Candidates for Allegheny County Executive answered questions at a forum about their plans to tackle child poverty in the region, as well as fight hunger and food insecurity, and help people struggling with homelessness and high housing costs. Several candidates made specific commitments to fund the county’s relatively new Department of Children Initiatives, as well as pledging to create a county-wide food justice fund.
The forum was organized by The United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania and The Pittsburgh Foundation. It took place last week; a recording of the event was released this week and is available online.
A Democratic field that includes attorney and former County Councilmember Dave Fawcett, state Rep. Sara Innamorato, City Controller Michael Lamb, business owner Will Parker and County Treasurer John Weinstein answered questions. So did the sole Republican in the race, Joe Rockey, a former PNC executive.
Democratic candidate Theresa Sciulli Colaizzi, a former Pittsburgh Public Schools board member, did not attend.
The county executive oversees a human services agency that serves hundreds of thousands of people county-wide, contracts with hundreds of providers, and has an annual budget of more than a billion dollars. The role also provides a bully pulpit for the executive to draw attention to important issues, those at the forum emphasized.
“The county executive is a powerful advocate to push for essential federal and state dollars to support the nutritional needs of our neighbors,” said Colleen Young, director of government affairs at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. She asked candidates what they would do to address hunger and its root causes.
To tackle rising food insecurity due to food price inflation and the end of pandemic-era assistance, Innamorato said she would create a county-wide food justice fund, similar to one recently created by the city.
“We can absolutely find the money to create a food justice fund at the county level. Food insecurity does not stop at the city border,” Innamorato said.
Lamb said he’d like to see more efforts to communicate about existing anti-hunger programs so people can take advantage of them. But he cautioned that the city's program relied on federal COVID aid that won't be around forever.
“As the city controller, I can tell you I worry a little bit about the sustainability of the city's effort around hunger [and] whether they're going to be able to draw upon funds similar as we move forward,” Lamb said.
Weinstein said he is “committed to having a hunger-free Allegheny County … There's absolutely no reason in the world that any child in Allegheny County should have to go hungry.”
Human Services Center Mon Valley Executive Director Dave Coplan asked candidates to commit to $20 million in local, recurring, sustainable annual funding to the county’s Department of Children Initiatives.
The county created the department, which aims to increase access to early learning and after school programs, in 2021. The move followed a set of recommendations put forth in 2019 by a working group that noted a shortage of such programs in many areas.
Innamorato, Weinstein, and Rockey all pledged to fund the agency.
“We need to take advantage of creating a central place where children can get services. And if you say that costs $20 million then $20 million will be provided for it,” Rockey said.
Lamb said “we should have quality pre-K in every district for every child in Allegheny County. And I'm going to commit to that.”
Candidates also addressed evictions, homelessness, and housing issues.
Both Lamb and Innamorato cited the need for more legal aid for people facing eviction.
“We can take the Lawyer of the Day program that is working well in the city of Pittsburgh and expand that countywide so that we actually have legal representation for people who are going through the eviction process,” Innamorato said.
“We need to fund lawyers and help people through that process and have money available,” Lamb said.
Regarding homeless encampments and the more visible presence of unhoused people Downtown, Rockey said leaders should think creatively, citing how hotels were used to house people during the pandemic.
Weinstein noted that a new shelter on Second Avenue is full, and that the city needed another facility.
“You can't arrest someone for being homeless," he said. "But there's nowhere to take them. So we need a facility to be able to take them."
Lamb said he’s in agreement with much of what Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey has said about homelessness downtown.
“But where he's failed is on the execution,” Lamb said. “We talked a lot about a police co response, a social service response Downtown. That program has failed to launch.”
The primary election is Tuesday, May 16.
