CAIR’s vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding. CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations Pennsylvania (CAIR PA) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. CAIR is America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, […]

CAIR Pittsburgh | The Global Switchboard | Hub
menu
Close


Tax Term Archive

  1. CAIR Pittsburgh

    Comments Off on CAIR Pittsburgh

    CAIR’s vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding.
    CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

    The Council on American-Islamic Relations Pennsylvania (CAIR PA) is a nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. CAIR is America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, with regional offices nationwide and in Canada. The national headquarters is located on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.

    Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. Through media relations, lobbying, education and advocacy, CAIR puts forth an Islamic perspective to ensure the Muslim voice is represented. In offering this perspective, CAIR seeks to empower the American Muslim community and encourage their participation in political and social activism.

  2. The Polar Opposite Project

    Comments Off on The Polar Opposite Project

    The Polar Opposite Project, also known as POP, is a student-led organization that connects high schoolers (or students aged 13-18) around the world who have different beliefs, backgrounds, and identities so that they can have open-minded, respectful conversations. By participating in POP, students will get a chance to share their views, hear the perspectives of others, and learn easily outside of the classroom, making them more cooperative, empathetic, and informed about global issues. POP aims to inspire teenagers to use their voices and work with other students from around the world to solve complex, worldwide problems.

    Any teenager who wants to participate in POP just has to fill out a short form that asks questions about their viewpoints and background, and they are matched with a group of three other “polar opposite” teenagers with whom they have very little in common. They are then free to message each other and start talking about whatever sparks their interest, from their personal beliefs to current events and everything in between.

    Already, POP is becoming a global phenomenon. POP has gained almost 200 participants from five continents and several different countries in just a few weeks, and there are no signs of that growth slowing anytime soon. And expansion beyond just discussion groups is coming in the near future; speaking events, larger discussion forums, and student-led projects fostering social change in their own communities are on the horizon. Anything is possible when POP has a powerful, important cause and passionate participants.

  3. RealTime Interventions

    Comments Off on RealTime Interventions

    RealTime Interventions creates theatrical events and public experiences that depend upon the immediate nature of real time: events that come to life when people come together. We seek to generate human connection, curiosity and wonder, and to help audiences re-see their surroundings in new and unexpected ways. RealTime creates narrative art in conversation with a broad range of collaborators, from theater artists to scientists to rock bands to social workers to our neighbors down the street. We create vibrant “companies” with every new project, peopled by individuals from diverse walks of life and realms of experience who are bound by their stake in the story we are telling together.

  4. International Free Expression Project Sun Logo

    International Free Expression Project

    Comments Off on International Free Expression Project

    The International Free Expression Project is dedicated to building mass support around the world for free-expression rights but also seeks to attract international attention to Pittsburgh as a world-class center of creativity and innovation. The organization is forming alliances locally, nationally and internationally to:

    1) Build in Pittsburgh the world’s first iconic work of public art dedicated to free expression;
    2) Build in the blocklong pressroom of the vacant Post-Gazette building at the Point a “Marketplace of Ideas” full of food and drink and art and innovation — an explosion of expression;
    3) Invent immersive educational tools and activities that drive home the importance of free expression; and
    4) Commission artworks and other creative endeavors.

  5. Emma Schutzius

    Comments Off on Emma Schutzius

    Hello! I am a recent graduate of Bryn Mawr College where I majored in International Relations and minored in both Film/Media and Sociology. My focus is on global engagement, advocacy, and women's issues. I also have a passion for media creation, and enjoy looking for ways to incorporate those skills into other projects. I believe film is an integral and accessible platform for project exposure, issue education, and empathy-building, all dire needs within both international affairs and the non-profit sector. I'm currently working at the Global Switchboard non-profit in Pittsburgh as a fellow with PULSE.

  6. Odeese M. Ghassa-Khalil

    Odeese M. Ghassa-Khalil

    Comments Off on Odeese M. Ghassa-Khalil

    A passionate educator, a proud mother of two young men, a legal guardian to a beautiful young lady, and an aunt to almost 35 nieces and nephews, Odeese’s main goal in life is to inspire others, especially women, of all ages and all walks of life. After her arrival in the United States as a young adult, and while assimilating into the new society and tackling the responsibilities of a growing young family, Odeese earned an Associate degree in Civil Engineering Technology from the Community College of Allegheny County, a Bachelor’s Degree in Technology Education and a master’s degree in Education from California University of Pennsylvania graduating with highest honors. She also obtained two K-12, Pennsylvania teaching certificates in Technology Education and Arabic. Believing in her motto: “Different Can Also Be Very Beautiful,” Odeese strives to pay back to society through leading by example. Her excellent academic performance and outstanding service activities to students and professional communities helped her embark on a successful career as a faculty member at both of her alma maters, CCAC and Cal U, among other higher education institutions. She taught courses in engineering and Arabic language and culture, both in the traditional classroom and online. She also served as the academic program coordinator for the B.A. in Arabic program at California University of Pennsylvanian. While leading the development of the program, she also served as a point of contact, advised students, served on university-wide committees, and provided service to the Cal U community. A lifelong learner, Odeese is currently in the process of completing her Doctoral studies in Instructional Technology and Leadership at Duquesne University, while running her small business, Cross-Cultural, Career and Language Training, (C3LT) LLC, with a mission to promote cultural competency by offering tailored professional development solutions, language services, and cross-cultural training and workshops to diverse industries.

  7. Abby Wilson

    Comments Off on Abby Wilson

    Abby uses design practice to change how we all work & to help women lead. She’s been a senior member of LUMA Institute’s instructor community since 2011. She most recently served as Dr. Karen Hacker’s Deputy Director for Policy at the Allegheny County Health Department, where she spearheaded design-led policy & civic engagement efforts on healthcare access, substance use, vaccination & lead exposure.

    In 2014, Abby completed her term as founding director of the federal government’s first design-led innovation lab. She partnered with The White House, USDA, FDA, VA & many other federal agencies to develop more people-friendly policies & services.

    Trained as a cultural anthropologist & international lawyer, Abby has lived, worked and studied in Africa & Europe, observing the power of people & organizations to solve even the most complex problems. She has contributed research to international tribunals, built a policy network across the Rust Belt & conducted health fieldwork in rural South Africa. She is a practitioner of deliberative democracy & used this approach to guide discourse on issues including climate change, natural gas drilling & municipal consolidation.
 She was a Press Secretary at the New York City Council, where she developed expertise in education, housing & health policy. She supported the drafting of numerous pieces of legislation.

    Abby holds a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University, an LL.M. in Public International Law from Universiteit Utrecht & a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a professionally trained alto & seasoned theatrical improviser.

  8. Open Field

    Open Field

    Comments Off on Open Field

    Open Field (formerly CameroonFDP) is a Pittsburgh-based 501c3 nonprofit organization with international reach. Since 2010, our global team has engaged more than 3,000 youth in educational soccer programming, mentoring relationships, travel abroad experiences, and cultural exchange in Cameroon, Africa and Pittsburgh, PA. Our innovative approach to Sport for Good empowers youth to be leaders in their community and gain skills to help them succeed on and off the field. Sport for Good, also known as ‘sport for development and peace’ or ‘sport-based youth development’, is a theory and practice for youth engagement that leverages the passion and character-building attributes inherent in sport to create positive outcomes in the lives of participants far beyond the playing surface.

    Youth who participate in our programming stay in school and out of trouble.
    • 750 active youth participants in the U.S. and Africa
    • 13% increase in confidence in leadership skills*
    • 25% increase in knowledge about life skills topics
    • 40% more likely to have done service projects in their community*
    • Two past Cameroon program participants employed as Community Leaders
    • One past Cameroon program participant playing collegiate soccer in the U.S.
    *Multiple year vs. first year participants

  9. Peggy Morrison Outon

    Comments Off on Peggy Morrison Outon

    Peggy Morrison Outon is the founding Executive Director of the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management and the Covestro Center for Community Engagement at Robert Morris University. Peggy has over three decades’ experience in the nonprofit sector, personally serving more than 800 nonprofit organizations. As a volunteer, she has served on 34 boards—8 as president, including chairing the founding national board of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. She also served as a founding member of the Drucker Foundation’s international training team. Her pay equity research, 74%: Exploring the Lives of Women in Nonprofits, has attracted national attention, resulting in more than seven million media impressions on the project, including an Op-Ed on April 2015 issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Her most recent research, What Now: How will the impending retirement of nonprofit leaders change the sector?, has been cited in national publications and intends to affect the thinking of community leaders as they plan.

    The Bayer Center has served as a national model, studied by capacity building organizations from Texas to Michigan. She has been named by a leading national publication for nonprofit management to The Nonprofit Times Top 50 for Power and Influence. She has also been named the Pearl of Excellence by the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania, honored as a Woman of Achievement by the Cribs for Kids/SIDS International annual dinner and March 22, 2011 was designated by the Pittsburgh City Council as Peggy Morrison Outon Day in Pittsburgh, in recognition of her commitment to the nonprofit sector.

  10. Pittsburgh Playback Theatre

    Comments Off on Pittsburgh Playback Theatre

    Founded in 1986, Pittsburgh Playback Theatre is a community building company that explores and celebrates the human condition through improvisational storytelling. We collaborate with organizations, schools, community groups and businesses to help raise consciousness, while encouraging creative wisdom and action.

    A Playback Theatre event is described by co-creator, Jo Salas, in her book Improvising Real Life, as “an original form of theatrical improvisation in which people tell real events from their lives [and] watch them enacted on the spot…Any life experience may be told and enacted in Playback Theatre, from the mundane to the transcendent, the hilarious to the tragic–and some stories may be all of these.”

    Audience members voluntarily offer personal stories, then witness them come to life through improvised music, movement and dialogue. Playback follows no narrative agenda, but brings dramatic skills and humanity to embody on the stage the concerns and experiences of the audience. Each performance is structured uniquely in conversation with organizers to best suit the needs of the community and honor their truths.

  11. Bridget Mullins

    Bridget Mullins

    Comments Off on Bridget Mullins

    Bridget’s current work at Amizade focuses on facilitating community-driven, experiential learning programs in partnership with local organizations around the world dedicated to seeking sustainable solutions to social injustices. She enjoys experimenting with simple social technologies and group interaction structures to design engaging and effective processes for reflection, dialogue, strategic planning, and collaborative learning.

    Bridget is also an actor and conductor with Pittsburgh Playback Theatre, a community building company that explores and celebrates the human condition through improvisational storytelling.

    She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame in International Peace Studies and Music Performance and her M.A. in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.

    What’s got Bridget’s attention these days? Liberating Structures; applied improvisation; human-centered design; arts-based community-led transformation; strengthening collaborative muscles in complex situations; equity and inclusion in global education.

  12. Elena Facchini

    Comments Off on Elena Facchini

    Elena has just returned to Pittsburgh, her hometown, after many years working abroad in Africa and Europe, mostly in public health, international development, sustainability, education, and social enterprise. She enjoys exploring cultures and languages, sharing ideas and knowledge, and is passionate about the potential of collaboration across borders, sectors, cultures (and other barriers, real or imagined) to bring about an improved quality of life and healthier, happier, more prosperous people and planet.

    She is currently consulting remotely part-time and volunteering, but is seeking her next challenge here in Pittsburgh. In her spare time, she is enjoying being back with family and old friends, and tries to hike, read, see movies and live music, workout, try new restaurants and recipes, and practice her photography skills as often as possible.

    Please contact me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-facchini-8841266/

    Summary of Skills and Background: Partnerships, Business Development, Public Health, Non-profits, Capacity Building, Grant-Making, Social Enterprises, People-centered Management, Sustainable/Inclusive Business Practices, Adaptable, Agile problem solving in diverse and challenging environments

    Education: Master of Public Health (MPH) – Health Promotion, Post-Graduate Diploma (PGDip) – Global Business, Bachelor of Science (BS) – Pyschology/Sociology.

    Languages: English, German, Italian, French; Basic Spanish and Swahili.

  13. Ivonne Smith-Tapia

    Ivonne Smith-Tapia

    Comments Off on Ivonne Smith-Tapia

    Ivonne Smith-Tapia is a Cultural Anthropologist and Social Worker with a certificate in Human Services Management who works providing training and technical assistance to Family Support Centers at the Office of Child Development, University of Pittsburgh.

    Ivonne worked more than a decade with the Colombian government, Think Tanks, and international non-profits promoting community development, education, human rights, and leadership in diverse rural and urban communities.  She moved to the United States in 2012 and to Pittsburgh in 2013.  While in Pittsburgh, she has worked and volunteered in organizations where she contributed to advance knowledge and create positive changes within vulnerable communities including immigrants and refugees.  During this time, she has worked with different immigrant and refugee communities and provided trainings to organizations such as the Latino Family Center, SHIM Family Center, the Bhutanese Community Association, and Casa San Jose.

    Ivonne has a passion for exploring cultures and ways in which culture influences parenting, parents’ educational expectations of their children, leadership, and social participation. This passion has driven her to share her knowledge and experiences to motivate others to recognize the importance of cultural diversity as well as to create positive and productive relationships with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.    She is also an active member of different county initiatives in which she advocates for equal rights and culturally relevant opportunities and services for immigrants and refugees in Allegheny County.

  14. Elisabeth Udyawar

    Comments Off on Elisabeth Udyawar

    Elisabeth is well versed in answering why she loves Pittsburgh. That is because as a SoCal native, it’s the first question always asked of her when meeting someone new: “Why are you here??” She holds an MA from George Washington University and a BA from University of California, Riverside in English Literature with a specialization in Postcolonial Literature from South Asia. After graduating from GWU, she moved to Pittsburgh due to two important factors: 1) its high volume of universities and nonprofits per capita and 2) it was where her heart already resided with her husband.

    Her six plus years of residence in Pittsburgh has been spent working for Carnegie Mellon University in various roles in the College of Engineering. Throughout her tenure at CMU, she has focused on aiding professors with administrative support for their innovative research in climate and manufacturing at both the local and global levels. Her professional skills include: project management, grants administration, event planning, Oracle systems, MailChimp, and html coding. In 2018, she also took the opportunity to use her academic training to begin teaching Comp 101 at Allegheny Community College and has specifically designed her syllabi to focus on women authors with 70% of her works represented by minority authors as well. In her creative pursuits, Elisabeth has begun a series of personal essays related to her journey through sobriety and hopes to start a project highlighting the stories of women’s everyday #resistance through the ages.

    Through The Global Switchboard, Elisabeth hopes to find new volunteer opportunities and to connect others with her vast academic network.

  15. Immigrants & Internationals Initiative

    Allegheny County Department of Human Services Immigrants and Internationals Initiative

    Comments Off on Allegheny County Department of Human Services Immigrants and Internationals Initiative

    The Immigrants and Internationals Initiative works to further the Allegheny County Department of Human Service’s mission of creating an accessible, culturally competent, integrated and comprehensive human services system for all residents of Allegheny County. It does this by efforts to meet the unique needs of immigrants and internationals living in Allegheny County through a combination of capacity building, research, information exchange, and community-empowerment activities.

    Our Advisory Council is the heart of the Immigrants and Internationals Initiative, actively participating with DHS in efforts to create accessible and culturally appropriate human services, and advance access for immigrants in healthcare systems, education, employment, public safety and others.  Members include immigrant community leaders, immigrant and refugee serving organizations working collaboratively.

     

     

  16. La Roche University Office of International Admissions

    Comments Off on La Roche University Office of International Admissions

    A private, Catholic, co-educational university north of Pittsburgh founded by the Sisters of Divine Providence, La Roche welcomes students of all religions, ethnic origins and talents.

    The international engagement of La Roche University is based on a mission statement that clearly articulates a strong global commitment and dedication to peace and justice. With these values at the core of who we are, we continue to seek and implement new and innovative strategies that are rooted in that mission.

    International Admissions

    International Outreach

    English As A Second Language

     

  17. Robert Bryant

    Robert Michael Bryant

    Comments Off on Robert Michael Bryant

    Robert Bryant makes every attempt to couple his passion for knowledge about the world with a commitment to service in his local community. He currently lives in East Liberty and is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA). At GSPIA, Robert focuses on human security and Russian studies and he is actively engaged in several school organizations. He takes part in the Leadership Portfolio Program through the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership and this opportunity connected him to serve on the board of directors at The Global Switchboard. He has also conducted extensive research on global climate change, its impact on migration, and the potential for climate-induced conflict as a working group participant at the Ford Institute for Human Security. Additionally, Robert is a research assistant for the Leadership During Crisis Podcast, which is a joint-project from the Center for Disaster Management and the Hesselbein Leadership Forum. Outside of GSPIA, Robert serves as a recruiting associate intern with PULSE (Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience).

    Originally from the Charlottesville region of Virginia, Robert received a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and French from James Madison University. After his undergraduate studies, Robert taught English for a year in Nantes, France. He then worked as a business analyst in Frederick, Maryland, where he supported procurement professionals at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and volunteered as an ESL instructor for local immigrants.

  18. Michael Goodhart, Head of Global Studies Center, photographed in Posvar Hall, February 8, 2017

    Michael Goodhart

    Comments Off on Michael Goodhart

    Michael Goodhart is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and he holds secondary appointments in Philosophy and in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. He is Director of the Global Studies Center at Pitt and a University Honors College Faculty Fellow. His current research focuses on questions to do with global injustice, responsibility for injustice, and the ways political theorists think about these problems. He is also interested in the historical and conceptual relationship between human dignity and human rights and in the emerging human rights cities movement. His core intellectual interests are in the theory and practice of democracy and human rights in the context of globalization and in related questions concerning democratic governance and accountability at the international and transnational levels.

    Dr. Goodhart is author of Injustice: Political Theory for the Real World (Oxford, 2018), Democracy as Human Rights: Freedom and Equality in the Age of Globalization (Routledge, 2005), contributing editor of Human Rights: Politics and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2009, 2012, 2016), and contributing co-editor of Social Movements and World-System Transformation (Routledge 2017, forthcoming) and Human Rights in the 21st Century: Continuity and Change since 9/11 (Palgrave, 2011). He is also author of numerous articles and book chapters. Dr. Goodhart is an affiliate of the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut, a member of the Center for Ethics and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, and sits on several editorial boards. In 2008-2009 he was an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation research fellow and Guest Professor in the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. He is a member of the Board of Directors of The Global Switchboard.

  19. Womens Center and Shelter Logo

    Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh

    Comments Off on Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh

    Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh is a safe harbor that provides specialized care and support for women who have experienced all types of intimate partner violence, from physical to emotional, through our Emergency Shelter, Legal Advocacy, a 24-Hour Hotline (412-687-8005), Support Groups and more. Women’s Center & Shelter has been a trusted and respected resource in the Pittsburgh Community for more than 45 years, offering hope and healing to adult and child survivors who have suffered from the devastating effects of domestic abuse. The WC&S RIL Team specifically serves Refugees, Immigrants, Limited-English Speakers, providing all WC&S services in a culturally informed and humble manner, both on-site and in the community, and offering training, education, and support to professionals working with refugees, immigrants, and limited-English speakers. Whether someone is just discovering they may be in an abusive relationship, or find they need to flee for their life, or are anywhere in between, WC&S can help them on their healing journey.

  20. photo of Vanessa Griffith

    Vanessa Griffith

    Comments Off on Vanessa Griffith

    Vanessa Griffith joined Justice at Work (formerly Friends of Farmworkers) in September of 2017. She recently graduated cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she participated in the law school’s Immigration Law Clinic. Upon graduation from Pitt Law, Vanessa was awarded the Pro Bono Service Recognition Award and the School of Law Community Service Award. Prior to law school, Vanessa volunteered in Santa Marta, Colombia for a grassroots nonprofit, Fundación Mariposas Amarillas, where she worked for five months as their Social Projects Coordinator. Her work focused on providing health, educational, and recreational services to women and children in an isolated neighborhood in Santa Marta. Vanessa has a B.S. from SUNY College at Oneonta where she dual majored in Political Science and International Studies. In 2012 she spent a semester studying in Chile.

Next Page »