Pittsburgh tech must prioritize racial equity to thrive, Brookings reports

Despite decades of growth, investment and accolades, if Pittsburgh doesn’t make racial equity a priority, experts say it’s unlikely to reach its full potential as a tech hub.

The city has made progress in pivoting from steel mills to building a tech hub, according to Brookings Institute’s latest report, “Centering racial equity and inclusion in Pittsburgh’s innovation economy.” But it’s going to take a dedicated commitment to addressing the systems leaving Black Pittsburghers behind to help the city reach its full potential and not repeat the inequality seen in other tech hubs.

“A concerted effort is necessary to move beyond data, planning, and one-time or siloed initiatives, and toward a city and regional commitment to racial equity and inclusion,” the report said. “Given the region’s history of racial inequities, deconstructing structural racism should be a central goal and mission for all of Pittsburgh’s leaders, regardless of sector or industry.”

As evidence of a need for long-term investment, the report pointed to disparities that researchers say paint a grim picture. Within the Pittsburgh metro area there are around 42,400 employer businesses, according to the Brookings Metro analysis of the Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey and American Community Survey, yet only about 7% have non-white owners, and only about 1% of those businesses are Black-owned, and .61% owned by Latino or Hispanic residents. The region has seen a 1.2 percentage point bump in the number of minority-owned businesses in the past five years.

Read the report

Lack of trust in mainstream institutions and lack of capital were cited as reasons why becoming a Black-owned business owner can be especially challenging in Pittsburgh. The report pointed out that it could be problematic that so many of the region’s organizations are white-led, as it could lead to a lack of sensitivity regarding diversity, as well as members of those orgs perpetuating existing inequality.

BEAM Collaborative cofounder and CEO Joel Burstein discussed this lack of dedicated resources during an Innovation Works-led panel in February, saying Black-owned businesses required unique attention to avoid being forgotten: “Black businesses need their own set of strategies, thoughts, and differentiation in order to grow [because] we have a different problem, a very dire problem.”

Brookings researchers would likely agree. The report noted that although it was impressive that the city’s leaders managed to create higher-paying jobs and more than $10.5 billion in investments for local tech companies over the past decade, not every Pittsburgher enjoyed the fruits of those gains. To create a better future, the report suggested that the city’s leaders commit to including underrepresented communities and businesses in these gains.

“Consider, for example, what the Pittsburgh region’s Black-majority communities would look like 10 or 20 years from now if multiple stakeholders joined forces to make transformative investments in underinvested communities with the same concerted effort,” the report said.

Some Pittsburgh institutions are working on these challenges. Existing efforts include Pittsburgh Tech Council affiliate Fortyx80’s diversity-focused apprentice program, Apprenti PGH, and InnovatePGH’s Expanded Pathways to Entrepreneurship focused on the robotics industry.

Further recommendations for the city included moving beyond loans and providing capital to “diverse-led” venture funds to local firms, such as Black Tech Nation Ventures. If such investments came from the state level, Black Tech Nation Ventures and firms like it can provide opportunities where others historically haven’t for startups run by Black founders. (Reminder: Just 1% of VC typically goes to Black founders.)

“Initiatives like these are an important component for ensuring Black entrepreneurs receive the capital they need to launch and grow their businesses,” the report said.

From the research funding it attracts to the successful companies it’s produced the report observed that the Steel City has many good things going for it. Yet, if it wants its rising tech hub status to last, it must invest in sharing what its tech industry has to offer with its non-white residents.

“Without inclusivity in Pittsburgh’s innovation economy, whole sections of the region’s population are barred from opportunities for upward mobility, wealth building, and influence,” the report said.