Monthly Newsletter

January 2023 Edition

We hope you and yours had a joyous holiday season and we send you our best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2023. 

Mrs. Rahshaan Felder was recently elected President of Macedonia FACE Board of Directors. Mrs. Felder first became involved with FACE when she joined Macedonia Church of Greater Pittsburgh and was encouraged by the late Pastor Barr to become a volunteer. Mrs. Felder started out at FACE volunteering to do administrative functions and editing. She then became a leader of the Family Group Conferencing and later a consultant helping FACE as it grew to develop policy and procedure manuals. Two years ago, Rahshaan joined the Board of Directors and now is taking the leadership role as the Board’s President.

When asked why she volunteers her talents to Macedonia FACE, Rahshaan says, “I am passionate for individuals, families, and the community to be their best, and I want to be part of leveling the playing field so that everyone can have their best life. I appreciate all that FACE does to support families.”

As she leads the agency moving forward she hopes “that FACE’s reach will continue to expand, and the FACE finds the resources, human and financial to expand its impact. I hope to continue to develop all of the ways we offer help to make a better community and a better world.”

Because of the generosity of the University of Pittsburgh, FACE was able to make the holiday season a little brighter and more joyful for our neighbors. Staff distributed gifts and toys to families who are participating in our Family and Community Teaming, our HIV, and our Family Capacity programs. Thank you to Jamilah Ducar, Executive Director of the Engaged Campus in the Office of Engagement and Community Affairs at Pitt, who arranged for Macedonia FACE to be a recipient of the toys!

Candra Jones leads FACE’s Hill District Early Literacy Initiative (HDELI) and represented the agency at the Ujamaa Collective’s Kwanzaa Celebration. 

Each day of Kwanzaa represents one of the seven principles which together make up kawaida, a Swahili term for tradition and reason. These are the 7 principles:

1. Umoja – unity – commemorating together not only in family, friend and community groups but in the world African population. 
2. Kujichagulia – self-determination – honoring the ability to define, create and speak for the self
3. Ujima – collective work and responsibility – focusing on communal problem-solving and consensus building
4. Ujamaa – cooperative economics – sharing work and wealth and following non-exploitive business practices that benefit the whole community
5. Nia – purpose – a commitment to upholding black history and heritage
6. Kuumba – creativity – the obligation to beautify the community for future generations
7. Imani – faith – being positive and believing in the potential of the self and the community as a whole

The HDELI project encourages reading and promotes reading proficiency in children PreK to Grade 3. To learn more contact Candra Jones at cjones@macedoniaface.org. 

The Senior Center is collaborating with Dr. Tim Huang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship, School of Computing and Information at University of Pittsburgh and Charlene Foggie-Barnett, the Teenie Harris Community Archivist at the Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) to develop a virtual reality project that merges technology, art, and personal narratives.

To properly set the mood for the conversation, saxophonist Kenny Blake played a 15-minute mini-concert at the center. He completely surprised participants when he walked in and started playing. Mr. Blake played jazz standards and participants sang and clapped along. 

In the coming weeks, the center members will collectively choose images of the community they wish to focus on. Their stories will be collected and matched to the picture. The expectation is to share the project with young people in the Hill District. As Ms. Foggie-Barnett said, “Technology can be part of the connective tissue between generations.”



For more information about the project or to learn more about the activities at the Senior Center, contact Solomon Armstead, Senior Center Supervisor, at sarmstead@macedoniaface.org.

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