EHI led community engagement for the Westinghouse Park Master Plan, partnering with Pashek+MTR contracted by the City of Pittsburgh. Located in Point Breeze North but also serving Homewood and Point Breeze, this city-block-sized park carries weight beyond its borders — and its planning process needed to reflect that. The City’s July 2021 Advanced Planning Report established four pillars for the park’s future — history, ecology, community, and recreation — and EHI’s job was to build on that foundation and ensure residents of all three neighborhoods had the opportunity to provide input and be represented in the vision for the park.

EHI started by creating and overseeing the plan’s Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives from community organizations in Point Breeze, Point Breeze North, and Homewood, along with other agency and community stakeholders. Inclusion wasn’t a talking point — it was the metric. While the Advanced Planning Report had included a large community survey, EHI’s first round of engagement offered a more detailed survey with a specific goal: hear from an audience more representative of all three neighborhoods, including younger residents, people of color, and residents of Homewood specifically. The follow-up survey achieved its goals on all three metrics.

Then EHI went where the community already was: the What’s the Point 0.5K at Westinghouse Park, Homewood youth football Homecoming games, the Sankofa Community Garden Fall Festival, Westinghouse High School classes, the Homewood Block Party, and a pop-up event at the park itself.

Key stakeholder outreach reached the organizations invested in the park’s future — from Homewood Community Sports, Operation Better Block, Tree Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, among others.

Parks belong to everyone who uses them. EHI’s engagement made sure the Westinghouse Park Master Plan was written that way — by all three neighborhoods, for all three neighborhoods.