An employment social enterprise, founded by Pittsburgh nonprofits in 2015.
Landforce combines workforce development and environmental stewardship. Crews are made up of people who are typically excluded from family-sustaining jobs, but who are eager to share their skills, competence and commitment to our region.
A just world
“Landforce is committed to building a just world, where everyone belongs, lives in a healthy environment, and surpasses their greatest dreams.”
Self-empowerment, healthy land
“We nourish a culture of self-empowerment for people aspiring towards meaningful and stable employment, as we protect and improve the environment.”
A transitional employer with a decade of stewardship behind it.
Founded in November 2015 by a consortium of Pittsburgh nonprofits, Landforce acts as a transitional employer. We use much-needed environmental stewardship of our natural and naturalized areas to provide individualized career and supportive services and hard and soft skills training, while offering transitional employment that develops workplace skills and behaviors, establishes an employment record and generates employer references.
Our crews are professionally skilled teams who help restore and maintain land and green assets and can assist in a wide array of environmental management. Since October 2025 The Mill, our Responsible Wood Production facility, has added a second place for Crew Members to build skills.
We serve people living in Pittsburgh and the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the city within Allegheny County.
Ten years, and the trail before it
Landforce grew out of Mount Washington’s Emerald Trail Corps, which from 2011 trained more than 40 corps members and built over 10 miles of trail.
After two years of national research with Mount Washington Community Development Corporation, GTECH Strategies, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, UrbanKind and Allegheny Land Trust, supported by the Hillman Foundation, the organization incorporated on November 30, 2015 as Pittsburgh Conservation Corps and took the name Landforce in early 2016. Founding partners also included the A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Student Conservation Association.
- 2011
Emerald Trail Corps
MWCDC’s trail corps begins on Mount Washington. By 2014, 75% of corps members walk into jobs.
- Nov 30, 2015
Incorporated
Pittsburgh Conservation Corps is founded by a consortium of Pittsburgh nonprofits.
- 2016
Landforce
The permanent name is adopted and the first crews are hired in the spring.
- 2021
EPA Brownfields job-training grant
A $200,000 award supports environmental training for Crew Members.
- Nov 2022
50,000 hours
Crews surpass 50,000 hours of environmental stewardship across the region.
- 2024
Two cohorts, a lease and a sawmill
Nearly twice as many Crew Members; the lease for The Mill is signed and a Wood-Mizer sawmill acquired. Transitional employment now runs all 12 months.
- Oct 2025
The Mill opens
A 10,000-square-foot Responsible Wood Production facility opens in the East End as Landforce marks ten years.
- 2026
Second decade
Landforce joins the Levine Impact Lab Operational Support cohort and begins a brand and website refresh.
Landforce commits to:
Center participants’ needs on site, in training and in coaching.
Maximize public benefit by combining employment and stewardship.
Adapt to the land types and crew needs in front of us.
Recognize that market demand informs program size.
Provide high-quality training, experience and credentials.
Build partnerships with employers and land and workforce organizations.
Value collaboration, shared services and inclusivity.
Support, rather than compete with, similar organizations.
Build the organization on respect and compassion.
Acknowledge the trauma many employees face, and build tools and capacity to meet it.
Our communications are people-first, strengths-based, respectful and clear. Crew Member stories are told only with their consent: those stories belong to them alone.
The people behind the crews
Four members of staff started as Crew Members. Staff hold the credentials crews train toward, including Tree Tender, Flagger, forklift, Game of Logging chainsaw safety, OSHA 10/40, First Aid/CPR/AED, National Green Infrastructure Certification and Pesticide/Herbicide Applicator.
Photography: Brian Cohen Photography (team portraits), courtesy Landforce.
Governance
Landforce is governed by a volunteer board of directors: five officers and eight members. The full board list, with photographs, is published on landforcepgh.org and would be maintained by staff in the new CMS.
See the boardEveryone belongs
Landforce does not discriminate in employment, training or services. Our full non-discrimination policy is available on request and on the current site.
Read the policyWork with us
Hire a crew, buy wood, donate a log, refer a candidate or make a gift. Every path supports paid training and employment for Pittsburgh-area people.