Fostering Civic Engagement and Activism to Advance Equitable Development in Homewood

Low-income neighborhoods across the country are facing increased pressures from neighborhood change, with gentrification occurring at twice the rate of the 1990s. In fact, Pittsburgh is ranked the eighth most gentrifying city in the country. Given these pressures, engaging residents around equitable development is critical to ensuring that all residents participate in and benefit from Pittsburgh’s economic transformation, especially in communities that have historically faced the greatest inequities. The Resident Civic Engagement on Behalf of Equitable Development project is based in Homewood, a neighborhood that has faced population declines, vacancy, and blight. However, Homewood’s accessible location to Downtown, universities, Google, and proximity to high-rent/mortgage neighborhoods makes it an attractive target for gentrification. The project seeks to understand and foster civic engagement and activism among residents and to increase their ability to influence equitable development and revitalization. The session will describe the resident-led Community Advisory Board; illustrate community-based participatory research, community organizing and human-centered design strategies used to foster civic engagement and activism through community conversations; and discuss engagement of residents in creating an equitable development playbook that they can use to ensure that equitable development happens.