Clean Slate, FSS Success Stories Shared During Hill District Forum Event

The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) and its nonprofit affiliate, Clean Slate E3, have had an immeasurable impact on local youth and adults for many years.

During a July 23 forum event presented by Clean Slate and ACH Clear Pathways, attendees learned how Clean Slate’s Scholarship and youth confidence-building programming, as well as the HACP’s Resident Self-Sufficiency and Home Ownership initiatives, have led participants down a path that launched them to a brighter future.

Held in the Elsie Hillman Auditorium of the Kaufmann Center, home of ACH Clear Pathways, eight panelists and one emcee shared their experiences with current scholarship recipients, their families, community members, and stakeholders.

Educational Forum

Five former Clean Slate Scholarship recipients — Brittney Good, Kayla Lewis, Michael Matthews, Dior Blair Brown, and DeVontay Eberhardt (emcee) — first shared how the program helped shape their futures.

Brittney Good grew up in Larimer and had a dream of teaching children worldwide. 

Good earned her master’s degree in early childhood education from Edinboro University. She taught kindergarten for 10 years, and is now in her third year teaching gifted students at Manchester Academic Charter School.

“This program taught me the importance of planning and work ethic,” she said. 

Good previously worked for the HACP in the Development and Modernization Department. She was part of the former Clean Slate Street Team of the 1990s that strived to spread an anti-drug message to HACP youth.

She recalled being excited to plan a community celebration at Northview Heights and the grand opening of the Creative Arts Studio, and trips the youth would take with HACP chaperones.

“I am super grateful to this program, and excited to see where you all go,” she said.

Kayla Lewis, who grew up in the Hill District, is also a former Clean Slate Street Team member who placed second in the Clean Slate talent show in the early 2000s. She has a degree in business management from Slippery Rock University.

Lewis was an HACP intern who worked in inspections and formerly worked as an HACP resident coordinator. She said because of her roles within the HACP, she was able to forge many relationships in the local community that helped to prepare her for her current job.

“I am currently the City of Pittsburgh Public Safety Zone 2 Safer Together Coordinator,” she added. “I honestly would not have been able to move onto the city job without housing.”

Current HACP Distribution Specialist Michael Matthews was part of Clean Slate before the Scholarship Program was launched in 2009. He also served on the original Street Team, and recalls that a number of celebrities, including Raven-Symoné and Fantasia Barrino, took time out of their busy schedules to give back to the community by bringing a positive influence to local youth.

“I eventually joined the HACP intern program, and it was a really positive experience that gave me what I needed to thrive in a professional environment,” he said. “It also exposed me to interests I didn’t know I had, like graphic design, and opened my eyes to the possibilities that are out there. I eventually went to California University of Pennsylvania and pursued graphic design, but made my way back to housing.”

Matthews added with his current role, everything going out of or into the HACP flows through him.

Blair Brown is a current senior at THE Howard University, studying pre-med.

“I am forever grateful to Clean Slate. Without it, I don’t think I would be at Howard right now,” he said.

He said he pursued medicine to give back to people who are less fortunate, and growing up poorer than he did.

“I’ve seen a lot of people that need help, and that experience manifested into medicine,” he explained. “We need more Black professionals in the medical field.”

Eberhardt said he basically grew up at the HACP. He worked in resident relations, asset management, and is the current Production Assistant in the Community Affairs Department. He credits Communications Assistant Margi Thompson for instilling a love of graphic design in him.

“I went to school for design, and started working with Ms. Margi, got more experience with it, and fell in love with it,” he said.

Eberhardt advised fellow scholarship recipients to be patient while climbing the ladder because the people who you need to notice are watching you and see your potential.

All five credited Michelle Sandidge, HACP Chief Community Affairs Officer, with seeing each participant’s potential.

“Ms. Michelle has always been a positive influence to anyone coming into the program,” Matthews said.

HACP Executive Director Caster D. Binion addressed the audience, and focused on the current scholarship recipients and HACP summer interns. He noted when they find themselves in a leadership position one day, their voices need to be heard. For example, he credited Chief Sandidge for always advocating for scholarship funding when she is in a room and people start talking about big things.

“Today you are a student. One day you’re going to be a leader,” he said. “You’ll find yourself in a leadership position, and you have to have a voice. You’ll be asked, ‘What can we do for the community?’ ‘What programs can we start so we can grow?’ It’s your voice that they’re looking for; your voice can change people’s lives.”

Entrepreneurial Forum

 

Following lunch, four local entrepreneurs — Tyian Battle, Anthony Harris, Melvena Daniels, and Quintin Johns — who once lived in public housing shared their success stories.

Battle, Executive Director of ACH Clear Pathways and a Hill District native, was an HACP Housing Choice Voucher holder. 

She said the voucher allowed her to rent a nice two-bedroom home. Battle was encouraged to join HACP’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program that helped her clean up her credit, and eventually purchase her own home through the Homeownership Program.

“That was a true blessing to be part of the HACP program,” she said.

When she sadly lost her son, Amon, to an unknown heart condition in 2009, Battle learned computer skills through the Bedford Hope Center (now EnVision Center) and later founded ACH Clear Pathways because she wanted to offer programming to parents and youth at a low cost so they didn’t have to struggle like she did when she was a single mother.

“Ms. Michelle (Sandidge) has been my mentor for over 20 years. Her and Ms. Cindy (McCleod) raised me to be the professional I am today,” Battle said. 

When she was looking to purchase the Kaufmann Center to house her business, Battle said she didn’t believe she could do it, but they started a capital campaign that raised $1.6 million, and she was able to buy the building with no debt. A second capital campaign later raised $3.5 million for expanded artistic space for the community.

Anthony Harris grew up within HACP communities. He said he has seen a lot of people determined to leave public housing over the years, and he decided to sell his own clothing line, UDIGG Apparel, as a side gig out of his trunk.

Harris told emcee Ty Miller (of Championship Chase TV and WAMO FM radio) he knew he had something special when he was fired from his full-time job, and his clothing was supported by his family, friends, and local residents in the Hill District.

He now has a storefront on Centre Avenue in the Hill District, and his brand is in commercial storefronts.

“UDIGG is a universal concept and is for everyone. Whatever you’re doing to prevail, take care of yourself. Y’all dig that?”

Harris’ advice to local youth is to “stay out of the streets and do you, no matter what.”

“You don’t have to choose the streets,” he added.

Melvena Daniels, Director of Programs for the Center That Cares and CEO and Chef of Beyond Blessed Catering, grew up in Terrace Village in the Hill District.

She became a young mother and eventually completed the Homeownership Program at age 24, and learned computer skills at the EnVision Center. She earned her master’s degree from Penn State University and worked in management for Turner Construction.

“My mom was my inspiration,” she said. “Even though we lived on Chauncey, she always wanted more and she always pushed me to want more and go further. I also want to always show my daughter that there’s more.”

She was serving on the ACH Clear Pathways fundraising committee and would cook the meals for the events. Another board member was impressed by her skills, and told her she couldn’t let her gift go to waste. 

She and her friends started with Sisters With a Purpose and sold meals at a local boutique to raise funds for community events. They eventually branched out to start Beyond Blessed.

“We have a passion for this, and we put the same amount of love and value into each dish,” she said. “People comment on our consistency. You have to love your food when you’re cooking.”

Johns also lived in a number of HACP communities, including Bedford Dwellings and Arlington Heights.

He wanted to start his own painting business, and reached out to his friend, Keith Key, a local developer to see if he could get him started in the industry. 

“I had no knowledge of the business at all. He got me in touch with Mistick Construction and they put me through business training at Skyline Terrace, and was able to work on the paint jobs at Skyline Terrace and two other Housing Authority projects,” he said.

Johns became inspired to be a painter while painting his older brother’s storefront churches. Prior to starting Premier Choice Painting LLC, Johns worked in human resources.

His advice for public housing residents: “Listen to your parents. They’re not going to steer you wrong.”

The panel agreed with Daniels that it takes effort to get where you want to go.

“It’s not where you start, but how you finish,” Daniels said. “Use all of the resources in front of you because it doesn’t matter where you start. As long as you want more, you’re going to get more.”

Susan Lofaro, new Clean Slate E3 Program Manager, thanked everyone for celebrating 26 years of Clean Slate’s influence at the conclusion of the forum event.

For more information on the Clean Slate E3 Scholarship Program and contributing to the scholarship fund, please visit: https://hacp.org/programs-services/scholarship-fund/

---

Media Contacts: Michelle Sandidge, Chief Community Affairs Officer, 412-456-5058, michelle.sandidge@hacp.org

Susan Lofaro, Clean Slate E3 Program Manager, 412-899-6739, CleanSlateE3@gmail.com