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N i n e M i l e R u n

W a 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

Table of Contents

Seeds of Change

Pockets of Change

Power of Change

— Ashleigh Brilliant

StaffBrenda Smith Executive Director

Lisa BrownDirector of Operations and Outreach

Justin HynickaGreenLinks Coordinator

Sara MaddenProgram Coordinator

Luke Stamper Education Coordinator

Judi JunglingOffice Manager

Molly FreedmanIntern

Contact UsTel 412.371.8779Fax [email protected]

*All photos courtesy of John Moyer. Back cover photo by Matt

Our Boardas of November 2010

Scott RosenblumPresidentJohn SchombertVice PresidentMisty ParshallTreasurerMaryRose WalkoSecretaryBob BinghamAndrew ButcherZelda CurtissJoanna GuziewiczJason Jesso Patrick LoughneyEllen MarcusJohn MoyerJames NesbittPeter NiederbergerMartha RiecksAllison SandersJennifer ThomaJonathan SchneiderVeronica ToranMatthew WholeyLois WinslowMargaret Zak

2 2010 Annual Report

Nothing we can do can change the past, buteverything we do changes the future.

Letter from the Executive Director & President of our BoardSince 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. As we celebrate our tenth anniversary, perhaps the most notable change for the organization is the creation of a new social enterprise.

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!

Scott Rosenblum, President Brenda Smith, Executive

2010 Annual Report 3

ChangeSeeds of


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.

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

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!

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


ChangePo c k e t s of


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


Power Changeof


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.

In order to in broaden our reach and influence regional stormwater policy, NMRWA joined with Pittsburgh United

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.

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 Funders & Contibutors Thank YouFunders The Hauber FoundationThe Heinz Endowments Youth PhilanthropyThe Laurel FoundationThe Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Growing Greener II FundThe Richard King Mellon FoundationThe Rita McGinley Fund of The Pittsburgh FoundationThe Sprout FundThe Western Pennsylvania Conservancy/Dominion Foundation

PartnersAllegheny CleanwaysThe Borough of EdgewoodThe Borough of SwissvaleThe Borough of WilkinsburgThe City of Pittsburgh Department of Parks and RecreationThe City of Pittsburgh Department of Public WorksEarth Force Inc.The Frick Environmental CenterFriends of the RiverfrontGLENDA

The Looking Glass InstitutePenn State Cooperative ExtensionPennsylvania Department of Environmental ProtectionPhipps ConservatoryThe Pittsburgh Parks ConservancyPittsburgh United3 Rivers Wet WeatherTree PittsburghThe Western Pennsylvania School for the DeafThe Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation

A Midsummer Night’s Storm SponsorsALCOSANElk Air Conditioning and Heating, Inc.G-TECH Strategies, IncHoward BergerLennon Smith Souleret Engineering IncSci-Tek Consultants, IncThe Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf

In Kind Donors3 Rivers Wet WeatherAgRecycleALCOSAN

Allegro Hearth BakeryAl’s Fish and ChickenBruegger’s Bagels, Squirrel HillBSA Troop 373Calli’sThe Coffee Tree Roasters, Squirrel HillDeFlavio’sFriends of the RiverfrontHometown TavernMake Your Mark CaféMurphy’s Tap RoomPennsylvania Department of TransportationPoint Brugge CaféSoul Food ConnectionTest AmericaWall-to-Wall StudiosThe Western Pennsylvania School for the DeafThe Wilkins School Community Center

Visionaries$1000 and upNancy Bernstein and Robert Schoen

Protectors$500-999Karen and John BaillieChristopher and Amy BartelsMichelle ButlerClaudia Detwiler

Jack and Joan DiederichJim FlemingDeborah and Noam GilboaAlan HohlfelderAlice and Patrick LoughneyRebecca McAllisterDeborah MossMartha Riecks and Christopher TraceyPatty SchlichtPatrick Winschel and Michael Pemrich

Restorers$250-499Thomas BatroneyZelda CurtissHenry DohertyNancy Levine-Arnold and Bob ArnoldMary Pretz and Alton LawsonSteven RitterScott Rosenblum and Sarah OrdazKathy, James and Bryan Woll

Stewards$100-249Anonymous (6) Kathryn Albers Raymond and Harriet Baum

Bob Bingham and Kathryn SitterPaula Breuer and Vic PregelLisa and Terry BrownJoe Crossett and Beth Roman Jeanne and Robert Drennan David Dzombak and Carolyn MenardJoe and Teresa Fedor Raymond Griffith Ernest Grindle Alexandra Gruskos and David Orenstein Patricia HermenaultR. Donald HoffmanJason JessoLloyd and Cheryl JonesAnn Kelton and Jeffrey HritzMary Kostalos David and Roberta Konefal-Shaer Harriet Kruman Jennifer Lakin and Douglas RabuzziBarry and Katyna LaveryPeter LewisEmily Lippert Howard Mark in honor of Donna HoodJeff and Kate MaurinMark and Mary Ellen Meyer

Mary Pretz and Alton LawsonKris RustMarc SchwartzRick SebakJanet and Marty SeltmanBrenda Smith and Rosemary WelschKurt SummersgillMichael Trick and Ilona WeyersSusan WaggonerMark WagnerMaryRose Walko and Laird CooperBill and Judy WernerRoye Werner and Reid AndrewsMatt WholeyPaige Joy Wiegman and Randall Bartlett

Supporters$50-99Anonymous (9)James and Fran AbrahamAllen and Liz BaumJanet and Dan BednarzRich BlattenbergerDebra Bogen and Brian Leshko Carole and Al Borek Mitchell and Ronda BrourmanAnne BowesKathy Chavara


Maren Cooke and Neil Donahue Daniel and Clare CornellJustin Cummings & Harmony SullivanJon DanzakJim and Christine DauberLuise Davis Sabina DeitrickLisa Dennis and Joan MaserAmy and Jerry DeRing William DimitroffRuth Drescher Michael Eannarino Elizabeth Ensminger Nancy Farber in honor of Zelda CurtissJonathan FobearPaige and Jeff ForsterDeb FreemanJim and Martha FunderburghRae GoldDavid and Barbara Grover Barbara Gundy and Marcia Smith Barbara and Lothar Hanusa Charles M. Herrold, Jr. Susan Holmes Alan and Mary Hunninen in honor of Kathryn HunninenStanley and Ellinor Huppert John Irwin Judith C. JunglingPeter Lewis Karen Lukas Melissa McDonough Alan Meisel and Linda Serody Bill and Maryanne Mistick

Susan and Daniel Mulholland Teresa Nolan Misty N. ParshallJoshua Pastuch and Diana VenciusNancy Pulsifer and Rodney PermigianiNicholas and Dorothy RescherAndrea RockovichAllison and Bradley SandersMartin and Jean SchmidtCarolyn and Robert SchumacherJohn Sennott and Lesa RosamondJohn and Anne SingletonCarla and Jeff SivekJack and Sue SolomonClaire StaplesJudith StarkCraig StevensDrew StockFred and Chris ThiemanElizabeth Thomas and Kirk SavageNicole TrombleWilliam WalkerHoward WeinEd and Lynda Wrenn

Members$1 - 49Anonymous (11) Howard AikensMichael and Jean AlexanderPatricia ArndtSteven AussenbergDan Bain and Emily ElliottBill and Josephine BaxterChris and Joshua Bellin

Jeffrey BergmanMartin BeyConnie BlackStacey E. BloomBrandon BoanSally BogieRuth BoykinKathryn BoyleJoseph BurkeJohn Burke and Kathie SmithJanet CarrJoan and Harold ChelemerJean ClicknerStephen CohenKyle CostelloGreg Crowley and Amber BarnatoRachel CubellisPatricia DavisTheresa DeLuciaAlex DeMarco and Amanda BayerAlice Doolittle and Tim PearcePaul DorseyNathaniel DoynoAngela and Steve EagleRichard ElinsonMarla FerrencyTom FisherDiane FlaniganBetsy FleischerReid Frazier and Marijke HechtDaniel FriedsonPhyllis T. GenszlerHarold and Edna GoldingEllen Gozion and Jim HerbertNaomi GreenblottMichele GregorichMaya Groner

Mark Haibach and Patricia BoydDarren and Sarah HallDonna Hallen and Caleb GriffithCarl and Jona HammerTed HammerAnn HarrisGunther and Klara HeilbrunnDonald R HillTom HoffmanTara Hofkens and Stephen PellathyChristopher Horwitz and Pamela MurrayJames HowisonJohn HuffmanLinda Jeub and Hal GrinbergLisa JohnsonDebbie KalbfleischMatt and Luke KambicDan Kambic and Diane CharlesLeslie KaplanPeter and Bonnie KarstenLee KimCharles KingKirill KisselevKathy and James KoroskenyiCurtis Kovach and Fran CzakHarold Timothy KyriaziRick and Ann LandesbergDawn LehmanDavide LerdaSara LickeyDave LimbacherTony LodicoJen Macasek and Jacob BrunnerEllen Marcus

Virginia Marie NorkusGabrielle Marsden and Todd KaufmannRyan McDermottKate and Emily MearsLisa MekovskySusan MillerRose MorelloJohn MoyerKhrys MyrddinMarc Nieson and Beth CorningBob and Liane NormanEmannuel OakesWendy and James OsherKimberly PalmerChristina and Anna PalmieriHerman PearlArch PelleyJen PetrusJoni Rabinowitz and John HaerBarbara RackowKathleen RadockMargaret ReedMartin ReidellWilliam and Nancy RemaleySylvia and Aron ReznickWilliam RogersMegan RooneyMichelle SabinoJim SchaferJennifer Schnakenberg Joanne Schreiber Bill and Pat Schuetz Henry Schumacher and Jonathon Weaver Catherine Sheane Barry ShieldsMarsha Shisman in honor of Natalie ShismanCarol Smialek

Bill Smith Linda Stafford John and Ruth Staudacher Pat Stewart Terri Supowitz Sustainable Monroeville Joanie and Edward Sutter Chuck and Joan Tague Therese B. TardioKaren ThickmanTheresa TreasureAnnette and Robert WernerRick and Sarah WertheimerMarcelle WestRuth Westerman and J Robert MyersRoger WestmanDelia WhiteDick and Erika WilfordPeter and Noe WoodsMargaret Zak

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]


Statement of Financial Position

December 31 2010 56% Cash 340,312.00 0% CDs - 40% Grants Receivable 244,407.00 0% Other Receivables - 2% Inventory 14,911.00 0% Prepaid Expenses 2,629.00 2% Net Furniture, Vehicles and Equip. 10,064.00 1% Accounts Payable 2,642.00 0% Accrued Expenses 149.00

December 31 2009 54% Cash 245,597.00 22% CDs 100,254.00 16% Grants Receivable 75,000.00 0% Other Receivables 1,750.00 2% 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

Income

December 31 2010 Income 86% Contributions 8,786.00 4% Grants 519,304.00 0% Membership Income 22,912.00 3% Program Fees 1,742.00 1% Sale of Rain Barrels 16,554.00 5% Investment Income 3,296.00 1% Miscellaneous Income 28,558.00

December 31 2009 Income 81% Contributions 3,789.00 4% Grants 314,993.00 1% Membership Income 15,739.00 6% Program Fees 3,346.00 2% Sale of Rain Barrels 23,909.00 5% Investment Income 6,018.00 1% Miscellaneous Income 18,590.00

Expenditures

December 31 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% Fundraising 23,002.00


2010 Statment of Financial Position

2010 Income

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2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009

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].

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