Image Description: a glowy, collaged picture of Ren Finkel, a light-skinned person in dark clothes and round glasses standing against a brick wall in the sunshine.
At the end of 2025, the PPT Board decided to open a new staff position for a Digital Organizer – Data Lead. The Data Lead role would help the team improve its use of digital tools and data to deepen the organizing that’s happening all across Pennsylvania.
The six-month hiring process was not easy. Almost as soon as the job description was opened, the team received dozens and dozens of applications from talented people in all corners of PA. Each candidate brought different strengths to the job, and the team was honored to have received interest from so many people.
But after much discussion, the PPT board is eager to welcome Ren Finkel as the new Digital Organizer – Data Lead to the Pittsburghers for Public Transit/Transit for All PA! Team! Ren brings a combination of data prowess, facilitation expertise, and good ’ol community organizing chops to the position.
There’s no doubt that there’s a bright future ahead for transit rider and worker organizing. Ren is just two weeks into the job, and already, Ren is building systems to deepen supporters’ connection to the movement for transit justice.
Learn a little more about Ren by reading their bio and some interview answers below.
Ren is beyond excited to be joining PPT’s team as the Data Lead. They moved to Pittsburgh in 2012 to study photography. This is when they got their first, starry-eyed glimpse at the power of labor organizing when helping with the adjunct teacher’s successful unionization campaign. They went on to get deeply involved in queer community and the fight for Palestinian liberation. Most recently they’ve had the honor of helping hold the logistics for the Communal Loss Adaptation Project, a disability-justice and grief-work organization. They are over the moon about returning to Pittsburgh after a stint in Philly where they attended (and joyfully dropped out of) rabbinical school and helped unionize their workplace.
When not getting nerdy about spreadsheets and CRMs, Ren is a multimedia artist currently focusing on honing their skills in linocut print making. They worked in food service for many years, and you can often find them cooking giant meals for neighbors and mutual aid distros. In their spare time they are a Talmud scholar and teacher, running the Pittsburgh-based anti-zionist yeshiva Beis Lakish.
The PPT team is excited to have you on board! What drew you to the work PPT is doing?
I’ve been a transit rider for as long as I’ve lived in Pittsburgh, so I know first-hand how much work there is to be done to improve our transit system. I’ve been so hungry to offer my data skills to the movement, so this role at PPT is a really exciting opportunity. PPT has such a keen awareness of how transit justice intersects with so many other liberatory causes, and I know I’ll get to bring my full organizing history to this work.
What work are you excited to do? What victories do you think you’ll help us win in the coming months?
I’m getting to join the team at such a whirlwind moment, with so many different projects and campaigns getting kicked off. I’m just starting to place myself in the ecosystem that makes up PPT’s membership, staff, and board, and it’s immediately apparent how much energy and commitment there is. I am so ready to get nerdy about our systems to help make our team’s work as easy and dreamy as possible. You’ll also be hearing from me about being a part of growing PPT’s membership! Speaking of which…have you considered becoming a PPT member yet to help sustain this work? 👀
What’s your experience with transit? What routes have you ridden during different parts of your life? How has the experience varied between cities where you’ve lived and visited?
Pittsburgh buses have taken me to every corner of this city, especially during my time as a gig worker balancing dog walking, tutoring, and restaurant work. I’ll always love how buses, trains, and trolleys have been a way for me to meet my neighbors and get to see neighborhoods I might not otherwise. I don’t currently know how to drive, so I’ve relied on public transit (and generous rides from friends) my entire adult life.
As I’ve had to start navigating new chronic health challenges, the ways in which hills and staircases often exist between me and getting on a bus has become a growing challenge. Growing up in San Diego has made me really aware of how a limited public transit system can impact a city, and often find myself both grateful for what Pittsburgh has to offer and committed to helping take it from “better than some places” to “truly incredible”!
What inspires you? What gives you energy that you want to share with others?
Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed or hopeless, I always turn to cooking and slow walks in the woods. They’re the foundation that has made existing possible for me. Whenever I’m feeling isolated or disconnected, making a huge meal to share with loved ones is a surefire way to make me feel a part of something bigger. I have an almost neurotic need to feed my loved ones, which I certainly inherited from my grandmother, may her memory be a blessing. And when everything feels like too much, there’s nothing that quiets my brain more than hanging out with some trees. Whenever my anxiety feels insurmountable, I know it’s time to stare at some moss.
Ultimately, both of these things are about slowing down. Capitalism so badly tries to have us define ourselves by how much we can do and how quickly we can do it. I’ll always be grateful for the wisdom that’s come out of the disability justice movement that teaches us to slow down, rest abundantly, and prioritize caring for one another.
What is your favorite pump-up song?
It’s so hard to pick! My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars by Mitski has gotten me through the psychic damage of late stage capitalism more times than I can count, Hard Times by Paramore never fails to wake me up, and This Year by The Mountain Goats has been my “We’re gonna get through this” song since I was a teen.