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There was barely an open seat at the Everyday Cafe in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood on a cold, gray Saturday morning.
The storefront on North Homewood Avenue across from the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway was packed with members of the Pittsburgh Rogue Runners and Walkers club, which draws people from across the region.
“It’s a meeting place where everyone in the community can come. They can have a meal, they can talk,” said Rick Raeder, president of the club, which runs every Saturday.
Neighborhood spots like Everyday Cafe are often dubbed “third spaces” - a default place for building community, a natural gathering spot. Similar places exist throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania, giving residents public spaces to connect.
“It’s a huge economic and community development agent and engine when you create spaces for outdoor activity for life, for recreation, for arts and community gathering,” said John Austin, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit that researches public policy issues.
Everyday Cafe had an unlikely developer: a local church. Seeing a need for a place where people could gather, the Bible Center Church in Homewood operates through its social enterprise, The Oasis Project.
“The church is very involved in community economic development and the idea of trying to reactivate the business corridor here in Homewood,” Executive Pastor Cynthia Wallace said.
Everyday Cafe’s mission is to create a family-friendly third space in Homewood where people can hold meetings and events. The cafe opened in 2016.
“Before Everyday Cafe, there wasn’t really a public place other than bars or barbershops for people that gather in the community - a place where people could hold meetings or just meet up with friends,” Wallace said. “We do events like baby showers or graduation parties. There just wasn’t a space like that before.
A few miles away in the city’s Garfield neighborhood, Third Space Bakery has a similar mission. Beth Taylor, one of the owners of the co-operative, said she’s gotten to know many regulars and is buoyed by community support.
“Our pipes froze a few weeks ago and people were just amazing,” Taylor said. “One woman I ran into at the grocery store asked if she could come over and help clean. We’re really lucky to be beloved, and we love our people too.”
“Being able to have somewhere with social innovation, people around who are engaged in other kinds of activities that I’m engaged in … creates a warm background and helps me feel like I’m a part of a community,” said Ari Moline, a cafe regular.
In nearby Beaver County, Church Army USA operates Uncommon Grounds Café in Aliquippa, a community hub.
“We serve the marginalized by providing food and connection to clothing and resources in the county and just try to be that connector,” Andrenna Williams, director of Aliquippa Ministries and the cafe.
The cafe also offers job training programs to county residents through partnerships with local organizations including a program which uses their kitchen as a training site for young people during summer break.
“We open our doors to the community to come in because everybody gets a chance to play. If there’s someone that wants to serve and learn, we are the space for them to do that,” Williams said.
They want to make their menu as affordable as possible, so people don’t feel priced out, she added. For example, coffee is 50 cents per cup. They also have a “jubilee board” so people can purchase meals for others who might pass through later.
Spots like Uncommon Grounds Café are key to the economic revitalization of regions like Pittsburgh, which have been battered by population loss over the last several decades, Austin said.
So how can communities draw people?
“Quality of life and place matters way more to things we really care about in economic development. Is your community growing? Are people coming? Are they staying? And are people creating or locating or benefitting from good jobs, because people will pay a premium to be in a nice place to live, and businesses want to locate and operate in places where people want to live and work,” he said.
Austin’s research is focused on the economic redevelopment in Rust Belt cities, particularly in the Midwest. An example of successful redevelopment through the inclusion of third spaces is Milwaukee, located along the Milwaukee River, he said.
“Downtown Milwaukee has a river that runs through it, and it used to be a polluted mess,” Austin said. “Now it’s lined with public access and shops and restaurants going out to a waterfront that’s full of museums, arts, park land, and it’s now a meeting ground.”
Just as important to building up cities, Austin said, are private sector nonprofits.
Cranberry Township in Butler County has seen a population increase of about 20 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to U.S. Census data. The Rose E. Schneider YMCA, which opened about 19 years ago, has grown with the township.
The YMCA has more than 11,000 members. Nonmembers may also participate in programs, including exercise, art, and cooking classes.
Their sister location, the Butler Family YMCA, has been around for nearly 130 years and has served as a bedrock for the community. People are starting to form the same relationship with the newer location, Executive Director Carrie Ohorodnyk said.
“People know the Butler Y. They grew up in Butler and they had kids that went to the Y … there’s multigenerational Y people in Butler. I think people are finally getting to the point where they understand how important it is to have a Y in your community,” she said.
“We’re finally getting to that point … that people that moved here are staying here and have been here a while and are getting involved in the community.”
