On May 1. Pennsylvania State Rep. Jake Wheatley Jr. challenged his opponents, former City Councilwoman Tonya Payne and school board member Mark Brentley Sr., to participate in several public debates.

“The time has come for the voters of the 19th Legislative District to hear directly from the candidates for the Democratic nomination for their state representative in a series of debates throughout our community,” said Wheatley in a press release.

The challenge was to hold the public debates now through May 18, the day of election primaries at various locations within the 19th Legislative District they are running for.

As of this time, neither challenger has responded to Wheatley’s request.

Two local community organizations announced new support to take their strategies of change “from paper to possibility…from planning to implementation.”

At a press conference at the Hill House Association April 26, the Black Political Empowerment Project and the Coalition Against Violence announced the hiring of a new Community Liaison and being the recipient of a three-year $150,000 grant given by the Pittsburgh Foundation.

COMMITTED TO CHANGE—Kenneth L. Huston, center, discusses his commitment and goals for making a change using the coalition document created by the Coalition Against Violence.

“We are thrilled and very appreciative of the Pittsburgh Foundation and their faith in the work we do,” said Tim Stevens, chairman of B-PEP and co-convener of the CAV. “We feel the foundation is recognizing and rewarding the work and passion that has been put into the Coalition document.”

Tom Mattei, associate dean of Duquesne University’s Mylan School of Pharmacy, started his career as a pharmacist working in the Hill District. So telling an audience of Hill residents and stakeholders at the former AUBA Church on Centre Avenue that the university would open a community pharmacy in that spot this fall, he said was a thrill.

FIRST OF ITS KIND— Carl Redwood Jr., Hill Consensus Group chair; Esther Bush, Urban League president and CEO, and staff pharmacists; Charles Dougherty, Duquesne University president; J. Douglas Brinker, dean of Pharmacy, center, and Tom Mattei, associate dean of Pharmacy, far left, announce the opening of the nation’s first community pharmacy run by a university pharmacy school.

“I always wanted to thank my former patients from the Hill for all they did for me when I was starting,” Mattei said during the April 22 announcement. “I can’t think of a better way than this.”

The Hill District has been without a drugstore since Eckerd closed 10 years ago. Since then, residents have had to go Downtown, to Oakland, to the South Side or the North Side for pharmacy services.

By the time he had graduated from Westinghouse High School, Gregory Collier could barely read a paragraph. Even after taking an extra year to finish his requirements, Collier still worried his grades were not high enough to graduate.

“My education didn’t prepare me for anything except some subservient job,” Collier said. “I was basically passed through. In actuality they did me a disservice.”

GREGORY COLLIER

Since then Collier has spent his life helping others overcome their misfortune. With a master’s degree in organizational leadership, he has founded two youth outreach programs, fostered 15 children and currently serves the United Africa Support Center.