We’re friends from cities across the rust belt who know a thing or two about saving historic buildings. We want to encourage YOU to save buildings while also building friendships that will last a lifetime!

Rust Belt Young Preservation Coalition Leaders Include:

Sarah Marsom is a full-time preservationist for the German Village Society and loves weekend road trips. When she is not busy visiting heritage sites or scheming an upcoming trip, you can find Sarah at home with her partner, Stephen, and their cat, Raja, working on their garden or getting creative in the kitchen. Sarah is vegan, has lived in six states and one other country, and has at least three tattoos dedicated to history. Keep up with Sarah on Instagram.com/sarahmarsom.

Mike Panzitta grew up in Wilkes-Barre, PA, where he developed his lifelong love of compact, walkable, historic urban areas. He is a lifetime resident of Pennsylvania, and loves exploring new towns throughout the state. Mike studied civil engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and currently works as a water resources engineer. His background in infrastructure and love of historic urban neighborhoods makes him very good at complaining about car-oriented design, and very insufferable at cocktail parties. Mike is a board member of Pittsburgh’s Young Preservationists Association and lives in a historic district in the city’s North Side.

Bernice Radle is a Buffalo lover through and through. She owns Buffalove Development which rehabs vacant or underutilized properties in Buffalo and she leads the way for Buffalo’s Young Preservationists. She is the creator of the heart bomb, the advocate for the defining and defeating the vacancy vortex and she can create and run preservation campaigns very well. She has an urban planning degree and also maintains a seat on the City of Buffalo’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

As a true Midwesterner, Raina Regan is an Indiana import by way of Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Born in Pittsburgh, Raina first lived in an 1870s house, which may have subconsciously developed her love of historic buildings. Raina obtained her undergraduate degree in Art History and Visual Culture at Michigan State University, followed immediately with a graduate degree in Historic Preservation from Ball State University. Raina works as a Community Preservation Specialist for Indiana Landmarks and co-founded Preserve Greater Indy, Indy’s young preservationist group. She lives just north of downtown Indianapolis in a historic neighborhood.

Katy Sawyer was born and raised in Michigan. She moved to Pittsburgh after graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in Civil Engineering and is a licensed Structural Engineer in the State of Pennsylvania. Katy was drawn to YPA because of a founding organizational belief that teaching young people about history and the built environment can be a powerful tool for community revitalization and economic development from the inside-out. Many years later, her motto is, “Everyone is a preservationist – they just don’t know it yet!”