We’re excited to announce Kidsburgh’s next chapter

Photo by Erik Dungan used by permission via Unsplash.

Ask parents of older kids and they’ll tell you: The days go slowly, but the years can pass with stunning speed.

We knew that was true last spring, as our Kidsburgh team realized something remarkable: It’s been 13 years since this publication for Pittsburgh’s families was born. How could our baby possibly be a fledgling teenager already?

In those early days, Kidsburgh content first appeared in the pages of Pop City, a now-shuttered online magazine that celebrated progress in the Pittsburgh region. Tracy Certo, who steered Pop City, saw value in partnering with us. She said ‘yes’ to including some family-focused news in her publication, and soon we were off and running.

We spent the next five years learning to grow. And when Tracy chose to leave Pop City to found NEXTpittsburgh in 2013, we felt ready to make that leap with her. By now, we were partnering in publishing Kidsburgh on its own platform here at kidsburgh.org, with the NEXT team and editor Sally Quinn leading us forward each month.

Tracy’s leap into entrepreneurship didn’t surprise us, of course. She is one of the biggest champions of entrepreneurship in our region. It only made sense that she’d strike out on her own to create NEXTpittsburgh. We watched as she said ‘yes’ to making that leap, and NEXTpittsburgh soon became her vehicle for telling inspiring stories about risk-takers and changemakers throughout our region.

Seven successful years later, Tracy reached her next crossroads – and so did we. She found herself saying ‘yes’ again, this time to an offer for her beloved publication. She was ready for new challenges and NEXTpittsburgh’s new owner John Rhoades was ready to try his hand at chronicling Pittsburgh’s future.

This time, though, we decided to follow her example and embrace the Pittsburgh spirit of entrepreneurship ourselves. If Kidsburgh had already grown from a quarterly news report to what readers see today — a weekly publication dedicated to families, chock full of news and resources – what if we went another step further?

We had always had a partner handling the editing and publishing for us, but we felt ready (at the ripe old age of 13!) to take over all of those duties ourselves. When we shared this idea with Tracy and John earlier this year, we were grateful but not surprised that they gave us their full support and encouragement.

We also felt a heap of gratitude toward Sally Quinn, who has served as Kidsburgh’s editor during our partnership with NEXTpittsburgh. Together, Tracy and Sally have delivered features and news over the years that span a wide array of topics. They’ve helped so many Pittsburgh-region families to discover resources and navigate life more easily.

Anyone who has undertaken a ‘Maker Monday’ activity or used the regularly featured ‘Things to Do’ or ‘Guides’ to entertain or educate their family, has Sally to thank. These topics have been consistently popular over the years, and Sally made sure they were particularly helpful to families during the dark days of the pandemic.

We’re excited to share that beginning Sept. 1, Kidsburgh will begin to publish independently. We are endlessly grateful to Tracy and Sally for their contributions, their guidance and for making this next chapter possible. And we invite all of you to dive with us into our “teenage years,” as we grow Kidsburgh and expand the ways we serve Pittsburgh’s parents, caregivers and kids of all ages.

As we publish on our own, we look forward to continuing to share with you valuable content from NEXTpittsburgh, KDKA-TV, Common Sense Media and Remake Learning. You’ll be hearing more about our plans from our new editor, Melissa Rayworth. And we’ll be welcoming your thoughts on what kinds of stories and resources you’d love to see us create for you in the months and years to come.

Thank you for being part of our family, and for allowing us to continue sharing stories and resources with yours!