diff --git a/.github/workflows/builds.yaml b/.github/workflows/builds.yaml
index d02be34cef..4e9c1424ec 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/builds.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/builds.yaml
@@ -22,8 +22,16 @@ jobs:
     - name: Build OpenPMIx
       run: |
         cd openpmix/master
+        # Homebrew doesn't install Libevent's (or libev's) header or
+        # library files into a default search location.  Shrug.  So
+        # use pkg-config to get the location and explicitly pass it to
+        # configure.
+        libevent_cppflags=$(pkg-config libevent --cflags)
+        libevent_ldflags=$(pkg-config libevent --libs | perl -pe 's/^.*(-L[^ ]+).*$/\1/')
         ./autogen.pl
-        ./configure --prefix=$RUNNER_TEMP/pmixinstall
+        ./configure --prefix=$RUNNER_TEMP/pmixinstall \
+            CPPFLAGS=$libevent_cppflags \
+            LDFLAGS=$libevent_ldflags
         make -j
         make install
     - name: Git clone PRRTE
@@ -37,6 +45,11 @@ jobs:
 
         sphinx=
         if test "${{ matrix.sphinx }}" = sphinx; then
+            # The macos Github Action environment gets angry at us if
+            # we try to pip install into the global environment.  So
+            # make a virtual environment and install sphinx into that.
+            python -m venv venv
+            . ./venv/bin/activate
             pip3 install -r docs/requirements.txt
             sphinx=--enable-sphinx
         fi
@@ -48,7 +61,16 @@ jobs:
             c=../configure
         fi
 
-        $c --prefix=$RUNNER_TEMP/prteinstall --with-pmix=$RUNNER_TEMP/pmixinstall $sphinx
+        # Homebrew doesn't install Libevent's (or libev's) header or
+        # library files into a default search location.  Shrug.  So
+        # use pkg-config to get the location and explicitly pass it to
+        # configure.
+        libevent_cppflags=$(pkg-config libevent --cflags)
+        libevent_ldflags=$(pkg-config libevent --libs | perl -pe 's/^.*(-L[^ ]+).*$/\1/')
+
+        $c --prefix=$RUNNER_TEMP/prteinstall --with-pmix=$RUNNER_TEMP/pmixinstall $sphinx \
+            CPPFLAGS=$libevent_cppflags \
+            LDFLAGS=$libevent_ldflags
         make -j
         make install
         make uninstall