Neighborhood Allies fosters Healthy Neighborhoods of Choice and Opportunity across Greater Pittsburgh. President Presley Gillespie tells us how it makes life better for people and improves places and environments for all Pittsburghers to live by bringing hope, fresh ideas, expertise and resources and by accelerating, scaling and sustaining equitable, proven community change initiatives. Summer of 50 PGH Tech Stories is powered by Comcast!
Transcription:
Everybody This is Jonathan Kersting, with the Pittsburgh Technology Council hanging out with Comcast to bring you our Summer of 50 Pittsburgh tech stories. And kind of the inspiration for this whole thing is hanging out with me right here today is really pumped to have Presley Gillespie from neighborhood allies being with us today. We're going to talk about all the great work neighborhood allies is up to, and I got to know them through the beyond the laptops initiative that started up oh my goodness, she's like eons ago, Presley, who was I guess, like three months ago back in like April, or I can't even keep track of time, but about three months ago, and the idea that like we were really starting to see that there were so many students that did not have access to the right equipment and bandwidth to go to school because everything, everything was happening remotely. And so through a whole bunch of connections and crazy cool stuff that happened we ended up partnering up and helped raise some money to help get laptops in the students hands. What we're doing with Comcast with this is trying to raise more money for beyond laptops like that. Everybody go to beyond laptops.org. And check it out there even as small some donations is the biggest help in the world. We got five bucks, 10 bucks, hundred bucks, whatever that is make a quick donation because school is coming up soon. And the kids are going back in their store a bunch of students that do not have computers and neighbor and allies is connecting them. And Presley. That's why I'm so excited to talk to you today. So thanks for being part of this today. Absolutely.
Absolutely. I'm glad to be here, Jonathan. And the work that we're doing with beyond the laptops and our digital inclusion work really, really exciting, really, really needed, along with all the other things that neighboured allies is involved in. So I'm glad to share some of these stories with you.
Definitely. I'm excited to learn more about what you guys do. I was perusing through your website, my eyes kept getting bigger and bigger because I mean, you guys are working on so many levels. It's like unbelievable. Like I said, my first iteration with you guys was it was all around the Digital Inclusion stuff. But there's stuff beyond that as well. today. We're going to jump into that. But first I want to learn more about your background real fast, because you got a really cool background you've been banking for a while and do some cool stuff. And now you're doing in your you're in Youngstown for a while to doing some stuff. So what's your background? So yeah, so
I always go way back and tell folks, you know, I grew up in, in Harlem in New York City. And you know, I grew up you know, my dad was a lot older, retired, we very poor. We grew up in a very, I mean, this was before Harlem was gentrified.
Back when Harlem was Harlem, right, even though the neighborhood I lived in is still is still very much as poor and struggling as it always had. But I grew up in the very same types of neighborhoods that we, you know, we're trying to impact but at a very young age, you know, my dad would take us into these large banks downtown, and I would just be in all, you know, be all in all of the bankers or buildings. And I remember always saying, you know, everybody was looking good and smelling good. My goodness, remember that, you know, are the building that I lived in, wasn't smelling so good. So I went in these buildings, and it was a whole new world. It was a world that seemed at the time beyond our reach. And my twin brother, by the way, who was also a banker, really, Cleveland going on, like, we're doing this banking thing. Right?
Right. So we would go in and we would be amazed and just not knowing how we could ever, you know, get to one of those positions, or no, no real means of going to college. At that point. It was a distant, you know, aspiration, but, you know, through through a lot of support through a lot of just ambition and what always say is hope. Right? I was very poor, but I didn't. I didn't realize it. Yeah, we had hope. We had a lot of, we had a lot of love in our home. It was the two big things hope and love man. He knows it. He does the two things that will supersede almost anything, right?
I mean, if we can bottle some of that today, change the world. Tell me if you find that out because I like to help you with that.
Exactly. So, you know, again, a lot of hope, a lot of just dreams, I was constantly in dream mode myself and, and, you know, through some, again, support and some decisions and some in some, you know, just some grace, I was able to, you know, make my way to college, I was able to get through college and land in a management, a corporate management training program in a bank. And then as you get older, you start reflecting on who's been in your life who's helped. I do believe nobody gets ahead, especially now without a support system agreed. Yeah, about that, particularly in our neighborhoods, that that don't have strong family structures. But I had support along the way and ended up in a management training program and Got me my way into a bank and a pretty cool day when that kind of happens. And you realize i'd you dreamed about this great. Exactly. being like, hey, exactly, exactly. And but even then, you know, 25 plus years ago, I knew I didn't want to be just another banker. You know, I knew, you know, I wanted to do something that was sort of bigger than myself, in fact, the types of communities and more importantly, the types of people in those communities that I grew up with. And, you know, early on in my career, I got a desire for community development, Community and Economic Development. And I caught that bug early on, and frankly, you know, I've say I've stayed in that space all these years and I've done a couple of different things and commercial banking and retail banking and mortgage banking. But I think all of those things led me to, you know, sort of where I am today. My passion or providing resources and capital to revitalize communities. So that's so cool. So how did you make the jump then from from that world, overdoing neighborhood? ally? That's to me. I mean, obviously, it's got the community angle, but it's not banking, that's for sure.
We, you know, we're all familiar with about, you know, 10-15 years ago when everything was collapsing, the banking industry collapsed, auto manufacturing, you know, really, at that time, I was already starting to feel like, you know, I'm doing a lot of big deals and real estate deals, I'm hobnobbing with, you know, wealthy developers and whatnot. And to a point where I felt like, you know, I wasn't really it wasn't really aligned with my mission. And I felt like, you know, things were pulling out on at the time at the time, you know, things have changed, but we still got a long way to go and banking. Thanks for really pulling out on Pulling back on really people that needed our help the most. Right? Just be honest about that. And, and we know that, you know, we look back in capitalist history, there's a lot of inequities there as well, but and it wasn't it just wasn't enjoyable for me. And I was really starting to think, what can I do? What can I use? How can I use my, my technical expertise in my experience, you know, beyond just helping out, you know, wealthy developers that happen to be doing deals in low income. Yeah, that's really what it got it came to. And so I was starting to look at nonprofit which I've done a lot of financing for already. I was starting to look at a little bit of I don't want to say the P word of politics, but I was playing with that idea. Already. I'm not running for anything, but I think there's still gonna be a play there. At some point. I won't go any further.
But I really do began to think about how can I help, you know, help improve the infrastructure of nonprofits too, because those are the lifeblood of building our communities. And I was sort of at the same time again, interestingly, I met with some folks that were starting some new organizations in Youngstown, Ohio. I met with a gentleman by the name of Joel Ratner, who was running a foundation in Youngstown and really had this vision for a new way of community development in Youngstown and he was providing long term capital to start a nonprofit city wide Community Development Corporation called Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. And you know, I met with him I met with the board they did a they did a you know, a search and I I got the job and Presley we want you. I left you know, really a multi multi billion dollar company. At the time, and I've never looked back, although I know I can tell you're doing what you meant to do what you were meant to be doing right? Like, you're this person that reflects a lot like you mentioned earlier as a kid yet you saw what's going on thanks and you wanted to do that. And as you move forward to that you can start seeing that this isn't really exactly what I'm gonna do that work and that's what you're doing now and neighborhood allies in Pittsburgh, which I'm glad you're in Pittsburgh doing very much so So how long have you been in neighborhood allies for now with with believably, it's now six years since I got here? ways I feel I've been here forever. Some ways I feel like you know, I'm just beginning and we are just beginning and those six years we've had an opportunity to really transform the organization, from top to bottom from staff to the board, to really you know, what our what our true value is in our communities in recognizing that, you know, our value is not, you know, just sitting in an office downtown and, you know, making decisions, our value is really coming out in our communities and being a true ally and partner that really helps our communities by, you know, accelerating scaling and sustaining their important work, important work of revitalizing our communities and really creating opportunity. I'm often now starting to say that we really are, you know, in the opportunity business, you know, I think I would agree with you on that. 100% I'm gonna clean that one as well. We're going to use that somewhere as the opportunity.
Really, and I do think, you know, as we look at a time like right now, you know, we've got resources in our community and I in Pittsburgh in the region, we've got, you know, we've got wealth you know, certainly We need those resources in our our most vulnerable communities. But we really need to address the opportunity gaps. If you think about housing security insecurity, when we think about food security, when we think about crushing unemployment and poverty, those are really opportunity gaps. And we really need to be in the business, about reducing those gaps, reducing those disparities, and creating neighborhoods that have both opportunity within them. But making sure that our residents and our communities have really economic mobility and social mobility, right position to choose, you know, where they live and how they live. I mean, I'm sure you've heard the sad commentary, that's really a fact that, you know, your zip code is now predictor of how long and how well you live. Exactly. It's like it's more fun. That's why I think it's so exciting that you guys work at the neighborhood level. To me, that is the most important place where you got to begin. That's where it all happens. It's where you live, it's where your friends are through your community is. So if you start making impact there, it just it expands and it grows.
Exactly. And that's really what we what we do. I mean, where we are, we've really grown, you know, probably about over 300% in the last five years, to become a really a really dynamic and multifaceted Community Development support organization that really effectively uses our, our financial resources, our technical expertise, to really revitalize these communities. And like I said, at our core, you know, we're the opportunity business and, you know, when we think about folks that live in our communities that are, you know, low income, we think about the challenges facing, you know, black communities right now. It's been certainly, you know, the veil has been completely pulled off of tremendous inequities, you know, we've got to really be about looking at, you know, what's caused all this harm in our communities, backs policies, that's what are the right types of investments that are not just investments in what I would call transactional things? No. Yeah, actual programs, but we now need to elevate and evolve to transformational. Yeah, are really creating value in those communities, putting a bandaid on something and say, maybe you can maybe fix it, but you're still bleeding underneath the band aid, you know?
Exactly. So, you know, really what we do, Jonathan is we really bring, you know, capital, technical assistance, consulting services, as well as really a convening power you know, To our neighborhoods and to our communities, we, we form lots and lots of partnerships, and we build networks because we, you know, often talk about the problems that we face in our neighborhoods, even though we are very much ingrained in our neighborhoods, those problems, don't stop at the neighborhood borders, okay? In neither do their solutions. So we've got to make sure that we're creating a better infrastructure, a more effective and allied infrastructure. And we think that starts with, you know, building better networks, you know, in building, frankly, building, bringing more people to the table, you know, like we talked like, like, like the tech folks like the actly. I mean, that's, that was so cool. Like when we when when the beyond laptops happened was, it was one of the first times in my 20 plus years hanging out Pittsburgh's tech industry that I was seeing folks across industry just being like, Oh my God, we want to help like, I've never seen that before. And like, man, we gotta be doing Is all the time because that's how we're going to move the needle around here and get everybody integrated into this movement that's happening in Pittsburgh that can be very positive for everybody, not just some of us.
Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So we, we've gotten, you know, we've gotten very good at, you know, bringing partners together. So, you know, so that's nonprofits, that's for profits, that's government, that's institutions, and really helping to convene around how do we align our visions? How do we align our resources? How do we leverage, you know, capital, you know, leverage more capital for things like affordable housing and investing in, you know, minority and women owned entrepreneurs and businesses, and we've really gotten good at it, you know, really exercising that convening power, and I think it goes back to building trust. You know, we've built a lot of trust in our neighborhoods, I often say in it To hope we need more trust. We've got a trust deficit. That's the point. Yeah, you bring that trust. That's absolutely true. We're not always thinking about that, that. I said a lot of people have the best of intentions but people you're trying to help don't trust and why you're doing this received the whole picture on it, then it's not going to work exactly in their lack of trust. Jonathan is well founded. Our communities have been traumatized. Some of our communities, you know, going back many, many as you know, the historical wrongs that we now are really reckoning with. Our communities have been traumatized. Our communities have been, you know, over promised and under delivered, I mean, every every reason to be suspicious. And it almost feels I believe that many times our community leaders and stakeholders come to the table to protect rather than to contribute in that protection, net protection. mechanism is really a result of trauma. And if we don't show up, right, if we don't show up correctly in our neighborhoods, and really relinquish our power our egos and really ask a new set of questions in our communities, we're in fact re traumatizing our community. So that cycle of mistrust, it just continues gets deeper, right, perpetuates. And, you know, it's hard. It's hard because we need we need to align capital and resources. In many cases, the folks with the capital and resources are the ones that are least trusted in our community. So bridging that gap. NET them network it out and make those connections and the good work that you guys have been doing and I call it like unsung work, because I know you guys have been working diligently for years on this stuff. And it's making it's making a difference, you know, baby, it's great to be able to talk to you for a little bit today just about the fact that like, this is what you do, and how you guys have been doing it. And like I said, but the work that you guys have done with beyond the laptop just it just blew my mind. And that's why I just think that I want everyone to go to your website and check it out. You got an awesome website, you go to neighborhood allies, and check them out because like you can simply see all different ways that you engage and that you network and I know that people want to get more engaged, they can reach out to anybody on your staff. You guys are super friendly, like the best people to work with ever without a doubt much. Yeah, yeah, being able to get involved. And don't be shy because it a little bit can start going a long way we can all start giving a little bit, Jonathan Absolutely.
And that's what we're trying to do here with our Comcast though our summer of stories because we're trying to raise awareness on some of this and talk about what's going on in the tech ecosystem. And I thought this is one of the best stories I've come across in my almost 25 years covering tech here in Pittsburgh. And so you guys are doing some great work and I do see a future for you in public, sir. Let's keep doing the work you're doing now because you're doing a pretty good job of that, too. So we're glad you're here in Pittsburgh, you're definitely making Pittsburgh proud that is without a doubt Presley. So thank you. I'm delighted to be here. Great stuff all the way around. remind everybody this is Jonathan Kersting with the Pittsburgh tech Council. And of course, Comcast couldn't make this happen. And of course, go to beyond the laptop.org. Anybody small donation or a big ole margin, whatever fits your budget. Just do it because it's helping tremendously. And it's in the good hands and neighbor and allies. They're making sure that the laptops are getting to the kids that need them the most Presley You are the best.
Oh, thank you, Jonathan, thank you so much. Thank you for all your support and all that you're doing to create these opportunities in our communities. Appreciate it.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai