Homewood’s community vision is to be recognized as an African American cultural destination. The location of the plaza, in addition to being adjacent to CEA, will foster connections between leading Homewood institutions, including the Afro American Music Institute, the Homewood-Brushton YMCA, Miss Mary’s Community Garden, Oasis Community Kitchen, CCAC, and the Pitt Community Engagement Center. Each of these organizations lie one or two blocks away from CEA. In addition, rising real estate prices and gentrification in East Liberty is beginning to encroach on nearby East End neighborhoods. Establishing Homewood as a celebration of Black culture will ensure community ownership as the neighborhood potentially changes.

We are proud to partner with CEA on the development of this plaza. Our involvement with this project began with a $5,000 grant to pay for marketing assistance and throughout 2022, grew to include schematic design and storytelling services and direct fundraising support that has helped raise over $1.25M toward the Community Plaza.

Below are graphic images of the design plans for a new plaza at CEA. We pipelined this project to Equity Centered Designer, Dario McPhee, Associate at Indovina Associates Architects LLC, who rendered these while we provided storytelling and technical assistance to CEA during the planning process

• $5,000 Design Grant: Our Social Impact Design team provided approximately $5,000 of in-kind design and storytelling services to facilitate the conceptual design phase of the project. Once initial concepts were developed, we pipelined this project to Equity Centered Designer, Dario McPhee, Associate at Indovina Associates Architects LLC, who rendered graphics for CEA.
• $1,250,000 raised to directly support the plaza:
  • $1,000,000 — Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) Grant: We assisted with acquiring CEA a highly competitive state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant to make improvements to its building and the adjacent community plaza.
  • $150,000 —  PA Department for Community and Economic Development (DCED) Grant: CEA received a grant invitation to apply for specialized state funding but it required a very tight turnaround to complete and submit the application. Through this nuanced process, Neighborhood Allies was able to support CEA in applying to and successfully securing the grant!
  • $100,000 — Neighborhood Initiatives Fund (NIF) Grant: Through the URA we assisted with acquiring funds for the actual site development of the plaza through the NIF program which prioritizes neighborhood-scale projects and programs to help unlock economic and placemaking potential and support vision-to-action community investment strategies that build an equitable Pittsburgh.

how we help revitalize neighborhoods

Neighborhood Capital Fund

With an unprecedented $2 million grant from McAuley Ministries, our Neighborhood Capital Fund is supporting transformative real estate projects in the Greater Hill District through patient, flexible capital that encourages prudent risk-taking and promotes equitable outcomes for businesses and residents. Through this fund we provide grants for predevelopment costs including architectural fees, engineering fees, environmental studies, surveys, legal fees, etc. We also provide loan guarantees and other forms of credit enhancement as well as direct injections of project equity. This fund is our solution to address a major dysfunction in the community development system–the lack of wealth in the Black community that makes real estate ownership and development more difficult.

Social Impact Design

Our Social Impact Design Program builds the capacity of both designers and the community by providing project management and schematic design support. This newly launched program works to increase the flow of public and private community development capital to low-income communities, building a network of equity-focused designers and community leaders, while elevating the voices of marginalized leaders in architecture and development, especially in our Black and Brown communities.

Real Estate Co-Powerment Series

Co-created and launched in early 2017 by Neighborhood Allies and Omicelo Cares, the Co-Powerment Series is an education platform that demystifies the real estate development process, explains its associated terminology, and brings to light the productive role community members and organizations play in the real estate and economic development inside their neighborhoods. An overarching goal of the education series is to shrink the technical proficiency gap that exists between real estate developers and community leaders that are involved in local development projects.