Inspire Speakers Series: Building Resilient Communities
May 29, 2025
5:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Spartan Community Center of Hazelwood
Learn more and register here.
Co-presented by Center of Life, Shiftworks, and NOMA
Sponsored by Studio Volcy
What does it mean to be resilient? While resilience may mean different things to different people depending on context, there is one commonality – the ability to bounce back. Resilient communities have buildings and infrastructure that are energy efficient, incorporate renewable energy and effective stormwater solutions, and can withstand the impacts of extreme weather; fire, flood, and emergency events; and grid fluctuations.
Join Green Building Alliance and an outstanding roster of speakers May 29 at the Spartan Community Center, as we explore the stories and strategies of regional leaders who are building community resilience, modernizing the built environment, strengthening social networks, and constructing healthy, vibrant, and significant spaces where people can thrive.
Event Details:
Date: May 29, 2025
Time: Doors open 5 p.m.
Ticket price: GBA Members: $40
Non-members: $60
Food and drinks provided; this is a family-friendly event.
Scholarships and community tickets available.
About our Speakers
Julie Wilson is Executive Director at Common Roots, a community land trust committed to creating and stewarding sustainable, permanently affordable homes that build wealth and security for low-income residents in Meadville, Pa. Julie has been a leader in the Community Wealth-Building movement and was a 2023 PHFA Kathy Possinger Housing Policy Fellow.
Common Roots is pioneering new cooperative approaches to developing and maintaining affordable housing. Through their Renting Cooperative and Self-Help Housing programs, community members work together to care for their homes, all while building community, opportunity, and achieving wealth through “sweat equity.”
Sallyann Kluz, RA, is Executive Director of Shiftworks Community + Public Arts and a Pittsburgh-based arts administrator, architect, and urban designer. Her multidisciplinary practice is rooted at the intersection of art, design, and community development. With more than 25 years of experience in the Pittsburgh region, Sallyann is committed to shaping inclusive, vibrant public spaces that reflect the values, histories, and aspirations of the communities who inhabit them. Her work weaves together public art strategies, community engagement, design education, and neighborhood development—all in service of broadening the role of artists in civic and social life.
Under her leadership, Shiftworks advances imaginative approaches to place-based change. Through initiatives like Public Art + Community (PAC), the organization partners with artists, residents, and cross-sector collaborators to co-create projects that respond to pressing community issues. These public artworks embody practices of placemaking and placekeeping, offering meaningful, localized responses to challenges such as food insecurity, racial injustice, environmental degradation, public health disparities, social isolation, and mental wellness. The resulting projects serve as powerful expressions of resilience, collective agency, and hope—catalyzing new possibilities for connection and transformation.
Tim Smith, Pastor, and CEO, Center of Life, has worked and volunteered in the Hazelwood community for decades. His passion for connecting with kids and families led him to create Center of Life as a nonprofit and community empowerment organization. His philosophy of economics, environment, and empowerment includes giving people the tools they need to not only succeed, but to lead community revitalization.
Planning and a capital campaign are underway for the new Hazelwood Green Community Hub at Hazelwood Green. Featuring a LEED-certified, net-zero-energy design, the Hub is pursuing a “world-class vision for the community” and will bring transformative educational, arts, extracurricular programming, resources and opportunity to youth and families of Hazelwood. And thanks to partnerships with other pivotal organizations and providers of opportunity within the community, the Hub will be able to expand its impact across community health, education, and development.
We are proud to have this event moderated by:
Alicia Volcy
Founder & CEO, Studio Volcy
Alicia is a dynamic designer and real estate developer who creates spaces and places for organizations with innovative community development initiatives. With over a decade of experience in the design and real estate industry, Alicia has developed a reputation for her creative approach to design and her ability to deliver projects that are beautiful and culturally inclusive. In addition to her work as a designer and developer, Alicia served as President of National Organization of Minority Architects, Pittsburgh Chapter, where she led the organization’s inaugural Architecture Camp for youth, Project Pipeline.