Between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on any given day community leaders like Fred Brown or Jerome Jackson, entrepreneurs including Roland Ford and Christian Hughes, college students and just ordinary people can be found at 532 North Homewood Ave. patronizing the Everyday Café.
Considered Homewood’s hub for innovation and inspiration, where great coffee and passionate people meet every day, the dream of the owners is for the café to be Pittsburgh’s quintessential place for premium coffee and delicious food.
Considered a social enterprise, operated by the Oasis Project, the community and economic development division of Bible Center Church, Pastor Cynthia M. Wallace, identifies the Everyday Café as Pittsburgh’s first completely cashless coffeehouse. Cashless meaning that the business only accepts debt and credit cards or the Everyday Café Gift Card. The gift card enables customers to put money on the card to pay for purchases and to earn loyalty points to receive a free coffee or tea after purchasing nine.
The café, according to Wallace, executive pastor of Bible Center and executive director of the Oasis Project, fulfills a need in the community for a gathering or meeting space where people can get a good cup of coffee and a light breakfast or lunch. Considering it’s a multi-use space equipped with free WiFi, a mix of comfortable seating and work tables it is located across the street from the Homewood-Brushton Busway and moments from Point Breeze, East Liberty, Shadyside and Oakland. The building also houses the senior citizen building, Sandidge Photography Studio and All State Insurance.
Served all day, the breakfast and lunch menus consist of Breakfast sandwiches made with eggs and all served on a toasted English muffin, oatmeal and an assortment of pastries. The lunch menu is inclusive of a variety of sandwiches, soups and salads. Both breakfast and lunch menus include combos.
Also, serving a mix of beverages inclusive of blended handcrafted beverages and a variety of teas, the staple of the café is its award-winning Dillanos Coffee Roasters. Described as a Christian oriented roaster based in Seattle, Wallace said its global connections are used to bring fair trade and organic certified coffee from around the world to the Everyday Café.
Involved in the community for 60 years, John M. Wallace Jr., PhD, senior pastor of Bible Center and grandson of the churches founders Elder Ralph and Mother Bernice Groce, is following in their footsteps of answering the spiritual “cry for help,” that came from the Homewood community. Located in several areas in Homewood throughout the years the church currently worships in their multi-purpose facility what they classify as the W.A.R.M. Center (worship, arts, recreation and ministry) at 717 North Homewood Ave. in the former Rite Aid building. “We are renovating the lower level of the building with the goal to have a commercial kitchen and to operate a pre-school,” said Wallace, the wife of John. Their administrative offices are located on Tioga Street.
According to the church’s website Bible Center has purchased and is productively reusing more than two-dozen parcels and properties in Homewood. In addition to senior homes, and housing for college students and young adults being trained in urban ministry, properties have been used to teach young people the construction trades, for a new community playground, as classrooms to teach seniors how to use their smart phones, for parenting and financial literacy classes, and most recently as the home for the “Maker’s Place” an ESTEAM (entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and math) program focusing on an out-of-school time program that teaches young people 21st Century skills including, computer coding, website development, fashion design, and digital media and manufacturing.
The executive director of the church’s community and economic division, Wallace outlined that the Oasis Project designs youth programs, builds businesses, creates jobs, and adaptively reuses vacant and abandoned property to empower people and transform the community. She pointed out that it uses research and an asset-based community development approach to further the mission of creating oases; places of peace, safety, and happiness in the midst of trouble and difficulty. The Oasis Project focuses on three interconnected areas: educational initiatives, capacity building and social enterprises.
Educational Initiatives she pointed out seeks to empower and transform the lives of young people in Homewood by enhancing their knowledge of workforce skills, STEAM; known as science, technology, engineering, art, and math principles, 21st century skills, life skills what they consider character development and social skills and much more. “It is Bible Center’s desire to see young people find and reach their potential,” she said. Initiatives include the Maker’s Clubhouse, the Maker’s Place, Color-Coded, Dinner’s Ready, and the Manhood/Womanhood Education and Training component.
Sighting the Everyday Café as an example of capacity building she explained that the project is a collaborative between them and Operation Better Block. The church owns and operates the business and OBB owns the building.
“Bible Center is able to build capacity through collaborations with no-profits, businesses, and education institutions, and co-convening HOST; Homewood Out-of School Time Collaborative,” she added.
In addition to the café their social enterprise projects include Oasis Transportation Services and the Oasis Food Farm and Fishery that involves three interrelated projects: Oasis Farm and Fishery, (Micro-farm), Everyday Café and the WARM Center Commercial Kitchen.
Committed to Homewood, both John and Cynthia have family roots in the community. John grew up in Homewood and gained his foundational training in ministry at Bible Center before receiving his Bachelors Degree from the University of Chicago and his Master’s Degree and PhD from the University of Michigan.
A native of Flint, Mich., Cynthia’s mother was a Homewood native so as a child she often spent summers in Pittsburgh. She also received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Chicago and her Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan. An educator by trade, formerly she was the principal of Pittsburgh Montessori and an adjunct professor at Carlow University.
Operating almost two months, Wallace and the Everyday Café team of baristas are pleased with the success of the business so far but striving to improve operations every day. Viewing it as truly community, Wallace pointed out that 80 percent of the staff is from the East End mostly consisting of college students. The manager, Donna Taylor, has extensive experience in the consumer food product industry. A member of Bible Center she is also the Chief Operating Officer and leading the execution of the new ventures of the Oasis Project including the Oasis Foods Farm and Fishery.
This week the café began hosting what they call Grind Time where their hours are 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays. Wallace said they are looking to eventually launch every day after hour events like jazz mix and mingles, poetry readings or book clubs. “We want people to utilize the café for their productivity needs as well as a place to meet and greet,” she says pointing out that the Everyday Café is where great coffee and passionate people meet, every day.
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