PITTSBURGH, PA – September 11, 2025 – On a day that brings about pain and disbelief to so many, Center of Life is proud to release “Dusty Angels,” a collaborative song that speaks directly to the heart of our shared struggles and resilience. 

PITTSBURGH, July 30, 2025 – The Heinz Endowments has announced a $5 million funding match commitment for a major expansion of Center of Life, a community enrichment organization with nearly a quarter century of experience providing youth and family-centered programming for Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood community and surrounding neighborhoods. The funding, which will be released when the project’s overall budget has been secured, will go toward Center of Life’s planned new home near the entrance inside Hazelwood Green, the 178-acre tech and innovation development located on a former steel mill site in Hazelwood that borders the Monongahela River. 

Pittsburgh, PA – February 2025 – The KRUNK Movement, a youth-driven creative arts program under Center of Life, is making waves on an international stage through the universal power of music. In a groundbreaking partnership with Kichwamba High School in Uganda, young artists from Pittsburgh and Uganda have united to create Suubi—a song that amplifies global conversations around sustainability, resilience, and cultural exchange.

Pittsburgh, PA — On November 15, 2024, at 3:30 PM, Center of Life (COL) announced ambitious plans for a community development project at Hazelwood Green (4501 Lytle Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15207). Led by CEO Tim Smith, this initiative aims to establish a cutting-edge community center that will strengthen the lives of Hazelwood residents and surrounding communities through expanded access to education, arts, health, and wellness resources.

Hazelwood’s Center of Life states in its mission that it will provide families and youth with the life skills, education, training and resources necessary to be strong and to make their communities strong.

The 30 students in its KRUNK Movement creative arts program have embraced doing just that, from creating a song rooted in themes of sustainability, justice and hope last fall with Ugandan students to facilitating and participating in Community Hub feedback sessions this spring as the nonprofit moves toward the construction of a new building in Hazelwood Green.

Uganda is more than 7,000 miles from Pittsburgh, and it’s safe to say the cultural distance is comparable.

But as youths in Pittsburgh’s KRUNK Movement program learned, some things are universal, including concern for the environment.

KRUNK youths and students at Uganda’s Kichwamba High School have collaborated on a new hip-hop song promoting sustainability. It’s called “Suubi,” or “hope” in the Luganda language. The soulful 3:40 song that addresses topics from water pollution to deforestation was released last month on all streaming platforms.

The KRUNK Movement, a youth-driven creative arts program under Center of Life based in Hazelwood, Allegheny County, is making waves on an international stage through the universal power of music. 

In a groundbreaking partnership with Kichwamba High School in Uganda, young artists from Pittsburgh and Uganda have united to create Suubi—a song that amplifies global conversations around sustainability, resilience, and cultural exchange.

From 12/07/2024: From Center of Life in Hazelwood, COL Jazz students Ryan Lucas (trombone, 12th grade, Thomas Jefferson), Noah Clonan (guitar, 11th grade, Thomas Jefferson), Isaiah Vinay (drums, 11th grade, Thomas Jefferson), Sebastian Wilburn (saxophone, 11th grade, Pittsburgh CAPA), and John Bagnato (bass) in advance of their show at Con Alma, 12/17 (6 pm)

The Hazelwood-based nonprofit group Center of Life has announced plans for a huge new community center on the former mill site known as Hazelwood Green.

Plans for the three-story, 127,000-square-foot building were made public Friday in an event at the site, at the corner of Hazelwood Avenue and Lytle Street. That’s just a block from Irvine Street, the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare, and three blocks from Center of Life’s current headquarters in a church and former Catholic school.

​​Standing on the former steel mill grounds in Hazelwood where his father once worked, Tim Smith imagines how an area that symbolizes Pittsburgh’s industrial decline can be transformed, renewed.

On a chilly Friday afternoon, Mr. Smith and the nonprofit he founded, Center of Life, unveiled their plans to do just that – by building a community hub in the heart of Hazelwood Green.

Center of Life has revealed a $60 million to $70 million community development project that with three partners it will bring to Hazelwood Green, calling it a transformative step not only for the 23-year-old nonprofit organization but also for the neighborhood and its residents.

The Center of Life summer camp program has challenged that with a rowing program for its 11- to 14-year-old participants through a partnership with Central Catholic High School’s crew team, led by alumnus and Syracuse graduate Anicet Mundundu.

“The potential of young people is enormous,” - Tim Smith, CEO

“...[The album] is for the future because this is our next generation. We are the next generation right here. And we're gonna be moving this world forward.” - Dahnayl/Dj Loveasy

Dahnayl Champine had been working on a new song for some time. But Dj Loveasy just couldn’t finish it.

“I had the words and thought this would be good,” said the 16-year-old musician, emcee and producer who is a junior at Woodland Hills High School. “I just missed the lead, and I didn’t have a hook.”

From 11/18/2023: From Center of Life in Hazelwood, students from COL Jazz: Noah Clonan (17, Thomas Jefferson High School), Hanae Rayzer (17, Pittsburgh CAPA), Lyndon Frost (14, Pittsburgh CAPA), and Bryce Jones (17, Pittsburgh Allderdice High School) performing in advance of their upcoming trip to the Jazz Education Network Conference in New Orleans.

CBS News intersections

In a blog post titled "Seeding by Ceding," the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says she's giving away $2.7 billion to "high-impact" underfunded organizations. Two of those organizations are the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund and the Center of Life.

Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh, which is a joint grantmaking program created through a partnership between the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Endowments, says the fund "is where access and opportunity connect with Pittsburgh artists who are thriving in their creative process as a means and a way of life."

The Center of Life, based in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood neighborhood, focuses on giving kids life skills, education, training and resources to strengthen youth and their communities.

On Monday, Americans will celebrate Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

Organizations around Pittsburgh are throwing parties to celebrate the occasion and the continuous battle for equality.

Center of Life presents the Black History: Closer Than You Think Juneteenth Celebration, a day-long picnic and outdoor concert at Hazelwood Green. Hear live jazz, soul, funk, and hip-hop by students from the Center’s COL Jazz and The KRUNK Movement music programs. Enjoy Jamaican food, kid-friendly activities and games, and more. Blankets and lawn chairs are encouraged.