PPT is very pleased to announce that Laura Wiens has accepted our offer to become the PPT Director. She will start in mid-June, and Molly’s last day will be June 30th. Please join us in welcoming Laura in her new role!
Laura has been involved with Pittsburghers for Public Transit since 2013, and is a longtime member of the PPT Coordinating Committee. She is committed to growing Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s role as a beacon for community organizing, transit, and housing justice in the region.
photo credit: WESA, from service celebration rally in 2015
Laura developed her passion for social justice on a Chandler Fellowship while studying community and grassroots radio, and its role in building a powerful, informed public to affect positive change. From 2005-2007, she worked in the post-conflict regions of Chiapas, MX; Cape Town, SA; and Belgrade, Serbia, all of which are contending with the effects of dramatic economic inequality and neoliberalism.
She joined the labor movement in 2007 as a rank and file member of the hospitality Union Unite Here! and moved to Pittsburgh in 2010 to take a position as a labor organizer in the Union. For the last two years, Laura has been the Director of Community Engagement for The Union Edge Radio, and has been responsible for the outreach and growth of the only nationally-syndicated labor talk radio program in the country.
Check out this fundraising video from a couple years ago, where Laura is featured: