Kirk Holbrook began his career in community service in 2001, working within inner city after-school programs in the Hill District, Homewood, and other areas of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, where he enjoyed more than a decade in youth programming. Later, Holbrook served as an educational advocate and in state government as a district office Chief of Staff for State Representative Jake Wheatley, before moving to the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 as director of the Community Engagement Center [CEC] in the Hill District. Holbrook currently serves as Program Director of Gizmology, a racial equity initiative within Deeplocal’s global creative technology company based in Pittsburgh, working to eliminate barriers for Pittsburgh’s Black and underrepresented communities in technology. Holbrook’s Gizmology program joins other racial equity projects funded by WPP, Deeplocal’s parent company, across the globe, including projects in Detroit, Atlanta, London and Cape Town, South Africa.
Holbrook was appointed to the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Equity Advisory Panel in 2018, was named one of the upcoming leaders in the field of education by Incline Magazine in 2019, and was appointed as a Remake Learning ambassador in 2022.
Holbrook believes that by working together to weave a connective thread in civil society between nonprofit organizations, anchor institutions, and the private sector, we can develop targeted strategies, programs, and initiatives to directly counteract legacies of inequity in Black and Brown communities locally, regionally, and across the globe. Holbrook does the work he does to ensure that every child and family has an opportunity to actualize their full potential, regardless of the zip code in which they reside.
