PublicSource (https://www.publicsource.org/author/juliette-rihl/)
Should INPAX, a Pittsburgh-based personal security firm, be the company training staff of the North Allegheny School District to protect students in active-shooter situations if its CEO shares views that some community members find disturbing and offensive?
Now, she is dedicated to equipping others with the knowledge and resources they need to find — and secure — affordable housing. This commitment is rapidly shaping her career, her personal life and her aspirations.
When Amazon announced it was looking for a home for its second headquarters, the corporation included a wish list. Their desires included a city with diversity and with great universities churning out talented graduates who could be the next generation of Amazon employees. At a forum on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus Wednesday, concerns were raised about how Amazon and some of the variables on its wish list could coexist. Could graduate students afford to live in a Pittsburgh with Amazon-inflated rents? Would a city that already has a diversity problem be helped or harmed by a corporation whose leadership is dominated by white men?
After weeks of scrambling to assist the tenants, city officials and local community groups may have hashed out a plan to salvage the units that can be rehabilitated and to keep HUD’s funding eligible at the properties — or at least within the city of Pittsburgh. So it’s possible, though not certain, that tenants like Makeela and her dad could stay in their homes.