By SHANNON O. WELLS

With the major renovation of the Wiley Street side of the New Granada Theater building on Centre Avenue essentially complete and waiting for furniture and accessories, the Hill District Community Engagement Center (CEC) — previously based in temporary space in the nearby Blakey Center — is poised to further its mission as a neighborhood cultural and educational focal point (see related story).

Following a mid-April media tour of the fledging multi-purpose facility, Keith Caldwell, executive director of place-based initiatives, and Kelly Protho, director of the Hill District CEC, took some time to consider questions about how Pitt’s community engagement mission — including at physical centers in Homewood and Hazelwood — is succeeding and evolving.

University Times: Aside from the completion of the Hill District CEC, what are some notable developments in 2026 regarding Pitt’s community engagement commitment and facilities in Homewood and Hazelwood?

Keith Caldwell: One of the most exciting developments at the CEC in the Hill District is how we are leaning into our partnership with Pitt’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (CAAPP) and Pitt Jazz Studies. These partners-in-residence create opportunities for residents to not just attend but participate in artistic programming and can open the door to co-created events, workshops and performances. …

We are also looking forward to our next community day in Homewood on Aug. 14. We aim to be a welcoming space every day, bringing residents and University partners alike into the CEC. The community day provides us with an opportunity to reinforce this with our neighbors through a community cookout, and highlighted programming and partnerships throughout the day. As always, everything at the CEC is free to the public.

Some of the best things we do happen outside of the four walls of the CECs. In Homewood, for example, the team has established a great partnership with the schools of the Health Sciences and senior high rises to provide health screenings and informational sessions directly where people are. This is a great example of expanding access to services in the community while also providing our students, under faculty supervision, with real-world training in their respective health services educational programs.

Similarly in Greater Hazelwood, our neighborhood commitment operates across the community, partnering in spaces like the Spartan Center in support of the Center of Life's afterschool program; at Jada House in partnership with their senior programming; and at the Hazelwood branch of the Carnegie Library, where we completed the first cohort of our Life Sciences Bridge Program.

As we know, the life sciences industry is growing rapidly across the U.S. In Pittsburgh, it is anchored in Greater Hazelwood through the BioForge development. Through the support of the Heinz Endowments, our team has established a team of collaborators to help young people, ages 18-24, to learn more about this industry and the pathways to great careers in it. We are excited to start our second cohort in the fall.

UTimes: How does the Hill District CEC fill in a gap in the mission to serve individual neighborhoods/sections of Pittsburgh? What does it mean for Pitt and overall community engagement in that part of the city?

Kelly Protho: The CEC in the Hill District fills a gap that has existed for a long time when it comes to how institutions like Pitt show up in neighborhoods. For a long time, University engagement has often felt fragmented or one-directional; programs would come and go, or people had to go to Oakland to access resources.

What both the CECs in the Hill and Homewood do differently is that they meet the community where it is and create a consistent, trusted presence right in the neighborhood to foster mutually beneficial relationships.

UTimes: What will be the connection/synergy between the new CEC space and the New Granada Theater performance space when its renovation is complete?

Protho: This connection is especially strong when you look at partnerships like Pitt’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (CAAPP) and ongoing Pitt Jazz programming. Once the New Granada's ballroom is complete, that relationship can continue to grow in meaningful ways.

UTimes: What are possible challenges in maintaining and growing the CECs and keeping their mission/programing vibrant?

Protho: There are definitely real challenges that come with maintaining and growing the CECs, but that’s part of doing this work. What makes the difference is that we’re guided by the community. Through our Neighborhood Advisory Council, we stay connected to what residents want, hear honest feedback, and adjust as we go.

Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.

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