Statement attributable to
Karlin Lamberto, Interim Executive Director, Pittsburgh Food Policy Council
Ann Sanders, Public Policy Advocate, Just Harvest and Pittsburgh Food Justice Fund Committee Cochair
PITTSBURGH, November 14, 2022 — The Food Justice Fund Committee, a coalition of food system entrepreneurs and community leaders, led by Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, Just Harvest, Pastor Lutual Love, and others, commends Mayor Gainey for the inclusion of $3 million in his proposed 2023 city budget to seed and scale up responses to food insecurity. One in five Pittsburgh residents faced food insecurity before the pandemic, and the hunger rate likely only increased since then. Strengthening the city’s fragile food systems is critical to helping city residents redress the bad health and economic outcomes that arise from hunger and poor nutrition.
We urge Pittsburgh City Council to approve this expenditure and to commit to focusing this investment on the 23 Healthy Food Priority Areas (HFPAs) the city identified in its 2020 Feed Pittsburgh report – areas that suffer from low healthy food access, low vehicle ownership, low income, and poor health. Predominantly in Black neighborhoods, these areas have suffered the longest from a lack of adequate resources and will benefit the most from improved healthy food access. By boosting children’s and families’ health and supporting local businesses, food system investments are an incredibly effective and efficient way to improve student outcomes, increase worker productivity, and spur job creation. This should redound to the city’s benefit by reducing the costs of common social ills associated with poverty and low quality of life, and by raising tax revenue as more families and businesses succeed.
We therefore strongly urge council to allow for substantive community input in the specific allocation of these funds to ensure that grassroots ventures are identified for support and that the majority of these be Black-owned and/or Black-run. Investment in the areas and residents of the city that are both most in need and already at work on local food access solutions will maximize the return on this investment.
We also thank council members Deb Gross and Anthony Coghill for their leadership in pushing the city to address rampant food insecurity and low food access, and for advancing an understanding of how investing in local food infrastructure will strengthen Pittsburgh.
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Pittsburgh Food Policy Council’s mission is to build a food system that benefits our communities, economy, and environment in ways that are just, equitable and sustainable.
Just Harvest works to promote a just system of food access by addressing the root causes of hunger – systemic poverty and inequity – through policy advocacy, community-based solutions, and improving access to safety net benefits.
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