Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Pittsburgh. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Leila Carter helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Is your business serving the residents of Pittsburgh? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpPittsburgh.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
E11: The Pittsburgh Project: 40 Years of Northside Youth Empowerment
What makes Rick Mason with The Pittsburgh Project a good neighbor?
Every child deserves to feel loved, safe, and valued – that's the driving philosophy behind The Pittsburgh Project, a remarkable nonprofit that's been serving youth on Pittsburgh's North Side for 40 years.
Executive Director Rick Mason brings us inside this vital community organization that offers summer camps, after-school programs, and leadership development opportunities for local youth. With a personal connection to the North Side spanning two decades, Mason shares how his journey from program coordinator to executive director has been fueled by his own experiences as a middle schooler navigating life's challenges. "Having positive adults in my life that influenced me, encouraged me, helped me make good decisions," Mason reflects, "was why I was excited to work with youth at this point in my life."
The Pittsburgh Project's deep roots in the Perry South neighborhood have allowed them to build meaningful partnerships with local schools like Allegheny Traditional Academy and Perry High School. These connections create pathways for students to access their programs, where they receive much more than just supervision – they find mentorship, skill development, and a sense of belonging. As summer temperatures soar, Mason describes pools filled with kids seeking relief from the heat, while inside their facilities, young people participate in activities designed to prepare them for bright futures. Whether through their high school leadership programs focused on job training and college preparation or their year-round youth development initiatives, The Pittsburgh Project remains committed to its core mission: ensuring every child who walks through their doors discovers their inherent value.
Want to learn how your family can benefit from these transformative programs or how you can support their mission? Connect with The Pittsburgh Project through their website at pittsburghproject.org or find them across social media platforms. After four decades of community service, they're just getting started in their mission to empower Pittsburgh's youth.
To learn more about The Pittsburgh Project go to:
https://www.pittsburghproject.org/
The Pittsburgh Project
(412)321-1678
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a nonprofit supporting after-school programs and summer camps on Pittsburgh's north side? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, rick Mason, with the Pittsburgh Project. Rick, how's it going?
Speaker 3:Things are going well. I'm excited. We're in the middle of our summer camp right now, so it's going well.
Speaker 2:Oh, excellent. We're excited to learn all about you and the business. Tell us about your company.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I'm the executive director of the Pittsburgh Project. We've been around for 40 years we actually just had a 40th anniversary celebration a few weeks ago and we have summer camps, after school programs, year round programs for young people that are on the north side of Pittsburgh, and we also have leadership programs for high school students, where they get job training excuse me and college prep for the students that are in high school.
Speaker 2:Wow, so many cool offerings. How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been with the organization for about 15 years now. I started off as a program coordinator coordinating one of the high school programs, and I became executive director just about four years ago now. So I've been connected with the Northside for about 20 years. So I live in the community and just knew about the work of the Pittsburgh Project from a long time ago and just wanted to be a part of it Excellent.
Speaker 3:So what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry? From different neighborhoods all have different issues and different concerns and problems. You know, depending on the age group, and you know families come to us with, you know, different types of issues and different places in life. But all kids, I think, need a safe place to spend time, a place where they can learn, a place where they can grow, where they can make friends, connect with positive adults. So I would say that if you're a kid person, all those things make sense to you. If you're not a kid person, that may sound like gobbledygook, so I would say that that's kind of where some of the myths come in people that don't necessarily interact with kids having thoughts about kids that maybe seem crazier than what they are in reality.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure so, as you find who you can help the best. Who are your target customers and how do you attract them?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we are located in the Perry South area of the Northside, so majority of the young people in the families that we connect with are from the Perry South community, but we're open to all youth across the Northside, so and we connect with them by partnering with some of the local schools. We pick up at some of the different schools for the afterschool program Allegheny Traditional Academy, manchester Academic Charter. We also have some connections with Perry High School. You know so different schools Propel Northside. Uh, have some connections with uh Perry high school, um, you know so different schools uh, propel Northside, which is which is down the hill from us. So we connect with the, with the schools and through the families, through community events and um and through school relationships.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of the youngsters these days are kind of, uh, connected to media, you know, and on social media and on these different platforms. Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast to connect with them?
Speaker 3:So it's interesting. A few years ago we actually got a donation for some like podcasting, youtube equipment, and some of the kids have done some. We've had one of the elective where the kids have done some of that you know type of work. We haven't really thought about doing anything official yet, but that's actually something to consider. I feel like that's something the kids could really get excited about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like they relate to that. What do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Oh man, my wife, I'm married and we have two little kids. We have a nine-year-old and a six-year-old. So I feel like my fun time right now is, you know, chasing after them and taking them to all types of fun activities. We went swimming, you know, over this weekend with all this hot weather, so that was fun. And then, whenever my wife and I get a chance to not have our kids with us for a little bit, we always like to try different restaurants and things like that around the city. We love to eat, so it's always fun to go to new restaurants and things like that.
Speaker 2:Very nice. Yeah, I feel like everyone was at the pool with this heat wave that we've been having lately. Huh.
Speaker 3:Yep, that's definitely we. Actually we went to two pools because the first pool we went to there was a long line just to get in, so we had to hop to another pool just to try something different.
Speaker 2:So All right. So let's switch gears here. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge you overcame and made you stronger? What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah for sure.
Speaker 3:I think when I think about the hardships of life, something that comes to mind for me is just the I remember being being like a middle school kid and kind of like figuring out life and not you know, and on some levels feeling like you really had a grasp, a grasp and understanding of things.
Speaker 3:And then on other levels, feeling like the world doesn't make any sense to you and I feel like being being a middle schooler and not really understanding what was going on in the world. And I had positive adults. I had a choir director, I had a football coach, those positive adults that were around me and encouraging me. And my parents were there, of course, but as a middle schooler, teenager, listening to your parents is not necessarily the top of your priority list, is not necessarily the top of your priority list. So, for me, having programs, having positive adults in my life that influenced me, encouraged me, helped me to make good decisions, I think was kind of the transition for me while and why I was excited to work with youth and on behalf of youth at this point in my life, knowing the impact that having those positive adults in my life had on my life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so important. Every kid needs a good support system.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Positive adults and someone to look up to really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure?
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. So, rick, please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about the Pittsburgh Project.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would say if you're going to think about the Pittsburgh Project, the, I would say if you're going to think about the Pittsburgh Project, the thing I'd want you to remember is that when kids are here, when families are here, the kids feel loved, they feel safe, they feel cared for. And that's our goal for the kids to be a part of our programs and to see their value. Just like all of us need to know that we are valued and that we have have self-worth. So I just want people to remember that that when your kids are here, they will, they will feel loved, that we care for, and we will try our best to make them feel like they're at home here. That's very special.
Speaker 2:How can our listeners learn more about the Pittsburgh Project?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you can. You can check out our website, pittsburghprojectorg. We're on Instagram, we're on Facebook, linkedin, all at the Pittsburgh Project. You can connect with us through all those different ways social media to find out what's going on, to know when our next program cycles are happening, to know when we're having different events and things like that. So that's the best way to connect with us.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Well, Rick, I really appreciate your time today and you being a guest on the show. We wish you and the business the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. It was great to connect with you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPPittsburghcom. That's GNPPittsburghcom, or call 412-561-9956.