PTLL

Hyejin Yi

Community Based Research ProjectThrough the lens of a researcher you will spend time in the community you plan to work in. Plan to tour facilities, collect documents for review, interview a stakeholder, staff member or community member and write an analysis of what you learn about the community discourse and context of the community and how your work will unfold based on what you learn.

Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library

The Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library, a cooperative run by volunteers, is an indoor play space for children, birth through kindergarten, and their caregivers. Located in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, this non-profit organization is a featured abundant toy encouraging imaginative play, gross-motor development and artistic expression.

1. Mission

The Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library(Below PTLL), an all-volunteer, cooperative organization, provides children birth through age 6, their parents and caregivers with a safe, fun place to play, access to enrichment opportunities and high quality, age appropriate toys for take home play.

2. Vision

The PTLL will be an evolving leader and model in creative play that serves as a resource for the entire community.

3. Values

Imaginative and Creative PlayCooperative SpiritVolunteerismDiverse MembershipAffordabilitySustainability

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Figure 1 Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/PittsburghToyLendingLibrary

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4. History

The Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library (PTLL) was established in 1974 by a group of parents who saw the need for an organization that would lend out toys, educate the community as to the importance of play for the development of children, and provide a place for children and their parents/caregivers to play together. Since its inception, the PTLL has been an all-volunteer run co-operative with no paid staff handling its operation. More than 37 years later, the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library is still going strong!

Figure 2 Original Building in 1974 Figure 3 Mr. Rogers visited the PTLL in 1986

5. Location and Hours

Location5401 Centre Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15232-1621(412) 682-4430The PTLL is in the First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh because they have rented the place since 1977. I think that the location causes some misunderstanding even though they don’t have any relationship with religion. Do Muslim people want to come and enjoy this place without

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reluctant?Regular Hours (September – May)Monday/Wednesday/Friday: 9:30 am - 2:30 pmTuesday/Thursday: 9:30 am - 5:30 pmSaturday: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

6. Facilities and Services

Toy lending

Only members may borrow toys or books from the PTLL for 2 weeks. More than 400 toys are separated into categories including infant toys, gross motor development toys, imaginative play toys, and cognitive development toys. Pictures and descriptions help people choose an appropriate toy to borrow. They have library computer system for lending toys which is convenient to check in and out the toys. Before people return toys, they swap them for next kids.

Buying toys for kids, who have an ever-growing and ever-rotating wish list, gets expensive. According to data from market research firm NPD(as cited in Toys on demand: Parents save money by renting, 2012), Americans spent $21.18 billion on children's toys and games in 2011. That's a 2 percent decline from $21.68 billion in 2010, but still a lot of money. Many people borrow the toys from PTLL and save money, storage space, and environment.

Play space

Members or visitors come and enjoy the Play Space in the PTLL. The first visit to the PTLL is free and children under age 1 are always free. The Play Space is currently renovated. There are eating tables & coat cubbies, contained art studio for budding creators, plenty of gear to ride, jump & climb, infant space, adult reading area, kids' reading nook, puzzle and large animal zones, puppet theater, sports area, and imagination station - kitchen, dress up, work bench & more!

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Toddlers, Twos & Threes Art Group

This is a weekly play group focusing on process-based art activities that are specifically geared toward toddlers and young preschoolers. Every Wednesday at 10 to 11 am, this program provides art experiences for parents or caregivers to explore with their kids such as painting with finger paints, tempera paints or watercolors, collages, gluing, glittering and exploring play dough and clay.

Story time

The PTLL’s weekly story time takes place every Monday at 10 am. It is hosted by a graduate student in Library and Information Science program at the University of Pittsburgh. More information about the books picked up for Story Time is provided on the Facebook and PTLL webpage. Parents and Kids enjoy the stories, songs, crafts and more activities in the Story Time.

Private Party rental

PTLL members or Non-members may use the Toy Library for their parties – birthday, Halloween, playgroup potluck and others. For party rental, members pay $60 plus $ 50 deposit and Non-members $120 plus $75 deposit. Party rental includes exclusive use of the Play Space. Party rental is available on Saturdays after 1:30 p.m and on weekdays after 3:30 pm until 9 pm. The PTLL was recently rated the Best Place in the Burgh for a child’s Birthday Party by Pittsburgh Magazine.

Place Rental for non-profit organizations

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The PTLL offers the place to non-profit organizations for monthly meeting for free.

7. Operating System

Membership & Admission

More than 240 families become members of the PTLL each year. Families with children birth through kindergarten may join the PTLL. It offers paid 1-year membership with different volunteering levels as below. The per-visit fee for non-members is $5 per child, with a maximum of $10 per family. Adults are free. First visit is free.

Level Cost/Year Volunteer CommitmentFamily Admission

Guest Passes

Toy Borrowing

Free Private Party

Associate $25 Optional Not Included No Yes NoVolunteer4 $35 4 hr/month required Free All Year 1 free Yes NoVolunteer2 $50 2 hr/month required Free All Year 1 free Yes NoNon-volunteer

$95 Optional Free All Year 1 free Yes No

Deluxe $175 Optional Free All Year 10 free Yes Enjoy one free!

Volunteer

Among more than 240 members, approximately 140 families are volunteer-members. Volunteers support enables PTLL to continue a long tradition of providing a safe, playful and imaginative environment for kids to enjoy. As a co-operative, the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library relies on its volunteer membership to work together to keep the place running. In a co-op, everyone contributes a little bit to make great big things happen. The only pay job in PTLL is a cleaning.

PTLL uses the Google Calendar to schedule the volunteer of duty. They try to keep two VOD at the same time and each group is overlapped with next group for at least 30 minutes.

VODs do greeting, processing membership, placing toys and children to keep safety, answering questions, checking in and out toys.

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People have specialized skills, from graphic design to technical support to accounting, are encouraged to contribute their skills to the PTLL.

There are several big volunteer groups to clean the toys – University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh cares organization, and Jewish community.

Once a week, there is a VOD Training. After people get the training, they start to work at the PTLL. It would be a desired transition to PTA because they can learn about children development and experience making a decision as a member of a parent group.

Fund Raising

Hopefully, Membership fees, private party rental fees, admission fees cover 85% to 90% of fund at the PTLL. In addition, there are some donations and toy donations. If they have a big project such as a renovating the place and building a library computer system for lending toys, they apply a grant to raise fund. The rent is quite low compared with commercial place near the PTLL because they have a good relationship with the First United Methodist Church for more than 37 years.

Board of Directors

The PTLL Board of Directors is a working board, composed of volunteer members who dedicate their time to running the organization.

Board meetings are generally held on the 2nd Saturday of the month at 9:00 a.m. All members, both volunteer and non-volunteer, are welcome to attend Board Meetings.

I interviewed Tonya Campbell, the president of Board of Directors in PTLL, to understand this organization more deeply and then design a workshop for this community.

She has been using the PTLL for 6years and she works as a board member since 2010. We talked about the challenges

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2012 BOARD MEMBERS

President Tonya CampbellVice President Laura McCarthyTreasurer Jennifer NastasiSecretary Genevieve Hower Membership Coordinator Elizabeth SchwartzParty Coordinator Kim O’Donnell Lending Toy Coordinator Katy Perrin Fundraising/Grantwriting Coordinator Olivia Wells Floor Toy Coordinator Erin JunkerVolunteer Training Coordinators Jaime Horst, Karen SharifVolunteer Scheduling Coordinator Christi Howell

2012 FRIENDS of the PTLL (Non-Board)

Arts & Crafts Coordinator Megan SpakNewsletter Coordinator Heather FryeWebmaster Krissie LauwersSnacks & Supplies Coordinator Amanda Erard

Figure 3 VOD Schedule on the Google Calendar

mailto:[email protected]















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and benefits of volunteering, the greatest needs of the organization, the next plan to develop the PTLL.

8. The Challenges and the Benefits of Volunteering

ChallengesMost of volunteers are responsible but sometime they can’t make their duty. For example, kids are sick. At that time, the Volunteer Scheduling Coordinator tries to adjust to schedule. If there is no volunteer who can take the duty, the PTLL should be closed with apology to the people who enjoy the place.

Time is also the challenge. The board member is not a paid job but she spends 4hours a month and 5 – 6 hours a week to run this organization. The board of directors wants to go forward with a big idea, but they don’t have enough time to do that.

BenefitsThe most important benefit is stewardship which is the essential spirit of the PTLL. They tried to hire a paid staff for PTLL, but they didn’t because it blurs their core idea of this organization. Now they want to be a model for non-profit organization which is running by volunteers.

9. The greatest needs of the organization

The PTLL needs time and people to make more programs to offer their members and visitors. First, they want to spread their strategies to sustain the co-operative, all-volunteer organization for more than 37 years. Second, they want to make a relationship with other non-profit organization and share the benefits of members. For example, they offer the space and lending toys to Dance organization and bring dance program for kids to PTLL. Third, they want to glow physically through finding mobile places for other neighborhood, a kind of branch. If there is a community which wants to enjoy PTLL but too far from here, the community can prepare a place and borrow some toys from PTLL for a while and then bring back. The PTLL do not need to find other expensive and big place, but they actually grow enough.

10. The next plan to develop the PTLL

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Even though the PTLL struggles with lack of time, they are a financially, physically healthy organization which have sustained for a little shy of 4 decades. T. Campbell(personal communication, March 20, 2012) hopes that they will continuously offer the service to the community with keeping the questions what they can do to glow up.

11. Reflect on community based research project

I decided the PTLL as my future work (volunteering) place because it is charming enough to know the strategies to survive in the community as a non-profit organization operated by all volunteers. According to my research, the PTLL has well-organized volunteering system and great pool of future members who want to enjoy the benefit of the PTLL. In addition, financially they are very healthy non-profit organization. The PTLL is an organization which is looking for the growing spot continuously.

I found two needs that I can start with in this organization. First, the PTLL want to make more programs to offer their members and visitors. In addition, they want to make collaborations with other non-profit organizations. Recycling system in Pittsburgh is not effective as Boston and Korea. Even though the idea of toy lending is related to saving money and resource, and the members has green mind, there isn’t separate trash bin for recycling. Therefore, I’d like to design a workshop to improve their environmental literacy having relationship with Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse (PCCR).

Second, the PTLL has a gap between regional populations. It caused by their location in which they have been for more than 37 years, the church. The PTLL welcome everyone but the location block Muslim. I want to advertise that the PTLL is neutral place for the community regardless religion.

My workshop will be designed through backward design process to improve the children and their caregivers’ environmental literacy and to blur the cultural gap. The activities will take place in the park (Osceola Parklet) near PTLL and during the activities I will mention about what PTLL is. The location can be changed if I can find the place which more Muslim family gather and want my workshop.

* Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse

This is a non-profit organization which promotes resource conservation, creativity, and community engagement through material reuse. PCCR takes materials that might ordinarily be discarded, for which other good reuse outlets do not exist, and that lend

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themselves to being reused in creative ways. They offer hands-on creative workshop or event to in-site and off-site. People can buy materials at affordable rates. In addition, once a month, PCCR provides up to five bags of Bulk items, at no cost, to non-profits, organizations, or artists working on community-oriented projects or public workshop.

Reference

The Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse’s (PCCR). Retrieved on March 20, 2012 from http://pccr.org/

The Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse’s (PCCR). Retrieved on March 20, 2012 from http://www.facebook.com/creativereusepittsburgh

Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library. Retrieved on March 10, 2012 from http://www.pghtoys.com

Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library. Retrieved on March 11, 2012 from http://www.facebook.com/PittsburghToyLendingLibrary?sk=wall

http://pghtoys.wordpress.com/2011/09/

Pittsburgh Tribune. Toys on demand: Parents save money by renting. Retrieved on March 11, 2012 from http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/lifestyles/family/s_782587.html#ixzz1pjKTJ7CW

T. Campbell. Personal communication, March 20, 2012

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http://pghtoys.wordpress.com/2011/09/

http://www.facebook.com/PittsburghToyLendingLibrary?sk=wall

http://www.pghtoys.com/

http://www.facebook.com/creativereusepittsburgh

http://pccr.org/

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Workshop Project and Presentation

Design a workshop/event using a backward design process that develops and highlights the literacies you’ve identified. The project must enhance and promote the use of literacies as you have identified in your work and will contribute your participant’s ability to Read and Write the World.

Making Toys with Reusing Resources

Stage 1 – Desired ResultsEstablished Goals:

Participants will understand essential reasons to conserve the environment. Participants will use the understanding of environmental conservation to reuse

the resources creatively. Participants will know that the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library is neural place for

every culture.

Understandings:Participants will understand that...

Creative reuse contributes to conserve the environment.

The PTLL also contributes to saving resources through sharing the toys.

The PTLL is a neural place for every culture.

Essential Questions: What is creative reuse? How can you reuse the resources

again? Why should we reuse the resources? Why should we share the resources? What are the benefits when we make

our toys by ourselves? Do you feel reluctant when you visit

the PTLL?

Participants will know... Key terms – environment, reuse,

recycle, share, resource Some strategies to reuse the

materials creatively The PTLL is not operated by the

church; they are a non-profit organization which is operated by volunteers.

Participants will be able to... Distinguish what the materials is made

from Categorize the resources depends on

the rule of recycling Donate and buy some materials to

reuse at the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse(PCCR)

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Come and enjoy the PTLL and my workshop regardless religion

Stage 2 – Assessment EvidencePerformance Tasks:

Separating waste from reusable resource

Making musical instruments with reusing materials – Participants find their own way to reuse the materials creatively.

Making a pot for gardening vegetables – indoor garden

Making puppets with reusing materials

Advertising the PTLL’s neutrality

Other Evidence: Participants give some ideas to

reuse the materials for other participants.

Participants enjoy recycling their life trash.

Participants make the conversation about environment.

Stage 3 – Learning PlansLearning Activities:

Have participants greet each other.(Caregiver’s name, kids’ name, and what they are going to make)

Announce that this workshop is contributed by PTTL Introduce PTTL briefly If the workshop is not the first workshop, have participants share their stories

related to the toy made by them. Have participants remind the rule of recycling shortly Make sure the safety of art craft Participant are encouraged to use their imagination while they are working on

reusing the materials Participant are encouraged to share their idea to reuse the materials Wrap up the craft with small exhibition Announce the next schedule and theme Participant will separate their reusable resource from trash and be encouraged to

think how to use the reusable resource creatively in their life Introduce them Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse (PCCR) to prepare the

materials and to get some idea from PCCR exhibition Have participant clean up the art area for the next person Post the result of the workshop on the PTLL blog Post the prompts that parents use when they talk with their kids Post the next activity and materials they might need to collect

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Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is designed for a workshop of making a pot with plastic containers to

improve their environmental literacy.

Title: Making a pot with plastic containers

Community setting:

Members of PTLL, Visitors, or someone who might be interested in environmental conservation

Newborn to 5 years old kids and their caregivers

Objectives:

- Participants will realize that they discard a lot of trash every day.

- Participants will get a strategy how to reuse plastic containers.

- Participants will understand that PTLL welcomes every one regardless any religion.

Time and Space Requirements:

Making a pot with plastic containers will take place in Oceola Parklet which is the

nearest park from the PTLL from 10:00 am to 10:40 am for 40 minutes.

Resources

* Plastic containers

* Soil – safe for food growing

* Seeds – leaf vegetables

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Suggested procedure

Activity 1 (5 minutes): Warm-up, Greetings

1. Ask participants to introduce themselves.

2. Welcome them with greeting song.

Activity 2 (5 minutes): What amount of trash that I made in a week

1. Show them my trash bag and have them realize that people made lots of trash every day.

2. Explain them we are going to use the plastic containers to make a pot for growing

vegetables.

Activity 3 (20 minutes): Making a pot and spread the seeds

1. Have the participants choose a plastic container and decorate it with stickers

2. Have the participants fill the pot with soil and spread seeds on top.

3. Cover the seeds with enough soil.

4. Explain them how to care the lettuce.

Activity 4 (10 minutes): Small exhibition and wrap up

1. Ask participants to exhibit the pot in front of supply desk

2. Have participants to watch each other’s pot

3. Introduce the topic of the next workshop and materials which they might collect until

next workshop

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4. Clean up with song

Accessment

Evaluate participants according to quick survey which can measure of their joy and

awareness of objectives

Environmental Literacy- Do they have curiosity to measure what amount of trash do they discard every day?- Do they understand the importance of reuse the materials?- Do they have fun reusing the materials creatively?

Cultural Literacy- Do they understand the PTLL is ran by the members of PTLL?

Follow-up

1. Ask participants to take a photo of the small plant and post it on the PTLL blog

2. Have participants to collect the reusable materials for the next workshop

3. Encourage participants to recycle the trash

4. Encourage the parents to talk about their work with prompt posted on the blog

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PTLL

Documents

Transcript of PTLL