Proving that building community and forming connections can be fun, Bellevue Forward is hosting the Next Up North: North Boroughs Community Conference on Thursday, May 7th from 9am – 5pm at AGH Suburban Campus in Bellevue, followed by a Night Market on N. Sprague St.
This one-day conference is a full-day of celebrating strengths, sharing ideas, and coming together to shape what’s next for the eight North Boroughs of Brighton Heights, Bellevue, Avalon, Emsworth, Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights, Westview, and Perrysville.
Residents, leaders, small businesses, and organizations from across North Boroughs will gather to discuss a shared vision for community engagement, economic development, workforce development, and collaborative, long-term growth, investment, and resilience. The conference aims to have all voices —especially underrepresented ones—heard, valued, and reflected in the conference programming.
Each of the boroughs has unique strengths, and the conference creates a time and space for inspiring collective action, exchanging ideas, and building partnerships to enhance those strengths.
The event features inspiring keynotes from regional leaders and changemakers, success stories of local initiatives, businesses, and community projects, and breakout sessions on economic development, community engagement, equity, housing, youth leadership, and more. Focusing on creating connections, the event also features an organizational fair, happy hour and community social, and opportunities for networking—followed by the Bellevue Night Market with food trucks, vendors, and music.
Tickets are $25 per student, $50 per resident, and $75 per professional and include conference admission, food and drink (needs based scholarships are available). Learn more at bellevuepa.us/nextupnorth and the Facebook event page.
Coinciding with the event is a fundraiser to help Bellevue Bicycles—a highly anticipated bicycle shop that will serve neighbors and strengthen the community, one ride at a time. You can be a direct part of bringing people together and supporting a small business by supporting this great initiative that repairs and maintains bicycles, offers rentals, refurbishes donated bikes for kids, and teaches safe riding skills—all from their home at 512 Lincoln Avenue.
We could all use some fun collaboration and collective action! Check out Next Up North: North Boroughs Community Conference to see how one day can make all the difference in taking community dreams and turning them into a reality.
This content was provided by a local, independent contributor to Made in PGH, a lifestyle blog.
