Funding for this program was made possible by the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.

With additional support from the Allegheny Regional Asset District.

The Pittsburgh Foundation and the members of WQED.

Thank you.

This is Pittsburgh, a city steeped in history and poised for a promising future.

As cities across the country face issues ranging from affordable housing and police misconduct, this is an issue that I care about, to advances in tech and a new activism.

We're taking a moment to assess where we've been and where we're going.

Educationally, economically and politically.

In the region we call home.

Join us as we explore the state of black Pittsburgh.

If people are still struggling, not making a living wage, being forced to think about moving from their neighborhoods as they gentrify and change, then not all of us are equally participating in this burgeoning new Pittsburgh.

And I think that's the biggest challenge.

If it's going to be that place that everybody's proud of, it's got to be that place for all of us, and not just for some of us.

Your microcosm may not be somebody else's microcosm, but you have to be competent to know that just because I come from this situation and you come from this other situation, doesn't mean that once we can get a level playing field and have the same opportunities, then we can go forward like we deserve to live in nice neighborhoods too.

And we shouldn't have to go move someplace else to experience that, right?

We should be able to have that right here where we live.

But we've got to do some things differently, and we definitely have to work together in order to really see the reality for black people in this city and this region, change.

Hello and welcome to the State of Black Pittsburgh, a community forum.

I'm Lisa Washington.

We're broadcasting live from the Fred Rogers Studio at WQED, where we have a very engaged audience who've been attending the annual State of Black Pittsburgh conference here at WQED.

We'll also be joined by some of the region's leading voices, as we discussed many of the issues and opportunities facing our African-American community.

I'll be your social media host, and we invite you to share your questions via Facebook at WQED Pittsburgh and on Twitter at WQED.

And please use the hashtag SBPGH.

You can also stream this program live through our website, wqed.org/stateofblackpittsburgh.

Now over to the main set with our host Chris Moore.

Thanks, Lisa.

Since 1918, the Urban League has been a force for economic empowerment in African-American communities across the country.

Joining us tonight to discuss their work and their legacy are president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, Miss Esth Bush, and the president and CEO of the National Urban League, Marc Morial.

Welcome to both of you.

Glad to have you.

Mr.

Morial, I know you're the chief executive officer, but I'm going to start with the local office, if you don't mind.

First of President Bush.

All right.

President Bush, how is the state of black Pittsburgh now?

The state of black Pittsburgh is, trying to claw its way up.

We still have, many challenges, in the city of Pittsburgh.

I am very pleased to see some movement, but we have still such a long way to go.

When I look at the work of the Urban League and see that we are still trying to assist people with their housing, trying to help them put food on the table, trying to assist the kids and expose them to technology and the careers of the future and help them in school.

It's not an equal playing field yet.

There's continuous conversation, but there's so much more that's necessary to bring equity into the city of Pittsburgh in the country.

There's work to be done.

Is that true on the national level?

Absolutely.

Great to be with you.

And thank you, Esther.

It's absolutely true on a national level.

In many respects, it's the best of times and the worst of times.

I say the best of times because from an economic standpoint, black America is in a better position today than it was ten years ago at the depths of the Great Depression.

However, however, the poverty levels are rising.

A paycheck does not go as far today as it did 15 years ago.

And we live in an environment where, racial incidents, whether it's Starbucks, whether it's waffle House, whether it's the awful statements of Roseanne Barr, their efforts to normalize those, those sorts of statements and that sort of hateful behavior in America today.

So we're faced with the challenge of those that will push back against progress.

Yet we are stronger.

We are resilient.

We are better positioned today to fight the battles here in the 21st century.

One of the things that was always preached in the black community where I grew up was education.

Do you think that that is.

And then we're going to examine that later in the program.

You think that that is still the route to success for Black American?

Yes, it is absolutely the passport, not just education, equality and equitable education.

An education which is equivalent to, the education that any other child gets.

So we ought to not have differentials in what we invest in schools, depending on zip code, depending on the color of the kids who are in the school.

That remains an issue today.

Whether we are we are funding, whether we are treating, whether we are in fact, ensuring that every child has an equitable chance, for high quality education.

But, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is pushing, privatizing of schools.

The Urban League has its own school here.

I understand it's doing quite well.

Is that going to be a path, that you will follow?

I think that, anybody that is providing quality.

And I want everybody to hear, Marc Morial, keep using the term equitable equity is so critically important for everything that we're doing.

The fight for education right now is the civil rights issue of the day.

There are changes being made right now thanks to the National Urban League, myself and a group of colleagues around the country, or working to try to make change so that education is equitable and we don't have to deal with where do you live?

But choices in education are critical.

So the charter school has a space.

The Catholic schools have always been there.

Traditional public schools have always been there as well as private.

I don't care where you are.

It needs to be an equitable, quality education in order for our kids to compete competitively in today's world.

Mr.

Morial with the with the, I guess, death of affirmative action.

Are those choices there?

Can any black kid go to any school and major in any subject that they want to and get the scholarship help that they need, because funding is part of that?

The absolutely, the answer to that is no.

And we have to be candid and frank.

No, every black kid cannot find his way to a quality school, which is why we have to try to make sure that every school is a quality school.

Every school has a first class science lab.

First class extracurricular.

The very best teachers, the very pass support services.

How do we do that?

We've got to continue to be noisy and disruptive.

We've got to continue to demanded.

We've got a demanded of local school districts.

We've got to demanded of of of state boards of education.

We've got to demanded of the federal government.

If we can commit billions and billions of dollars, on reconstruction projects for nations abroad, for Iraq, for Afghanistan, why can't we ensure right here in the United States of America that we equitably fund our schools?

Well, that's a political question, isn't it?

It's in the politicians.

It's to commit to that.

It's a political question, but it's also a moral question.

And it's a question of, the future of America.

And, we will continue, to fight, aggressively at the state, the local and the federal level for equitable education and equitable funding is essential.

It's not the simple answer, but it is essential.

Esther mentioned the, Equity and Excellence project that we have that runs across multiple affiliates.

Esther's work here has been stellar as an advocate for high quality, equitable education.

All right.

We're going to continue to address these subjects.

And let me toss it over to Lisa right now to do just that.

Chris.

Thank you.

As you just heard, one of the big challenges in our community is preparing students for better careers.

So it only stands to reason that education continues to be the most significant path to economic freedom.

We ask a few community leaders to share their thoughts on moving forward.

Education has always been a cornerstone in the building of black progress and advancement, but there have been some successes, but much more is needed.

We wondered how can we improve educational opportunities for African American students?

So we probably can do some of this.

My name is Jane Lee and I'm the stage manager at the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.

They can figure out how they can use the robots with digital connectors.

I did a holistic approach to testing, meaning that we did a lot of project based learning.

I run the program out of the Urban League, so I don't have a lab.

We had it all to there.

So we have to do thinking things with technical teams.

Another one of the programs we have is robots.

We're left forward right?

Yeah.

That's it.

People don't think of the Urban League with robotics.

I want people to start thinking that these are free programs that are available to you.

And we have that Vex IQ, which are plastic robots.

So kind of like Legos.

So you can have younger kids do them all the way up to high school.

So the goal for the department is to have kids on a competition team, and they are building a report with me.

They trust me.

Typically when we run programs, even out of propel, often they don't see people that look like them, that or scientist.

So that's another draw.

I like you when you're a scientist, and I guess I'm a scientist.

And you can be too.

So, just exposure is key.

A lot of times my goal and passion is to show people that there is a different way.

When you eat your food, probably a chemist behind that.

When you put your makeup on, it's probably a chemist by that when you wash your hair, probably a chemist behind that.

But most people don't think about that.

Don't think about the science.

There's science everywhere.

You have to change your thinking.

I've noticed that a lot of students have not left their community to know that CMU, the University of Pittsburgh, Carlow, all of these places are within a bus ride to most communities, but none have ever seen them.

Or you don't envision yourself there because no one in your in your family has ever gone to school.

So it's about exposure.

It's about learning and seeking out.

But the key, I think with students is the parents.

You have to have the exposure.

You have to want better.

And sometimes when you know better and you've been shown a different way and your trajectory is different, you do better.

So our goal is to change the trajectory of somebodies situation.

The last many conversations we had focused on the technology boom in the Burg in this region.

And how is that actually creating, inclusive jobs and opportunities.

And what we need to do is start teaching our children at a young age, not waiting until they're in college or even high school, but showing them the trades.

I just saw an article where there are a lot of empty trade jobs sitting there, because no one's teaching them there.

But we have this over abundance of people.

And for your universities, and we see what happens in student loan debt and college and certain schools and institutions aren't for everyone.

So we really have to look at the spectrum of what's offered, not just, you know, through the typical school system and typical four year university, but getting our children acclimated to the trades, getting them acclimated to Stein, coding all of those things where jobs easily start at $60,000.

I know this sounds trite, but when I was growing up, everybody in my neighborhood wanted all the kids to do well.

Neither of my parents graduated high school, but their expectation was that my life was going to be better and that they and everybody around me were pushing me to study, to read, to be a good student, because that was important.

And I'm the first person in my family to go to college.

That was a major big deal, and all of the people around me did little things to make that happen.

You know, they gave me books.

They gave me pencils.

They gave me bus fare to get back and forth to Duquesne University.

And I think we need to make education a priority again.

And we need to be a community of people encouraging young people to read, to explore, to be creative, and to find the thing that gives them passion and encouraged them to do it.

As they work to build a better system.

Our next guest are changing the rules about education.

Michelle Massie is the director of research and communications for A-plus schools.

Doctor André Samuel is director of the Citizen Science Lab, and Doctor Valerie Kim Locke is the Renee and Richard Goldman, dean of the University of School, University of Pittsburgh School of Education.

Welcome to all of you.

Doctor Kinloch, I'd like to start with you.

Can I tell you how proud we are?

First black woman in 200 years.

The head of department at the University of Pittsburgh.

And it is the Department of Education.

Can you tell us a little bit about your personal struggle in education to rise to the pinnacle of where you are now?

Thank you.

Thank you for that wonderful welcome.

And it is surprising that I am the first black woman dean of any school of education, only school on the University of Pittsburgh's campus.

That's.

That doesn't make any sense.

And so I start there.

That that doesn't make any sense because we are in Pittsburgh and this is 2018.

So just really quickly, my educational journey started in Charleston, South Carolina.

I am a first generation college student.

I went to Johnson C Smith University, historically black college in Charlotte, North Carolina, and decided at that time that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life, but whatever I do, it is going to fundamentally help to contribute to changing the educational landscape here in this country and hopefully across the world.

And a lot of struggle, a lot of thinking about access to educational opportunities denied to many of my family members, my friends, people in my larger community, but also realizing that it takes a village to think about education and it takes a village to think about changing the face of education in this entire country.

Do you think some of that denial continues today?

Denial.

Denial to to the education that you were talking about this some of your family and community members have been denied.

I think it happens across the board.

I do.

I think that the reality that you just introduced me as the first black dean of any school of education on the University of Pittsburgh's campus, is proof that there is not enough access to educational opportunities and resources for people who really need us to do this work, and people who look like me.

But Samuel, let me move on to you as a director of a science lab, particularly with our young men.

How important is it to get them interested in science?

Oh, I don't like me if I don't want science.

And I'm sure you've heard that before all the time.

I mean, this is this is the biggest struggle, is showing the kids in our community that science.

And having an interest in science doesn't mean that you're going to be a Urkel, that you know, you're not going to be a Walter White or these characters that we see in media portray scientists and their characters.

It is it's a very unfair characterization.

We don't all wear horn rimmed glasses with tape in the middle and pocket protectors, you know, and that's just an image that we have to fight.

It's extremely important because Pittsburgh is a biomedical hub, and there are plenty of jobs in the biomedical field and life sciences, and we should be creating our own homegrown scientists to fill those jobs rather than bringing them in from all over the country and outside.

All right.

Before we get to Michelle Massie and A-plus schools, we're going to toss to Lisa, who has a question from social media.

Lisa.

Chris.

Thank you.

So this question is what field of study should be pursued in order to be competitive in this changing economy?

All right.

That sounds like a perfect question for Michelle.

With A-plus schools, you're working with some of the secondary schools, right?

We are.

And, let me first start with telling you that a lot of my background, too, is in workforce development.

So this is a perfect segway to look at how we built pipelines through education to the workforce.

So largely in Pittsburgh, edge Med biomedical engineering technology, all of that.

And so Steam education before it was Stem.

But we're talking about Steam because we're including the arts again.

For so long, people were ignoring the arts and separating that is an important factor to education.

But we found that being able to use analytical skills, artistic skills and creativity all kind of worked well together to create these Steam, Steam careers.

We also recognize that while it's important to fill gaps in the workforce, we still have to cultivate passion in young people to fill.

These are difficult to do.

It's difficult because there are barriers.

And as Dean Kinloch said, the opportunity.

So we can talk about education in which we do an equal and equitable education, but we also have to show people a pathway and show young people a pathway.

And so I'm very diligent about building pipelines, showing people those early opportunities as soon as we can get into the schools.

And this is going back to career days in grade school and being able to infuse that throughout middle school experience, high school experience, and then bridging into post-secondary and education.

The one pipeline you talk about pipeline is the one pipeline I hear the most about is the school to prison pipeline.

And I'm wondering how we shut that one off and open up the ones Michelle is talking about.

Dr.

Kinloch What do you think?

We shut it off just like that.

We shut it up.

We have a commitment to saying that our kids are not going to be on a pathway to prison, from school to prison.

We have structures that we put in place.

We have qualified teachers in classrooms.

We have teachers who look like me.

We have people in communities who understand that there has to be a connection between what happens in our communities and what happens inside of our schools.

We provide hope and we provide experience for our young people.

We have conversations with them about the realities of living in this world as people of color, in communities of color.

If we have those conversations, if we listen to our young people and their families, and if we say education should be a fundamental civil right for all people and especially for people of color in this country, then that discourse about school to prison becomes something that's a discourse about school to career, school to college, school to brilliant for our young people.

But until we change that narrative and we provide opportunities for our young people and their families, then that narrative about school to prison will continue to persist.

And say, jump in through A-plus.

School is one of the campaigns that we trumpet a lot is restorative practices.

So this is an alternative to the punitive disciplinary approaches that we see in the traditional education environment.

Suspension, detention, all that boom.

Get them out of the classroom.

Many of our black children end up and they're they're being targeted as young as preschool.

I need you all to understand that I have a two year old.

You're talking about preschool, where we're taking young people out of the classroom and already marking them as defective.

But Doctor Kinloch says, cut that off.

Yeah.

We're talking about at birth.

Yeah.

We're talking about when our kids are born into this world, and they experience all of the hateful rhetoric around their identities that that sets up a pathway where people are saying that our kids are not able to succeed, when in fact, they are.

We have to look at this, in this global economy, that we have all the jobs going to be out there.

If you are able to train them in education, science, math, any of that?

Yes, absolutely.

The life sciences and biotech is not going anywhere.

We are a species that is constantly looking to improve upon our health.

We're looking to, find cures and treatments for diseases.

There are plenty of diseases out there, many that affect our own communities.

We need to create scientists.

On all levels.

From the technician all the way up to the PhD that can go in and work and solve these problems.

We're not going anywhere.

Biotech is here to stay.

All right, that's good news.

All right, we're going to toss it over to Lisa again.

Who's on the social media, said Lisa.

All right Chris, thank you.

Well, if there is one constant in our current political climate, it's change both locally and nationally.

So what can everyday people do to make sure their views are represented?

Their voices are heard and that change doesn't leave them behind.

In our fast changing and often confusing political landscape, representation by and for communities of color remains an essential component in having our voices heard.

But we wondered how important is political engagement?

I'm Marita Garrett, mayor of Wilkinsburg.

Yes.

We need to be engaged.

We need to vote every election.

Thankfully, I'm not hearing as much.

I only vote in presidential elections.

You know, every election is important, but local elections have the most impact on you, your community.

That's where, we talk about taxes, water quality, school taxes, all those things, local elections.

And so our lives literally depend on that two way street.

I think when you talk to other people who run for office, there's this common thread where you're whether you're tired of seeing things stay the same and nothing changing, or maybe you feel like your voice isn't being heard and you kind of say, well, why not?

I should just run.

So I start to see increase in that.

Even right now you see an increase of engagement, more people running for committee seats.

So I see where people are finally realizing or starting to realize that in order to make sure your voice is represented at the table, you have to get involved.

You have to be active.

You have to be engaged so that decisions aren't leaving you behind.

I mean, there's just so many things going on.

We have the park and recreation program, summer program happening again this summer.

So that's really something great for the kids.

People sometimes will say, you know, oh, I don't like politics.

I tend not to get involved in politics.

Politics is everywhere.

Politics is in your school.

Politics is in your job.

Politics in the in your family.

So we have to be engaged and active in the political field to make sure that we are at the table, and we need to get more of us to be making those decisions so that, all voices are heard.

My name is Walter Lewis, and I'm the interim president and CEO of the Homewood Children's Services.

So then in around 2010, we began operations, hired our first sort of staff and started.

But really, it's about how do we provide supports for young people from the time that they're born to the time that they graduate and go off to some successful careers?

Now, the mission is to improve the lives of homeless children and simultaneously relieve the fabric of the community in which they live.

When you think about community, it really is people and it's place, right?

Those are two of the elements that are really critical.

And sometimes when people talk about community, they only talk about one or the other.

But I think the work of the village is always about the intersection of the two.

So you hear it in the mission statement, improving the lives of the people, but also changing the place.

It's important for us to be politically engaged because at the end of the day, the decisions that are made, you know, by elected officials have a especially locally, have a huge bearing on our life outcomes.

Right.

And what we're experiencing in the world and in our city and in our neighborhoods.

And so we've got to be politically engaged.

One of the ways that we can, I think, increase the amount of political engagement is for us to see ourselves in the political sphere, right.

And so when you have a Marita, right, when you have, you know, Ed, when you have summer, right?

When you have people that you look at and you see yourself, it's easier to get engaged in the process.

So, you know, one of the things that is a game changer for me is this is one of the first times in my life where a lot of the elected officials, I know them personally.

And so these are people that I'm not just judging you on your platform, but I'm judging you on your character because I know you.

And do I trust that you are going to actually do the things that you put in that platform?

Do I know enough about your integrity?

And I think having representation in politics allows for that conversation to be more realistic.

Right.

So, you know, your average person is not necessarily going to feel comfortable going downtown and talking to this elected official.

But a lot of our elected officials, they come right into the community, and then we've got to go to the young people as well.

You know, too often the people that do come out are older folks.

We've got to get the young people out engaged, understanding what the issues are and exercising not just their voting rights, but engaging with the political figures beyond voting even before they can vote.

It's a lot of people story.

And until we start bringing right to it, then we're never going to be able to overcome it.

And it needs to be told, and it needs to be heard.

it needs to If 200 kids show up to a city meeting or something like that, that has an impact, and they're clear about what it is that they want to see that makes an impact, even if they're not able to vote.

But we've got to get engaged, understand what the issues are.

But those figures that are behind the movement are critical in terms of changing people's perspective about, is this real or is this just a show?

Here to talk about the importance of political engagement.

Valerie McDonald Roberts.

She is the chief urban affairs officer for the mayor's office and head of its Bureau of Neighborhood Empowerment.

Dean Larry Davis is with the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work and director of Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems.

And Carolyn Peeks, who is board member and former chair of the Larimer Consensus Group.

Miss.

Peeks, I'd like to start with you.

There's a lot of change going on in your neighborhood in Larimer.

We can see it every day.

Is the level of political engagement such that people who live there now, before all their development, make sure that they are included.

Yes, yes.

When we first started out, we wanted to make sure whoever wanted to continue to live in Larimer, with all the development that's going on, live in Larimer, if they choose to say yes, we went door to door and we we talked to the residents, and specifically asked them what they like to live, continue to live in Larimer.

And the majority of people said yes.

Did you talk to them about the importance of voting so that they would have a voice in that development of their neighborhoods?

Yes.

Also, they need to go to go to the polls and vote.

To make sure that what we're doing in the community is stays in the community.

And we all working together.

Are you satisfied with that?

Because a lot of times we don't get active until they're dropping off the bulldozers and starting construction.

And we say, what's going on?

What's going on?

So are you satisfied with that level of community engagement politically?

Yes, because once when we started out, we started out from from ground level.

And we continue to talk to the community to make sure that once we when you get started, that you have to continue and stay at the table and see.

And that's, that's what always happens.

We look around and we turn around and then all of a sudden this is built here or that's built there like, well the communities.

Well we didn't want that or so on and so forth, you know.

So we try to engage the community from the beginning.

I'm sure it's a struggle, but I'm glad to know that it's working.

Let's find out from Lisa Washington what's going on in social media circles there.

Chris, you mentioned voting.

We have a question from Facebook.

Is there a plan to educate voters on how to vote strategically?

Valerie McDonald Roberts, you've been involved in politics for as long as I've known you, from the school board to your current position.

Well.

When you look very young, your husband told me you were a child bride.

But but you've been involved politically.

So is that level of engagement there?

The instruction or what would we need to do to be involved?

Political.

Our numbers are not that.

I mean, our numbers are okay, but they're not good.

I'm sorry.

When you have 25% turnout, 30% turnout.

Unacceptable.

Unacceptable.

It should be.

Our goal is 100% that everybody that is registered to vote should be compelled to vote.

You sound like Tim Stevens.

Yes, I absolutely.

I still have that.

You know, we vote in each and every election.

Sweatshirt will not give it up.

But as far as the question, as far as strategically, yes, there are ways to strategically vote.

Many people think you have to vote for it.

First of all, let me tell you about the voting machines.

It's very confusing because when you finish, it says you haven't voted for everybody who maybe you don't want to vote for everybody.

Maybe you only wanted to vote for certain elections.

So, you you can say, no, I don't want to go back.

A lot of people don't know that.

So there needs to be education.

Doctor Davis, you have documented through a lot of your work some of the injustices and inequities in the system, particularly in communities of color.

Have things gotten any better as far as political involvement, education, or any of the subjects that we're covering tonight?

That's a good question, Chris.

Yeah.

Things are I don't I don't like to use expression best and worst of times because everyone uses it.

But it is true.

People ask, are race relations better or worse?

A couple things have have changed.

Mainly, the biggest thing I think that has changed is, the social media.

Even people like myself who have studied race, all of our lives, did not realize that things or as bad is pervasive as they were.

I mean, we knew things were were bad, but I think it struck everyone that they that they're really terrible.

Well, we've heard a hopeful note tonight.

Are you saying it's not as good as we hope?

Well, let me just finish the other part of that.

A couple reasons that that have happened with it.

Some of the most recent research comes out and it's really kind of interesting stuff.

It says that the reason that so many whites voted for Trump was not just a function of, the economic struggle, which was part of it, but also the fact of the demographic changes.

So there are two parts to that.

One is, of course, that there really are more minorities, people of color running around.

And secondly, that they're more visible.

So whites are really as a group, this group that we think about, whom the Trump people are fearful of being overrun.

So in some respects things are worse than they were.

But sometimes it's a larger perception of what's going on.

They fear that they're going to lose something that they had.

Well, that's that's is in fact, the case.

I mean, you know, it's one thing at one time, you have all the seats at the table and then not equity seems grossly unfair to them, because even if they're sharing a piece of the pie.

That's right.

And they see it more now than, than before.

I mean, you know, perhaps Obama was it was the greatest startle to them that world they can elect they can elect someone.

So, that's in part what's going on with the country.

It's an interesting time for the country.

All my life I've been interested in this racial composition issue, and we know the most critical and volatile times are when when racial balances reach about 30% black.

It happens for schools, neighborhoods, whatever it becomes.

The issue of who's country in this case, whose country is it?

Whose neighborhood is it?

Whose bar is it?

Whose school is it?

Well, the country is exactly at that place now.

And what won't sort of happen with us?

We'll have to fight it out and spell it out for a while.

It will pass.

But if you will have to acclimate to the new racial balance, let me speak.

It feels like to me that shoe is on the other foot, particularly in your neighborhood of Larimer.

I know a young man who moved to New York was gone two years.

He came back, said he got lost in East Liberty.

He didn't know.

He he didn't know the neighborhood anymore.

It had changed so much.

I have a mechanic over on Apple Avenue right off Larimer Boulevard.

I see white women walking their dogs down Larimer, which you would not have seen 3 or 4 years ago.

That neighborhood is changing.

It seems just like that shoe that Doctor Davis is describing is on the other foot for the residents there.

Yeah, well, we, talk a lot about having diversity, having diversity in our community.

No matter, who wanted to live there.

So, diversity of different people living in our neighborhood.

So, I mean, the African-Americans, we still are there, but still the diversity part.

But, Doctor Davis, here we are talking about diversity in our neighborhood.

And you saying that white people feel that they're losing it and that they fear that kind of diversity.

They do.

I mean, you have said, actually it's not black people know really well.

What's different for black people is, is that they're just more visible.

I remember, as you do, you're probably much, much older than I am.

So you probably understand better than I do.

But I'm much older than Val.

But there was a time when a black person was on TV that we would all run to see you.

Belafonte.

Somebody.

Now, Obama and Obama can be on TV and we won't come.

I mean, in other words, we're much more visible, but our percentage of the population really hasn't.

It hasn't changed dramatically.

We're like 10%, 12% in the 60s.

We only predict to be 14% or 13% by 2043.

I mean, when when the number is supposed to be majority majority, minority country.

So our numbers it's Hispanics, Asians, for example, Pittsburgh has basically 2% Asian, 2%, Hispanics in their March.

We don't know exactly who they are.

It's kind of hard to look at them.

But the country, the country as a whole is changing.

Well, that even speaks to the immigration issue.

And we don't have time to get to that.

But we do have time to get to Lisa Washington.

Lisa.

Chris.

Thanks a lot.

Stem Steam robotics and innovation are the buzz words in this new economy, but minorities are often underrepresented in the very industries that make this new economy thrive.

Here are some thoughts on how African-Americans could become a permanent fixture in this new frontier.

As new businesses and new business opportunities continue to impact our region, how can African-Americans ensure their own economic progress?

I don't think there's a silver bullet for that.

I think it's more an approach by team based, you know, working with the assets that we have in the Pittsburgh region.

So that could be mentorships.

That could be camaraderie with the public and private sector.

Just looking for more leadership within the community as well.

My name is James Myers junior.

I'm the director of community affairs and business development at Urban Innovation 21.

So how many that we do?

Urban innovation 21 is the economic development organization really looking to tackle inclusive innovation, but connect the underrepresented population to the wave of innovation that's taking place in the Pittsburgh region.

So originally, we started out in 2007 as the Pittsburgh Central Keystone Innovation Zone.

That was to create a cluster of technology companies within the Hill District Uptown.

And that boundary kind of stretches to the south side, the north side of downtown as well.

Then later on, we created the umbrella Urban Innovation 21 that was already coupled with the internship program.

So our internship program is probably one of the most robust in the region.

It operates at the academic institutions outside of Penn and CMU, largely with us being backed by Duquesne University.

So Point Park, Carlow, CCAC, and Duquesne University are where we pool our talent pool for our internship program.

And then the third program process is our community based grant competition.

So since 2012, we've given out about 500,000 plus to 60 plus businesses located in the Hill District, Homewood, Sharpsburg, and most recently to North Side.

One thing I think we need to highlight, some of the African-Americans are doing really well in tech and Pittsburgh right now.

So if you think of Don Charlton that formerly had the resume as a transition to the jazz, he's pretty much a rock star in the tech space.

So I think the main thing is we really got to get those stories out there so young people know that they can do it.

And just kind of connecting them with those people.

Beginning mentorships, programs, different think tanks and roundtables around the tech sector in general, us hosting business workshops, being able to connect entrepreneurs to pro bono legal services where we're trying to get this, genealogy ancestry experiment together with, Nazareth Prep.

So the harvest of the DNA and everything, and also just helping them with their financial plans, their their budget, their narrative.

What we're showing is that the entrepreneurial spirit in underserved communities is alive and well and is growing.

So that is my favorite part of the program.

My name is Terry Baltimore, and I'm the director of neighborhood engagement at the Hillhouse Association.

I've been at Hillhouse for 25 years.

So when I first got there, I was hired to run a program to serve women in recovery and their kids.

And the grant was for three years and 22 years later, I'm still in the place that I love most.

I can't imagine working anyplace else because the hill is the coolest.

Greenest, sexiest, is most complicated place in Pittsburgh.

At the Hill House, we work on the Solomon House model, which means that the services that we and the campus partners who lease space from us, we provide services for the neighborhood as the neighborhood changes.

So we do everything from economic development to job referrals to working with seniors and our 22 campus partners to everything from health care to child care to helping kids go to college.

One of the challenges we face is that we're part of the other Pittsburgh.

We're the part of the Pittsburgh that people don't talk about and don't embrace.

So when you think about Pittsburgh as being the most livable city, it raises the question, the most livable for whom.

I've seen a lot of development in the neighborhood taken on by both large and small developers.

I think people take advantage of the views in this neighborhood to invite people in.

I've seen a lot of work around green space development as well.

So all of those things are helping to improve the community, improve the quality of life, but also make sure that other people find out about these really amazing things and take the risk to come into the health district.

If people are still struggling, not making a living wage, being forced to think about moving from their neighborhoods as they gentrify and change, then not all of us are equally participating in this burgeoning new Pittsburgh.

And I think that's the biggest challenge if it's going to be that place that everybody's proud of.

It's got to be that place for all of us, and not just for some of us.

Nice to see you.

What are you doing today?

Well, I'm.

Staking a claim in this new economy can be both challenging and rewarding.

Ruth Byrd Smith is the director of Minority Women and disadvantaged business enterprise for Allegheny County.

Joining us again is Marc Morial, who is the president and CEO of the National Urban League.

And also James Myers Jr, who is the director of community affairs and business development for Urban Innovation 21.

I'd like to start with you, Mrs.

Smith.

What about the role of black women, in this kind of development, both education and business?

Are we seeing black women headed businesses succeed?

We're seeing women and, black women in business succeed.

We're not seeing enough.

But one of the areas that we're seeing, a real, success story is in the, non-medical home health care for the baby boomers, of which I'm one.

And, they need assistance, as they, age out.

And, then we're starting to see women coming into their own in professional capacities.

Attorneys, doctors, lawyers.

Because we all we have all those, kinds of businesses that government, contracts with.

But what about titans of industry?

I have a friend, named Kendrick who used to tell me that the city spends more money on paper and paperclips, and that if we could get, women or minorities in business providing those kinds of things and services, tires for the trucks of the city of Pittsburgh.

Gasoline, any of that.

Can we get into those kinds of businesses?

Where you really going to make a substantial income and hire other people?

I have one woman is strange.

You say that who does do tires and she does the, fancy rims, and she's out in Penn Hills, but there's only one.

And and and that's the problem.

You get one, but you have to, reach back into the community and get more.

And that's what we try to do with our business development programs.

Mr.

Myers, we saw in this last piece what you do, with your own organization and the innovation, that you do.

How is important how important is it for us to be innovative, to get into business and to get ahead like this?

And what kind of education do you need to be successful there?

I think it's, equally important.

Right.

So I think you have to have, a level of education and also just be a student in the industry that you're looking to dive into.

I think also, just paying attention to all the industries that are taking place and just being a student as far as being a businessperson.

In other words, study something that you like and what's what's next on the agenda.

Know what's coming up and on the rise.

I agree, I think it's always good to be one step ahead.

How do you do that?

I think first and foremost, it's all the resources that are in place where reasonably I think it comes from, perspective of looking whatever financial resources out there, what other, institutions that are hosting small business development, like Pitt, IEEE, Chatham Women's for center for entrepreneurship, as well as Duquesne Small Business Development Center, but looking for as much help as you can as far as moving forward with your business.

There are a lot of incubators that are helping minority, people get into those kinds of businesses.

We have a few good incubators in Pittsburgh right now with, Alpha Lab innovation works.

And a center.

There's still very, maybe some cross cultural barriers there.

But I think those, those conversations are taking place.

So those, those relationships aren't polarized.

All right, let's go over to Lisa in the social media component of our program.

Chris, we have a question from the audience.

Will Pittsburgh be able to achieve a black middle class like Atlanta?

Oh, Mr.

Morial, you travel around the nation.

We're going to be hot.

Pittsburgh like hot and Atlanta you know, Atlanta.

Yeah.

Atlanta is, I heard some moans and all the.

That's one of the people said so they've evidently been to Atlanta and they say, no, let's help dead lanta Atlanta is the cradle of civil rights and coined itself as a city too busy to hate in the 1960s.

It was one of the first cities, when Maynard Jackson was elected in 1973 to elect an African-American mayor.

Morehouse is there, Spelman is there.

Morris Brown is there.

Clark Atlanta University is there.

The presence of African-American, historically black colleges and universities helped to grow the Atlanta middle class.

But I think also the Jackson administration, followed by the administration of Andrew Young and others, sent a strong message across the nation that Atlanta was a place of opportunity for African-Americans.

Now, Atlanta, metropolitan Atlanta has the second largest concentration of African-Americans in any other metropolitan area in the United States, with the exception of, of New York.

People are flocking there.

I heard Mr.

Jackson say he made a number of millionaires.

Just black millionaires in building Hartsville by letting those kinds of.

What you the companies we were talking to this wordsmith, there's no question.

And I followed, Mannie Jackson's motto when I was mayor in New Orleans in, in really advancing African-American owned business.

Here's what's important.

Look at the institutions you have in Pittsburgh.

Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh on the education side, just to name two, those, institutions, by hiring more African-American faculty, by working very aggressively to expand the number of African-American students in their student body and administrators.

That is the fountain.

That's the formula.

That's the seed of an African-American middle class.

Secondly, all of the governmental institutions the city, the county, the school district need to be as aggressive as they can when it comes to expanding business opportunities for African-American owned businesses.

That's a second way to develop a middle class.

I think the third way, to develop a middle class, is to make the temperature go down 20%.

What do you mean, I'm being I'm being funny, but, Is it it's cold here.

I'm from the South, y'all.

And, I've been living in New York for a while.

It's cold, but.

But I would say, I would, but let me interrupt you.

Here's the point.

Doctor Davis in a previous segment made the point that there are a lot of people in this country, whites, who don't want to share that piece of the American pie.

And that seems to be a part of the breakthrough that we have to make.

Nothing about that is new.

We have faced that since we landed on these shores in 1619.

It's not new, but it's certainly a force with the election of our current president.

So every force deserves an equal and opposite force.

The point is, we've got to push.

We've got to fight.

We cannot be deterred because some people want to push the hands of time back.

Some people want to live.

1950 is gone.

1960 is gone.

This is the 21st century.

You can cast the winds.

You can hope it doesn't happen.

But demographic shift is a reality for 21st century America.

And those cities that figure out how to be inclusionary, how to figure out how to create opportunity for the people of color are going to be the cities in the 21st century that are going to be the leading cities, and they're going to thrive.

So for any city and I say this to any city, it's for the community leaders to challenge themselves and to challenge the city.

What kind of city do you want to have by 2050?

Cities that are inclusionary, that create opportunities for African-American business owners, that make a welcoming environment for professionals who don't allow gentrification to shift populations around, are going to be cities that will lead the way because of time.

I have to interrupt you, sir, and toss it over to Lisa.

Lisa.

All right, Chris, thanks so much.

A major goal here is to build a better region for this generation and the generations to follow.

So how do we get there?

Some of the people working for change feel more strongly about better communication, equality and opportunity.

As we draw wisdom from the past and build a more positive future.

We ask, what is the state of black Pittsburgh?

The state of black Pittsburgh is changing.

We're experiencing a cultural shift.

But I believe that once we realize the collective power we have, whether it be the social capital, whether it be the political capital, whether it be the wealth capital, and we all bring that together, that the state of black Pittsburgh will truly, truly be amazing and sustainable.

To be honest with you, I love Pittsburgh.

I'm from Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh.

Boomerang got a chance to leave.

See some things.

I still travel a lot, but be honest with you.

This is my home.

The state of back Pittsburgh is hopeful.

I think we've seen a lot in Pittsburgh as it's transition.

It does look like, the public and the private sector are kind of learning from each other a little bit.

And the best days may be ahead of us, because normally there wasn't a lot of conversation between the two.

But I think everybody's trying to troubleshoot the issues that they're seeing now with, people at the bottom end of the spectrum, an aging workforce just trying to troubleshoot so we can kind of get in front of those issues before they become bigger problems in the future.

The state of black Pittsburgh is.

Troubled.

I don't think that we take enough time as communities to talk and support each other.

I don't think we take enough time.

To realize that there are things around us that are proud and beautiful and make us as worthy as any other Pittsburghers to proclaim this place is home.

Well, we want them to, to find some reason.

The state of black Pittsburgh, if you want to look at it from a glass half empty, can be depressing.

But let's be optimistic and look at it as it's a glass half full and there's a lot of opportunity.

And if you want the opportunities, you can have them, you might have to work a little bit hard for them, but you can you can achieve things, kind of figure out how we can get more kids, those summer classes.

And that's the state of black.

Pittsburgh is like a window of opportunity that is open right now, but it's sort of closing.

So we have a chance to seize the moment we're not through yet.

We haven't gotten the opportunities that we need.

We're not seeing the levels of success, but the opportunity is there.

And so I think if we're able to be strategic in this moment, if we're able to work together in this moment, that we can see a lot better outcomes for black people in the city of Pittsburgh make good choices.

But we've got to do some things differently, and we definitely have to work together in order to really see the reality for black people in this city and this region change.

For this final discussion, please welcome back Esther Bush, who is the president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.

And still with us is Marc Morial.

Mr.

Morial, picking up on that last segment and and just before we went through it, the barriers that we have to overcome, it seems as though a lot of people in Pittsburgh are optimistic about our chances for success and being included in the American Dream.

This is a good time for people to work, to be optimistic because we've had we have an improved economy.

It's a better economy.

It's not a perfect economy, the deep and difficult problems with the economy.

But we're better off than we were ten years ago when we were in the recession, when people were trying to just hang on, when many people were unemployed.

But we also have a climate in the country, of racial division and partizan political bickering.

It's a difficult environment for people to work through.

But I think people at the local level in a city like Pittsburgh can build the kind of working coalitions, if you will, to try to forge a vision for the future.

What the Urban League does is a laboratory.

It's a formula.

It's an example.

Imagine if the work the Urban League does could be tripled, quadrupled in terms of the number of people we reach.

The state of black Pittsburgh, is a definitive document that every community leader, every business leader, every political leader in western Pennsylvania needs to read to understand the disparities that still exist, but also to understand that in this audience, Esther and many of the people here, they are working every day on being part of the solution to the challenges that we face in America.

Esther Bush, we have about a minute to go.

I'll give that to you for the last word on the state of black Pittsburgh.

The Urban League has always been about the work that Mr.

Morial is talking about.

You've been about that here since you've been back in town.

Are you dismayed at all that that work has to continue in this day and age?

It has to continue because it's the reality of the United States of America.

And where we are.

But what we have to do, and I totally agree with what Marc just shared, what we have to do is work together to build one.

Pittsburgh.

Everybody has to be everybody black and white, young or rich.

Four has to be bold enough to do the right thing to bring Pittsburghers together to work on behalf of equity and opportunity for everyone across the board.

We are the most livable city, they keep saying, but I want it to be the most Liverpool city for every resident in the city.

All right.

We want to thank you both for your participation in this program.

It's been the highlight of the evening to have all of you here as our guests and our studio audience.

Lisa Washington has been with our studio audience and also following social media.

Final thoughts?

Lisa.

Well, Chris, this has been an enlightening conversation and I'm glad to have been a part of that.

We see the achievements that have been made, but we know there's much more room for improvement in Pittsburgh.

Well thank you.

We also thank all of our guests, our community voices, and our studio audience.

Give yourself a round of applause, if you will.

Now, if you missed any part of this program, you can watch it at our website at wqhd.org/stateofblack Pittsburgh for my co-host Lisa Washington and everyone who has made this program possible.

I'm Chris Moore.

Thanks for watching.