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Bringing change to Pittsburgh with WITC

July 29, 2021 | Healthy Communities News

Change is coming to the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when an amazing new Workforce Innovation and Talent Center (WITC) opens there. It was built thanks to an unusual pairing between Ebenezer Baptist Church and CVS Health.

Sean Ware points out, “It didn't take six weeks for these people to get into poverty or to get in the conditions that they live in. So we know that it's not going to take six weeks for them to turn that around. So, what we wanted to do was provide at least 36 months of services to anything that they need — medical services, training, food, financial assistance, anything that we can help them in the next 36 months to help break the chains of poverty.”

In this Healthy Communities News podcast, we speak with the two “partners-in-crime,” who not only dreamed it up, but made it all happen — John White, Senior Advisor, Workforce Initiatives for CVS Health, and Vincent Campbell, Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church.

As Pastor Campbell says, “If there's a thousand people who need help, and you help one, obviously that's impactful to that one person. But then you have to look 999 people in their face who you couldn't help. What CVS [Health] has done is said that ... that other 999 can now come and get help.”

Bringing change to Pittsburgh with WITC

Melissa speaks with John White, Senior Advisor, Workforce Initiatives for CVS Health, and Vincent Campbell, Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church about the WITC launching in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District, where the average income is currently between $14,000 and $17,000 a year. As Pastor Campbell says, “If there's a thousand people who need help, and you help one, obviously that's impactful to that one person. But then you have to look 999 people in their face who you couldn't help. What CVS [Health] has done is said that ... that other 999 can now come and get help.”