Bridging the Pittsburgh communities, we see you!

Following Denzel Washington’s weekend visit to the Hill District to assist with the grand opening of the August Wilson House, the University of Pittsburgh Library System announced today a $1 million grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to support the opening of and the public’s engagement with its August Wilson Archive.

The first person to be awarded the Exposure Tongue River Artist/Activist Residency, a program of The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Exposure Artists Program, is Jasmine Green. The 28-year-old, who describes herself as an “artivist” (a portmanteau of artist and activist) from Pittsburgh, is a gifted painter who draws from on lived experience for her artwork under the moniker Black Girl Absolute. During her stay in Dayton, Wyoming, she plans to work on her book, “A Field Guide for Blue Girls.”

 Community collaborations in urban agriculture are receiving support through a partnership between the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) and the American Public Gardens Association (Association). Under the third year of the Urban Agriculture Resilience Program, 24 urban agriculture collaborations between public gardens and community partners across 19 states are receiving $440,800, the largest amount awarded through the program to date.

Hershel Walker’s Senatorial candidacy is perhaps a quintessential example of the above Martin Luther King Jr. quote.  In addition, to support Walker’s candidacy, one might be involved, wittingly or unwittingly, in a Machiavellian type plot.  This is especially the case given that he is trailing his opponent, the distinguished Senator Raphael Warnock, by a few percentage points.  And in today’s racist, “Maga,” “alternative facts,” “gas lighting” world, what better way to do so than by pitting these two Black men against each other?  

Part of our role as legislators is to help increase access to opportunities for those we are elected to represent. Act 77 of 2019 did just that.

It was a bipartisan bill that expanded access to the ballot by moving the Commonwealth on a path towards normalizing no-excuse mail-in voting. Simply put, Act 77 provides voters with the opportunity to have more options to cast a ballot.

 The Department of City Planning’s Public Art and Civic Design Planning division has selected four artists to create permanent art installations in Homewood Park as part of the Homewood Park Improvement Project.

In 2015, various community organizations identified several challenges facing Homewood Park and its existing conditions. 

The August Wilson House host committee announces a

schedule of events for the grand opening celebration on Saturday, Aug. 13, of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s childhood home at 1727 Bedford Ave., in Pittsburgh’s

Hill District. 

Actor Denzel Washington, a two-time Academy Award winner, will join Constanza Romero Wilson (Wilson’s widow) in delivering welcome remarks beginning at 1:30 p.m. that day. 

 The Health Expo/Community Day is a free, family-friendly event that embodies a holistic approach to focusing on physical, mental, spiritual, environmental, and economic health.  People from all over the Greater Pittsburgh & surrounding areas gather to engage in this fun and informative event.  This event is strategically designed to provide a variety of resources to encourage life-style changes and build stronger, healthier communities. 

They’re back and bigger than ever! After dazzling the region in 2021, the Asian Lantern Festival will make its triumphant return to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium on select nights starting August 12 through October 30. The all-new display will include favorites from days past: dinosaurs.

Over 50 massive silk and steel handcrafted sculptures will once again shine along the pathways of the Zoo at night, with the largest lanterns soaring 30 feet high and reaching 100 feet long. 

 The year 2020 was one of unrest: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted society while the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people in America sparked a wave of global protests. During this already turbulent time, Black youth were also experiencing an uptick in online racial discrimination, a new University of Pittsburgh study has found.

City Theatre Company, the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh Glass Center, and Pittsburgh Public Theater—have appointed Fatima Bunafoor to be their shared Talent & Equity Director, in an effort to address common staffing challenges and inclusive human resources objectives. 

 Because of a University-wide initiative, Oghifobibi is now an assistant professor of pediatrics, where he helps by not only caring for infants but by developing a program with the Allegheny County Health Department to combat a significant health disparity — the distressing rate of maternal and infant mortality in Pittsburgh’s Black and Brown communities.