University Times

A new collaborative effort between the University and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh (FHLB) is strengthening Pitt’s ties to nearby Hazelwood and to communities in need across the state and beyond.

The University long has been involved in community outreach initiatives not only in Hazelwood, but in other neighborhoods adjacent to the Pittsburgh campus as well, including south, central and west Oakland and the Allequippa Terrace/Oak Hill area.

The FHLB Blueprint Communities program adds one more facet to the community involvement to which the University has committed.

The FHLB program, which kicked off last August, is working with representatives of 22 economically disadvantaged communities in Pennsylvania in hopes of sparking revitalization through leadership training and hands-on technical assistance.

Teams of between five and nine people from each community underwent five days of training late last year to learn leadership, collaboration, planning and development skills. The communities are at various stages of revitalization work: Some leadership teams are just getting started; others are ready to begin work on selected development projects that range from housing studies and municipal planning to conducting inventories of community assets. All are receiving customized training and assistance tailored to their individual projects. And they’re receiving help from University experts and students to bring their projects to fruition.

“The idea was, after they received the basic set of training they would continue the process back home,” said John Bendel, director of community investment at the FHLB of Pittsburgh.

“Some of the communities are making substantial progress and really have the opportunity to do something special,” Bendel said.

FHLB has set aside $1 million in first-time homebuyer and small business assistance money for use in Blueprint communities. In addition, Blueprint communities get priority in the FHLB’s competitive grant program for housing projects, Bendel said.

Similar programs are to follow this year for communities FHLB of Pittsburgh serves in West Virginia and next year in Delaware.

Pitt’s participation in the program is twofold, both as the clearinghouse to match communities with experts who can help, and as a source of expertise in its own right.

Pitt’s initial involvement in the Blueprint program hinges on a longstanding relationship between the FHLB and Leon L. Haley, Graduate School of Pubic and International Affairs (GSPIA) professor and director of the GSPIA Nonprofit Clinic.

Haley served on the FHLB’s affordable housing advisory council and FHLB had provided grants for organizational capacity building, which the GSPIA clinic administered for several years.

“He’s the glue that connects the FHLB and GSPIA,” Bendel said of Haley.

The relationship led to the FHLB’s request that Pitt build a network for technical assistance in creating community development plans. The network now consists of Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Slippery Rock and Robert Morris universities in western Pennsylvania; Penn State, Temple and LaSalle universities in central and eastern Pennsylvania. “We process the request,” said Haley, explaining that needs and schools are matched based on geography and the school’s area of expertise.

“We knew we wanted to have a provider of technical assistance,” Bendel said. “It was a natural fit.”

As providers of part of that expertise, a team from Pitt is conducting a housing market and demand study in Hazelwood under the Blueprint program. By the end of the semester, the team will recommend a course of action.

Some of the questions to be answered include determining demand, tackling transportation issues, finding a niche in the market such as trying to appeal to University employees, empty nesters or to the international community; pricing points and whether to encourage new construction or renovation.

Essentially, “what’s it going to take to make Hazelwood look trendy,” said Jim Richter, executive director of the Hazelwood Initiative, the community group partnering in the Blueprint program.

“We want to create as much enthusiasm about redevelopment and moving into Hazelwood as we can,” he said.

At the same time, other Pitt teams will be conducting a Main Street market study to develop a marketing plan for Hazelwood’s business district and a study for the re-use of the former Carnegie Library building. The building, which dates back to the turn of the 20th century, was named to the Young Preservationists of Pittsburgh’s 2004 list of the top 10 best historic preservation opportunities.

The library team will construct different design schemes and get cost estimates to suggest workable scenarios for reuse of the structure.

The Hazelwood work is being done by three teams totaling 16 students under a cross-disciplinary team of faculty supervisors.

School of Social Work professor Tracy Soska, co-director of Pitt’s Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) and co-leader with Haley on the housing survey project, said the Blueprint program is important from several angles.

From a community perspective, Soska said, Blueprint allows communities to bring together multiple groups to come up with a common plan and agenda for progress.

For the University, it provides opportunities for students to gain real-world experience.

“Blueprint Communities really does provide the community a plan going forward that’s comprehensive, rather than piecemeal small projects,” Soska said. “We should learn what the big picture is and help them move closer on their community agenda.”

Piggybacking the projects will yield a multi-pronged approach that Richter believes will be effective. “You can’t rely on the old adage that retail follows residential,” he said of common wisdom on redevelopment. “You need to do it concurrently.”

Haley agreed. “You can’t look at community development from one set of lenses only,” he said.

“We really hope that this kind of technical assistance will really spur some kind of initial development that will be an eye-turner to help Hazelwood turn the corner,” Haley said.

—Kimberly K. Barlow