BUILD CDC
HHF’s new enterprise, BUILD Community Development Corporation (BUILD), represents the next chapter of addressing health equity in Erie. After more than ten years, HHF has launched this fledgling organization to bring together diverse stakeholders and drive meaningful change in the health and well-being of our community. Erie is home to concerning health disparities, including a 24-year life expectancy gap between neighborhoods, which BUILD will work to eliminate.
Why Did HHF Launch Build CDC?
In the early 2000s, research illuminated a surprising finding: only 20% of an individual’s health outcomes are influenced in clinical settings. The remaining 80% stem from the broader environmental and social contexts in which someone lives—the social determinants of health.
Access to health care is among this 80%, where factors such as transportation and proximity impact patient outcomes. This, in part, inspired the school-based health center Hamot Health Foundation (HHF) established at Wayne in 2011. Situated in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood that lacked a primary care office, the school-based health center aimed to address access barriers, marking HHF’s initial step on the path toward BUILD Community Development Corporation.
In 2014, HHF took another step, investing in the United Way’s Community School program as their first corporate partner. Infusing additional supports for the students and families at Wayne School expanded upon HHF’s original commitment to the disinvested neighborhood.
In 2019 and in collaboration with the Erie Community Foundation, Erie Insurance, Primary Health Network, and the City of Erie, HHF launched the Count Me In survey. Over 750 households in the Wayne neighborhood participated, spotlighting local barriers to good health and economic prosperity. The greatest areas of need were higher quality housing, trusted access to health care, career training and job opportunities, and a safer neighborhood—one that would spark pride and a sense of community.
These results inspired HHF, leading to the formation of Erie Center for Arts and Technology (ECAT) via a $12 renovation to the then-shuttered Wayne School. Now a buzzing arts and job-training hub, the ECAT Wayne campus is home to a growing collection of community-based organizations offering services such as primary care, pharmacy, doulas, career training—including the UPMC Jameson School of Nursing at UPMC Hamot--and arts programming right in the heart of the neighborhood.
By 2021, HHF and ECAT were equally invested in addressing social determinants of health, particularly within the Wayne neighborhood. HHF hired an outreach coordinator, Drevell Showers, who began knocking on doors to connect people to services and learn more about their needs. ECAT, meanwhile, embarked on an ambitious neighborhood development plan informed by a comprehensive housing assessment and focus groups conducted in the Wayne neighborhood.
The organizations drew two important conclusions from these efforts. First, people needed a blend of individualized solutions to improve their health and economic standing. Second, neither organization was the perfect fit for full immersion into this space. In response, BUILD CDC was formed as a new organization focused exclusively on advancing health equity in Erie. BUILD’s strategies are informed by local data and national best practice and will move the needle in four areas: safe and affordable housing, trusted access to health care, career development, and thriving neighborhoods.
Safe & Affordable Housing
Without safe and affordable housing, people can’t thrive, and even substandard housing can fuel negative health effects. BUILD CDC will don a multifunctional toolbelt to address blight and improve housing availability. Through acquisition, master leasing, new construction, and repair and renovation, BUILD CDC will drive housing solutions that are tailored to individuals’ needs and family situations.
An early example of this can be found in Elise’s story. Elise, an ECAT medial assistant student, was struggling with an abusive partner at home and didn’t feel safe leaving her young daughter behind while she attended classes. Elise felt she needed to leave the program to ensure her safety. When Daria Devlin heard of this, she worked within HHF to secure an apartment for Elise and offered her subsidized rent she could afford.
Instead of dropping out, Elise and her daughter moved into their very own apartment close to ECAT, where they are free from abuse. Elise is now able to complete her career training program knowing she has housing stability.
Elise is welcome to remain in the apartment until she is financially ready to move on. At that time, the apartment will open for other students attending ECAT or the UPMC Jameson School of Nursing at UPMC Hamot who find themselves in need of a safe, affordable place to live.
BUILD CDC has also joined the vanguard working to mitigate homelessness in the City of Erie called Housing First Erie.
Career & Workforce Development
BUILD CDC and ECAT are partnering to enrich the construction trades program, adding a novel on-the-job training experience. The program already offers students hands-on learning at Erie High School’s state-of-the-art construction trades shop. But the new on-the-job training experience takes their education a step further, giving students real-world involvement in local building projects.
Can you see where this is going? As BUILD acquires properties, ECAT construction trades students will assist with the renovations and repairs. They’ll be compensated a living wage for their work and gain invaluable on-the-job experience.
This is one example of how BUILD will continue to support career development, expanding upon the significant gains in health care career training programs fostered by ECAT, HHF, the Erie County Community College, and others. To date, these partners have celebrated the addition of 155 new health care graduates to our community since 2021.
Trusted Access to Health Care
This fall, access to health care gets a major boost in the Wayne neighborhood. With BUILD’s help, a UPMC Health Plan Neighborhood Center will open on East Avenue, expanding access to UPMC’s world-class physicians—from primary care to a range of specialists. In addition to telemedicine, the center will offer services and resources such as behavioral health care, a food pantry, and UPMC recruiters to connect residents with jobs that match their skillsets, interests, and schedules. “We are so excited to work with UPMC Health Plan to put the Erie area’s first neighborhood center on East Avenue,” Daria said.
The second project is a Remote Area Medical (RAM) Clinic, hosted by BUILD CDC and held at ECAT Wayne. This September, the RAM Clinic will offer hundreds of patients access to no-cost health care, including women’s health exams, physicals, eye exams, and dental exams with procedures like fillings and crowns, and eye exams. Residents can even obtain a pair of prescription glasses on-site same day. BUILD CDC’s RAM Clinic is scheduled for Saturday, September 7 and Sunday, September 8 at the ECAT Wayne building.
Thriving Neighborhoods
To unleash a range of new opportunities in the Wayne neighborhood, BUILD CDC will work alongside ECAT and the community at Wayne Park Baptist Church to foster the success of ECAT’s planned campus expansion. Adding the parcel of land directly to the west of ECAT will nearly double the campus’ footprint, offering new opportunities. Among our favorites is expansion of the current training programs, which already face growing demand, or the addition of new training programs. Student resources and supports to best promote student success are also under consideration. While the various possibilities are being assessed, one fact is clear: the expansion unlocks more space for community building and placemaking, offering a new point of pride in the neighborhood.
Making a welcomed return this summer is the East Avenue Pay-What-You-Can Market. Like last year, the market represents a coalition of farmers who provide locally grown produce, representing a critical pipeline to healthy food for a neighborhood that lacks a full grocery store. What’s different this year is the schedule. Instead of bi-monthly, the market will be held every Wednesday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm this summer.
The East Avenue Pay-What-You-Can Market is a salve to the barriers of healthy food access and economic disadvantage, providing nutritious food at a convenient location using an inclusive financial model. The BUILD team is devising a longer-term solution, but the market represents a vital pathway to affordable fresh produce in the meantime.