A memorial for the late housing advocate Celeste Scott will be held at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA this weekend. Scott died last week at age 46.
Her advocacy helped lead to the creation of an affordable housing trust fund in the City of Pittsburgh, as well as transitional housing for transgender women.
A group calling themselves Scott’s “Legacy Circle” will host the memorial from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday. The group also set up a GoFundMe to raise money for funeral costs and to help support her family.
On Tuesday, Lawrenceville United, an organization with which Scott frequently worked, said it would donate $1,000 to the fundraiser and encouraged neighbors to do the same.
The group’s name embodies the way in which those who continue to build upon Scott’s housing justice efforts are also a part of her legacy.
“The beautiful part is that she left so many working hands behind,” said Brittani Murray, Scott’s close friend and a fellow organizer. “So many working and loving hearts behind.”
Another memorial sponsored by Scott's family will occur at Christian Church in Wilkinsburg from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. The event includes an art gallery. Proceeds from art sales will go to funeral arrangements and additional support for Scott's son.
Scott created tangible resources for her community
As a community organizer, Scott helped Pittsburghers — especially Black transgender women — find places to live. But Murray said Scott’s work only began there.
“She wasn't just about putting people in the home,” Murray said. “She was about making their lives whole and basically scratching off any impediments to their advancement.”
That included helping them find food, furniture, jobs and other services in the process.
Scott regularly spoke at community and government meetings, where she not only informed leaders of housing conditions in Pittsburgh but also deepened her understanding of the city’s housing systems so that information could be shared.
“Celeste did not gate-keep the information,” Murray said. “Celeste routinely was out here educating people. Celeste would educate you at the bus stop.”
Scott spent several years as the affordable housing organizer at Pittsburgh United. She called for a city with “tangible equity” across the board — for Black residents, people with disabilities and other marginalized community members.
Murray said Scott wanted to empower Black communities with the knowledge needed to navigate the city’s housing landscape, so that, one day, her help wouldn’t be needed.
“Celeste would often say, ‘I'm trying to put me out of business, the business of what I do and how I go around here and try to advocate for people. I want to put me out of business. I want everybody in a home,’” Murray said.
Her advocacy led to the creation of the city’s Housing Opportunity Fund, which commits $10 million a year to affordable housing projects and accessibility initiatives.
Funding from the program has gone to provide short-term rental assistance to people at risk of homelessness, assistance for first-time home buyers and repairs to housing for seniors in the predominantly Black Hill District.
Speaking to 90.5 WESA in 2019, Scott called the allocations a win for people struggling to afford housing.
According to Lawrenceville United, Scott was also a key figure in the campaign for inclusionary zoning in the neighborhood. She held one-on-ones on the issue with elected officials and convened partners across the city.
“She was a fierce champion for racial justice, housing justice, and queer liberation,” Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said on social media. “The City of Pittsburgh is a better place because of Celeste. May her memory be a blessing, now and always.”
Championing of intersectional advocacy
Scott also worked to secure emergency housing for transgender women in Pittsburgh. She previously served as the housing chair of SisTers PGH, a nonprofit organization serving trans and non-binary people.
SisTers executive director Ciora Thomas said Scott was instrumental in securing the organization’s first house, which serves as a transitional shelter for trans, non-binary and gender-nonconforming people.
“One thing we all know about Celeste is that her intention has always been intersectional to include our Black trans communities,” Thomas said, “and she was ferocious about that.”
“This was the one who was putting it all out there for us girls,” she continued.
Thomas and Murray say Scott was forthright about ensuring the spaces she led were accessible to everyone, including members of the disability community.
She frequently called out physical barriers to accessible housing and inclusion, and she lived by her personal branding, “Fat, Femme and Fly”.
“She changed how we performed our actions, how we made inclusivity in space, in our events and in our actions,” Murray explained. “We were very intentional about that because she demanded that intentionality, frankly, but also she taught us so much about it. About what it really meant to show up for each other in space and the community in that way.”
That emphasis on inclusion also extended to the patience and joy with which Scott treated Black youth.
At the 2019 People’s Pride fest, Scott led a group of teens in dancing to “Swag Surfin’” by Fast Life Yungstaz, a song that's become embedded in Black culture in the U.S. during the past couple of decades.
“They were just so excited to be able to take part in something that was so Black and so rich and so dope and such a flex and so swaggy,” Murray said. “And she was just smiling and swagging and surfing every step of the way. The look on her face was just elated.”
Scott always wanted Black kids to feel like they belonged, Murray added. “Like they had a place and a space to stand in.”
A thriving future for Black women
To Murray and Thomas, Scott was a matriarch. She welcomed other Black women advocates into the fold, sharing information and reminding her peers about the importance of self-care.
But while she endlessly supported them and other activists, in addition to her work aiding city initiatives, they say she didn’t always get that same support.
Scott helped others experiencing housing insecurity find stable homes while facing many of the same issues.
“She did not get to receive the dream of owning the home that she wanted, but believed so much in making sure that all of us were taken care of,” Thomas said.
Thomas also said Scott was not paid enough for her contributions to the community.
Allegheny County police found an unresponsive Scott at her home in Homestead in the early morning of Nov. 2. The medical examiner’s office is investigating the cause of her death. It had not released any findings as of Nov. 9.
Murray and Thomas said her passing highlights the need for better resources for Black women serving as community leaders. That includes equitable pay.
“Our leaders, our matriarchs also need the support and also need the equity to be able to be sustainable while doing this work,” Thomas said.
Maintaining Scott’s legacy, Thomas adds, means creating a future where Black women in Pittsburgh are able to thrive.
