Category Archives: Community Development

Riley Sunday: Cover Crop Project

Community Organization: Located between N. Lang, and N. Murtland St. in Homewood, Pittsburgh, PA the Black Urban Gardeners and Farmers Cooperative of Pittsburgh (BUGs FCP) work on several parcels of land leased through the City of Pittsburgh’s adopt-a-lot program. BUGs thrives on a mission of serving as a collective of Black men and women involved […]


Class trip to Homewood to tour Cluster 4

Recently, Dr. Grossmann’s master-level course, Building Sustainable and Resilient Cities took a field trip to Homewood to have a tour of Cluster 4 with Operation Better Block’s (OBB) Gabby DeMarchi. The current Homewood grant project team members are in this class along with other first and second year Falk School of Sustainability graduate students. Gabby […]



Updates on Morgan’s Homewood research

Morgan has interviewed 13 people living in Homewood so far. An overwhelming majority of respondents are in favor of some type of inclusionary zoning model to incorporate an equitable amount of affordable housing in an apartment complex. Most of the respondents view East Liberty negatively, with one factor as the perceptive displacement of long-term residents. Respondents […]


Meet our newest team members!

During the first weeks of this semester, Dr. Grossmann connected with the new incoming graduate cohort and recruited the newest members for this team to continue to build on the work with the community partners in Homewood.   Lilly Freedman, MSUS ‘20, With a background in both sociology & environmental studies, she is interested mainly in […]



Reflecting on Summer: Camilla Cook

When I began my tree inventory in late May, I didn’t know much about Homewood and lacked some knowledge/experience in conducting a tree survey of a community. However, as the months passed, all of that changed. I learned about and experienced the significant passion the community has for change and continual progress in their neighborhood. […]



Camilla Cook – Tree Inventory Update #7

Today, I surveyed Block 14 and inventoried a total of nine trees – which were a mix of Pyrus calleryana (Callery pear), Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum), and Ulmus rubra (Slippery Elm). The only significant issues present with these trees were that the majority of the P. calleryana’s had some dead or missing branches, some leaf discoloration, […]


Camilla Cook: Tree Inventory Update #6

On August 7 and 9, I completed Blocks 1, 11, and 12 – finishing the Business and Institutional Core Cluster! On the small portion of Block 1 (Hamilton Avenue), I identified Catalpa speciosa (Northern Catalpa). On Block 11, there were Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood), Taxodium distichum (Baldcypress), Tilia cordata (Littlelead Linden), and Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum), as […]