E9: Corporate Life to Community Leadership: Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition Transforms Communities

What makes Maria Cohen with Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition a good neighbor?  

Looking for a master class in community building? Maria Cohen's journey from corporate America to leading the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition reveals powerful lessons about neighborhood vitality, collaboration, and finding purpose through service.

When Maria's friend told her "your neighbors need you," little did she know it would launch her into executive leadership of one of Pittsburgh's most impactful community organizations. The Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition operates through 8-12 specialized committees addressing everything from education to litter patrol, bicycle-pedestrian concerns, and even health initiatives—proving that limited resources need not limit community impact.

What makes this organization remarkable is their collaborative approach. While most nonprofits struggle with silos, SHUC thrives through partnerships with the JCC, Center for Loving Kindness, Friendship Circle, local libraries, and neighboring communities like Greenfield and Hazelwood. These connections manifest in vibrant community celebrations including night markets, cultural festivals, and Pride events that stitch together Pittsburgh's diverse neighborhoods.

Perhaps most fascinating is Maria's personal evolution alongside her professional role. When pandemic stress overwhelmed her, sound healing became her sanctuary—eventually leading to certification as a sound healing practitioner. This perfect blend of self-care and community service exemplifies how personal well-being and neighborhood vitality intertwine.

Ready to experience Squirrel Hill's community magic firsthand? Visit their night market this Saturday on Murray Avenue from 6-10pm, check out shuc.org, or follow them on social media. Better yet, let Maria's story inspire you to find your own neighborhood organization and discover how community engagement transforms not just places, but people.

To learn more about Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition go to: 

https://shuc.org/

Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lila Carter.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of acommunity-based organization and
nonprofit in Squirrel Hill?
Today, I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
Maria Cohen, with the SquirrelHill Urban Coalition.
Maria, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Thank you for having me here.
It's going well, Lila, and Ireally appreciate you taking the
time to get to know ourorganization better.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thanks so much for being here.
We're excited to learn allabout you and your business.
So I understand you're theexecutive director there.
Tell us about this company.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yes.
So the Squirrel Hill UrbanCoalition is a local nonprofit.
We give voice to the hopes andconcerns of our residents,
institutions, businesses andvisitors, and we work to
preserve, improve and celebratethe quality of life in our
vibrant Squirrel Hillneighborhood.
We're comprised of, at anygiven time, eight to 10, maybe

(01:12):
even 12 committees.
We have right now a currentvolunteer board of 20 board
members and our committees rangefrom anything to education also
litter, patrol, bike, ped, ourbuilt environment we are a
registered communityorganization and health we just

(01:36):
put on a new committee that'smore health related.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Excellent.
So a ton of interest there.
That kind of span all sorts ofneeds for the community.
How did you get into thisbusiness?

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, I came from a more corporate environment.
I was really involved withconsumer products, then more the
architectural space and in 2019, one of my friends sent me the
post for a position thathappened to be this one and she
said, maria, your neighbors needyou.

(02:12):
I was really highly involved inlike PTO at high levels,
including more of thephilanthropic work, teacher
appreciation of thephilanthropic work, teacher
appreciation always involved inalso being a homeroom parent and
412 Food Rescue, also justKutch's crew so many different

(02:33):
organizations and she thoughtthat that would be a natural fit
.
I guess she was right.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Oh, what a standout moment for you in your life, I'm
sure.
Thank you, yeah.
What are some myths ormisconceptions in this industry?

Speaker 3 (02:47):
I think that nonprofits can get a reputation
of not doing enough with theresources that they have or that
they have unlimited funding,which is just simply not the
case.
And what we do we operate witha very limited budget and are
able to get a lot accomplishedwith that.
And we do, we operate with avery limited budget and are able
to get a lot accomplished withthat.

(03:08):
And we do work with a lot ofother organizations and
collaborate a lot and ourvolunteers.
So we try to do as much as wecan for our community and our
neighboring communities.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
So we know marketing is the heart of your business.
Who are your target customersand how do you attract them?

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Really our neighbors are really who we want to engage
, and then also neighboringcommunities.
So we do that in a variety ofways.
We, of course, use whateveryone else else does with
like social media and you know,instagram, facebook I guess it's

(03:51):
X and others but the heart ofwhat we do is really getting out
into the community with thingslike events like tonight we are
working with Greenfield.
They invited us to their Prideevent for the first time.
That's from working andcollaborating on other events
with both Hazelwood andGreenfield, like something that

(04:13):
we do that's called a holidaymingle every year with families.
We also do things like we haveour night market in Squirrel
Hill coming up this Saturday,have our night market in
Squirrel Hill coming up thisSaturday, farmers markets Also.
We host Day of the Dead, lunar,new Year and many other events
and partnering events.

(04:34):
So that's how we really getengaged we do also, of course,
we have a website where folkscan look up volunteer
opportunities.
But our newsletter is theeasiest way for us to keep in
touch with our neighbors andsurrounding communities, to let
everyone know what's going on.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, so it sounds like community outreach is
really important to thenonprofit here.
Have you ever thought aboutdoing your own podcast?
Have you ever thought about?

Speaker 3 (05:03):
doing your own podcast A little bit, but I
guess that also, with everythingthat we have going on and the
limited resources, I haven'treally had time to do it, but
would certainly recommend thinkabout that and looking into all
of the areas that we work with,because it could be really
interesting.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah, and very informative for the citizens
there.
So, outside of work, what doyou do for fun?

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Oh, I, I, um, lila, I , I love to do so many different
things, so I really enjoygetting out into our parks and
trails.
I love live music we have somany different options here and
I really love small venues aswell, like like the Thunderbird
Cafe or Mr Small's Theater.
I really engage in, like in anytype of like activity that

(05:50):
would be more physical ormovement, like pure bar, hiking,
biking, skiing, yoga almostanything with music and and
movement I love.
And then I really love toexplore all of our 90
neighborhoods but all of thesurrounding areas.
I love to travel.
I love food we have so manyoptions here in Pittsburgh and

(06:12):
so many good um local chefs aswell.
Um, and then um I, I, like, Ilove to cook, so I'm getting my
Blue Zone cooking certification.
I also really enjoy like soundbaths and sound healing, so I
just got my I just earned mysound healing practitioner
certification and I love beingwith, like doing things with my

(06:34):
husband, my, my kids, families,family and friends, so just
having adventures andexperiences and I volunteer a
lot.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Oh awesome, you and I would get along.
I'm also foodie and I love livemusic.
Pittsburgh is such a greatplace to live for those things.
Our food scene, our music sceneare so awesome, and also the
health and wellness support inthe area is great too.
So let's switch gears here.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you

(07:06):
overcame and how it made youstronger?
What comes to mind?
Yes.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Lila, I think that so many of us experienced this
during the pandemic.
But I certainly was in asituation where there was
increased anxiety and stressjust because of everything going
on and when you're reallysupporting community and also a
family, like things happen witheveryone's families, like we

(07:31):
lost a lot of important familymembers, you know.
All of these kinds of thingsadded up and I just really
needed some extra support.
So what I did?
I went.
I actually sought out thesupport of a therapist who does
EMDR, but what really changed mylife was that one of my friends
took me to a sound bath andliterally like it cleansed me.

(07:53):
I had tears streaming down myface in the best way possible,
continued going, and then that'swhy I decided to earn my sound
healing practitionercertification.
I took that and am now able toengage in sound baths for places
like the Hear Foundation,pittsburgh Foundation.

(08:14):
Actually, my Pure Barclassmates did a sound healing
for them.
That was actually related to um.
We were doing something for umbreast cancer awareness.
Um, I do it for my friends andfamily and it's really been a
help to to engage, and so it'sit's me helping myself and

(08:36):
helping others is what sprangout of that.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
I love that you said that.
Uh, I feel like there's justnow, uh, so much more awareness
about being mindful of yourvibrational state for your
wellness and sound healing kindof encompasses all of that.
So I love that.
So, maria, please tell ourlisteners one thing that should

(09:00):
stick with them about SquirrelHill Urban Coalition.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
We are a very collaborative organization.
We work with so many otherincredible groups, including JCC
, center for Loving Kindness,most of the other neighboring
organizations and neighborhoods,fips, friendship Circle, the
Pittsburgh LearningCollaborative.
Uncover Squirrel Hill.

(09:25):
Visit Pittsburgh, jada House um.
Uncover squirrel hill.
Visit pittsburgh uh, jada houseI I may have said friendship
circle already here foundation,um, we're part of.
Um.
Uh, we work with the locallibraries, um.
Stand for all and also justreally think that that work is
very important in helping tosupport our city as a whole.

(09:49):
I also am part of the communityworking group for the new
comprehensive plan.
It all ties together and so weare a piece of that.
But it's really important toget involved with your
neighborhood if you're able to,so I would encourage anyone
that's able to get involved withus or whatever their

(10:10):
neighboring or theirneighborhood is.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, it sounds like Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition
really exemplifies what anonprofit should be when they're
focused on community engagementand just really bringing people
together and working in acollaborative way with these
different organizations.
So thank you for the work thatyou do there.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
How can our?

Speaker 2 (10:31):
listeners.
Learn more about Squirrel HillUrban Coalition.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Well, you could come to our night market that's
happening this Saturday, whichis on Murray Avenue, from Beacon
to Forbes, and that's from 6 to10.
To Forbes, and that's from 6 to10.

(10:55):
You could also check out ourwebsite, which is shookorg, so
it's S-H-U-CO-R-G.
Our office, if you'd like tocome to visit me, is 5604 Solway
.
And then social media ourhandles are at Facebook.
It would be at Squirrel HillMag.
We do put out a magazine threetimes a year that is free to the
public, so that's another way.

(11:16):
And then also Instagram is ahuge one, of course, and that's
at Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition.
We have our newsletter that isreally helpful to the community
and you would just need to signup on our site or come out to
visit us, you know, even at afarmer's market or somewhere
else and if you, if you give usyour contact information, we'll

(11:39):
put you on our newsletter.
So, mainly events and andreally engaging with our
newsletter.
Well, maria.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
I really appreciate your time today and having you
as a guest on our show.
We wish you and the nonprofitthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Thank you, Lila.
I wish you the same and reallyappreciate engaging with you
today.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPPittsburghcom.
That's GNPPittsburghcom, orcall 412-561-9956.