Highlights from the Oct.11 Hazelwood Initiative meeting | The Homepage

Planned Parenthood, Hazelwood Local, fall and holiday fun

By Juliet Martinez

The October community meeting covered a wide range of resources and reports on great things happening in Hazelwood. Public art, job training, youth programming, tree plantings and holiday festivities were some of the opportunities residents learned about.

The November meeting has been canceled because it would fall on election day but we hope to see you at the December 13 meeting from 6 to 8 p.m.

Planned Parenthood Hazelwood drop-in center

Although Planned Parenthood is usually thought of as a source of reproductive health care, at the October 11 Hazelwood Initiative community meeting, staff from the Planned Parenthood drop-in center in Hazelwood described a range of education and support services.

Life skills classes from Planned Parenthood engage youth and adults in learning how to build positive friendships and relationships, how to recognize the signs of abuse, and avoid abusing someone or being abused. Photo courtesy of Planned Parenthood

Dany Ricci, education and outreach specialist at Planned Parenthood, said youth can drop in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 6 p.m. to learn about healthy relationships, sex education, life skills, gender and sexuality. Staff at the drop-in center also help connect people with Planned Parenthood clinical services.

The center at 5125 Second Avenue offers free snacks, condoms, period supplies, Plan B emergency contraception and pregnancy tests.

Planned Parenthood educators at the center give information and answer questions in a medically accurate, nonjudgmental way. Parents can come with questions about how to talk to their kids about sex, puberty, love and dating.

Planned Parenthood has partnered with organizations like Center of Life, JADA House International and Carnegie Library. Community education services include teaching sex education in middle and high schools and teaching youth to be Peer Helpers through a weekly learning series.

Planned Parenthood educators attend community health fairs and deliver period products to schools, lead discussion groups for all ages and promote life skills and healthy decision-making about sex and relationships. All the educational content is LGBTQ inclusive and can be tailored for different audiences.

The drop-in center can also connect adults with HIV and AIDS services and resources. Stop by Monday, Wednesday or Thursday from 2 to 6 p.m.

Hazelwood Local

The event planning initiative for Hazelwood Green has hosted 17 events so far this year, according to Nikki Martin, one of the event planners. Most events are at Hazelwood Green Plaza but they also hold them around the neighborhood. Events on Hazelwood Green this year have included a dog-friendly brunch, summer movie night and music performance series. Neighborhood events included a formal dinner at the Roundhouse and family cooking classes at Community Kitchen.

Hosting events on Hazelwood Green is free! Fill out the short inquiry form on the Event Permitting page. Ms. Martin said they can help you with logistics, permitting, event insurance and other details.

Upcoming Hazelwood Local events can be found on their website (https://www.hazelwoodlocal.com/) and in the ad on page 6. Email nikki@streetplans.org with event suggestions for next year.

Light Up Night

The December 5 event will feature free balloon art, face painting, hot chocolate, cookies and pizza slices along Second Avenue (see ad on page 10). To donate new or gently used artificial Christmas trees for the raffle, please deliver them to Carnegie Library Hazelwood.

Hazelwood Initiative Real Estate

Hazelwood Initiative is proud to promote sustainable commercial development on Second Avenue, including Hazelwood Café, Elevationz, Luella’s Kitchen opening soon on the first floor of 4901 Second Avenue, and the Josza’s Corner building. Tim Kaulen of Industrial Arts Workshop has recruited Hazelwood teens to learn the basics of welding and metalworking.

In 2023, Mr. Kaulen and Edith Abeyta will lead community input sessions on a mural and public art project for the plaza at Elevationz. Hazelwood Local will be working on a new mural for the side of the former Josza’s Corner building. The mural will be portable to preserve the building's historic character.

Environment

After October’s tree adoption event, tree plantings in the Hazelwood greenway and Burgwin Spray Park, Hazelwood Initiative will have planted or given away more than 650 trees in Hazelwood through its two-year partnership with Tree Pittsburgh as a ReLeaf community. In addition to the large hillside stabilization plantings done in the Greenway, Hazelwood Initiative also targeted plantings on its own properties, near places where kids play, like across from Lewis Parklet, the Carnegie Library, and Lytle Land Playground. This gives kids cooler, cleaner air to breathe and protects those with asthma. Tree adoption events through this partnership distributed trees throughout the neighborhood.

At the tree adoption event in October, residents adopted another 73 trees. Up until then, Hazelwood set Tree Pittsburgh records for every ReLeaf event!

Gladstone Residences workforce development

Of 15 students who registered for the pre-apprenticeship program that started on July 19, only eight completed the course, most of those from Hazelwood. Four have already gotten the certification they need after completing the course, and the others will get a chance to re-take the test.

In January look for information on preliminary meetings about living in Gladstone Residences. The low-income tax credits make this a complicated situation, so these will be informational meetings only. When the project is closer to completion there will be more meetings and how to apply. The buildings are expected to be ready for tenants in late 2023.

JADA House international

The annual toy drive will be December 17 from 2 to 4. Watch for information in The Homepage and Hazelwood Initiative e-newsletter.