A nonprofit leader in building a community vision for Pittsburgh’s riverfronts, Riverlife has overseen a $150 million investment in the city’s waterfront transformation, catalyzing $4.2 billion in related economic development, arts and culture, and ecological sustainability on or adjacent to the city’s riverbanks. Riverlife's work centers around equitable development and high-quality, regenerative design.Throughout this internship I have conducted research on current best fundraising practices, facilitated community feedback activities for urban design concepts, launched a "10 questions" blog series with influential partners of the organization to increase engagement and website traction, assisted in planning special events, and played a key role in implementation of Riverlife’s development and donor relations plan.

This internship is a multi-partner project with a group of students from the University of Pittsburgh and Youngstown State. The project includes consulting community members about the histories of various vacant lots in Swissvale, gathering data via field maps, taking site tours of vacant lots and using GIS to map vacant spaces, infrastructure, and even the landscape of Swissvale. Additionally, this internship examined and analyzed how specific vacant lots can be re-used and re-imagined as community assets.