PITTSBURGH, PA (July 31, 2020) The City of Pittsburgh has been awarded $4,636,819 in grants from federal and state agencies and national and local foundations so far in 2020. Grant monies are being used to support specific projects and ongoing programs and services.
Grant funding is awarded for projects that specifically support the funding government agency or foundation’s purposes or values. The money is often used as a supplement to the city’s investment in programs or projects.
“As we are preparing for a deficit of over $115 million in our 2020 city budgets, grant funding opportunities are critical to adding additional financial support for ongoing work in our neighborhoods and communities. We will have tough budgetary decisions to make for 2021, but we are grateful for the support from our federal, state and foundation partners to ensure that our residents will continue to see community investment and programs,” Mayor William Peduto said.
Some of the ongoing city projects, programs and services that the 2020 awarded grant monies will support include:
$132,000 total committed to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a free program run by the Office of Equity where any child who lives in the City of Pittsburgh age 0-5 can register to receive one book a month in the mail until their fifth birthday. When they turn five, they will have their own library of up to 60 books. The program, which was started in the City of Pittsburgh through the Benter Foundation's five-year sustaining grant commitment, is affiliated with the national initiative started by music icon Dolly Parton and recently sent its 30,000th book to local children. McAuley Ministries awarded the program a sustaining commitment totaling $82,000 and the Hillman Foundation provided $50,000.
$400,000 was awarded by the Land Water Conservation Fund for two recreational upgrades in South Side Park that were outlined in the community-driven South Side Park Master Plan. They include a new discovery garden for children of all ages and a boardwalk to replace the stairs currently linking the park to the fields to improve park accessibility. The boardwalk will also serve to connect the South Side Slopes neighborhood to the Great Allegheny Passage trail network, opening the neighborhood and park users to additional recreation opportunities.
$100,000 from the Hillman Foundation to support the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) Program. GVI is a program from the Department of Public Safety and Pittsburgh Bureau of Police in partnership with Operation Better Block. GVI utilizes community leaders and mentors as an outreach team to work directly with violence-prone groups, affected communities and young people to improve public safety, minimize arrest and incarceration, foster police-community collaboration, and change the narrative in neighborhoods that may have felt both over-policed and under-protected.
Grant opportunities are continually monitored, sought and managed by the Office of Management and Budget’s Grants Office.
