{"id":363612,"date":"2017-03-21T02:30:57","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T06:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grist.org\/?post_type=grist-50-profiles&amp;p=363612"},"modified":"2017-03-21T02:30:57","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T06:30:57","slug":"rahwa-ghirmatzion","status":"publish","type":"grist-50-profiles","link":"https:\/\/grist.org\/grist-50\/profile\/rahwa-ghirmatzion\/","title":{"rendered":"Rust Belt cities are full of abandoned houses. Rahwa Ghirmatzion transforms old buildings into green, healthy homes."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"g50-profile__stats-block profile__stats-block--profile-363612 \">Deputy Director, PUSH Buffalo <br \/>\nBuffalo, New York<br \/>\nAge: 40<\/aside>\n<p>When 8-year-old Rahwa Ghirmatzion moved to a small, rural town in western New York, she wondered where all the people of color were. As a refugee who fled Sudan and then war-torn Eritrea, she felt isolated in her new country. She eventually landed in Buffalo, where she feels at home among the city\u2019s estimated 22,000 foreign-born residents &#8212; but she also discovered a city of thousands of old, vacant houses.<\/p>\n<p>[pullquote share=&#8221;true&#8221; tweet=&#8221;\u201cWe had homes like swiss cheese, asthma, lead pipes.\u201d -@RahwaG&#8221; hashtag=&#8221;Grist50&#8243;]\u201cWe had homes like swiss cheese, asthma rates, and lead pipes. We wanted quality, affordable housing.\u201d [\/pullquote]<\/p>\n<p>Now, at PUSH Buffalo (People United for Sustainable Housing), Ghirmatzion works to build affordable, green housing in Buffalo\u2019s West Side, a 25-block neighborhood where many of the cities\u2019 immigrants and refugees live. Since 2005, PUSH has rehabilitated 18 homes and placed over 20 people in full-time green construction jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Ghirmatzion believes the best economic and environmental solutions come from members of the community, so she holds monthly meetings with local residents. The PUSH gatherings often involve games and puzzles, which help people break down language barriers and give everyone a voice. \u201cIt\u2019s about working with what you have and building off of that,\u201d Ghirmatzion says. \u201cThey tell <em>us<\/em> what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This housing advocate is rebuilding Buffalo. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57007830,"featured_media":490267,"menu_order":38,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"coauthors":[10],"class_list":["post-363612","grist-50-profiles","type-grist-50-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","grist-50-cities","grist-50-13","grist-50-justice"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rust Belt cities are full of abandoned houses. 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