{"id":263990,"date":"2026-08-12T15:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263990\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T15:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:20:09","slug":"seeds-of-change-pittsburgh-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263990\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeds of Change | Pittsburgh Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Frick<\/a><\/p>\n

PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy being green in this black-and-gold steel town.<\/p>\n

In 1996, a group of neighbors concerned about the deteriorating state of Pittsburgh\u2019s parks formed a nonprofit organization and partnered with city officials to plant the seeds of change.<\/p>\n

That grassroots effort continues to grow.<\/p>\n

To date, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy has raised more than $150 million from public and private funding sources, completed 25 major improvement projects and offers an array of programming.<\/p>\n

Residents can participate in yoga sessions at Schenley Plaza, go forest bathing in Allegheny Commons and sit in on a summer drum circle at Frick Environmental Center, a LEED Platinum and Living Building Certified facility that\u2019s celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2026.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Trust for Public Land included Pittsburgh on its list of top 15 park systems in the country.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a lot of work to be done.<\/p>\n

The City of Pittsburgh and its departments of Public Works and Parks & Recreation \u2014 collectively known as CitiParks \u2014 owns and maintains 160 sites spanning 3,800 acres. Visitation to local parks skyrocketed during the pandemic \u2014 and hasn\u2019t come down.<\/p>\n

Catherine Qureshi, president and CEO of the conservancy, has a soft spot for Ormsby Playground on the South Side. Located between 22nd Street and the Birmingham Bridge, it\u2019s where she made many happy memories with her children.<\/p>\n

She also loves the Art Deco beauty of Downtown\u2019s Mellon Square and the history behind McKinley Park, one of the city\u2019s oldest recreational areas.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1898, the 79-acre Beltzhoover spot will get a modern upgrade this fall that includes a shade pavilion, trail connections, stairs and pathways to enhance accessibility and the preservation of historic baseball backstop posts as a tribute to the site\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

Community input is essential to the conservancy\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to do restoration not just for the community, but with the community,\u201d Qureshi says. \u201cWe can\u2019t parachute in and say, \u2018Here\u2019s a rain garden!\u2019 We meet with community members and build along with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conservancy\u2019s 40-member staff, along with a small army of volunteers, is committed to teaching the next generation of Pittsburghers how to be environmental stewards. After-school programs, summer camps and hands-on ecological restoration projects engage more than 7,500 kids annually.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit\u2019s strategic plan, which plots its course through the year 2030, aims to improve accessibility.<\/p>\n

In May, a Trackchair Program was launched at Frick Park in Squirrel Hill South. Four electric-powered, all-terrain wheelchairs are available to borrow free of charge for people ages 5 and older, opening up a new world to folks with limited mobility.<\/p>\n

\u201cParks are an important part of our life and our city\u2019s identity,\u201d Qureshi says. \u201cBeing in nature is a fundamental human experience. It\u2019s for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN It\u2019s not easy being green in this black-and-gold steel town. In 1996, a group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5091,73,75,74,58347,111469],"class_list":["post-263990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-nature","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-parks-conservancy","tag-the-great-outdoors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}