Community and Pitt speakers gather to speak to a crowd at an event at t at Hazelwood Avenue and Lytle Street, where it was announcement about the Hazelwood CEC was made.
Features & Articles

Pitt’s third Community Engagement Center has found its home in Greater Hazelwood

Tags
  • Community Impact
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Our City/Our Campus
  • Be welcoming and engaged
  • Promote accountability and trust

On Friday, the University of Pittsburgh announced that its Community Engagement Center (CEC) in Greater Hazelwood will be among the organizations housed in a local nonprofit organization’s expansive neighborhood hub.

The CECs are a part of the University’s Neighborhood Commitments, Pitt’s long-term, place-based partnerships with local communities, in which all 17 schools and a variety of academic centers and business units are involved. The University already operates CECs in Homewood and the Hill District.

Like Pitt’s other CECs, Pitt’s third center in Greater Hazelwood will include community-driven programming and services, including educational opportunities in STEM for children, workforce development programs and increased resource development and sharing.

The new CEC will be housed within a new headquarters being constructed by Center of Life, a neighborhood nonprofit organization that offers a bevy of services, programming and community enrichment efforts to residents.

Center of Life’s 127,000-square-foot headquarters, which will be built on 5.3 acres of land on a former steel mill site on Hazelwood Green, will offer science, technology, engineering, arts and math instruction as well as wellness programming, a gym, an early learning center, a health clinic and more.

In addition to the University’s new CEC, the Center of Life hub is expected to house the Green Building Alliance, Primary Care Health Services Inc. and the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center, all of which are expected to have a presence in the new multiuse facility.

Two people in a crowd take a selfie
Caldwell smiles and grasps arms with Smith

Speaking Friday at an event at the intersection of Hazelwood Avenue and Lytle Street, Executive Director of Place-based Initiatives Keith Caldwell said the University’s Office of Engagement and Community Affairs couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with Center of Life on this new endeavor.

“The Community Engagement Centers are the flagship engagement strategy for our University, and the opportunity to partner here in Hazelwood is really an amazing one,” Caldwell said. “We’ve been doing work here over the last 25 years in collaboration, and the opportunity to move from collaboration to long-term commitment is one that is really exciting for us. And to do it as a partner with the Center of Life, helping them execute their vision in this new hub, it’s a fantastic opportunity.”

 

Photography by Aimee Obidzinski

By
Jared Stonesifer
Trending