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Who is PUMP?
PUMP is a community-based organization in Pittsburgh. We've been doing a bunch of things in the community for almost 30 years now. We mainly serve young people and young professionals. Our largest program, Pittsburgh Sports League, is an adult recreational league with all kinds of different sports. We also do big signature events each year like Pittsburgh 40 under 40 with Pittsburgh Magazine and Kickball for a Cause. We're a civic engagement organization so we do things like non-partisan civic forums and get out to vote media. We engage with local officials and introduce them to community members and vice versa. We're kind of like a menu of fun activities throughout the year and throughout the region in different ways.
How does being a Community Ambassador help your organization achieve its goals?
We're always trying to provide opportunities for people to get out, meet new people, explore the city in interesting and unique ways, build connections, and kind of build their awareness about what's happening in Pittsburgh and the city itself.
POGOH's Community Ambassador program is a perfect example of how to do that. We go on co-design rides on different routes throughout the city, in different parts of the city. We're highlighting different amenities. We're having a bite to eat or drinks at different restaurants after the rides. We're seeing different parks and bike infrastructure, neighborhoods in the region, so it's perfect. It's usually a beautiful Saturday morning and we just have a great time kind of chit-chatting as we roll about. These rides are the kind of thing we'd like to highlight at PUMP; unique adventures and ways to have fun.
How do you think the Community Ambassadors can help break down barriers to bicycling in Pittsburgh?
I think it's a perfect example of breaking down barriers, but more importantly, building a better future, a better tomorrow. The way that we have these rides designed, we go to great lengths to make sure that they're well-designed, safe, and accessible. We try to spend time in community for each ride. The rides are ongoing opportunities for people that may not be familiar with biking to see the bikes in practice and to understand the intention behind the Community Ambassador Program. It's also getting people involved and to show them that bike infrastructure is improving and changing throughout the city. It's teaching different ways for people to navigate their communities or to get to different places throughout the city.
It's a lot of fun because bike share and biking in general is actually getting better in the city of Pittsburgh in a lot of ways. The city is responding and it's making itself more accessible and safer for different modes of transportation, including biking, and POGOH is the bike share organization. It's recently upgraded. They have a growing percentage of e-assist bikes, and more and more people using them. Ridership is up. Ridership in Justice 40 communities is up. People seem to like the brand and what they're doing in the community, and it's really exciting. It's good to break down barriers, but honestly, I think things getting better in Pittsburgh in general has people doing more things like this together. I think it's also related to a brighter future that we can build in fellowship.
What is PUMP's Passport Program?
The Pittsburgh Passport is PUMP's newest program. It's a collaborative effort with the Allegheny Conference as a regional talent initiative. At its core, it's a series of fun, compelling, free events around the City and region designed to encourage young people to explore, meet new people, and be connected to opportunities in their chosen field. Offer to hire ratios and retention numbers have risen according to the data shared by Pittsburgh Passport partners and the program has been a good augment to internship programs throughout the summer. The participants can choose to go kayaking, attend a Pirates game, visit a museum, and check out special events in unique locations like Robotics Row. Historically, 8000 participants have taken part in the Passport. 40% of them come from diverse backgrounds and there's an interesting mix of local, national, and international participants. PUMP took the lead on the program this summer in partnership with the Allegheny Conference and higher education community and added its own community events to the list. We were pleased to invite Pittsburgh Passporters to some of POGOH's Community Rides. 76 in total signed up to join our rides in July, August, and the ride held at the July OpenStreets. We hope to build on these efforts in years to come. The vision for the program is to make it year-round and to plug it in with fun community partnerships like the POGOH Community Ambassador program, so it's been a great first year.
Follow along and learn more about Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project (PUMP) at the links below!
