The future redevelopment of the Hill District’s Connelley Technical Institute into a space for Pittsburgh Green Innovators has many environmentalists excited. But what does this new center mean for taxpayers funding the building’s redevelopment and how will it benefit Hill District residents?

JAKE WHEATLEY

“The one impact I’m hoping will be immediate is that as they start to redevelop, that Hill residents will take part in helping to transform that building,” said State House Rep. Jake Wheatley, who represents the Hill District. “I’m hoping residents of the Hill will have opportunities. I’m hoping that building being in the Hill District will be another beacon to attract people to come into the neighborhood.”

The Pittsburgh Green Innovators building will serve as a hub for green projects across the city. This means the site will offer training in green career fields and serve as a center for creating and showcasing new green technologies.

A lot of people said it couldn’t be done. But that’s always the case when people who have the vision, faith, desire and courage to try turning their dreams into reality face those who gave up on their own dreams long ago.

Well, one walk down Liberty Avenue will show you that it could be done—that it was done.

GROUNDBREAKERS— From left: Oliver Byrd, Yvonne Cook, Valerie McDonald Roberts and Sala Udin receive Founders Awards at the August Wilson Center, July 13.

“We’re looking at moving from a local to a regional to a national to an international perspective, to make this the preeminent African-American cultural center, for African-American culture and arts, in the world,” said Aaron Walton, the new chair for the August Wilson Center for African-American Culture, prior to the honors cere­mony. Walton is also the retired senior vice president of corporate affairs for Highmark, Inc. and one of the many people who was there “in the early days” of the center’s development.

With only a few months left before its one-year anniversary, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture is experiencing some serious economic struggles. In order to right the sinking ship, the Center plans to cut its 2011 budget by 25 percent.

AWC TEAM—From left: Andre Kimo Stone Guess, Aaron Walton, Nancy Washington and Oliver Byrd.

“The potential here is to be the preeminent institution. We’re going to do that by being inclusive. The hard part is done; we’re sitting in the building,” said Executive Director Andre Kimo Stone Guess. “If it weren’t built no one would do it today because on the other side of this recession no one would do it.”

The laundry list of problems has included construction costs that totaled $43 million, close to $7 million over the initial budget and last year’s state budget catastrophe that delayed the release of state funding.

When in need of inspiration, Pittsburgh’s young women and girls should look no further than the New Pittsburgh Courier’s 50 Women of Excellence. This year’s list was no exception with the honorees representing some of the most influential and well-respected institutions in the city.

For the third year in a row, the New Pittsburgh Courier held its 50 Women of Excellence Luncheon in the Westin Convention Center Hotel. On July 14, the crowd of almost 500 guests gathered to celebrate this year’s list of 50 honorees.

DISPLAYING THEIR AWARDS are Elizabeth “Niecy” Dennis, Alma Speed Fox, Joyce Ellis and Tene Croom.

“I suppose it’s a privilege and I’m glad the Courier recognized me,” said honoree Lisa Haley Huff, vice president, treasury management specialty sales, PNC Financial Services. “A lot of Black women are busy doing similar things. There’s certainly more beyond these 50.”