Despite concern it's not enough, Pittsburgh OKs $900K for summer youth food program

Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved a measure to provide $900,000 for a food service program that provides meals to local students over the summer when they aren’t served meals at school, though one council member raised concerns about whether that’s enough funding for the initiative.

The amount of money for the program has been “flat” for several years, Councilwoman Deb Gross said, questioning whether the city should look to increase that figure.

“There’s been tremendous inflation,” she said. “Like everything else in the world, there are additional costs.”

Gross said there has also been increased demand.

“There are concerns that this may not be enough to meet the need we are seeing,” she said. “It just occurs to me that this is yet another example of the kind of demand we’re seeing and how fundamental food is to our citizens’ success.”

The measure was unanimously approved Tuesday.

Maria Montaño, a spokesperson for Mayor Ed Gainey, said much of the money for the initiative comes from federal grant money. She could not immediately say whether the Mayor’s Office was considering additional funding for the program.

This comes after Gross had previously spearheaded a push for a food justice fund from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

Gainey has proposed a $3 million food justice fund in his 2023 budget, which council will vote on next month. That money, however, would come from the $10 million initially proposed to fund the Land Bank next year, leading some council members to question if there could be a better source of funding for the food justice initiative.

Related:

• City Council, activists call for $10 million 'food justice fund' from federal covid money; mayor says money isn't there

• Pittsburgh City Council considers proposal to shift $3M in Land Bank funding to new food justice fund