City of Pittsburgh awarded over $4.6 million in grants in 2020

With a projected deficit of over $115 million looming in 2020 city budgets, the City of Pittsburgh is acknowledging that $4.6 million will come in handy.

That’s the amount in grants from federal and state agencies and national and local foundations the city has been awarded so far in 2020.

“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,” said Mayor Bill Peduto.

Some of the city projects, programs and services the 2020 awarded grant money will support include $400,000 awarded by the Land Water Conservation Fund for two recreational upgrades in South Side Park.

Included in the plan is a boardwalk to replace stairs that link the park to the fields. The boardwalk will also connect the South Side Slopes to the Great Allegheny Passage trail network.

A total of $132,000 is going toward the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a free program run by the Office of Equity where any child who lives in the city can be registered to receive one book a month in the mail until their fifth birthday. McAuley Ministries, affiliated with Sisters of Mercy, awarded the program $82,000 and the Hillman Foundation provided $50,000.

The Hillman Foundation also made a $100,000 grant to support the Group Violence Intervention Program, which works directly with violence-prone groups, affected communities and young people to improve public safety.

Molly Onufer, spokesperson for Mayor Peduto’s office, called the grant money critical. “We will continue to do our best to seek these kinds of funds so that we can continue to fund the projects that people in our communities and neighborhoods want to see.”

The city will also continue to work with the state and federal government to get additional funding to reduce the deficit, said Onufer. “We’re really working hard with other cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities to try and get stimulus funding on a municipal level so we can relieve some of the stress that the deficit will be causing us with regard to our budgets.

“We need to make sure that the federal government understands that we need more relief. We can’t just be left out to die.”