Only 29 years old, My­lisha Jackson has experienced enough grief to last a lifetime. For her and many others living in McKeesport, the summer months are not a warm and fuzzy time, but a season when the homicide rate rises in the blink of the eye.

IN CUSTODY—Suspect Deanthony Kirk is escorted to the Alle­gheny County police headquarters.

“Every year it’s getting worse. I think it’s progressing; it’s just increasing. My family has experienced loss every year and most of them are unsolved,” Jackson said. “I place blame on everyone. I don’t think anyone’s doing their part.”

In a span of eight days, from June 10 to June 18, there were five shooting incidents, including a Mc­Kees­port man shot in Wilkinsburg, leaving six dead and three more injured. Once again, Jackson was related to one of the victims.

“I really don’t believe any of the recent acts have been random at all.

When the first graduates of the new millennium attended commencement at Mellon Arena in 2000, Adrienne Lawson was there to wish them well. For a decade now, Lawson and her two sisters have continued the tradition, working as balloon vendors outside of Pittsburgh Public School District commencement ceremonies at the arena.

SISTER SISTER—Ursula Lawson, left, joins her sister, Adrienne Lawson, for a yearly tradition.

However, in recent years, their entrepreneurial endeavor has become a little less rewarding. In 2008, a competing sidewalk vendor opened a shop in front of the arena entrance and the Lawson sisters were prohibited from using their original location.

Almost three years after purchasing more than 50 acres of land in the Penn Hills area, the ground that is planned to be the new site for Mount Ararat Baptist Church continues to remain unbroken. Mount Ararat, one of the largest churches in the Pittsburgh and East Liberty area, continues to grow their congregation, and with several services on Sunday, a service Saturday night, Bible studies and other programs, promises that they will not abandon the community that has supported them.

FUTURE SITE—The land on Universal Road and Main Street will be the future site of Mt. Ararat’s new church.

“We are still in the preliminary phases of the building project. Even if we build a new worship facility in Penn Hills, we still plan on maintaining a strong presence in the East Liberty-Larimer community and neighborhoods,” said Rev. Benjamin Calvert, executive minister of the church and project spokesperson. “It will probably be two or three years before the new facility is built.”

In Pittsburgh, approximately 50 percent of the city is eligible to receive Community Block Development Grant dollars through a program enacted in 1974 in an effort to extinguish poverty and urban blight.

The program provides grants for a wide range of projects that address the housing, economic and human service needs of low- and moderate-income residents and neighborhoods. Still, community groups and public officials worry this money is not being targeted for the neighborhoods where it is most needed.

Rev. Ricky Burgess speaks at press conference prior to the meeting in council chambers.

At a city council meeting June 16, council members discussed several pieces of legislation aimed at helping neighborhoods receive the resources necessary to improve or maintain their quality of life.