A PHOTO COLLAGE OF THE RIBBON-CUTTING EVENT FOR THE NEW HOMEWOOD POOL, JULY 10, 2026. MOMENTS AFTER CITY OFFICIALS CUT THE RIBBON, KIDS WERE ABLE TO JUMP IN THE NEW POOL. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
The Homewood Pool is now open.
But it’s not just any pool. It’s a brand new, state-of-the-art pool that’s been 12 to 13 years in the making.
Mubarik Ismaeli, president of Homewood Community Sports, fought for the new pool to be constructed for his community. For the kids in the Homewood community. For the parents, grandparents, for family, for unity, for pride in their Homewood community.
“The only way I was able to do this was with the community support,” Ismaeli told the New Pittsburgh Courier after the ribbon-cutting for the pool, Friday, July 10, 2026, in front of about 100 kids and other elected officials. “Once we come together, there’s nothing that can stop us. That’s what I want everybody that looks at this project to know…we all came together for one cause and made it happen.”
The Homewood Pool’s opening is very welcomed, especially with Pittsburgh experiencing heat waves this summer with temperatures approaching 95 degrees and the heat indexes above 100 degrees.
“What we have here is a great example of how things can get done all over the City of Pittsburgh,” echoed Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor. “And this is a community that has fought for this for over 13 years…this doesn’t happen without community determination. A community that fought for their future.”
Mayor O’Connor added: “Please be so proud of this great job that you did. So many parks directors, so many mayors, so many councilmembers, but here we are, we made it. This community deserves it.”
Ismaeli, with people like community developer Derrick Tillman by his side, fought for the new pool during the Bill Peduto mayoral administration, onto the Ed Gainey administration, and now to the O’Connor administration. But it’s not just the pool they were fighting for. They wanted to give Homewood an entire park transformation, and the pool is one part of it. Next to the pool is a new football field with a new scoreboard and locker rooms. It’s all part of a $22.87 million transformation of Homewood Park, which the city said is one of its largest investments in a neighborhood park in decades.
When it’s all said and done, Homewood Park will have a connection to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Busway, a pedestrian bridge to Westinghouse Park, and an amphitheater and performance space in partnership with the Afro American Music Institute.
For Ismaeli, he said at first, he wasn’t sure if all the pieces would come together to get Homewood Park to look like parks in neighborhoods with higher financial resources.
DERRICK TILLMAN, AT THE PODIUM, TOLD MUBARIK ISMAELI AND OTHERS TO “THINK BIG” ABOUT THE HOMEWOOD PARK TRANSFORMATION. (PHOTO BY J.L. MARTELLO)
“When I didn’t think it was possible for us to get something this great, Derrick (Tillman) said to me, ‘if Fox Chapel and the North Hills can have it, why can’t we?’ We deserve the best like everybody else.”
In his comments, Tillman thanked Ismaeli for his tireless work in helping to make the new pool become a reality. And Tillman’s message to the youth: “The same effort that you put on that field, the same way you go hard to win, take that to every area of your life.”
And Ismaeli’s message to the kids in attendance: “No matter how successful you become, come back to your community and give back.”
