Homewood Nation

THIS IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, WHILE I’M WRITING.

A Homewood apartment building that once lost its Section 8 subsidy is holding an open house today to show off the renovations performed by its new owner.

The six-unit building at 7301 Hamilton Avenue was part of Bethesda Homewood, a real estate portfolio of more than 100 units that failed inspections by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for three years in a row before HUD pulled the portfolio’s Section 8 subsidy last fall.

In February of this year, the properties were acquired by Omicelo, a Strip-District based real estate investment firm, and renamed Esperanza Homewood (“esperanza” is Spanish for “hope”;). The Hamilton Avenue building is the first property in the portfolio to have its renovations completed.

Referring to the quality of the renovations, Omicelo founder Joshua Pollard said that while the units will remain affordable, “These look like market-rate units. That’s sort of the point for us.”

Pollard is an area native (“I grew up on the border of Rankin and Braddock.” who returned to Pittsburgh in 2014 after graduating from the University of Rochester with a double major in economics and statistics and doing a stint at Goldman Sachs, where he became a vice-president before turning 30.

As a real estate investor, Pollard’s vision goes beyond return on investment measured in dollars. In conjunction with Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services and the nonprofit Community Human Services, Omicelo has created the Family Navigators Initiative. Each family who moves into the newly-renovated Esperanza units will be assigned a “family navigator” who will help tenants to navigate four areas of life - physical health, behavioral health, workforce development, and experiential education, “to help someone find the kind of education that makes them happy and could lead to higher incomes.”

Hey y'all -

It's been so long that it's going to take me a minute to get back into practice, to reconnect with the flow. So this is just a practice piece, and I'll keep it short.

Homewood and the rest of the planet suffered a loss last week with the passing of Aretha Franklin, at the age of 76. Just three years ago, she showed that she was still - well, a goddess, basically - when she brought down the house during the Kennedy Center's honoring of Carol King. 

I don't know what anyone else in Homewood did last Thursday. I spent at least a couple of hours YouTubing Aretha videos. In doing so, I learned about her remarkable and unexpected performance at the 1998 Grammys, when she stepped in for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti and OWNED one of the world's most well-known operatic arias.

Now comes the disappointing news that she died without a will or trust. Now the disposition of a reported $80 million will become the focus of a grieving family and the topic of public discussion for who knows how long. This, after the same thing happened with Prince. And with James Brown.

Creating paperwork to guide the disposition of one's estate can feel like playing air guitar - an imaginary act that has no impact. But in fact, it is one of the most impactful things a person can do. Likewise, failing to do so is one of the most impactful things a person can do. The impact can go beyond a family to affect an entire community - one big reason that Homewood looks the way it does is because for decades, homeowners have died without wills. Last week, dozens of pieces of real estate in Homewood were offered at the County Treasurer's sale. My guess is that the majority of them were owned by dead people, or by negligent heirs. 

Shall we top this off with a taste of irony? Okay - August is National Make-A-Will Month.

So I'm going to close with this: if you want to do the right thing by everyone and get a will done, without spending hundreds (or thousands) of $$$, shoot me a text at (412) 508-4088. I can help you make that problem go away.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!

The Homewood-Brushton Business Association's second annual Business Expo will be held tomorrow (Saturday), Nov. 18, at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA.

The full-day event is divided into two major parts. A set of workshops for business owners will run from 8 am to noon. The workshops were scheduled with pre-registration, but business owners can still register onsite for $25.

Then, from noon to 4 pm, the expo will be open to the public.

HBBA president Vernard Alexander said that former board member Marteen Garay was "pretty much the catalyst that got the ball rolling" for the first expo, which was held last year. Fleshing out the idea happened through a partnership with Penn State University and Urban Innovation21.

There were 25 vendors and another 15 businesses that participated as sponsors, Alexander said. This year, there are again 25 vendors, but fewer sponsors, about 10.

Still, Alexander sees this year's expo as an improvement on the first in at least a couple of ways.

First, four of this year's sponsors will offer youth activities, to make this year's event more family-friendly.

"While the parents were shopping, so to speak, we wanted to make sure that we had activities for kids, to keep them engaged."

Second, this year's location, the YMCA, is more centralized than the site of last year's expo, Bridgeway Capital's 7800 Susquehanna building.

"There's going to be a lot of foot traffic (in the YMCA) already," Alexander said.

A photo exhibit being unveiled next month will honor men in Homewood for their service and leadership.

“American Heroes: The Homewood Project” is a photo series offering portraits and bios of 20 men, ranging from their 20s to their 70s, who live and/or work in Homewood.

The project was produced by members of the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation, the local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.

The men being honored were selected through a nomination process in which PBMF reached out to the community to ask whom they considered to be heroes.

I am one of them. The other 19 include Rashad Byrdsong, founder and CEO of Community Empowerment Association, Neil Dorsey, owner of Dorsey's Records, and James A. Brown, the director of the Homewood-Brushton YMCA's Lighthouse program.

The resulting exhibit will be unveiled in a reception at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA on December 3, from 3:30 - 6 pm. The event is free and the public is invited - to get tickets, visit the project's Eventbrite page.

"American Heroes" is part of NABJ's Black Male Media Project, #InspireBlackMen, a nationwide effort to inspire, support and develop training and mentorship opportunities for black men working in journalism and media and those who aspire to do so.

NOTE: Daren A. Ellerbee is the director of the University of Pittsburgh's Community Engagement Center, scheduled to open in Homewood next spring.

I come from a family of phenomenal women.

My grandmother was a nurse at Aliquippa hospital and ran a food bank out of her home. My mother is a recently retired social worker and has volunteered for organizations too numerous to list. Growing up I was often reminded verbally and by example that “we are called to take care of each other.” I grew up knowing what I was expected to do and the woman I was expected to become.

I am the director of Pitt’s Community Engagement Center in Homewood. My mother reminds me that I have been groomed for this opportunity my entire life. It is her words that continue to play out in my head as I approach a month in this new role. I do not take her expectations, and the expectations of the residents living in and around Homewood lightly.

The first of its kind in the Pittsburgh region, the CEC (short for community engagement center) is a place-based strategy that helps Pitt be a better partner to the community. It creates a “front door” for Pitt in the neighborhood and is a place where community and university people come together to work on projects and programs. The CEC is different from the organizations already in Homewood and isn’t meant to replicate or replace programming already happening. It’s a place where Pitt can align student projects with community efforts, faculty research with community concerns, and teach Pitt faculty, staff, and students about the history and life of the neighborhood so they can effectively participate in efforts throughout the community.

Even though the CEC is new, Pitt’s involvement in Homewood is not, and one of the reasons Pitt wanted to develop its CEC in Homewood was to build on the strong relationships created between the School of Social Work and the Homewood Children’s Village, School of Engineering and the Manufacturing Assistance Center at 7800 Susquehanna Street, and years of community-guided student projects, such as the English Composition class that worked with Mr. Green on this very blog.

I am charged with being Pitt’s main point-of-contact in Homewood, bridging the community’s interests and agendas with the University’s mission of teaching and research. Upon accepting the position, I was proud to learn the level of university wide buy-in from all 14 schools at Pitt who have signed-on to support the Center including my beloved College of Arts & Sciences. (I forgot to mention that I am also a Pitt alum who studied Communication and Rhetoric & Africana Studies, class of 2004.)

While the nature of projects and programs of the CEC continue to be refined as we receive community input, we have an opportunity to leverage legal workshops from our School of Law, a diversity of health services (such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, and pre-sport checkups) that complement the services available at Alma Illery Medical Center, and business development and acceleration through our Institute of Entrepreneurial Excellence, just to name a few. My job is to bridge the community and university, and to help identify opportunities for collaboration between the two.

It’s important to me that as many people as possible are knowledgeable about the CEC, and that they know the center is accessible to them. Though the CEC will not open until spring 2018, we are arranging a temporary office for me in the neighborhood. Until then, I can often be found at the Everyday Café or the Carnegie Library. You will also see me during many community meetings. Stop by and say hello. I truly want to hear from you!

You can also find out more online by visiting our website or following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The success of this Center is contingent upon community support and trust. I look forward to building both. Why? Because not only will the community hold me accountable, but my mother most certainly will. I do not want to be on the bad side of either.

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To reach Ms. Ellerbee, drop her a line at d.ellerbee@pitt.edu, or give her a call at 412-852-7551.

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A meeting of the City's Planning Commision this afternoon could be a critical turning point for a mixed-income housing development being planned for Homewood.

The proposed 58-unit development, dubbed Kelly-Hamilton, has been winding its way through the pre-construction process for more than a year. But sustained opposition to the development may cause the developer, Keith B. Key Enterprises (usually referred to as "KBK") to miss deadlines to apply for Pennsylvania Housing Finance Authority tax credits that would be critical to the project's financing.

The opposition has mostly come from the Homewood Concerned Citizens Council, a group of Homewood residents headed by Cherylie Fuller. Fuller lives on Hamilton Avenue, close to where the new homes would be built.

Fuller and HCCC made the news when they protested at the May 4 groundbreaking for the project. The Post-Gazette's story about the event includes this:

“Talk to us,” said Cherylie Fuller. “Sit down with us. We don’t want what they’re ramming down our throat.”

The most recent expression of opposition came at the Planning Commission's Sept. 12 meeting (the Commission meets every two weeks), where it is reported that Fuller and Judith Ginyard spoke against the project.

What's especially interesting is that the Commission has a 1 pm briefing, which is off the record, and a 2 pm meeting during which the public may comment. According to my source, Fuller and Ginyard spoke during the briefing.

(EDIT, 9-27-17: Please note my friend Ann Belser's comment befow, and my response."

Fuller's plea - or demand - to "sit down with us" is, on the face of it, perplexing.

According to Jerome Jackson, executive director of Operation Better Block, KBK has attended at least four meetings of OBB's community clusters, as well as OBB monthly community meetings, and at least three HCCC meetings.

I don't know whether or not he's counting the November public meeting hosted by HCCC, at which Mr. Keys gave a detailed presentation on the project.

This raises the obvious question, "What does a developer have to do to gain community support?"

It also suggests a less obvious question, "Whose support does a developer need in order for them, or anyone, to say that they have community support?"

The project is supported by the Homewood Community Development Collaborative, an affiliation of Homewood-based non-profits that includes 

• Building United of Southwestern Pennsylvania
• Community Empowerment Association
• Homewood-Brushton Business Association
• Homewood-Brushton YMCA
• Homewood-Brushton YWCA
• Homewood Children's Village
• Operation Better Block
• Race Street 2050 (formerly Save Race Street Committee)

Fuller's group, HCCC, was a founding member of the Collaborative, but withdrew in January.

Members of the Collaborative spoke in favor of the project at a meeting of the Urban Redevelopment Authority on January 12. And we (I am president of Race Street 2050) will be at the Commission meeting this afternoon.

It should be interesting.

There's a lot more to this story; stay tuned for Part 2.

When the young man first rushed into the Everyday Cafe today with his hand to his face, I thought he had a nosebleed.

But there was too much blood. There was way too much blood. Going all over the floor and splashing across the front of the counter as he walked dazedly in a small circle.

"Call 911! I need an ambulance!" Not loud, but urgent. Desperate.

His face, not his nose, was bleeding from an open wound, his one visible eye wild with fear.

I had been sitting with employee Dorian Robinson, who rose to help. I got up, too, but he was closer, and the two women workers - one whom I know as Ms. Shar (spelling? Char?) and one whose name I don't know - were looking for a phone and I grabbed one of mine and called 911 while they sat the young man down and tried to talk him down from panic and tried not to panic, themselves.

And later we were grateful for being the only ones there, so that there was no mass panic, just the three of them tyring to help the young man and me answering the 911 operator's questions, some of which I had to ask the young man.

"How old are you?"

"16"

"Where were you when you were shot?"

"I don't know."

A string of questions for me to answer or to re-ask, and the women losing patience with the 911 operator and the 911 operator seeming to be about to lose patience with me because I was responding to both them and him.

While the young man bled and asked for help and asked them to hurry.

Too many questions. Way too many questions. I know that he was doing his job, but the sooner that he would have said, "The ambulance is on its way," the sooner I could have said that to the young man and to the women and imparted a sense of calm.

I was still on the phone with the 911 operator when the first police officers arrived. They asked questions and looked the young man over prepared him for the ambulance, which came soon after.

And the ambulance took the young man and the officers said, "He'll be okay."

The best news of the day - he'll be okay.

Physically, at least. Psychically? Hmm. Let's see - he's walking down the street and suddenly one side of his face is ripped open and there's all the pain that a bullet causes and he doesn't know who did it.

And he's 16.

When I was 16, I barely survived the slightest hint that my girlfriend did not love me as crazily as I loved her.

This is where I rant about how adolescence SHOULD be the last surge of childhood, not a time to dodge, or fail to dodge, a bullet. But we all already know that, so I won't.

I'll say that the young man should be okay, and that I pray that he truly is.

And the Everyday Cafe folks got busy cleaning up the blood and detectives came and asked questions and by the time I left, a few of the many officers (there was a fleet of cruisers by then) had a suspect in custody. The second best news of the day.

Marred slightly by the fact that he looked like he might be 16, too.

EDIT, 9/24: Police now say that the gunshot victim may have been victimizing someone else when he got shot.

Those of you who have liked Homewood Nation's Facebook page may have seen this already. For those of you who haven't like our page  (a situation that you need to correct immediately!), sorry this is so last-minute. I'm working every day to get better. 

Anyway, here you go:

Today is the deadline for Homewood business owners to apply for a University of Pittsburgh program designed to help them grow their businesses.

The "Community Power to Prosper" Program, launching June 6, will offer classes on strategic thinking, financial analysis, marketing and social media, among other topics. Its 13 sessions will run through November 14, with classes being held every two weeks (substituting June 27 for July 4), from 8 a.m. - 10 a.m.

The program is being offered by The Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence, part of Pitt's Innovation Institute, and is underwritten by The Heinz Endowments.

Nicole M. Hudson, program manager for the Institute's Urban and Community Entrepreneurship Program and Entrepreneurial Fellows Class, said that this will be the seventh go-round for the program, which has been offered previously in such locations as Hosanna House in Wilkinsburg and the Riverside Center for Innovation on the North Shore.

This time, classes will be held at Bible Center Church, 717 N. Homewood Avenue.

"Because of all the revitalization taking place in the Homewood area," she said, "we thought that it would be a great opportunity to work with the local business owners, to make sure that when all these new things take place, that they are ready for that change.

"We want people to be able to embrace the change and be prepared for it when it comes."

That desire to help business owners be prepared led to an extension of the application deadline, which was originally May 1.

The program is open to owners of businesses that have at least one full-time employee other than the themselves, and have been operating for at least two years.

The two-page application asks for "approximate annual sales," with check boxes that start at $50,000, but Ms. Hudson said that owners of smaller businesses should not let that throw them off, "as long as you are progressing, and you are moving forward, and you are ambitious, and you are serious about your business."

Just above the signature line on the application is a pledge: "If accepted, I am fully committed to attending all sessions and coming prepared to embark on a journey of lifelong learning that will result in the success of my business."

As a fan of lifelong learning, I applaud that, and hope everyone who gets into the program does indeed remain on that journey.

To apply, download the application form, complete it and return it to Ms. Hudson at nhudson@innovation.pitt.edu.

Hey friends,

You may have noticed that this website has been pretty quiet for a while. In fact, it's been so quiet for so long that you may have stopped bothering to check in here.

The first thing I'm going to say is, sorry about that. The fact is, there's a ton of stuff happening in Homewood these days, things that you deserve to know about.

So why has Homewood Nation, the website, been so quiet? Because I, Elwin Green, have been going through stuff that's made it harder and harder to take care of business here.

Over the past week or so, all of that stuff came to a head, and I thought about suicide.

Obviously, I decided against it.

Earlier today, I published a post about that on my personal blog. Now I've decided to share it here, because it touches on things that I believe affect Homewood as a whole. So here it is.

Thoughts On Not Committing Suicide

This week, I decided to remain on Earth rather than leave for Heaven.

To put it non-theologically, I decided not to commit suicide.

Decided again, that is.

Let me hasten to add, I have never attempted to commit suicide. I don't have scars on my wrists or any such thing.

But I have thought about it, and decided not to attempt it, more than once.

The fact that I have never attempted it may lead some people to say that I have never thought about it seriously enough for it to count. To you I say, "That's okay."

On the other hand, the fact that I have thought about it at all may totally freak some people out. To you I say, "Please don't make it more than it is, or was: a thought, a consideration of a possibility in the midst of emotional pain."

In my view, the most important thing about having thought about it is that I decided, "Nah."

I don't know whether the very fact of thinking about it qualifies me for a diagnosis or a prescription. I have thought, this week, that I would probably do well to talk to a therapist, because I don't think that people who dwell entirely within the spectrum of normal think enough about committing suicide so that they have to decide against it. Entirely normal people don't think about it at all, right?

Right???

If nothing else, a therapist might help me understand whether my thoughts and feelings are simply a matter of temperament, or of actual brain chemistry. So, yeah, that could be useful. I totally hate the possibility of becoming drug-dependent, but taking pills may be better than what I've gone through.

For some people, my saying all this will certainly feel like the ultimate in TMI. And someone will certainly think, if not say, "Why would he tell the world this?"

I mean, it's not exactly something to put on your resume as you prepare for total global domination.

So why say it? Why tell?

Because I want to help create a culture in which it's okay to say it; a culture in which it's okay to tell. A culture in which there is no shame in expressing certain types or degrees of pain.

I think that the more people feel free to talk about suicidal thoughts or feelings, the more likely they are to decide not to act on them, to not become one of the 100+ Americans who die by suicide EVERY DAY.

I admit that talking about suicidal thoughts and feelings after they've passed is not the same as doing so while they're present. But I hope that it can be a useful start.

Beyond that - and this may really qualify me as flat-out crazy - I am telling this because I think there's a value that can be found in having considered suicide, and decided against it.

Most people who woke up today did not truly choose to do so. They simply have not considered the alternative.

This week, I considered the alternative, and chose to keep waking up.

I consider that enormously valuable.

I have made that choice enough times now so that I expect to continue making it, until the day I non-suicidally die. If at times that means living with persistent fear, piercing loneliness and an overwhelming sense of abject failure, then so be it. I'll accept those feelings as simply part of life, until I learn to annihilate them (I'm working on that, and consider myself close).

But just in case my brain throws me the ultimate curve ball, I've memorized this number: (412) 420-HELP. It's the local crisis and suicide prevention hotline, listed at www.suicide.org.

If you're in the Pittsburgh area, and need a "just in case," say it with me: four-twenty help. Four-twenty help. Four-twenty help.

If you're outside the Pittsburgh area, and need to know what number to memorize (or to carry with you), go to www.suicide.org.

It seems only right to say why I've chosen to remain here when I identify with Paul's line that to be with Christ would be better.

Here's why: when I first considered committing suicide, I decided not to because it would dishonor God. This week I decided not to primarily because it would also hurt my wife so deeply. When I feel most strongly like leaving, God and my wife are my reasons to stay, even more than the considerable amount of work I have to do (thinking about the work doesn't help when I feel unable to do it).

I wish each of you confidence rather than fear, satisfying intimacy rather than loneliness, and success rather than failure. But most of all, if any or all of those things fail, I wish you reasons to stay here anyway.

Meanwhile, let's all decide now that if we ever feel too weak to decide later, we'll dial four-twenty help (or the number in your area).

Okay?

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That's the blog post. Now here's my question for us to think about - how many other people in Homewood are struggling with suicidal thoughts and feelings? And how many of them are afraid or ashamed to even say so?

If you're one of them, please leave the shame behind. Call (412) 420-HELP.

If you're not one of them, then please share this with family, friends and neighbors, because one of them may be.

To all of my neighbors, I say, " LET'S LIVE, HOMEWOOD. LET'S CHOOSE LIFE."

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