For three years The Homewood Children’s Village (HCV) has participated in the City of Pittsburgh’s Learn and Earn Summer Employment Program with the purpose to provide work experience to Pittsburgh and Allegheny County young residents.
Learn and Earn is a six-week summer job program for teens and young adults ages 14 to 21. The program provides participants the opportunity to earn money, gain valuable work experience, and to develop soft skills to help them become college- and career-ready.
This year the HCV employed approximately 90 youth, according to Grace Oxley, HCV Learn and Earn coordinator. They operated over 17 worksites throughout Homewood and parts of the East End.
One worksite employing six students has the responsibilities of conducting the marketing and public relations for the Harambee Black Arts Festival, occurring Aug. 4-6. The 50th Anniversary celebration, carrying the theme “Breathing Life into the Community,” will take place in the heart of Homewood, focused around Kelly and N. Homewood avenues. The entire weekend, which will kick off with a Soul-Stepping parade, will have games for children of all ages, food vendors and well-known local music acts. “The mission of this year’s festival is to eliminate negativity in youth culture and to empower young people to understand their individual and collective beauty,” said George Hogan, Harambee Festival Chairman.
The first activity of the 50th anniversary event kicked off in June during Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Arts Festival with the season debut of the Oasis Creative Space. Housed in a repurposed 20-foot shipping container, viewers have the opportunity to experience diverse art from upcoming local artists and are able to hear directly from each artist using technology. The container also features a digital monitor showcasing animation art. “We are excited to be a part of the Harambee Festival,” said Ericka Turner, a member of the Oasis Creative Space. She said the mission of the project is to cultivate a platform for new and up-and-coming artists to promote sales of their art in cool places, while helping people think about art in different ways socially, politically and culturally. During the weekend Oasis Creative Space will be located near CCAC’s Homewood branch.
Under the direction of Nedra Williams, Creative Balance 4 Empowering People is hosting health and wellness workshops on Aug. 5 and 6, consisting of growing your own food, African dancing, yoga, Hip-Hop aerobics, spinning, Ballroom Dancing and Line Dancing by Roland Ford.
The festival is hosted and organized by the Harambee Ujima Black Arts and Cultural Association, a volunteer committee formed in 2001 to preserve the legacy of the 1967 Harambee Arts Festival that was once considered one of the largest community festivals in the country. The original event sprung out of the Black Arts Movement, which is an artistic interpretation, or a sibling of the Black Power Movement. This movement portrays the solidarity of culture and is responsible for world unity centered around giving birth to the ideas of multi-culturalism. Harambee is a Swahili term that means “togetherness,” and Ujima means “collective work and responsibility.”
Major funding for this year’s festival comes from the Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation. Homewood organizations involved include the HCV, Operation Better Block, Community Empowerment Association, YWCA, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Homewood Branch, Wine and Words Pittsburgh and the Humane Animal Rescue. Other funders include the City of Pittsburgh, the Office of Mayor Peduto, Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgees, State Rep. Ed Gainey, Neighborhood Allies and Dollar Bank.
To gain their 150 hours of work experience, Learn and Earn students Adasha Carpenter, Ameile Findley, Shakara Fields, Tanasha Embry, Indya Durham and Diamond McCallum created a public relations scheme for the Harambee Festival by writing press releases and public service announcements, appearing on radio shows, writing and recording radio spots, distributing flyers and conducting a social media campaign.
HCV said participating in the city’s Learn and Earn program is just one of the ways the organization touches the lives of young people, by providing valuable work experience and other soft skills.
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