People
The Hill CDC is committed to the social and economic development of Hill District residents, many of whom have been historically disadvantaged. A variety of programs are offered for business owners, entrepreneurs, aspiring homeowners, creatives and culture workers.
Place
The Hill CDC leads the planning and redevelopment efforts for the neighborhood on behalf of residents and stakeholders of the Hill District. With over $2 Billion of development slated for the area, the Hill CDC is focused on commercial revitalization and affordable homeownership. Equitable outcomes that foster place-keeping and transformative economic investment is the cornerstone of the Hill CDC’s work.
Policy
The Hill CDC is guided by the Greater Hill District Master Plan. This community-endorsed vision establishes fundamental values and development principles that are central to positive activities and healthy neighborhood development. The Hill CDC focuses on land-use policy, social and economic equity, and centering community voice.
Social
🏘️Empowering Homeownership in the Hill District!
The Hill CDC is proud to partner with the Urban League of Pittsburgh to support our community on the path to homeownership.
Join us for our monthly workshops designed specifically for Hill District residents and potential homebuyers.
Attendees will learn about mortgages, budgeting, inspections, and much more.
📝Register at the link below or using the link in our bio!
🔗 Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1983546440800?aff=oddtdtcreator
🏘️Empowering Homeownership in the Hill District!
The Hill CDC is proud to partner with the Urban League of Pittsburgh to support our community on the path to homeownership.
Join us for our monthly workshops designed specifically for Hill District residents and potential homebuyers.
Attendees will learn about mortgages, budgeting, inspections, and much more.
📝Register at the link below or using the link in our bio!
🔗 Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1983546440800?aff=oddtdtcreator
🏚️ The City of Pittsburgh has begun a series of demolition “blitzes” aimed at removing condemned properties, starting in Hilltop neighborhoods they promoted on the City’s Facebook. City officials describe the effort as a response to long standing safety concerns tied to structurally compromised buildings. For residents living next to deteriorated properties, the urgency is understandable.
At the same time, the broader conversation about how Pittsburgh addresses vacancy remains unsettled. Nearly two thousand properties across the city are condemned. Demolition addresses immediate hazards, but it does not by itself rebuild housing supply or restore neighborhood fabric.
In past Weekend Roundups, the Hill CDC has noted that demolition without considering rehabilitation offers City residents a false choice. In many cases, stabilization and strategic reinvestment can preserve existing structures that might otherwise become long-term vacant lots, while reducing opportunities for affordable housing. Once a building is gone, the opportunity to reclaim it as affordable housing is gone. Building a modest-sized home will exceed a price tag of $400K.
The Hill District, like many Black communities, has experienced cycles of clearance without consistent follow-through on redevelopment. That history makes the current situation especially important. Clear criteria for demolition, paired with resources for rehabilitation and pathways to reuse, would help ensure that public dollars contribute to neighborhood stability versus erasure.
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🏚️ The City of Pittsburgh has begun a series of demolition “blitzes” aimed at removing condemned properties, starting in Hilltop neighborhoods they promoted on the City’s Facebook. City officials describe the effort as a response to long standing safety concerns tied to structurally compromised buildings. For residents living next to deteriorated properties, the urgency is understandable.
At the same time, the broader conversation about how Pittsburgh addresses vacancy remains unsettled. Nearly two thousand properties across the city are condemned. Demolition addresses immediate hazards, but it does not by itself rebuild housing supply or restore neighborhood fabric.
In past Weekend Roundups, the Hill CDC has noted that demolition without considering rehabilitation offers City residents a false choice. In many cases, stabilization and strategic reinvestment can preserve existing structures that might otherwise become long-term vacant lots, while reducing opportunities for affordable housing. Once a building is gone, the opportunity to reclaim it as affordable housing is gone. Building a modest-sized home will exceed a price tag of $400K.
The Hill District, like many Black communities, has experienced cycles of clearance without consistent follow-through on redevelopment. That history makes the current situation especially important. Clear criteria for demolition, paired with resources for rehabilitation and pathways to reuse, would help ensure that public dollars contribute to neighborhood stability versus erasure.
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🚨 Pittsburgh City Council is LIVE right now!
Council members are in session and discussing legislation that shapes how the city operates, from development to public services and beyond.
Tune in to the Pittsburgh City Council meeting at the link below and follow along in real time!
👀Watch the meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4sM4o2VUJk
or use the link in our bio to join Live meetings!
🚨 Pittsburgh City Council is LIVE right now!
Council members are in session and discussing legislation that shapes how the city operates, from development to public services and beyond.
Tune in to the Pittsburgh City Council meeting at the link below and follow along in real time!
👀Watch the meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4sM4o2VUJk
or use the link in our bio to join Live meetings!
🏠“If you walk along Bedford Avenue on a weekday morning, you might notice him. He stands across from 1727 Bedford, looking at the house longer than most people do.
Reggie Howze studies the brick for cracks in the mortar. He checks the trim and the steps. He notices where trash gathers along the foundation after a windy night. Around midday, he watches how the light hits the front windows. If something looks off, he fixes it.
“I want people to do a double take when they come here. I wanted it to look as good as a Carnegie Library,” Howze says. “I wanted people to see that somebody cares.”
At 81, Howze tends the exterior of the August Wilson House, the modest brick row house where August Wilson grew up. He lives minutes away. He also contributes to the house’s oral history archive, “Voices of History,” meant to preserve the firsthand stories of a neighborhood that has watched its landmarks disappear.
This past fall, Howze added his own milestone to the building’s timeline. He was married inside the August Wilson House, the first wedding ever held there.”
———————
“In March 2025, Howze attended a plant-based lifestyle meeting at the YMCA. That is where he met Shawna Bridgett, 70, a lifelong Hill District resident and master gardener at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Bridgett holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duquesne University and lives near her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“I remember that smile,” he says. “If I was a painter, I could paint that scene.”
Three months later, he proposed.”
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🏠“If you walk along Bedford Avenue on a weekday morning, you might notice him. He stands across from 1727 Bedford, looking at the house longer than most people do.
Reggie Howze studies the brick for cracks in the mortar. He checks the trim and the steps. He notices where trash gathers along the foundation after a windy night. Around midday, he watches how the light hits the front windows. If something looks off, he fixes it.
“I want people to do a double take when they come here. I wanted it to look as good as a Carnegie Library,” Howze says. “I wanted people to see that somebody cares.”
At 81, Howze tends the exterior of the August Wilson House, the modest brick row house where August Wilson grew up. He lives minutes away. He also contributes to the house’s oral history archive, “Voices of History,” meant to preserve the firsthand stories of a neighborhood that has watched its landmarks disappear.
This past fall, Howze added his own milestone to the building’s timeline. He was married inside the August Wilson House, the first wedding ever held there.”
———————
“In March 2025, Howze attended a plant-based lifestyle meeting at the YMCA. That is where he met Shawna Bridgett, 70, a lifelong Hill District resident and master gardener at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Bridgett holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duquesne University and lives near her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“I remember that smile,” he says. “If I was a painter, I could paint that scene.”
Three months later, he proposed.”
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🚑“Larry Underwood, a nursing assistant by day and jitney cabdriver by night, was talking with a fellow driver some years ago about their younger days. Mr. Underwood mentioned that he had worked for Freedom House.
It was a nod to a history that had been mostly forgotten: the working-class men and women, most of them Black, who were part of the Freedom House Ambulance Service and who, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were among the most highly trained field practitioners of emergency medical care in the country.
They were performing CPR, administering IVs, inserting breathing tubes and transmitting EKGs on the streets of Pittsburgh well before such care became standard elements of emergency medical treatment.
And then they were gone, casualties of their own pioneering work, which helped lead to the creation of local emergency medical services, like the one that would essentially replace Freedom House.
In the 2000s, at the jitney stand, Mr. Underwood was surprised that his fellow driver had even heard of it. “Freedom House?” the man said. “You were one of them guys?” These days, Mr. Underwood, 76, is having a hard time managing all the speaking engagements.
The spotlight has finally found Freedom House. In recent years it has been the subject of documentaries, a book and even an episode of “The Pitt,” the Emmy-winning drama set in a Pittsburgh trauma center.
And on Friday, U.S. Representative Summer Lee, Democrat of Pittsburgh, is introducing a resolution to award Freedom House with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor a person or institution can receive from Congress. The resolution is being co-sponsored by Representative Mike Kelly, a Republican whose district is also in western Pennsylvania, along with more than a dozen members of Congress from both parties.”
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🚑“Larry Underwood, a nursing assistant by day and jitney cabdriver by night, was talking with a fellow driver some years ago about their younger days. Mr. Underwood mentioned that he had worked for Freedom House.
It was a nod to a history that had been mostly forgotten: the working-class men and women, most of them Black, who were part of the Freedom House Ambulance Service and who, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were among the most highly trained field practitioners of emergency medical care in the country.
They were performing CPR, administering IVs, inserting breathing tubes and transmitting EKGs on the streets of Pittsburgh well before such care became standard elements of emergency medical treatment.
And then they were gone, casualties of their own pioneering work, which helped lead to the creation of local emergency medical services, like the one that would essentially replace Freedom House.
In the 2000s, at the jitney stand, Mr. Underwood was surprised that his fellow driver had even heard of it. “Freedom House?” the man said. “You were one of them guys?” These days, Mr. Underwood, 76, is having a hard time managing all the speaking engagements.
The spotlight has finally found Freedom House. In recent years it has been the subject of documentaries, a book and even an episode of “The Pitt,” the Emmy-winning drama set in a Pittsburgh trauma center.
And on Friday, U.S. Representative Summer Lee, Democrat of Pittsburgh, is introducing a resolution to award Freedom House with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor a person or institution can receive from Congress. The resolution is being co-sponsored by Representative Mike Kelly, a Republican whose district is also in western Pennsylvania, along with more than a dozen members of Congress from both parties.”
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🏗️ Last week, Trib Live reported that developer Walnut Capital has asked the City’s Zoning Board of Adjustment to let a 159-unit apartment project move forward without setting aside any affordable units. Oakland is one of several neighborhoods where Pittsburgh’s inclusionary zoning ordinance requires that 10 percent of new units be affordable to lower income residents.
Walnut Capital argues the building, a student focused development near UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, should be exempt. Its attorney said complying with the policy would reduce the project’s equity by more than $4 million and questioned why affordability is tied to households earning up to half of the area median income.
The request matters far beyond one project. If the zoning board grants a variance, it could signal that inclusionary zoning is optional rather than mandatory. Community advocates warned that other developers would quickly seek similar exceptions, weakening the policy across Oakland, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, and Polish Hill.
Dave Breingan of Lawrenceville United told board members that approving the request would undermine inclusionary zoning citywide. Andrea Boykowycz of the Oakland Planning & Development Corp. argued the developer moved forward knowing the rules and should be required to follow them.
Read the TribLive article: https://triblive.com/local/walnut-capital-seeks-exception-from-inclusionary-zoning-mandate-in-oakland-apartment-project/
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🏗️ Last week, Trib Live reported that developer Walnut Capital has asked the City’s Zoning Board of Adjustment to let a 159-unit apartment project move forward without setting aside any affordable units. Oakland is one of several neighborhoods where Pittsburgh’s inclusionary zoning ordinance requires that 10 percent of new units be affordable to lower income residents.
Walnut Capital argues the building, a student focused development near UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, should be exempt. Its attorney said complying with the policy would reduce the project’s equity by more than $4 million and questioned why affordability is tied to households earning up to half of the area median income.
The request matters far beyond one project. If the zoning board grants a variance, it could signal that inclusionary zoning is optional rather than mandatory. Community advocates warned that other developers would quickly seek similar exceptions, weakening the policy across Oakland, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, and Polish Hill.
Dave Breingan of Lawrenceville United told board members that approving the request would undermine inclusionary zoning citywide. Andrea Boykowycz of the Oakland Planning & Development Corp. argued the developer moved forward knowing the rules and should be required to follow them.
Read the TribLive article: https://triblive.com/local/walnut-capital-seeks-exception-from-inclusionary-zoning-mandate-in-oakland-apartment-project/
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🏗️The Hill CDC is accepting proposals for architectural and engineering services for Cultivation Corner, a 10-unit affordable housing project at 2343–2351 Centre Avenue, funded through a Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh Affordable Housing Program grant.
This affordable housing project at 2343–2351 Centre Avenue advances the goals of the Centre Avenue Redevelopment and Design Plan by increasing access to housing options along the main commercial corridor of the Hill District, strengthening neighborhood stability as commercial and cultural revitalization efforts continue.
Proposals are due by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. The RFP is available by emailing opportunity@hilldistrict.org.
The Hill CDC encourages participation from small, minority, women-owned, and locally based firms.
🏗️The Hill CDC is accepting proposals for architectural and engineering services for Cultivation Corner, a 10-unit affordable housing project at 2343–2351 Centre Avenue, funded through a Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh Affordable Housing Program grant.
This affordable housing project at 2343–2351 Centre Avenue advances the goals of the Centre Avenue Redevelopment and Design Plan by increasing access to housing options along the main commercial corridor of the Hill District, strengthening neighborhood stability as commercial and cultural revitalization efforts continue.
Proposals are due by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. The RFP is available by emailing opportunity@hilldistrict.org.
The Hill CDC encourages participation from small, minority, women-owned, and locally based firms.
🏛️“Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved Jason Lando as police chief and Sheldon Williams as public safety director.
The pair have been serving in their roles in an acting capacity since Mayor Corey O’Connor took office last month.
A Squirrel Hill native and veteran of Pittsburgh’s police force, Lando spent the last five years serving as police chief in Frederick, Md.”
While there he was accused of using anonymous numbers to send harassing messages to a former subordinate. An investigation in Maryland found “no violations of criminal law” but linked Lando to an account that sent the messages to former police corporal Daniel Sullivan. Sullivan has questioned whether Lando is fit to serve as Pittsburgh’s chief.
“I’m just glad that’s behind me, and I’m looking forward to moving on because there’s a lot of work to do,” Lando told reporters Wednesday.
Williams was among the first officials O’Connor tapped as he assembled his administration.
Williams launched his career as a Pittsburgh paramedic before serving 18 years in the Army Reserves and Air Force National Guard.
He worked as a member of the Pittsburgh police SWAT team and bomb squad, spent a decade as a pastor at Allegheny Center Alliance Church and in 2022 started teaching at the University of Pittsburgh’s Emergency Medicine program.”
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
🏛️“Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved Jason Lando as police chief and Sheldon Williams as public safety director.
The pair have been serving in their roles in an acting capacity since Mayor Corey O’Connor took office last month.
A Squirrel Hill native and veteran of Pittsburgh’s police force, Lando spent the last five years serving as police chief in Frederick, Md.”
While there he was accused of using anonymous numbers to send harassing messages to a former subordinate. An investigation in Maryland found “no violations of criminal law” but linked Lando to an account that sent the messages to former police corporal Daniel Sullivan. Sullivan has questioned whether Lando is fit to serve as Pittsburgh’s chief.
“I’m just glad that’s behind me, and I’m looking forward to moving on because there’s a lot of work to do,” Lando told reporters Wednesday.
Williams was among the first officials O’Connor tapped as he assembled his administration.
Williams launched his career as a Pittsburgh paramedic before serving 18 years in the Army Reserves and Air Force National Guard.
He worked as a member of the Pittsburgh police SWAT team and bomb squad, spent a decade as a pastor at Allegheny Center Alliance Church and in 2022 started teaching at the University of Pittsburgh’s Emergency Medicine program.”
👀Read this story and more in the latest Weekend Roundup, and sign up for future editions using the 🔗 link in our bio!
News
Events
March 12, 2026 @ 10:00 am
Small Business Hours with the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Entreprenurial Excellence
March 19, 2026 @ 10:00 am
