In this month’s Take Charge of Your Health Today, we’re spotlighting the Bridges to Care initiative in McKeesport, including its food security intervention and access to good nutrition. For decades, this has been a strong focus for the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. With that in mind, we asked Carlos T. Carter, UL President and CEO, to give us an overview.
Q: Thanks for joining us, Carlos. What are some of the UL’s strategies for addressing access to good nutrition?
Carlos: Our Family Support Centers do a significant amount of work around food insecurity. We partner with 412 Food Rescue to provide baked goods and other food items to families twice a week.
In Northview Heights, we have a food pantry that families can visit. The Duquesne and East Hills centers transport families to the food bank, so they can go shopping in the food bank’s market. In our East Hills center, we’re working to restore a food pantry that will provide emergency food assistance across all three centers. We also have an emergency food bank at our downtown location to help people in need.
Finally, in partnership with University of Pittsburgh CTSI, we hold our annual Turkey Day that connects 1,000 families to good food and other value community resources.
Q: That’s impressive! The Bridges to Care initiative focuses on health-fairness first and empowers local leaders to work together to address unmet needs and create sustainable systems that will transform McKeesport’s health outcomes. The work seeks to reduce silos and integrate systems. The Urban League has been working on cross-sector collaboration for many years, including housing and food security. Can you give us an example of that type of collaboration?
Carlos: While the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh is not a direct provider of rental assistance, we collaborate closely with Allegheny Link and send referrals to them, so they can provide that necessary support.
Our home ownership program — Operation HOME — consists of one 8-hour workshop and one-on-one counseling. The course is designed to enable clients to make informed decisions during the transition from renter to homeowner. Operation HOME has developed partnerships with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), local lending institutions, social service agencies, and local real estate organizations to help reach its goal of creating successful homeowners throughout Western Pennsylvania.
Additionally, we work with local food banks, providing transportation for our participants, so they can travel to distribution sites to receive more food assistance.
We’ve also worked with the White House to hold convenings to inform policy to help address the needs of our underserved communities.
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