Pittsburgh, Pa. − December 1, 2021 − Senator Jay Costa today announced the award of nearly $3.5 million for school safety and violence prevention grants in Allegheny County.
“Community organizations are the lifeblood of our region, and they know best the needs we face,” said Senator Costa. “Today’s grants, though they come from the state, will go to organizations and projects that have their finger on the pulse of our community and know best how to face our challenges. I truly believe these awards will prevent acts of gun violence from again striking close to home.”
Today’s grants come from the Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) Grant Program, a top priority of Pennsylvania Senate Democrats, administered by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD).
The following organizations in Allegheny County will receive grant funding:
- 1Hood Media Academy – $350,000 for a new gun violence prevention campaign to train youth and young adults as media activists with the skills to conduct violence prevention campaigns in their own communities.
- Allegheny County – $1,496,000 to implement and expand the Cure Violence program in communities most impacted by gun violence.
- Carnegie Library of Homestead – $346,820 to support the Youth Development and Restorative Justice Program, where trained counselors and program coordinators mentor at-risk youth to develop conflict-resolution skills to reduce violent crime amongst teens in the community.
- Homewood Community Sports – $50,000 for community sports, mentoring and enrichment to deter youth from gun or group violence.
- Neighborhood Resilience Project – $500,000 to support and expand the Trauma Response Team, which cares for the acute needs of family and friends of homicide victims of gun violence.
- The Kingsley Association – $700,000 to support expansion of its Teen LEAD program – a year-long learning experience for at-risk teens ages 13-19 in East End communities of Pittsburgh to help them to apply life skills learning, build a positive self-image, recognize personal leadership characteristics, and gain part-time employment.
PCCD received 340 unique applications requesting just under $170 million in funding – and these groups are primarily small organizations with honorable missions but small budgets.
- 10 of the awards are going to groups with annual budgets of $25,000 or less;
- 7 of the awards are going to groups with annual budgets of more than $25,000 but less than $75,000;
- 8 of the awards are going to groups with annual budgets of more than $75,000 but less than $250,000;
- 12 of the awards are going to groups with annual budgets of more than $1 million;
- 3 of the awards are going to umbrella organizations on behalf of organizations.
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