The growing pains are real in Pittsburgh
When pruning is meant to offend, but you know how to play defense and replant.
Pruning is a part of the growth life cycle where you trim branches to protect the growth of the overall plan. In economics, it’s when you stop giving focus and resources to operations. In Pittsburgh pruning seems to keep happening and impacting the black brown communities and it’s impacting their present day and future.
In this game of growth, you have to know the rules to stay in a winning posture. I’m going to discuss the information I found out to help you or your families play defense by planting your own power in the right soil.
Last month I had a conversation with other black women on the growth and opportunities in Pittsburgh. We went over how it’s being recognized as one of the most livable cities (source) and at the same time, not a safe environment for black people (source). We talked about how the professional, financial and health environment is not set up for them or their families. I immediately put notes in my phone to research this and here we are. Below I’m going to break down some of the information I found and provide my insight on it to play defense or to simply make the information work for you. I like to be optimistic and proactive in life so you’ll see that in my insight below. This is for informational and strategy purposes only. Solving these issues and creating strategies to combat them will take your time AND effort.
PWN’s Time to Shine Brunch Weekend - Pictured Beth Burton, Joy Pekar, Ty Allen, and Sonita Bell.
Pittsburgh is on track to experience growth over the next 10 years. I live outside of Pittsburgh and the business streets are talking about how many opportunities are here and will be in the near future. By having conversations with my family who live here and other locals who are black, they do not find safety or comfort in the job opportunities, policies and health options Pittsburgh has to offer them. The pressure applied by this combination held true for me. It’s why I left to find opportunities to design what success looked like without all of that red tape. Now I’m spinning the block and spreading what I know and what I did to get here mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. I can help set up the play. You have to run it for you and your family.
Let’s get into my findings…
Two majors challenges
The Pittsburgh’s Inequality across Gender and Race study I referred to earlier, outlined a lot of alarming stats. To keep this semi-short I’ll highlight two major challenges that stuck out to me.
The study showed that Black women make 54 cents to every dollar white men make in this city.
Black people in other cities have better access to healthcare, salary variation/income, and education opportunities than in Pittsburgh
Challenge #1:
This means that if a male was making $100,000 in a role that a black woman would make $54,000 in that role. That’s a significant difference and a problem.
Challenge #2:
Reading this made me angry because all of the above are conducive to raising families and living a healthy lifestyle. I feel like it’s systematic gaslighting because the health care giants, UPMC and Allegheny Health Network, are pretty much the healthcare versions of Starbucks - you can’t go one block without seeing one of their facilities or an affiliate.
The salary possibilities didn’t surprise me. I ran into salary problems when I lived here. I didn’t find out that 6 figure salaries were available in tech in Pittsburgh until after I moved away. Access to that type of information is hard to get to when you’re a local.
I also wasn’t shocked that the education opportunities weren’t accessible because I experienced extreme difficulty trying to obtain my degree as a first generation college student. I couldn’t get into Pitt or Penn State’s main campus directly because of my math scores and the business program I wanted to be in. I had to attend 3 universities to get my degree in the 4 year period. It should not have been that hard - especially in a city that has 68 universities in the region. I did have help though. Shout out to Pittsburgh Promise for working hard to bridge this gap and providing financial support to get me where I am. Also, if you don’t have time to read the full study, catch the highlights from this Roots article.
Advocating for yourself is key when you are facing economic pressure
When growth is happening in an area, especially growth that disproportionately impacts the locals, knowing the policies is your key to playing quality defense and helping you replant. I found this non-profit doing policy work in the area Black Women’s Policy Agenda (BWPA) which is under the umbrella of Black Women’s Policy Center founded by Rochelle Jackson in 2020. To combat the forces against women they create safe spaces for black women by hosting regular events and conversations on topics like pay equity and teaching women how to advocate for themselves. As of this writing (Feb 2023) they are hosting a virtual series to hold space for black women you can RSVP here. Here are all their socials - Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to stay connected and attend events. I do not know Rochelle personally. I love the work that her organization does so I will continue to share her content.
You also need to know what the development around you means
In Pittsburgh there are many companies involvement that are contributing to the lack of access for black people when it comes to professional opportunities, access to healthcare, education and income opportunities we talked about earlier. I am going to focus on one, Google. In 2022, Google announced they’re expanding their footprint in Pittsburgh and across Pennsylvania. See this Technical.ly article for more details. They have been here since 2006 and have been an influencer in the economy since.
In my opinion, this expansion says two things in real life: 1) Google is in Pittsburgh to stay for real this time and 2) they’re bringing more change with them.
Investments and jobs for who?
They’ve been in East Liberty since 2011 and the development in that area has been ongoing since. For example, the busway was removed and redesigned around the time and reopened in 2015. Now that Google announced their expansion, it’s no wonder the redevelopments have expanded in the area too. RIP Giant Eagle and Family Dollar I have many memories there. Both expansions are being branded as bringing new jobs as a benefit. The way it will be a benefit is if the jobs from Google’s expansion and the redevelopment are filled by locals vs bringing in more transplants.
In other words, this is your sign to take every opportunity you can to learn new skills. Since they will be tech related jobs, I dropped some resources to start with (still do your own research though).
Why race and gender issues are a problem for us all…
One, Pittsburgh’s racial diversity challenges have been a challenge in the public eye for 4 years. It’s even getting national attention now. The racial gap makes it hard for the global tech world to pull diverse talent from Pittsburgh. In this People of Color in Tech article, it highlights the low number of black and brown people represented in the tech workforce in the area which is about 20%. This is a challenge because the purpose of tech is to make opportunities accessible for all and 20% is an indicator that it’s not accessible here…yet.
More money [invested] more problems [for the locals]
I see two more problems here: accessibility and misalignment. Let’s start with accessibility…
Like technology, globalization is meant to make things accessible for all users. In this case technology is the tool and globalization is the standard to how the tool can be used. Globalization is the standard that Pittsburgh is getting measured up against.
The lack of access that the racial and equity report touched on applies to tech in Pittsburgh, too. People who have money and skill have the most access. According to the BLS, the tech workforce in Pittsburgh (categorized as IT) has 20% of black people in roles. This roles are more than likely where the 6 figure salary opportunities are. Later I will talk about how tech roles are not accessible for the black workforce . Before I do I want to talk about the misalignment so the numbers will make more sense.
Globalization has an interesting reputation and ideology - it lives by the old adage of “who pays has the say”. Essentially the people who are putting up the money into the economy have the say in how the environment looks, feels and what it’s called. The people left with the damages are the locals - in this case it’s the Pittsburgh Natives pushed out of East Liberty because of rising cost of living. Back to the redevelopment I was talking about earlier and the contradicting information on livability. The redevelopment that wiped out what used to be called East Liberty is making the developers a lot of money and displaced a lot of families. The name change to Bakery Square is a developer's term and the price tag on the redesign pushed out the locals to fit the look the developers were going for. There are opportunities of growth here for the locals though. One I suggest following the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) development and figure out what their plays are and how much money is being flooded to this part of the city - to hold them accountable and to get involved with the project if you have the skillset. You can keep up with some of the redevelopment by signing up for updates with the here. I also suggest following the type of companies coming to this area so you can align your skills and experience with them.
As promised here’s the math
Pittsburgh has a population of a little over 300,000 people. About 33% of those people identify as non-white (source). According to the BLS, in 2022 there were about 22,000 IT roles reported. Not to mention, IT is under a category not regularly adjusted due to the pace of information received. It’s important to pay attention to the labor states not regularly adjusted because that’s an opportunity for big companies to not be held accountable to the number of jobs they said they would bring to the area - like Google saying they’ll bring 800 more jobs here.
There are about 22,000 tech jobs in Pittsburgh and about 20% of the roles are occupied black and brown people.
22,000 x 20% = roles is only 440 roles.
22,000 - 440 = 21,560
That means that 21,560 of the tech jobs which are usually higher paying jobs are being occupied by non-black and brown people. That has to change.
Growing pains are real, Pittsburgh.
I know you feel them and they are uncomfortable. I trust that with the right energy and guidance opportunities will be accessible I’ve said a lot here and it might be a lot to process. My hope is that you take the time to digest all of this information and how it impacts you. I set up the play by digging up the information and suggesting what you can do. It’s time for you to run the play by digesting the information and making it work for your growth. Figure out your options. You always have options. In the meantime, here are some options that I found for you to start finding opportunities in professional, income and education.
Professional Resources for Entrepreneurs and Employees to upskill:
Google Digital Coaches Program For Entrepreneurs
Pennsylvania’s Digital Coach Information
Small Business Administration
Tech Resume Workshop facilitated by a former HR recruiter from Google, April Christina Curley
Federal Resume Workshop facilitated by a Federal Government Resume Writer, Robin Schingler
Cover Letter and Resume Refresh Guide from Stanford
EmployHer Pittsburgh
Income:
People to follow:
@Myfabfinance
@daveramsey
@millenialindebt
Education:
To my fellow black women and families in Pittsburgh, this hand you were dealt is not the best. Let’s work together to make it a winning hand. I’m going to keep sharing upskilling resources and options for you to improve your odds. I share resources in my newsletter, sign up for them here or stay connected with me on social media. Click the icons below.
Wishing you all enough
