DonateSearch

Pittsburgh City Council

Council prioritizes community needs over funding criteria for $1.7M grant distributions.

Written by Amy Whipple

  • During a marathon meeting of its committees, Pittsburgh City Council gave preliminary approval to the distribution of $1,748,460 from the Stop the Violence Fund to 39 organizations. This came despite the concern from two council members that seven organizations do not meet the funding criteria.
  • The money will be distributed to organizations throughout the city, with the funding broken down by police zones as follows:
  • Covering all zones: six organizations, $260,000
  • Covering multiple zones: seven organizations, $335,000
  • Zone one: three organizations, $140,000
  • Zone two: one organization, $25,000
  • Zone three: four organizations, $178,460
  • Zone four: two organizations, $100,000
  • Zone five: 12 organizations, $530,000
  • Zone six: four organizations, $180,000.00
  • Grants will range from $20,000-50,000.
  • The money from the Stop the Violence fund is intended to augment the work done by the city’s Office of Community Service and Violence Prevention.
  • The city received 64 funding applications.
  • Councilmember Bobby Wilson of Brighton Heights, who is on the steering committee, and Councilmember Robert Charland of the South Side expressed concern that seven recipient organizations did not meet all of the funding criteria.
  • Solomon Armstead, a supervisor in the Office of Community Services and Violence Prevention, explained that in some neighborhoods that are facing specific challenges, such as high levels of gun violence, only have a single provider. In these instances, meeting the needs of a community superseded the scoring criteria.
  • Council will receive a written rationale for the exceptions, including who made those decisions, before their final vote next Tuesday.
  • According to Director of Public Safety Lee Schmidt, the request for proposals for the six anchor organizations will be available soon. Anchor organizations will provide contract-based services, rather than be grant recipients.

Connections to this story

Elected officials:
Bobby Wilson
Topics:
Government & Accountability
Governments:
Pittsburgh City Council
Public meetings:
City Council · September 3, 2025
Sources:
Resolution 2025-2157 — authorizing the Mayor and the Director of Public Safety to enter into an Agreement or Agreements with various…

More surveys

Have your say on more of the stories we’re covering.

Checking in: How Are We Doing?

🏖️ City Council is on break for the next 3 weeks. Instead of our regular coverage we're doing a series of deep dives. This week: an update on InformUp! Have a request for a future deep dive? Drop…