Pittsburgh is a global city. It was built and continues to grow from an ever-changing group of immigrants, and the contributions of their children. We believe The Global Switchboard will both export the best practices of community development that we have pioneered here, and begin to import new ideas from our friends around the world. The Global Switchboard will be a physical demonstration of the city's global home, it will bring new resources, both financially and socially to the city, and it will be a comfortable space to engage pressing global issues.

There are dozens of organizations in the Pittsburgh area working on global/local connections every day. Organizations that focus on hosting visitors, conversations about global events, and connecting Pittsburgh’s resources to the rest of the world. These organizations are connecting Pittsburghers to the Brazilian Amazon through health-service, educating educators about the Syrian conflict, providing leadership skills through soccer in Cameroon, empowering families in Haiti, supporting cooperative weavers in Peru, educating girls in rural Nepal, and so much more. By creating a coworking and event space, together, we will:

1. Increase global engagement and accessibility in the Pittsburgh area
2. Cultivate young Pittsburgh-based global organizations
3. Attract new resources to our city for internationally collaborative projects

In the short term, we plan to grow membership, increase visibility for global-focused organizations in Pittsburgh, and launch joint ventures. In the long term, we hope to bring more resources to the city for internationally collaborative projects and cultivate new world-changing ideas. These projects will range from innovative global youth exchange programs to education projects abroad. We believe that we will be stronger and more able to advocate for positive change as a group than individually.

Right now, we have a total of 10 organizations who will be housed in The Switchboard.