Homewood is Home
There is no limit to the joy one can feel with the support of their community.
For years, the Homewood community has sat somewhat idling in Pittsburgh’s eastside, slowly rebuilding its neighborhood, its keen sense of pride and it’s capacity to shine once again and to claim its moment in the sun.
Homewood is known to have been a thriving, self-sustaining and beautiful community with a bustling main street stretching the length of the community, generations of family owned and operated businesses lining the streets and a dense population of successful Black men and women anchoring the future of this picturesque place. But for a time, this vision had been lost to history.
As many Black communities will remark, the infiltration of drugs and gangs severely altered the trajectory of the community mission, however, they could not shake the spirit of its people nor their undying commitment to retracing their steps to reimage a new future for their home.
Bringing 2019 to a close, the Homewood Community Development Collaborative, partnering with Neighborhood Allies, sought to take a very intentional step toward this reimagination of the community that they serve. This initiative called the Homewood New Image Campaign was a call for marketing, branding and PR agencies who, after presenting a detailed proposal and undergoing a rigorous selection process, would be able to produce a redefining community project to reinsert the arts, investment, community pride, as well as positive outlook, into Homewood.
From Vision to Vibe
Still standing at the end of this selection process were Sadik Roberts (Pyramid Pgh, Marketing & Advertising) and Soleil Meade (Soleil Branding Essentials), two young, Black business owners of highly experienced agencies who came together to produce a strategy for effectively preserving the integrity of the Homewood community while also providing unifying branding assets (a new logo, community website, commercials, historical banners) as well as community programming. One such initiative included surveying and the development of a beautiful ArtWalk tour which connects new and existing murals, landmarks and businesses.
The Homewood Experience officially launched on February 1, 2021. The campaign encourages Homewood residents and supporters alike to immerse themselves in the history, research, celebrations, art and vision which The Homewood Experience team has produced from the orations and desires of Homewood residents themselves.
Join us on May 2, 2021 for the Grand opening of the Homewood Experience and indulge for yourself. Take a stroll on the ArtWalk and witness the bursting imagination of the neighborhood, its emerging industries and developments, stores, restaurants and iconic staples which truly make it HOME.
The "Homewood Is Home" mural was designed by Camerin (Camo) Nesbit
All Videography/Photography is produced by Blackwell Soundz
