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.

The Center of Life wanted to cover its Hazelwood community with prayer during National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Friday.

Its leaders found many partners who agreed to help on this first event, one Center of Life hopes to turn into an annual activity. Donna Smith, who leads the organization’s social justice resource center, said leaders offered brief periods of prayer at seven different locations through the community, and she encouraged residents attending to offer reflections and remembrances of those who were lost to gun violence in Hazelwood last summer and in years past.

Pittsburgh has played a significant role in Black history, with jazz legends, sports heroes, literary giants and civil rights activists. Influential Black Pittsburghers have shaped the culture and society of the nation. But how much of this history is known and remembered by the current generations?

A bowl without a bottom is, well, a bit strange. But for Lisa Riehl -- painting shards of a broken ceramic bowl at Center of Life in Hazelwood -- the significance is there for all to see.

“To me, it has often felt like the bottom’s falling out,” she said. “Between mother’s guilt, losing people that I love…” she trailed off, concentrating on her bowl. “I’m outlining the cracks because they’re important too.”

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Center of Life celebrated 20 years of service to the greater Hazelwood and Pittsburgh community on Friday.

The organization provides all kinds of resources for the community -- everything from promoting health and wellness to helping people register to vote.

To celebrate, they held an all-day live stream to honor their roots and look forward to the road ahead.

There were live musical performances, throwback videos and more.

Center of Life marks 20 years!

Pastor Tim Smith, who is executive director of the Center of Life in Hazelwood, has become frustrated with Black History Month.

“It just seems so limiting,” he said. “It is Black history period. Black history is all our history.”

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Our reporters at KDKA produced a series of special reports on the anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They focus on remembrance and resilience and how Pittsburghers persevered since the declaration of a global pandemic. Kym Gable talked to community leaders about the outreach and charity they saw in the past 12 months.

"We discovered how many people are really struggling in their homes," said Tim Smith, the CEO at Center of Life in Hazelwood.

Gospel singers Lamont and Mary Shields were eating dinner when they received the call that could have changed their lives. The caller said Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, liked one of their songs. He would consider it on one condition — that they change one word.

The Hampton couple turned down that chance to most likely earn a big payday.

Citizens Bank, Trib Total Media and Pittsburgh Cares have named Center of Life in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood as a 2021 Champion in Action, an award that comes with $35,000 in funding and promotional and volunteer support.

The announcement was made Wednesday at Hazelwood’s Spartan Community Center, where Center of Life launched a community learning hub for students to have a safe place for online education.

For years, Hazelwood’s Center of Life has been primarily focused on community engagement through the arts, music, athletics, and education. But like most organizations this past year, Center of Life had to shift to COVID-19 relief and family assistance when the pandemic hit last March.

And the center has been so successful in that shift, that other groups have noticed. Recently, Center of Life has been named a 2021 “Champion in Action'' by Citizens Bank, Trib Total Media, and Pittsburgh Cares for its recent COVID-19 relief efforts. The designation comes with a $35,000 award from Citizens Bank, as well as media coverage from the Trib and volunteer support from Pittsburgh Cares.

"Smile, You're Alive," a tweet that has been sent every day for months by popular hip-hop artist Benji., is as much a daily reminder to be grateful as it is a reminder that his re-released album of the same name will be coming out in the near future — possibly as soon as March.

I joined him inside the ID Labs studio on Saturday in Etna to document a little bit of the work that goes on behind-the-scenes. Recording most of his vocals at his new home studio in Atlanta, Benji. takes his producing work to the studio to keep up his focus and productivity that can be easily distracting from home. Benji., also part of the collective Spillage Village, who recently released the album Spilligion, is juggling a number of projects simultaneously.

Hazelwood has changed Tim Smith for the better, just as he’s bringing positive changes to the neighborhood through his nonprofit, Center of Life.

When Smith’s family first came to the neighborhood in 1980, his father was a pastor at Hazelwood’s Keystone Church and Smith was studying to become a banker. Now, 40 years later, Smith is a pastor in the same church his father once led, changing his career path from an investment banker to an advocate for children and community development.

Smith, the CEO and founder of Center of Life, founded the nonprofit in 2001, when he says there were needs in the community that were not being met. The organization functions as many different resources for the community in Hazelwood, focusing on empowering people, children, and families through music, arts, and education.