Lifting the arc: Hazelwood’s Tim Smith & grassroots energy bring a new future to this riverfront community S01EP20

We Can Be podcast - The Heinz Endowments

The story of Hazelwood is a familiar one: A vibrant riverfront community with an industrial past flourished until the late 1980s when the steel industry bottomed out, leaving longtime residents with a decimated economy.

But this archetypal American story is different, too, and the Rev. Tim Smith is a big reason why. As CEO of Center of Life and pastor of Keystone Church of Hazelwood, Tim has a daily insight into the struggles, hope and beauty of those who are determined to keep the soul of their Pittsburgh neighborhood alive and thriving.

Tim sees the intricate interweaving of these individual lives — both their hard times and soaring happiness — blend together to form the fabric of a community he clearly loves.

He talks about the single thing that most impacts kids’ lives today, the realization about his own life’s direction that “went all through” him, and why art and music may be key to tipping the scale of his community’s youth toward the good.

“If you want to stir up a community,” says Tim, “you have to be willing to be stirred by that community first.”

Be stirred by Tim’s steady passion and hear how the residents of his neighborhood are lifting the arc of their American story to new heights on this episode on “We Can Be.”

“We Can Be” is hosted by The Heinz Endowments’ Grant Oliphant and produced by the Endowments and Treehouse Media. Theme music is composed by John Dziuban, with incidental music by Josh Slifkin. Additional music in this episode: "Precious," composed by Ben Clifton for Center of Life Jazz.