Become a Member!
Preserve it Forward
Help carry the preservation torch for the next generation. Become an active participant in the effort to preserve Pittsburgh’s history. Forge a fresh preservation vision for Southwestern Pennsylvania. YPA has helped many young people preserve history in our region, but many sites remain at risk.
With your help, YPA can do more. We encourage you to join YPA, to be part of a progressive, growing organization and to connect with a movement committed to developing the preservation field’s next leaders.
Become a Member today! Membership Categories:
Individual: $25
Family/Student Group or Club: $50
School/Nonprofit/Small Business: $100
Corporate: $250
Benefactor: $500
Donate Today!
You can become a member & donate by clicking on the Pittsburgh Foundation’s “Pittsburgh Gives” website: http://pittsburghgives.guidestar.org/
Just enter “Young Preservationists Association” in the “Organization Name” box and you will be taken to YPA’s page where you can donate!
You can also download a Membership brochure here:
YPA Programs:
Click here to download Program Highlights
Youth Main Street Advisors Program
YPA’s “Youth Main Street Advisors” project connects students with communities through the creation of a student-produced book about the community’s history, present, and future. The book allows the students to develop academic skills, achieve credit toward graduation, build a resume for college, and generate useful ideas for community revitalization. YPA has partnered with local publisher Red Engine Press to ensure the books are high quality and can be sold to generate revenue for the community.
In 2007, YPA worked with 33 students from four high schools—Brownsville Area High School, Monessen Senior High, Forbes Road Career and Technology Center, and Trinity High School (Washington, Pa.)—to develop a video on how the students would revitalize their community.
Preservation Month Celebration, Top Ten Report, & Promise Award
Tansy Michaud, YPA's 2008 Promise Award winner, with WQED's Rick Sebak
YPA’s annual Preservation Month Celebration, along with the release of our annual list of the “Top Ten Best Preservation Opportunities in the Pittsburgh Area,” is an opportunity to highlight positive developments taking place throughout the Pittsburgh region. YPA also presents the “Promise Award” to feature the work of an emerging preservationist.
Wheeling Through History
YPA hosts “Wheeling Through History” Bike Tours of various neighborhoods in the Pittsburgh region. Wheeling Through History is a healthy and fun way to learn about our heritage while appealing to a youthful audience.
National Negro Opera House Preservation
PA State Sen. Ferlo and YPA re-dedicate the historical marker outside the Opera House in Homewood.
YPA sponsored historical marker dedication ceremony at the first home of the National Negro Opera Company in Homewood on May 3, 2007, which was attended by 75 elected officials, local and state dignitaries, and community residents. A year later, the property was designated a City of Pittsburgh Historic Landmark. In November 2008, YPA partnered with Renew Pittsburgh to stabilize the house and clean up debris in the yard and inside the house.
Additional Highlights
YPA released a report, “Unprotected Pittsburgh” in October 2006 with 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, PennFuture, PA State Senator Jim Ferlo, PA State Rep. Don Walko, and City Council President Doug Shields.
YPA hosted a statewide conference held in September 2005, called “Places & Spaces: The Regeneration of Preservation,” presented in partnership with Preservation Pennsylvania, Sustainable Pittsburgh, and 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania. Guest speakers included Mindy Thompson Fullilove and Donovan Rypkema.
“New Frontiers in Preservation” workshops in the nine-county region, sponsored by a Seed Award from the Sprout Fund in 2004. The report continues to be used as a proactive preservation planning tool.
In 2004, YPA successfully sponsored the historic designation of the New Granada Theatre to be a City of Pittsburgh historic site, which appeared on YPA’s first list of the “Top Ten Best Preservation Opportunities in the Pittsburgh Area.” YPA continues to work with the Hill CDC to facilitate the preservation of this important building.
YPA’s first public event, “The Economics of Preservation,” was held in July 2003, in the Old Economy National Historic District in Ambridge, in partnership with Sustainable Pittsburgh and the Local Government Academy. As a result of that conference, Shelly Todd of Mooncrest in Moon Township, pursued historic designation of her community and is using preservation as a strategy to revitalize the neighborhood.
YPA’s logo was developed by Design students at La Roche College in November 2007. YPA’s new logo conveys our youthful energy and motion, as well as our core values of innovation, quality, and diversity.
Donate to YPA
Financial support enables us to continue providing resources and networking opportunities for our members. Please consider making a donation to YPA on-line or by mail today.
For online donations: http://pittsburghgives.guidestar.org/
For mailed in donations:
Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh
110 E. 8th Ave.
Homestead, PA 15120