JOELISA MCDONALD
‘It’s all about the greater good of the community, that’s what drives me.’
Joelisa McDonald, a proud community member of the borough of Rankin, had an itch to get more involved in the borough’s political scene. She previously had assisted with grassroots efforts for the Barack Obama presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012, and assisted with campaigns for John Fetterman, the former Braddock mayor who now is Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor.
Following the 2018 tragic shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose, a Rankin resident, in East Pittsburgh by a now-former East Pittsburgh Police officer, McDonald helped with Rose’s funeral plans and planned the first Antwon Rose II Community Day at Hawkins Village in 2019.
And after watching the political careers of the youthful Summer Lee and Chardae Jones blossom, McDonald, in early 2021, figured that it was finally “her time.”
McDonald attended a virtual borough Council meeting, just to see how the meetings were run, who the council members were, and how she could eventually get officially involved.
Shockingly, though, she watched on her computer as Rankin’s longtime mayor, M. Nicholas Glova, submitted his resignation.
“Whoa, this is nothing but God,” McDonald recalled saying to herself. “Let me go ahead and seek this opportunity while it’s there.”
JOELISA MCDONALD
At age 30, she spoke up in the meeting and expressed her desire to become Rankin’s next mayor. McDonald then submitted her official letter of interest, and in the next meeting in early March, McDonald was unanimously appointed by Council to take over as mayor.
McDonald became the first female mayor in Rankin history.
She easily prevailed in the May 2021 Primary Election, and began her four-year term in January.
Rankin, as was the case with other neighboring boroughs, had its roots in the steel industry. In the 1940s, Rankin was home to some 8,000 residents. As the steel industry disintegrated, so did a lot of Rankin’s population. Its population now stands at about 2,000, with a Black population of 80 percent.
McDonald told the Courier she is very proud to have attended schools in the Woodland Hills School District from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. She graduated from Woodland Hills High School in 2008, and Point Park University in 2012 with a degree in communications. She was raised in the Hawkins Village housing complex, and later lived at the Palisades Manor apartments a few blocks away. McDonald now owns a single-family home in Rankin.
“It’s been an exciting journey so far,” McDonald told the Courier about being Rankin’s mayor. However, she’s learned that politics isn’t all peaches and cream.
“I feel like in the beginning, everyone was all welcoming,” she said. “But then everything that I tried to introduce was met with opposition,” specifically referring to some Rankin council members. “I’m a forward thinker, I move forward regardless…What I’m learning is that I have to carve out my own path and not necessarily rely on the support from Council, and that’s what I’ve been doing—working with people who want to work with me.”
McDonald calls those in Rankin who are working to better the community, “Community Champions.”
In the past year, McDonald has helped secure a grant for Emmanuel Baptist Church, on 3rd Avenue, brought COVID-19 testing to residents, and welcomed Giant Eagle’s “Mobile Market” to the borough. Each Sunday from noon to 3 p.m., Rankin residents essentially get a grocery store in their own backyard, with some 250 items available for sale. The Giant Eagle Mobile Market is parked at 245 3rd Ave., the same site as Emmanuel Baptist Church.
McDonald is also excited about the redevelopment of Hawkins Village. The residents have been relocated to other areas while the complex is demolished and being rebuilt with a $35 million price tag. Instead of 190 apartments, there will be about 105 units.
McDonald, Lee and Jones are part of a parade of African American women in their late 20s and early 30s who have made strides in the local or statewide political arena. Lee is a current state representative who was raised in North Braddock. She’s now making a push for the 12th Congressional District seat. Jones beat out other contenders to become Braddock mayor in 2019.
But when it comes to Rankin, that’s McDonald’s forte.
“You have to really care about what you do and you have to really care about your community, and I fill both,” McDonald, now 31, told the Courier about her love for Rankin. “It’s all about the greater good of the community, that’s what drives me. It’s bigger than me; someone has to be that person and I feel called.”
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