Our Areas of Work
While community development can cover everything from real estate and workforce development to education, we focus on a few select areas and work through partnerships with other community organizations to achieve broader development goals.
Real Estate
In order to preserve affordable housing for residents and business space for local entrepreneurs to grow, we buy, sell, lease, and rent affordable residential and commercial properties.
We also partner with organizations to provide construction training opportunities to Hazelwood residents so that they can apply for jobs in the neighborhood as it continues to develop.
Healthy Homes
Through grants and partnerships, we assist with
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home repair,
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lead paint remediation,
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air quality monitoring,
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and transitioning to solar power.
Visit our Healthy Homes page to learn more.
Green space
We support community greening efforts--from vegetable and flower gardens, to street trees, and greenway restoration. Through our greening efforts, we help to reduce flooding, stormwater runoff, and heat sickness--in addition to improving air quality and beauty.
Engagement
We keep the Greater Hazelwood community and those that surround it, aware of important development issues through our
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monthly community meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of each month (Hybrid at Community Kitchen and via Zoom)
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monthly environmental development meetings on the last Monday of each month (via Zoom)
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monthly community newspaper, "The Homepage"
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door-to-door canvassing with surveys and flyers
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phone calls
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tabling at community events
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and weekly e-newsletter.
As the neighborhood Registered Community Organization (RCO) we are also responsible for advertising and convening meetings between residents and developers that are overseen by City Planning.
Assistance programs
Our Neighborhood Investment Fund provides rapid emergency financial assistance to help keep residents in their homes.
We have also been contracted in the past with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Action Housing, and Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) to help residents successfuly apply for financial assistance for housing and utilities (URA's Housing Stabilization Program HSP & Action Housing's Emergency Rental Assistance Program ERAP), discount home repairs, and free home lead remediation.
Research & Policy
Our directors attend meetings with various government officials and agencies, as well as select nonprofit advocacy organizations, in order to make sure that the development needs of the Greater Hazelwood community are known. The organization is particularly active in the policy arena around affordable housing, equitable transit, and environmental justice.
Additionally, the organization partners with research teams at the major universities as well as national nonprofits to better understand the community's needs and bring resources to improve the community. Current projects are centered around equitable development, hillside stabilization in the greenway, and air quality monitoring.