in their city government.
If you’re a Pittsburgher who wants a cleaner, safer neighborhood, JOIN US. If you’re a small business owner, who wants a welcoming main street, JOIN US.
If you’re a tradesman who wants to leave a better city for your children than what we have today, JOIN US. If you’re a city worker who sees wasted opportunities in our government and knows we can do better, JOIN US.
I’ve said from the beginning that our campaign is a broad coalition of all Pittsburghers, committed to ending the culture of corporate welfare that exists in City Hall. We’re committed to good government, to safer streets, to cleaner neighborhoods, to the future of our great City. So to all Pittsburghers who want to build a better City, JOIN US TOMORROW, at the polls and in our neighborhoods, and help us Change Pittsburgh Forever.
Thank you. I’ll take any questions you have.
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