Title
Resolution authorizing the Mayor, the Manager of the Office of Community Health and Safety, and the Director of the Department of Public Safety to enter into an agreement or agreements with Primary Care and MEE Productions, for the purpose of mini-grants for Community Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and Trusted, Community-Identified Leaders who participate in the Allegheny County Health Department and Department of Human Services COVID-19 Awareness Campaign for Ethnic and Minority Communities. in an amount not to exceed $100,000, chargeable to and payable from the Stop the Violence Trust Fund.
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WHERESAS, the United States is facing an unparalleled modern catastrophe created by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, ironically during the same month as National Public Health and Minority Health Month; and,
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic is a true test of our National Public Health systems as well as a call to action to provide protections specifically for our community’s minority groups; and,
WHEREAS the COVID-19 virus’ spread is creating havoc in our daily lives by testing our communities and workplaces, and our governments’ ability to protect and prioritize the health of the public; and,
WHEREAS COVID-19 is a public health crisis and with any crisis, the strategy and response must help address the current realities as well as prepare for additional challenges in the future; and,
WHEREAS, equity must be at the center of any response to this COVID-19 crisis. In order for the city and the county to thrive, it cannot be at the expense of the African American population who is on the frontline of this pandemic and currently reporting disproportionate coronavirus mortality; and,
WHEREAS, major cities across the country, like Boston and Detroit, are incorporating an equity component to their COVID-19 responses; and,
WHEREAS, in Milwaukee, WI, where African Americans are 21% of the population, they account for 81% of all COVID related deaths. And other major cities are seeing a disproportionate amount of African American COVID-19 related deaths; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh recognizes the history of racism in our country and how it has led to many current-day disparities in education, health and safety, job attainment, income and wealth, housing and healthcare, disproportionate incarceration rates for people of color and other pernicious systems of injustice; and,
WHEREAS, on December 23, 2019, the Honorable William M. Peduto, Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh, signed into law Resolution Number 843 of 2019, declaring racism a “public health crisis” in the City of Pittsburgh, a Home Rule municipality and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and,
Whereas, Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on the United States, and it has disproportionately affected Black Americans. According to the CDC, Black Americans are 1.4 times as likely to contract Covid-19, 3.7 times as likely to be hospitalized by Covid-19, and 2.8 times as likely to die from Covid-19. It is thought that this is due to underlying comorbidities among Black Americans as well as increased exposure due to a disproportionate number of Black Americans working in essential roles.
WHERAS, the COVID -19 crisis and its aftermath has the potential to disproportionately disaffect Pittsburgh’s African Americans and their communities and significantly disrupt both their physical and social health.
Be it resolved by the Council of the City of Pittsburgh as follows:
Section 1. The Mayor, the Manager of the Office of Community Health and Safety, and the Director of the Department of Public Safety are hereby authorized to enter into an agreement or agreements, contract or contracts, or use existing contracts and/or agreements with Primary Care and MEE Productions, for the purpose of mini-grants for Community Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and Trusted, Community-Identified Leaders who participate in the
the Allegheny County Health Department and Department of Human Services COVID-19 Awareness Campaign for Ethnic and Minority Communities. in an amount not to exceed $100,000, chargeable to and payable from the Stop the Violence Trust Fund, JDE string code 24077.2100247700.58101
Fund number 24077: Stop the Violence Trust Fund
JDE Job Number 2100247700: Stop the Violence Trust Fund
Account number 58101: Grants