Welcome to Homewood Children’s Village!
It takes a village to raise a child, support families, and transform a community.
MISSION
To improve the lives of Homewood’s children and simultaneously reweave the fabric of the community in which they live.
VISION
Together, with a strong village of support, we transform Homewood, creating a community of opportunity—a place where families thrive and children succeed.
OUR WORK
Homewood Children’s Village (HCV), formally established in 2010, is a 501c3 that serves children, families, and the community by breaking down the social and economic barriers to success. Through collaboration, engagement, advocacy, and research, HCV offers a continuum of direct services and learning support for children and their families from cradle to career, working diligently to address the complex challenges facing Homewood’s youth.
To create long-term impact and sustained transformation in the lives of our youth, we must work across the artificial boundaries that keep us working in silos such as zip code, class, position, race, sector, and organization. To fulfill our mission, we must also take a collective systems approach to address the root causes of our community’s challenges and build partnerships at every level. Whether it’s our team members or partner organizations, our donors, volunteers, teachers, parents or other supporters of our youth, or even the youth themselves, we all have a role to play in transforming our community. We want Homewood to be a vibrant community of people who collectively protect and support our children, our most precious and valuable assets.
HISTORY
Homewood is a one square mile neighborhood. Once a vibrant community, it is now challenged with a vicious cycle of poverty, isolation, and disinvestment. In the mid-1800s’, Homewood was a destination for the most affluent citizens of Pittsburgh, especially with the advent of the Pennsylvania Railroad; the railroad offered a chance for wealthy residents to escape city living. By 1910, Homewood housed 30,000 residents and was considered a choice location. It was not until a shift in the demographics in the 1950s that Homewood became more racially and economically integrated. During this time, the city claimed land in the Lower Hill District for the Civic Arena which displaced roughly 8,000 residents, many of whom decided to relocate to Homewood. Because the majority of these residents could not buy homes, rental apartments popped up to fill the need (Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, 2010). The racial balance was now such that blacks outnumbered whites, leading to the phenomenon known as, “white flight,” where upper and middle-class white citizens left Homewood.