CHERYL JOHNSON, owner of Aunt Cheryl’s Cafe in Braddock, with former Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey, at the “Taste of the NFL Draft” private event, April 22, 2026.
As of Aug. 11, 2026, almost four months after the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, efforts by the New Pittsburgh Courier to acquire the list of Black-owned businesses that were selected by the NFL Draft Source Program have been unsuccessful. Calls and emails to the NFL have not been returned.
The NFL Draft Source Program gave minority-owned and women-owned businesses a chance to get a paid contract with the NFL in the weeks/days leading up to and including the actual Draft dates, which were April 23-25, 2026. However, not knowing the exact number of Black businesses that were selected prior to the Draft was a point of contention for many Pittsburgh Black civil rights advocates, such as Tim Stevens of the Black Political Empowerment Project, and the NAACP Pittsburgh Branch. Some African American organizations held their own Black-owned business events during the Draft dates in the Hill District, North Side and at Emerald City, Downtown, on Smithfield Street.
THE PHOTO TAKEN BY THE NFL DRAFT SOURCE PROGRAM, SHOWING MANY OF THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE PROGRAM, PRIOR TO THE 2026 NFL DRAFT IN PITTSBURGH.
On Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, VisitPITTSBURGH announced that the NFL Draft generated $177 million in economic impact for the Pittsburgh region. It probably will never be known how much of that $177 million positively impacted Black-owned businesses in the Pittsburgh region.
Earlier this summer, VisitPITTSBURGH also announced that of the more-than 1,700 businesses that applied to be part of the NFL Draft Source Program, 164 businesses “participated” in the program, and “more than 100 local contracts were issued” during the event. VisitPITTSBURGH said that 64 percent of the contracts were awarded to “local diverse businesses” and that 63 percent of the contracts were awarded to “Draft Source Program members,” which were primarily minority-owned and woman-owned businesses.
The Courier has not been able to determine how many of the minority businesses awarded paid contracts by the NFL were Black-owned businesses, but Cheryl Johnson, founder and longtime owner of Aunt Cheryl’s Cafe in Braddock, proudly told the Courier that she was one of the Black-owned businesses granted a paid contract by the NFL.
But she told the Courier it wasn’t easy to get selected.
CHERYL JOHNSON, owner of Aunt Cheryl’s Cafe in Braddock, with former Steelers RUNNING BACK “FAST” WILLIE PARKER, at the “Taste of the NFL Draft” private event, April 22, 2026.
Johnson said she was in a meeting with former Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey back in January 2025 about the fact that businesses should be preparing for the NFL Draft coming to Pittsburgh. When the NFL Draft Source Program announced it was taking applications in the spring of 2025, Johnson jumped at the opportunity. Her business was one of the 164 businesses that made the cut from the original 1,700 that applied.
“They told you to promote yourself,” Johnson told the Courier in an exclusive interview inside her restaurant on Library Street in Braddock, July 3. “We went to every Zoom meeting, we didn’t miss an email, didn’t miss a phone call, and every (in-person) meeting we went to, we took our sweet potato pies,” she said.
Johnson said the NFL Draft Source Program leadership wasn’t playing around. Businesses still had to cross their Ts, dot their Is, and do whatever was needed by the NFL to get the paid contracts.
Representative Abigail Salisbury, of the state’s 34th House District, which includes Braddock, later invited Johnson to a private meeting that, for the most part, involved White men involved in the NFL Draft.
“I was the only Black person in the room,” Johnson recalled. “I introduced myself and said, ‘I’m Aunt Cheryl with Aunt Cheryl’s Cafe. We make the best sweet potato pie in Pittsburgh. I didn’t say it, Yelp said it.’”
That comment had people laughing in a good way, she said, and then she presented her sweet potato pie to Jared Bachar, the president and CEO of VisitPITTSBURGH.
With only a few weeks left until the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Johnson said her persistence paid off. The NFL Draft Source representatives contacted her and asked if she could provide box lunches to the construction workers who were building the stage and other structures on the North Shore for the Draft. Johnson obliged, and she told the Courier she was paid “a reasonable” amount of money to provide 500-600 box lunches that she and other Aunt Cheryl’s Cafe employees delivered to two hotels, one of which was the Wyndham Grand, Downtown.
Apparently, the NFL was impressed with Aunt Cheryl’s Cafe. A week later, they called Johnson and said her business had been selected to participate in the “Taste of the NFL Draft,” which was to occur on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, the day before the Draft, at The Tower at PNC Plaza, Downtown. The NFL paid her business a flat fee to come to the event, and provide her famous sweet potato pies and other fixings at no cost to the event attendees.
The “Taste of the NFL Draft,” according to reports, had a price tag of no less than $500 per person to attend, but it was for a good cause; raising money for GENYOUth, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping schoolchildren live well-nourished and physically active lives.
Look around the “Taste of the NFL Draft” in Pittsburgh, April 22, and there was very little “Black-owned business” inclusion. No problem for Johnson. The retired social worker who also is a University of Pittsburgh graduate said she “belonged” at the event, in that atmosphere.
“I worked my way to be there,” Johnson told the Courier. “I felt I earned it, I didn’t feel I was a token.”
While there were food choices everywhere during the “Taste,” Aunt Cheryl’s Cafe’s sweet potato pies were one of the standout food products of the evening. Former Pittsburgh Steelers like Maurkice Pouncey and “Fast” Willie Parker grabbed some of Johnson’s sweet potato pies, while also taking pictures with Johnson.
Being selected by the NFL in its Draft Source program was “100 percent” worth it, Johnson told the Courier exclusively. “I’ve been a Steelers fan since I was 7 years old. I’ve been to Super Bowl parades, games, even had a kiosk selling my food” at the stadium in the ‘90s, Johnson said. “I’ve fed everybody (over the years),” Johnson said. “You name somebody, and I guarantee, I’ve fed them.”
