Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved Eric Sloan’s nomination to head the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Sloan, of Highland Park, has worked in the private sector and led Pittsburgh Dynamo Youth Soccer. His resume includes coaching youth baseball and serving as a founding board member of Bridges FC, a local soccer club that aims to use the sport as a platform for social change.
He will now lead the city department responsible for Pittsburgh’s parks, pools, recreation centers, senior centers and food system programs.
“Parks and Recreation supports seniors through our healthy active living centers and wellness program, it strengthens neighborhoods through our rec centers that serve as safe and welcoming hubs, and it promotes food access and economic vitality through farmers markets and food nutrition programs,” Sloan said during an interview with council members last week. “And it maintains the public spaces that residents rely on every single day.”
Sloan told council members he wants to explore opportunities to partner with more community groups, diversify programming at recreation and senior centers and draw more people into the city’s programs. Among the new initiatives he plans to launch is a city-sponsored flag football league that will debut later this year.
The department also should consider more options beyond sports to engage youth and residents of all ages, Sloan said. That could include music or performing arts experiences, he told council members.
Sloan is among a slew of new appointments Mayor Corey O’Connor has made to head city departments and fill various boards since taking office in January.
City Council last week confirmed his picks for solicitor and director of the Department of City Planning. Earlier this month, the new police chief and public safety director secured council’s unanimous approval.
