On a very stormy Tuesday, April 29th, we hosted our fourth Neighborhood Power Building (NPP) Project workshop—part of the collaborative Data Justice for Pittsburgh’s Black Neighborhoods initiative between the Black Equity Coalition (BEC) and the City of Pittsburgh—at Steel City Squash in Larimer.
Setting the Stage
Sidewalks, housing, parks, playgrounds, street trees, transportation, land, and infrastructure shape our health and wellness outcomes. This session focused on learning more about the ways that the built environment can impact public health. As always, we opened the workshop with food and a warm welcome to center ourselves in purpose and community.
Public Health & Built Environment
India Hunter of the BEC, a public health expert, led an engaging presentation titled Public Health 101 and Community-Driven Solutions for the Built Environment. This session unpacked public health, the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), and examined how Neighborhood & Built Environment—sidewalks, parks, transportation, housing, green spaces, safety—shape people’s well-being. Drawing on history, real-world challenges, and resident priorities identified in past sessions, the presentation reminded us that public health is about more than hospitals and health care systems —it’s also about the places where we live, move, and connect.
Weaving Connections: Interconnected Web Activity
Facilitated by artist Tacumba Turner, participants took part in an interactive activity called the Interconnected Web of Social Determinants of Health. The participants in this activity stood in a circle around the room. Each of them stood near a paper labeled with a different element of the built environment listed on it, such as recreation, housing, and sidewalks. One of the participants was given a ball of yarn and asked to pass it to someone else. When they did this, they were asked to describe the connection between their built environment topic and one that the person receiving the ball of yarn was assigned. For example, someone standing near the word “sidewalk” passed the yarn to the person standing next to the paper labeled “recreation,” and said “it’s important to have good sidewalks to be able to walk to the playground for exercise.” As the yarn was passed around the room, it wove a literal and figurative web of connection and accountability by the conclusion of the activity.
This activity highlighted how seemingly separate health factors are deeply interwoven—transportation impacts housing, which influences mental health, which connects back to green spaces and safety, etc. It served as a powerful reminder that every public health issue is part of a larger system.
Action and Art: Where Vision Meets Creativity
After the group activity, India Hunter shared highlights from community plans developed in Larimer over the past two decades, including the Larimer Vision Plan, Choice Neighborhoods, and Larimer Community Plan. Our work through the NPP builds on this body of work, and the Built Environment Action Plan is focused on helping community members build power through action.
Furthermore, the group also explored how art can be a tool for transformation. Tacumba Turner led a conversation around potential artistic approaches, inviting participants to imagine murals, digital art, community showcases, and more as tools to document and elevate community voice. Participants then voted on the artistic methods they were most excited to engage with—another step in co-creating and using art to empower the Larimer community.
Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead
The night closed with a recap of key themes—built environment challenges, resident-driven solutions, and the growing role of art in amplifying community voice. Attendees completed post-workshop surveys to recap their workshop experiences, and we shared a sneak peek into our next workshop, which will focus on traffic safety.
We would like to give a huge thank you to our facilitators, community members, the Steel City Squash team, and everyone who showed up ready to learn, connect, and build community power. Your presence and input are shaping a healthier, more vibrant Larimer and Pittsburgh.
Stay tuned for updates from the next workshop at: www.BlackEquityCoalition.org —and in the meantime, keep dreaming boldly about what our neighborhoods can become when we build them together.
About the Neighborhood Power Building Initiative:
The Black Equity Coalition (BEC), in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh created the Neighborhood Power Building initiative as part of the broader Data Justice for Pittsburgh’s Black Neighborhoods project, designed to empower Black residents with decision-making authority over how data is used, governed, and shared in the city. Pittsburgh is one of four U.S. cities selected for the Modern Anti-Racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice initiative, supported by the de Beaumont Foundation.
As a recipient of the MADE for Health Justice Grant, the BEC decided on our health equity goal: to help residents in Black communities that have been most-impacted by residential segregation and disinvestment in the City of Pittsburgh claim power to improve the quality of housing and the built environment. After a competitive RFP process, we ultimately selected the Larimer Consensus Group (LCG) as a Neighborhood Power Building Partner.
