Pittsburgh Food Justice Fund Coalition Wins Historic Food Security Investment for 2023

PITTSBURGH, December 19, 2022 The Food Justice Fund Committee, a coalition of food system entrepreneurs and community leaders, led by Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, Just Harvest, and Pastor Lutual Love, commends Mayor Gainey and the Pittsburgh City Council for the inclusion of $3 million in the 2023 city budget to seed and scale up local responses to food insecurity. Some 20% of Pittsburgh residents at any given time face food insecurity and related malnutrition, which causes poor health and low productivity for workers and students. Advocates for a local response to this problem have highlighted the city’s role in strengthening its fragile food systems and improving food access in underserved neighborhoods. 

“After a year and a half of advocating for this type of investment, we are thrilled to see the City’s commitment to strengthening local food infrastructure. We look forward to working with the Mayor and City Council to ensure that these funds will be distributed through an equitable and transparent process that truly benefits those most impacted by inequities in access to affordable healthy food” says Karlin Lamberto, interim executive director of the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council. 

The Food Justice Fund Committee recommends these funds be invested in farms and food system businesses in low healthy food access areas and areas of food apartheid, which have suffered the longest from a lack of adequate resources. “We know that grassroots and Black-owned or Black-run ventures are often underfunded. The Food Justice Fund presents an exciting opportunity to support the residents, organizations, and areas of the city that are both most in need and already at work on local food access solutions,” says Ann Sanders, Just Harvest public policy advocate and Food Justice Fund Committee co-chair. 

Food Justice Fund Committee members say they look forward to working with City Council to grow the Fund through corporate and foundation support and to help with governance and distribution of the Fund so that it effectively advances food justice.

Nearly 300 organizations and individuals from across the City of Pittsburgh sent a letter to Mayor Gainey and City Council on October 7 requesting they create a Food Justice Fund.

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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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