Social return on investment (SROI) is a metric adapted from the traditional return on investment (ROI). SROI is used to measure social, environmental and economic gains that result from an investment, as opposed to the strictly monetary gains measured by traditional ROI. This new, more inclusive measurement captures a broader set of impacts given that it identifies those impacts beyond simply financial or business ones, putting often intangible concepts into a more tangible form – the dollar.

Rebuilding Together recently collaborated with Ecotone on an SROI impact analysis, building upon previously conducted impact measurement, analysis and stakeholder surveying work, to monetize the overall social value of every dollar invested in Rebuilding Together and its affiliates across the country. The monetization process was done conservatively to avoid risk of overclaiming impact as well as giving consideration to impact that cannot be attributed to Rebuilding Together services.

To derive the SROI ratio, Ecotone combined evidence of impact with the estimated costs and monetized benefits of Rebuilding Together projects. Ecotone then identified the key stakeholder groups to whom those impact benefits accrued and utilized a benefit cost ratio to communicate social value creation.

They determined that each dollar spent in service to our mission can conservatively generate $2.84 worth of social value with the healthcare system and individual homeowners being the largest beneficiaries.

Click here to download the report and learn more.

Donate today to support safe and healthy housing in our community!

The post The Importance of Social Return on Investment (SROI) appeared first on Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.

We’re looking forward to partnering with Neighborhood Allies to deliver the renovations highlighted in this article. The work represents a critical commitment to equity in rebuilding the communities that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

Neighborhood Allies supports people and organizations by providing onramps to prosperity through capital programs and strategic resources, connects community builders together to forge stronger networks and collaborations that drive transformative change, and impacts the community by co-creating solutions to long-term social problems. Using their Healthy Neighborhoods Framework as a roadmap, they make and support neighborhood-based investments that seed creative community ideas.

The post Equitable Recovery Playbook Highlights appeared first on Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.

“I applaud the work that Tri-COG Land Bank and Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh are doing to not only provide first time homeownership opportunities for Pittsburgh families, but also their efforts to acquire and rehabilitate properties to remediate blight,” said Evan Zuverink, Vice President and CRA Officer at First Commonwealth Bank. “At First Commonwealth Bank, we look forward to being a partner in this project and helping support these organizations, families, and communities they serve.”

“FHLBank Pittsburgh is proud to serve our members, like First Commonwealth Bank, and support affordable housing in our region,” said Megan Krider, Manager of Affordable Housing and Community Development at FHLBank of Pittsburgh. “This work with community partners including Tri-COG Land Bank and Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh has created more homeownership opportunities for local families.”

TCLB acquired the Rankin property in March of 2021 and the East Pittsburgh property in December of 2020. Following their acquisition, TCLB pursued a legal process called Quiet Title Action to ensure that the houses would be eligible for title insurance. Title insurance protects the new buyers from being held liable for debts incurred by previous owners. TCLB also helped to stabilize the properties by maintaining the exterior, cutting grass, and clearing brush. It is currently renovating another property in East Pittsburgh on the same street.

“As Councilwoman of Rankin, I welcome this renovation,” said Geneva Parks. “It will bring revenue to Rankin, beautify and improve our community.”

This sale marks the 25th property that TCLB has sold since it was founded in 2017. Most properties take at least 18 months to acquire and sell due to the legal requirements involved with buying properties at Sheriff Sale and the other court proceedings required to provide title insurance to buyers. As a designated land bank operating under the PA Land Bank Act, TCLB is better equipped to overcome legal barriers and identify buyers that align with local community goals.

“In our first few years of operation, we focused our energy on putting the necessary systems in place to manage properties and navigate the legal requirements to clear and insure titles,” said An Lewis, Executive Director of TCLB. “Now that our core processes are solidified, we are excited about expanding our impact through trusted partnerships with organizations like Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh. Partnerships are critical because often the communities that we work in require multiple interventions. Being able to offer those interventions at the same time in a coordinated fashion makes the impact greater and the improvements more sustaining.”

In 2022, TCLB and RTP will be building on their partnership as part of a larger collaborative that also includes City of Bridges Community Land Trust, Steel Rivers Council of Governments, and Turtle Creek Valley Council of Governments. With funding from the Forbes Funds, these organizations are developing a scalable model to work together to revitalize communities and recover blighted properties for community reuse.

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About Tri-COG Land Bank

Founded in 2017, Tri-COG Land Bank (TCLB) revitalizes neighborhoods by transitioning vacant, blighted properties to beneficial reuse. TCLB partners with local municipalities, community development corporations, nonprofits, and individuals to strategically align purchases with each community’s priorities and plans.

TCLB currently operates in 26 municipalities: Blawnox, Braddock Hills, Chalfant, Churchill, Clairton, Dravosburg, East McKeesport, East Pittsburgh, Edgewood, Etna, Forest Hills, Glassport, McKeesport, Millvale, Monroeville, North Braddock, North Versailles, Pitcairn, Port Vue, Rankin, Sharpsburg, South Versailles, Swissvale, Turtle Creek, White Oak, and Wilkins.

For more information, please visit https://tricoglandbank.org/. Photos of the properties described in this release are available at https://www.facebook.com/tricoglandbank

The post Tri-COG Land Bank, Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh Transform Abandoned Properties into Affordable Housing appeared first on Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.

From all of us here at RTP – Congrats, John! Your dedication and hard work are truly appreciated.

Read more: Chancellor’s Distinguished Awards recognize exceptional Pitt faculty | University of Pittsburgh

The post John Sebastian Recognized with Chancellor’s Distinguished Award appeared first on Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.

“I have the chance to make a difference in someone’s life.”

Veni Mittal, energy auditor and assessment coordinator at RTP, is a highly educated sustainability professional, with master’s degrees from Thapar University in India and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. She is very knowledgeable about standards of energy efficiency, the effects of sustainability in residential communities, and other technical elements of sustainability. In fact, she holds an EcoDistricts AP certification. Despite her scientific know-how, Veni’s favorite part of her job at Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh is working with community members.

As a self-described “people person,” Veni’s enjoyment in working with RTP clients should be no surprise. She loves doing ten to twelve in-person energy audits each month. Her colleagues say Veni is friendly and kind, and always ready to help people. Veni describes sustainability as a big umbrella that includes energy efficiency, and her work at RTP allows her to see that in action.

Veni is excited to have the chance to lower a client’s electric bill through the Duquesne Light Smart Comfort Assurance Program, which she administers. The program, which is an energy reduction and education program, ensures that all income-qualified customers receive services that can result in savings of between three to sixteen percent. Whether helping clients be more aware of turning off lights or using smart strips, night lights, or LED bulbs that she gives them, Veni celebrates making a difference in someone’s life by helping them make simple changes. She also helps income-qualified customers realize greater energy efficiency through the Columbia Gas WarmWise Audits & Rebates Program through energy audits and funding for installation of energy efficiency measures.

A topic close to Veni’s heart as a “people person” is seeing things from everyone’s perspective. She recently joined the internal RTP DEI Committee with a commitment to better learn how to apply equity in her job and in her everyday life.

Veni applies her broader scientific knowledge through volunteer activities. She serves as community service chair and organizes events to promote community sustainability initiatives for Green Building Alliance, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that advances innovation in the built environment by empowering people to create environmentally, economically, and socially vibrant places. Veni also serves as a board member of the Etna Community Organization, a nonprofit organization in the borough of Etna dedicated to building a more vibrant and sustainable future where all have the opportunity to thrive and lead healthy, fulfilling lives.

Veni and her husband, a mechanical engineer, live in Carnegie. When not working or volunteering, they can be found exploring state and national parks. This past year, they hiked in Colorado and several parks in Pennsylvania, exercising their love of mountains.

The post Rebuilding Profile: Veni Mittal appeared first on Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.

Our recent Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Holiday was a multi-day event. Volunteers, Board members, and staff braved the winter storm to renovate The Dream BBQ – a local, Black-owned business in Homewood – from Tuesday, January 18th through Thursday, January 20th.

With freshly painted walls, brand new flooring, updated fixtures, repaired signage, and improved weatherization, The Dream BBQ was able to reopen for business. Thanks to a lot of hard work, customers and staff now have a safer, more welcoming environment in which to enjoy some of Homewood’s favorite local BBQ!

Special thanks to our partners at FedEx Ground and Bank of America for supporting RTP’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh is dedicated to advancing equity and inclusion for homeowners and businesses in the communities we serve – and we’re excited to do so alongside partners like you.

How you can get involved:

• Sponsor – Support a Service Day as the Presenting Sponsor. The budget for each project is unique, typically ranging between $5,000-$15,000. Volunteers are welcome, so get your colleagues out into the field for a hands-on Service Holiday!
• Donate – Contribute toward our project budget and help make the next Service Day possible.
• Volunteer – Give the gift of service in the spirit of the holiday.
• Materials Donation – Do you have extra building or remodeling materials? We might be able to use them for our next service day.

Contact Brittany at bgray@rtpittsburgh.org for sponsorship and donation inquiries, or Mel at mmcwilliams@rtpittsburgh.org for volunteer and materials donation inquiries.

The post Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Holiday appeared first on Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.

Alan Sisco, CEO of Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh

Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh’s work to make everyone’s homes safe and healthy has always been motivated by our belief in equity. However, we know that we still have work to do to overcome true racial inequality and injustice in the communities that welcome us each day. We continue to reflect on who we are and how we conduct our business.

Our commitment to social justice should be present in everything we do and that requires a constant process of engagement, outreach, and education. We need to understand that our organization exists in large part because of the unequal health and economic burden carried by low-income, often Black, communities in Pittsburgh. We need to grow beyond happy homeowner stories that reinforce stereotypes of the “deserving poor” and share our impacts in the contexts of the assets we help our clients preserve.

Internally, RTP has a very active Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee that exists to listen, learn, and advocate for change starting within. The committee is comprised of deeply engaged members of both our board and staff, each member with a personal sense of ownership and high standards for RTP’s DEI efforts. Since the summer of 2020, they have pushed the organization to recognize and embrace that RTP exists to address the people and environments created by past social injustice such as redlining and disinvestment.

Toward that end, we recently instituted Service Holidays at RTP. These are three intentional occasions for staff and board to participate in services projects that are developed through a DEI lens. The three holidays are Martin Luther King Day, Juneteenth, and Veteran’s Day. Each service project is matched with an educational component so RTP staff and board can step outside their daily viewpoints to see the broader community in which we work.

Externally, we are working to identify and partner with community-based and diverse contractors. We are allocating new resources to maintain our strong track-record for authentic community engagement. And perhaps most critically, we are building capacity and consensus for new board and staff candidates that better reflect the diversity of our community.

I look forward to continuing to update you on the advancements RTP achieves in our equity goals.

You can subscribe to future RTP newsletters at the bottom of this page.

The post Winter Newsletter Notes From Alan Sisco appeared first on Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.

“RTP’s dedication to improving the lives of the community is important to our members,” said Claire Cawley, an organizer for District Council 57 (DC57). “We like to get into the communities where we work and live and contribute to making them better.” DC57 is an organization of more than 2,500 skilled trades members across 32 counties of western Pennsylvania, with a range of age, race, and gender.

District Council 57 has partnered with RTP since 2016 on volunteer events. Most recently, they participated in a Day of Action on Patriot’s Day, September 11, by repairing water damage from a leaking roof. RTP replaced the roof but didn’t have the budget to finish the project. Ten professionals from the union donated time, skill, and materials to replace and paint the damaged drywall and complete repair work on the McKeesport home of a grateful Navy veteran.

The post Contractor Corner: International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District Council 57 appeared first on Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh.