Pittsburgh, Pa. − April 21, 2022 − Senator Jay Costa today announced the award of more than $1.75 million in state grant funding for the development of multi modal transportation along Sylvan Avenue in the City of Pittsburgh.
$1.76 million has been awarded through PennDOT to reopen a portion of Sylvan Avenue to pedestrian and bicycle traffic as a public trail parallel to SR 885 that will connect the Hazelwood and Greenfield neighborhoods to job centers in Oakland.
“Whether you’re in a car, on a bike or on foot, the City of Pittsburgh must be safe and accessible,” said Senator Costa. “Adding safe spaces for bikers and walkers is critical to ensure that we can all get around this City, particularly on the roads that take folks from home to work every day.”
This grant is part of the Multimodal Transportation Fund, created by Act 89 of 2013.
PennDOT evaluated the applications and made selections based on such criteria as safety benefits, regional economic conditions, the technical and financial feasibility, job creation, energy efficiency, and operational sustainability.
Additionally, PennDOT anticipates accepting Multimodal Transportation Fund applications in fall 2022 for Fiscal Year 2023-24 funding. For more information about the program, visit www.penndot.pa.gov and click on Multimodal Program under the “Projects & Programs” button.
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PITTSBURGH, April 14, 2022 – State Rep. Dan Frankel and Sen. Jay Costa today announced the awarding of more than $500,000 in state safety and security grants to a dozen local religious nonprofits, even as they continue their fight to strengthen Pennsylvania’s anti-hate crime laws, expand civil rights and protect at-risk groups through public police.
“This community knows all too well the violence and devastation of hate crimes, and it’s a top priority of mine in the legislature to prevent those crimes,” said Sen. Costa. “I will continue to advocate for the funds to protect our local facilities that could become the next target. While I’m happy to announce today’s grants with Representative Frankel, I would be remiss if I did not also mention that we have introduced legislation that would empower law enforcement with additional tools to track hate groups and prevent violence. We await hearings in the state legislature on those bills.”
Across Allegheny County, more than 20 religious nonprofits were awarded grants totaling more than $1.1 million. The grants were made possible by a bipartisan agreement to extend Act 83 of 2019, legislation championed by both lawmakers in the wake of the Squirrel Hill synagogue attack in 2018, using funding from the American Rescue Plan. This is the third year grants from the program have been disbursed.
“Our houses of faith are integral to a vibrant, diverse and loving Pittsburgh community. With this funding, the state of Pennsylvania acknowledges both the vital role that these organizations play and the dangers of today’s world,” Frankel said. “These places are the centers of their communities, places of peace, of hope, of friendship. No one should ever have to be afraid to step through their doors.”
Grant recipients can use the funds for security enhancements designed to protect the safety of the users of the facility that is owned and operated by the nonprofit organization. These include safety and security planning, purchase of security equipment, safety and security training, and other safety-related projects.
Priority for funding was given to organizations that indicated their organization and/or membership was the victim of a hate crime, that received credible hate-crime threats, or that serves a population susceptible to hate crimes, which includes people of certain race/ethnicity/ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender and gender identity.
Grantees locally included
Chabad of Carnegie Mellon University, Inc.
Jewish Residential Services, Inc.
Chabad of Squirrel Hill Inc.
Yeshivath Achei Tmimim of Pittsburgh.
Lubavitch Center.
Congregation Dor Hadash.
Hillel Jewish University Center.
Chabad Young Professionals Inc.
First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh.
Rodef Shalom Congregation.
Tzohar Seminary.
Temple Sinai.
Pittsburgh, Pa. − March 9, 2022 − Today, Senator Costa announced the award of nearly $100,000 in state grant money for local organizations to do violence prevention work.
“We hear about acts of violence after they’ve occurred, but I want to draw attention to and support for the organizations that are dedicated to preventing the next act of violence,” said Senator Costa. “Today’s grants are going to very worthy organizations doing life saving work. I’m so glad we were able to offer them state level support as they improve our local community.”
Three organizations in the 43rd senatorial district will receive funding for projects that promote safer neighborhoods after a competitive application process statewide.
- Great Pittsburgh Area MAD DADs will receive $11,947. MAD DADS is an acronym for Men Against Destruction-Defending Against Drugs and Social-Disorder. MAD DADS, INC. was founded in May of 1989 by a group of concerned Omaha, Nebraska parents who were fed up with gang violence and the unmolested flow of illegal drugs in our community.
- Greater Valley Community Services will receive $36,205. Greater Valley Community Services is a nonprofit organization that believes all persons deserve the chance to develop in a nurturing, safe, and established environment.
- The Pittsburgh Contingency will receive $44,803 for its South Pittsburgh Peacemakers Outreach Team. The South Pittsburgh Peacemakers consists of South Pittsburgh intervention specialists and a chaplain, who are trained peace makers, violence interrupters and outreach workers designed to prevent shootings by identifying and mediating potentially lethal conflicts in our communities.
Today’s grants are awarded by the PA Commission on Crime & Delinquency as art of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is designed to create and foster safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in violent crime, including, but not limited to, addressing criminal gangs and the felonious possession and use of firearms and projects that support innovative cooperative efforts and partnerships between federal, state, and local law enforcement engaged in a unified approach led by the U.S. Attorney in all 94 districts to identify and prevent violent crime.
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HARRISBURG – February 8, 2022 – Governor Tom Wolf gave his final budget address today to a joint Pennsylvania House and Senate Session. The proposed budget invests in Pennsylvanians through education, workforce development, criminal justice reform, public health investments, and raising the minimum wage – without calling for a single tax increase.
“I am very pleased with the proposed budget that the Governor presented today because it gives us the ability to truly invest in Pennsylvanians. We are in an excellent position, with an estimated $6 billion budget surplus, to fund programs and initiatives that help Pennsylvania’s live the full and prosperous lives they deserve,” Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa said.
Investments in education include $1.55 billion increase in basic education, $200 million in special education, $60 million in Pre-K Counts and $10 million for Head Start Supplemental Assistance, $300 in Level Up funding to 100 school districts with the highest needs, and $77.7 million in federal funds to make childcare more affordable. Proposed investments of over $180 million across higher education programs and a total of $200 million for Nellie Bly scholarships to help PASSHE students.
Further investments include $35 million in grants and technical assistance through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for community-led gun violence prevention efforts and $1 million for reentry services to assist women by giving them the best opportunity to start fresh and reduce recidivism.
Making sure that Pennsylvania workers earn a living wage has been a long-time priority of the Senate Democratic Caucus and this budget proposes an immediate e increase of state minimum wage to $12 per hour, with an annual increase of $.50 per hour until all minimum wage employees reach $15 per hour.
“This budget gives us the opportunity to make the critical investments that Pennsylvania needs in our schools, communities, and workforce. Now is the time to put this money into the programs that fund the future of this commonwealth. We must use the surplus of this budget to show Pennsylvanians that we see where they are struggling, and we are supporting a budget that gives them the support where they need it,” Senate Democratic Appropriations Chair Vincent Hughes said.
For more information on the 2022-2023 budget, visit pasenate.com/budget.
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Harrisburg, Pa. − February 4, 2022 − Senate Democratic Leader and Legislative Reapportionment Commission member Senator Jay Costa today voted in support of final maps for the Pennsylvania House and Senate districts.
The final vote of the Commission was 4 to 1 in support, and the maps are adopted.
“I’m casting an affirmative vote today in support of these maps, and we can all be proud not only of the final product we have here today but also of the process we took to get here. If there’s no faith in the process, then there can be no faith in the maps. It was incumbent upon us to restore that faith, and I believe we’ve done that,” said Senator Costa. “This was one of the most fair, transparent and publicly engaging redistricting processes in the last 50 years. We set lofty goals when we began last year, and I think we reached most of them.”
Senator Costa’s priorities in this reapportionment process were:
- Abiding by the guidance of the Voting Rights Act, creating minority majority districts, coalition districts and opportunity districts whenever possible
- Fairly accommodating a major population shift from the northern sections of the state to the southeastern quadrant
- Addressing a growing Latino population around the state, ensuring that there are legislative seats where those voices are heard loudly
- Following the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s ruling in the League of Women Voters case that requires attention to the political performance of districts because the ruling deemed that political balance is critical to a functioning democracy
- And finally, taking every step in the process in a transparent, participatory fashion
This year, the LRC accepted publicly submitted maps and allowed testimony via Zoom to make the process more participatory than in the history of redistricting. There were 9 meetings, 6 hearings, 29 publicly submitted maps, testimony from 51 citizens and 29 experts that led to the creation of the preliminary maps that were presented in December of 2021.
“Public participation in this process is so important because these maps determine a decade of public representation,” said Senator Costa. “If your district isn’t fair or representative, it becomes very hard for folks to have their voices heard in Harrisburg and our legislature votes regularly on the issues that affect your every day life.”
Due to COVID related challenges, census data was delivered five months late which compressed the timeline for a preliminary map. Despite this, the Commission is submitting a map on schedule with the expected May primary for 2022.
“This was a challenging year, and redistricting is no small feat in a ‘normal’ timeline but I want to thank my fellow commission members, our chair and the staff that got us here today,” said Senator Costa.
For more information on each of the meetings, including testimony and video, please visit redistricting.state.pa.us.
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