Neighborhood North Museum of Play awarded grant to secure a digital maker space 

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. — Neighborhood North Museum of Play was recently awarded $50,000 to create a digital maker space in its facility, which will transform digital comprehension and savvy in Beaver County. 

Funded by the Eden Hall Foundation to expand access to digital technologies to students in Beaver Falls, the digital maker space could look like a specific section of the museum dedicated to vinyl cutting, 3D printing and other tools to help integrate digital technology with making. 

“We sought this grant to help make digital technologies more accessible to kids, but part of what makes a digital maker space exciting is that it creates an accessible entry point for learning about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and computer science for adult learners too,” Christine Kroger, executive director of Neighborhood North Museum of Play, said. “That helps adults, of course, but it also helps the kids when their parents or grandparents have more comfort around new technologies and can help navigate the tools needed to help with homework, job applications, etc.” 

The digital maker space grant is timely, as it coincides with President Joe Biden’s federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, which will, in part, invest $1.16 billion in broadband access across Pennsylvania, with Beaver County as a recipient. 

Expanded broadband means more local residents than ever will have internet access, breaking down barriers to technology not only for children and students but for adults, too. 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visited the Carnegie Free Library of Beaver Falls in early July to discuss internet equity alongside Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority Executive Director Brandon Carson and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. 

“When Pennsylvanians are connected to reliable broadband, they have better health outcomes, better education outcomes, and better economic outcomes,” Shapiro said. “That’s why we need to invest in broadband, right now, to grow our economy and strengthen our communities. Accessible, reliable, affordable broadband is important for every community and every family across this Commonwealth — no matter your zip code.” 

This effort comes at a convenient moment as Neighborhood North’s digital maker space isn’t only a STEM activity for children. While the Eden Hall Foundation’s grant positions Neighborhood North for a pilot year, the museum hopes the community maker space will have a larger impact on helping all members of the family take full advantage of regional connectivity in the coming years. 

“Connecting the digital maker space to career pathways early on, especially more creative ones, is also something I find particularly intriguing,” Kroger said. “Our learning ecosystem is interconnected, and I think something like a maker space is ripe for helping learners in all the stages in that system in interesting ways.” 

Equipment will be installed by the end of August with Neighborhood North staff receiving professional development from the Carnegie Science Center through September. The first project is slated for October. By late-September, the space should be open to the public. 

Participation in the digital maker space for children and families will be covered by the cost of admission. 

About Neighborhood North Museum of Play: Neighborhood North Museum of Play is Beaver County’s first children’s museum where you’ll find a unique space designed to foster curiosity, learning, and connection. Neighborhood North envisions our diverse communities strengthened by families through playing, making, and innovating together. 

About The Eden Hall Foundation: At Eden Hall Foundation, we view our work through a woman’s lens to improve the quality of life for all people across our region. This perspective is unique, and our commitment to the betterment of the region is indisputable. If you work to improve the lives of women, families, and all people in Southwestern Pennsylvania, we urge you to start a conversation. We’re ready to hear from you. 

A Beaver County first: Neighborhood North Museum of Play to anchor arts-integrated programming 

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. — You don’t have to travel all the way to Pittsburgh to find art. Beaver County and the surrounding regions are bursting with hopeful artists and creators awaiting an opportunity to expand their creative reach. 

What Beaver County is lacking, however, is a commitment to arts-integration in our education system. Creativity can often be siloed, instead of seeing art as a vehicle for critical thinking, collaboration, ingenuity and increased comprehension. 

Neighborhood North Museum of Play is hoping to change that narrative in Beaver County. 

The Beaver Falls-based Museum, the first children’s museum in Beaver County, recognizes that kids learn better when the arts are integrated into school subjects rather than primarily being an independent study or elective course. 

“Studies show kids learn better through the arts,” Christine Kroger, executive director of Neighborhood North Museum of Play, said. 

The arts — from painting and poetry to theater and music and everything in between — provide opportunities for exploration and playfulness, and they give students hands-on experiences that make learning more memorable, creative and fun. 

According to the Kennedy Center, “Arts Integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both."

“Research shows that arts integration practices foster deep learning of core academic content, as well as arts processes, encourage collaboration and creative problem solving, build social emotional learning, and improve the learning climate, among many other benefits. Many educators desire this, but time and funding can be barriers, which is why teaching artist residencies can be valuable supplements to schools and community programs,” Kroger said. 

Through a $35,000 grant from The Heinz Endowments, Neighborhood North is pioneering arts-integrated programming in Beaver County. 

Central to this programming is to create a demand for arts education and “teaching artists” in schools and youth-serving out-of-school programs in Beaver County. The museum plans to attract Beaver County practicing artists and students to training events, which will allow artists to recognize that being a “teaching artist” is a viable career path and seek additional training to do so. 

Neighborhood North’s program will be an iteration of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Arts Education program, which places certified “teaching artists” in schools, libraries, and other community settings to work alongside educators and students to “explore curriculum content through integrated art strategies,” according to the Trust’s Art Education informational video. 

Through The Heinz Endowments grant, Neighborhood North will act as an anchor in the county for equipping these artists for a pilot year. 

According to Liz Foster-Shaner, PhD, Director of Arts Education at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, “Teaching Artists are practicing, professional artists with experience and training in education. They pass along their passion for the arts by developing one-of-a-kind learning experiences and opportunities for creative expression. A residency with a teaching artist exposes students to new art forms and emphasizes the importance of creative risk-taking and critical thinking as they integrate artistic skills and techniques into other curricular areas, such as dance and physics or music and math. Perhaps most importantly, a residency with a teaching artist brings another caring, compassionate, and creative adult into the school and community environment who can support and nurture the dreams and curiosities of young people.” 

The Trust will partner with Neighborhood North to spearhead a teaching artist program in Beaver County. Artists of all kinds can become certified “teaching artists,” regardless of educational background and experience. 

“Our desire is to open up a pathway to the teaching arts for artists here in Beaver County. We recognize that not every artist will be interested or equipped to become a teaching artist, but for those who are, we believe that it will benefit both the artists and the learning community,” Kroger said. “One of the gifted teaching artists we work with is a professional drummer with a degree in biology. Through professional training, he has been able to adapt those skills to the classroom environment to teach syncopation, patterns, rhyming, and math skills through his craft. These types of skills are translated to artists practicing in nearly any discipline.” 

Beaver County already has a growing arts collaborative through organizations like The Genesis Collective and the Portobello Cultural Life & Arts Center’s on-ramp project, the Baby Bello. Both organizations work to support and connect creatives and the community throughout the county and will be integral partners in galvanizing this commitment to arts-integration in the county’s education system, and beyond. 

Think of Neighborhood North’s arts-integrated programming as a way to learn about the solar system, chemistry, or mathematics but rather than primarily reading from a textbook and memorizing vocabulary, students might use theater or poetry to better understand how the solar system works, or to process math and science equations. 

It’s exploratory. And the students won’t get it right the first time — which is the point. 

This sort of programming is designed to be iterative. A major component of the learning process is working through the content in real time, and sometimes even with their bodies, which can be exceptionally transformative for kinesthetic learners. 

“Because this type of co-creative process requires students to interact and grapple with material as they question, play, and create with peers, learning can become a really rich experience,” Kroger said. “As learners are engaged through multiple senses and as they must try multiple paths to success, content is more likely to not only be retained but to be connected to other areas later on, enhancing the learning experience.” 

Big Beaver Falls school districts committed to Neighborhood North’s “teaching artist” program for a pilot year with the Cultural Trust in 2022-23 with positive outcomes. 

The Heinz Endowments is “devoted to the mission of helping our region prosper as a vibrant center of creativity, learning, and social, economic and environmental sustainability. Core to our work is the vision of a just community where all are included and where everyone who calls this place home has a real and meaningful opportunity to thrive.” 

The organization selected Neighborhood North for this grant opportunity because the institution believes Neighborhood North’s project “represents an important endeavor in advancing our overall goals. Our success hinges on the organizations and projects we support, so we strive to be thoughtful about our partners and rigorous about the work we support.” 

That grant will help Neighborhood North equip artists who would like to eventually become “teaching artists” in the community. Artists interested in becoming “teaching artists” or learning more about the program can contact Kroger for more information about how to get involved. 

“I am excited when I imagine a future Beaver County where a culture of arts-integration inspires a pipeline of local teaching artists and allows all students to learn through the arts. I am grateful to the Heinz Endowments for helping us to take this first step in that direction,” Kroger said. 

About Neighborhood North Museum of Play: Neighborhood North Museum of Play is Beaver County’s first children’s museum where you’ll find a unique space designed to foster curiosity, learning, and connection. Neighborhood North envisions our diverse communities strengthened by families through playing, making, and innovating together. 

About The Heinz Endowments: The Heinz Endowments seeks to help our region thrive as a whole and just community and, through that work, to model solutions to major national and global challenges. We are devoted to advancing our vision of southwestern Pennsylvania as a vibrant center of creativity, learning, and social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Our work is supported by reliable data based on equitable, results-focused goals to cultivate a world where all are treated with fairness and respect and have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. 

Written by Bekah Knab, Graduate Student and RD at Geneva College

When I moved back to Beaver Falls in 2018 to start graduate school, I was overwhelmingly encouraged by the projects and developments happening in the city. To be honest, I was not thrilled to move back to my hometown, but I was quickly humbled by the individuals who were faithfully engaged in pursuing the best for Beaver Falls. I needed to move away and come back to have eyes to see the beauty that currently exists in this city and to be excited about the potential for things to come.

One of the projects that sparked excitement was Neighborhood North: Museum of Play. A children’s museum? Opening right here, in Beaver Falls? The more I heard about it, the more I knew I wanted to be involved. The energy and vision of NN drew me in as I saw their pop-up exhibits around town, or heard individuals share about the project at CDC meetings. This big dream for a place of creativity, play and belonging in Beaver Falls was actually a reality, and I wanted to be a part of it.

Now, as part of the Education Committee at NN, I get to combine my passion for education, development, and Beaver County. Working with an incredibly gifted team of individuals has inspired me not just at NN, but also as I complete my graduate program. Being involved in the greater community gives more purpose to my studies and work at Geneva College. This college exists in a resilient city where innovation and creativity are thriving, and it is a privilege to learn from the Beaver Falls community as I also learn in the graduate classroom.

As a Resident Director, I am passionate about showing students what it looks like to live in the community. Through my involvement at NN, I am able to encourage the college students with whom I live to be involved in the city and build relationships outside of campus. I have the opportunity to invite students to be a part of something bigger than campus life and learn what it means to be a good neighbor. These opportunities not only shape us now but will continue to influence our community involvement, as we eventually move into neighborhoods and cities of our own.

The invitation to be involved with NN has also confirmed my desire to stay in Beaver County after I graduate in the spring. Although it is not the only factor, participating in this project has helped me re-plant roots in the community. The shared vision of everyone committed to NN and to this city has inspired me to stay and continue to grow here. Once you catch hold of the passion for this place, it is difficult to imagine leaving. Good things are happening here at NN as we navigate the current COVID-19 season and continue to plan for the future. It is a privilege to be on this team of hard-working, creative, and committed individuals, and I am grateful to be a part of the NN family. 

Written by Bethany Williams, Director of Community Development, City of Beaver Falls

 

 

Community work takes time. Trust me, when I started talking about doing creative community development work as a government official, I knew that even building the trust that was needed to do that was a near-impossible dream. And, even if it was possible, it would talk a long time to work through the barriers of mistrust and economic decline. But, when I was able to announce that the City of Beaver Falls received funding to start the redevelopment of the park in between the Carnegie Library and the News Tribune Building, it was an emotional moment of relief for me personally as the City’s Director of Community Development.

When we created the Department of Community Development in 2014, the first thing I did was listen. I attended countless community meetings and met with stakeholders of all kinds to try to get a sense of what the community was hoping to see happen in Beaver Falls and how we, as the local government, could help connect the pieces to facilitate growth. Through all of that listening, I heard the pain of a community that had faced immense loss, the passion the lifelong residents had for their city, and the relentless hope that maybe there might be a better future out there for us. As the community started working together to accomplish some of these goals, the City officials acknowledged that, if we are going to ask our residents and stakeholders to invest in the City to create a better future, we needed to be doing the same.

The park next to the Carnegie Library was an obvious place to start. This public space looked as sad as our community was feeling about the state of our city. By the end of 2014, I had begun putting together all kinds of plans that I submitted to City Council and worked with my community partners to try to prove the value of investing in this small, yet pivotal space.

It was a tough sell, though. The crumbling concrete and empty planter beds in that space have done little to inspire creativity or hope. And, because it looked like no one cared about it, the park tended to attract the kind of negative behavior that would prevent anyone from wanting to spend time there.

Yet, despite the park’s appearance and negative reputation, it has been used regularly by community groups to host Santaland, regular children’s programming, free meal distributions, and festivals because it was centrally located. We appreciate that community organizations have consistently “made it work” in the park to bring incredible opportunities to the residents of our city. But, it’s time to create a public space that actually meets our needs and instills a sense of pride over what can be accomplished when we stay committed to the long-term success of our community.

So, it gives me an incredible amount of joy to announce that, after 7 years of advocacy, the City of Beaver Falls was able to secure $250,000 from the Community Development Block Grant Program for Phase 1 of the project which will cover the demolition of the current space, restructuring of the park layout, providing better ADA accessibility, implementing sustainable rainwater management, and installing of the electrical conduits for Phase 2 installations. We are currently working to apply for funding for Phase 2 that will invest in public art installations, landscaping, seating, and other design elements.

I’m excited to continue sharing this journey of revitalization with you and to show a small example of how persistence and commitment to the future of our city can produce a public space that is worthy of the resilient people of Beaver Falls. 

RiverWise and Beaver Falls stakeholders have selected a vacant building and adjacent park to act as a catalytic ecodistrict project that will be transformed into the Neighborhood North: Museum of Play children’s museum.

Catalytic development projects are public or private projects that focus on reinvigorating areas abandoned as a result of suburban migration in the 20th century, focusing on creating walkable urban places.  They are planned and designed to cause a corresponding and complementary development reaction on surrounding properties. 

In 2014, after sitting unoccupied for over three decades, the historic News Tribune Building was acquired by the Beaver Falls Community Development Corporation. Thanks to the visionary leadership and substantial investment of three local families, the roof of the structure was entirely replaced in 2017, stabilizing the building, while also providing a beautiful rooftop view of downtown and the hillside across the Beaver River. Engineering assessments of the facility have been conducted; gutting of the building has commenced, and a team of committed residents have been meeting in earnest throughout 2019 and 2020 to envision future uses for the space. The building is slated to house Neighborhood North: Museum of Play, a growing children’s museum being led by a committed group of local visionaries. The building provides endless opportunities to dream of and enact principled sustainable design that contributes richly to the life of the community. 

The News Tribune Building is located on 13th Street, adjacent to the Carnegie Free Library of Beaver Falls. In 2018, Beaver Falls City Council voted to discontinue use of 13th Street so that it could be turned into a park adjoining the library’s property. When completing their submissions, designers will be asked to consider both the News Tribune Building and March Park as their site of intervention. The intent is to create an integrated amenity, blurring the boundaries between indoor and outdoor space, all the while utilizing sustainable building principles and green design throughout.

In May 2020, Beaver Falls engaged evolveEA to produce a conceptual design for the building. A conceptual design plan for the park was completed by Klavon Design Associates in May 2020. The News Tribune Building design incorporates elements to represent each of the six quality-of-life issue areas, including:

• Equity: children’s museum

• Food: café and cooking classes

• Water: stormwater management practices

• Energy: green construction practices and demonstration projects, potential use of solar energy

• Air: green construction practices and demonstration projects, pollinator gardens, onsite air quality monitoring, and considerable green space

• Mobility: location within a walkable community along a major arterial road

Next, Beaver Falls will solicit for community feedback on the proposed design and will work to acquire funding to construct the park and renovate the building.

Read the full Beaver Falls Ecodistrict report here: Beaver Falls Ecodistrict Vision Statements.

Due to systemic inequities, children in Beaver Falls elementary schools test lower on PSSAs than their peers in neighboring communities. Closed since mid-March, schools have moved to online learning, but many families in our Beaver Falls community did not have computers or affordable Wi-Fi. Without access to the schools' curriculum, there has been fear that the typical "summer slump" may become a "super slump" for Beaver Falls' neediest children. In response to this need, Neighborhood North is partnering with the Big Beaver Falls Area School District, the local library, and a local youth development organization, Trails Ministries, to provide intensive support for these children in the form of small group reading and math tutoring, weekly STEM programming, and family engagement activities. Neighborhood North plans to integrate our activities into the Trails Ministries' Hayes Summer Camp, which runs late June through August. Their summer camp normally includes in-person activities and visits to local organizations, which will not be possible this summer because of COVID-19 restrictions. Already a close partner, Trails Ministries works with families impacted by incarceration and their summer program specifically works with children living in public housing sites in Beaver Falls and several other towns throughout Beaver County. Working with the school district, we will use students’ DIBEL scores to identify a baseline, which will be repeated at the end of the summer. Our K-5th grade students will be broken into small groups by grade level to receive in-person reading tutoring twice a week by teachers from the local school. In addition, we have put together a cohort of junior and senior high school students to tutor our 3rd-5th graders in math skills once a week.  

But tutoring alone is not enough. Studies have shown that parent engagement is essential to increasing a child's academic achievement and enthusiasm for learning. Neighborhood North's board (including 11 educators) has been trained by WQED/PBS in their parent engagement curriculum and will host activities with the cohort children and their parents. Food is always part of the family events, and through nonthreatening activities, we hope to share some digital literacy resources with parents that will equip them to be technology mentors for their children. We will host four families each week for in-person family engagement programs.

Neighborhood North will also provide weekly STEM experiments and Maker activities to help promote curiosity and expand student learning. We will deliver our STEM education through a real-time remote platform to all of the in-person camp locations throughout Beaver County to approximately 150 K-5th grade students. Additionally, a bin with all necessary materials and any additional instructions will be delivered to Trails Ministries for each location each week. This collaboration is exciting and will bring a great deal of benefit to the kids in our communities in Beaver County.

Neighborhood North will plan to provide continued support throughout the school year by extending the tutoring program and providing STEM/Maker activities to the students in this cohort as part of the after school programming at Trails Ministries. Additionally, Neighborhood North will facilitate Family Engagement dinners throughout the year. We are excited to be part of the learning ecosystem of the Beaver Falls community that is working towards creating greater equity for our learners. To help support this program, please sign up to volunteer or donate now.