Under the direction of Nedra Williams, Creative Balance 4 Empowering People is hosting health and wellness workshops on Aug. 5 and 6, consisting of growing your own food, African dancing, yoga, Hip-Hop aerobics, spinning, Ballroom Dancing and Line Dancing by Roland Ford.
The festival is hosted and organized by the Harambee Ujima Black Arts and Cultural Association, a volunteer committee formed in 2001 to preserve the legacy of the 1967 Harambee Arts Festival that was once considered one of the largest community festivals in the country. The original event sprung out of the Black Arts Movement, which is an artistic interpretation, or a sibling of the Black Power Movement. This movement portrays the solidarity of culture and is responsible for world unity centered around giving birth to the ideas of multi-culturalism. Harambee is a Swahili term that means “togetherness,” and Ujima means “collective work and responsibility.”
Major funding for this year’s festival comes from the Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation. Homewood organizations involved include the HCV, Operation Better Block, Community Empowerment Association, YWCA, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Homewood Branch, Wine and Words Pittsburgh and the Humane Animal Rescue. Other funders include the City of Pittsburgh, the Office of Mayor Peduto, Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgees, State Rep. Ed Gainey, Neighborhood Allies and Dollar Bank.
To gain their 150 hours of work experience, Learn and Earn students Adasha Carpenter, Ameile Findley, Shakara Fields, Tanasha Embry, Indya Durham and Diamond McCallum created a public relations scheme for the Harambee Festival by writing press releases and public service announcements, appearing on radio shows, writing and recording radio spots, distributing flyers and conducting a social media campaign.
HCV said participating in the city’s Learn and Earn program is just one of the ways the organization touches the lives of young people, by providing valuable work experience and other soft skills.
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