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Allegheny County commits another $2M to programs for needy
With covid-19 on the rise again and more help needed for those impacted by the pandemic, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has announced the county is committing an additional $2 million to programs through the United Way.
The United Way’s Students and Families Food Relief Fund will receive $1 million to provide an additional 125,000 ready-to-heat meals to families. Another $1 million will go to the organization’s Emergency Basic Needs Network. Because of the pandemic, there has been an increase in the number of applicants as well as an increase in the amounts requested.
“Every day, United Way and our partners are seeing how our neighbors are hurting,” said Bobby Watt Geer, president and CEO of United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania. “We are incredibly grateful for this additional funding from Allegheny County. It is critical to ensuring we can work with our network to continue to feed the community and work to keep families financially stable.”
Throughout the pandemic, the top requests have been for rental assistance, utility assistance and access to food, according to the county.
“We fully recognize that the pandemic has had an impact on the health of our community, as well as the economic health of our residents. We know that many in our community are struggling with both,” said Fitzgerald. “We have worked to flex funds and provide additional resources to the United Way that will support their programs that provide food to those in need and for other basic needs for county residents.”
Anticipating additional need, the county said additional mitigation measures will be put in place in the near future. Supplemental resources include federal and state housing assistance programs, food pantries, the nutrition program for women, infants and children (WIC) and supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), career development programs, and others.
For assistance, residents can call 2-1-1 or visit covid.pa211sw.org and complete the online application.
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