PUSH Buffalo Names Rahwa Ghirmatzion as Executive Director

Crusader for energy equity, good jobs, and quality housing has deep roots in Buffalo
and a record of accomplishment building up the community

PUSH Buffalo is getting a new leader: its deputy director, Rahwa Ghirmatzion has been
promoted to executive director. Ms. Ghirmatzion will succeed PUSH’s co-founder and long-
time executive director, Aaron Bartley, as of August 1, 2018.
“Rahwa has deep roots in the West Side Community that go back to her childhood as a
refugee from the civil war in Eritrea,” said PUSH Board and Transition Committee member
Nicolalita Rodriguez. “In a few short years, she has also built connections far beyond the
community among the organization’s local and national supporters, as well as with
movement activists across the country and beyond. This makes her uniquely qualified to
run as complex and well-known an organization as PUSH Buffalo.”

Ms. Ghirmatzion’s many accomplishments at PUSH include:

• A dramatic expansion of the organization’s annual “Building Blocks” fundraising
event, which brought her into close relationships with local and national funders;
• The creation of a Senior Management Team to streamline operations at the
rapidly growing organization;
• A complete rebuilding of the PUSH Community Organizing Team;
• The creation of a Street Team at the organization’s Grant Street Neighborhood
Center designed to train and employ young people in leadership and organizing
skills;
• The creation of a state-funded program designed to replicate PUSH’s widely
admired Green Development Zone in other neighborhoods and cities across New
York state; and
• Leadership of ongoing legislative and advocacy campaigns aimed at increasing
state funds available to community organizations for the deployment of renewable
energy and energy efficiency.

“Rahwa has gained widespread admiration as a courageous and empathetic advocate for
racial, economic, and environmental justice. She is in wide demand as a speaker locally and
nationally,” said Clarke Gocker, PUSH Buffalo’s director of policy and strategy. “Among staff,
she is known for going to great lengths to ensure that PUSH's ongoing organizational
development is people-centered, equitable, and inclusive.”
Ms. Ghirmatzion has taken PUSH Buffalo’s message to communities and conferences
around the country, and has shared PUSH’s story and advocated equity in media outlets
from the Guardian to the Energy News Network.
“I am thrilled to be selected as the next executive director. PUSH Buffalo is an organization
that lives its mission and principles in active practice. The work is immensely difficult and
it is purposeful, sacred and transformative,” said Ms. Ghirmatzion. “This is also a
bittersweet moment for me because over the last five years, I’ve had the privilege of
working under the leadership of founder and current executive director, Aaron Bartley. He
is one of the most generous leaders I’ve ever had the honor of working with. I’m excited for
the opportunity to steward PUSH in this new chapter.”
"Rahwa has proven her commitment to PUSH and achieving a more just and equitable
Buffalo over many years of work at the grassroots. As deputy director, her leadership and
sound judgment have helped to establish PUSH as one of the leading community
organizations working for deep and lasting change in the United States,” said Aaron
Bartley. “Rahwa leads with compassion and love for the people, and a keen sense of how to
integrate values, vision and the talents of our members and staff to move the organization
forward. "
Ms. Ghirmatzion has been a tireless force advancing PUSH's mission, working hand in hand
with a low-income community of color that is striving to renew itself by tackling issues
including energy poverty, the need for skills training and good jobs, and the need for
quality affordable housing. In the 25-block Green Zone on Buffalo’s West Side, a low-
income community of color, neighbors are building a future based on a shift to clean,
efficient energy with economic and racial equity at its heart.
Ms. Ghirmatzion joined PUSH as development director in 2013. She became manager of
programs in 2015, and was promoted to deputy director in 2017.
As executive director, Ms. Ghirmatzion will supervise a staff of 36 and oversee the
organization’s imminent move to its new multi-use facility at the former Public School 77
on Buffalo’s West Side, a building rehabilitated by PUSH; and guide multiple programs
dedicated to sustainable and affordable housing, locally generated renewable energy,
environmental remediation, and living-wage, career-creating job opportunities for local
residents.
With the completion of the School 77 project and a job-training house project on Normal
Avenue, PUSH Buffalo will have developed 102 units of green, affordable rental housing
and four commercial units in a neighborhood that is under increasing threat from
gentrification and displacement pressures.
Ms. Ghirmatzion’s appointment follows an extensive candidate search spearheaded by an
ad hoc Transition Committee made up of PUSH Board members, executive level and rank-
and-file staff, community leaders from PUSH membership, and stakeholders. Ms.
Ghirmatzion’s move into her new position will occur over the next two months as Mr.
Bartley, who announced plans to leave several months ago, winds down his role at PUSH.

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People United for Sustainable Housing, Inc. (PUSH Buffalo) is a community-based
organization founded in 2005. PUSH’s mission is to mobilize residents to create strong
neighborhoods with quality, affordable housing, expand local hiring opportunities and to
advance economic justice in Buffalo, NY.