We love to see creative placemaking and community building support being done by companies (big and small!) who double down on the cities they call home. Back when Duolingo was just a handful of people, they chose the East Liberty neighborhood in Pittsburgh to locate their offices in and have contributed to the transformation of that community through thoughtful investment and frankly... quality talent attraction! People love to work for companies that have desirable culture and give a damn about their communities. It is a win win for the company and the city - the company contributes to the local economy, and the city grows through their investment, becoming more and more of a desirable place to live, work.... and dare I say... play. (Frolic? Skip? Dance like nobody's watching?! Are we all tired of playing?) What companies in your city are investing in creative ways? Do share!
We give our Pittsburgh employees $10K when they buy their first home in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh played a really big role in making our company and founders who they are today. Because of that, our founders, Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, have been very intentional about giving back to the city that raised them and Duolingo. That’s why we have this mortgage benefit for our Pittsburgh-based employees.?We don’t want to turn Pittsburgh into a renters’ market. We want to invest in and give back to our community. When we saw how much our employees utilized this benefit, we increased the benefit from $2K to $5K to what it is now: $10K! So employees like Mert A. can commit to Pittsburgh the way we have. #duolingo #onlyatduolingo