City Council
Strengthening the Stop the Violence Trust Fund.
The Stop the Violence Fund, which pays for violence prevention, hit its $10 million ceiling this year. A bill would set new rules for how that money gets spent. Instead of receiving grants, community groups would compete openly for contracts. Council gave the bill a unanimous recommendation, and the final vote is set for July 8.
Written by Amy Whipple
- The Stop the Violence Fund was started in 2020 to take a public health approach to violence prevention and intervention.
- It uses much of the same inter-organization and government model as the Safe Passage program in Pittsburgh Public Schools.
- Funding is allocated by the City. It is a percentage of the allocation for the Police (increased each year since the Fund’s founding), up to $10 million. In budget year 2026, the Fund will reach its percentage ceiling of 10%.
- The Fund reached the $10 million ceiling for the 2025 fiscal year.
- In the most recent funding cycle, almost $1 million went to 43 organizations.
- Funding also goes to departments such as the Office of Community Health and Safety. (The budget breakdown begins on page 260.)
- Initial years of the Fund included pilot programs and seeing what worked and what didn’t. Council President Lavelle said that the new bill provides “guard rails” as well as codifies elements of the system that have been working.
- Notable inclusions in the bill:
- Extreme-need and high-need communities will be identified using 5-year data to account for communities located within gentrifying neighborhoods.
- There are two ways an organization is defined as community-based: 1) the organization's business location is in an extreme- or high-need community or 2) the organization's executive director/president/CEO lives in an extreme- or high-need community.
- Community-based organizations are considered contractors and not grant recipients. They will be chosen through an open and competitive selection process.
- Each year, $1.5 million will be allotted for six community-based organizations with experience in community-level convening, strategic planning, and youth development programming. They will assist in the overall coordination of violence prevention efforts in the City’s six police zones.
- Organizations will need to submit monthly reports to help the City make data-driven decisions about emerging needs and trends.
- A 9-person steering committee will include three Councilmembers whose communities are impacted by gun violence. The committee will advise in the selection and distribution of funds.
- Unused assets will be carried into the next fiscal year.
- Councilmember Wilson expressed concerns about funds going unspent.
- Council also spent time discussing the hours of passionate public comment that started the meeting.
- A recent editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the Trust a slush fund that should be reduced or eliminated. Councilmembers wondered if public commenters took that to mean Council wanted to reduce or eliminate it, too.
- Councilmembers Warwick and Mosley pointed out that communities are already feeling the effects of federal funding cuts. There is also high anxiety about future cuts at all levels of government.
- The bill received a unanimous recommendation. The final vote will be July 8.
Connections to this story
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- Where the Stop the Violence money goes
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- City Council · July 1, 2025
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City Council
At This Week’s Standing Committee Meeting.
Council's committee meeting this week ran 8 hours, and almost 70 people gave public comment. The largest group, 59 speakers, favored strengthening the Stop the Violence Fund. Speakers also weighed in on protections for trans healthcare and sex workers, and 11 opposed a public safety training campus. Top agenda items included reducing the minimum penalty for sex work.
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Reducing the minimum penalty for engaging in sex work.
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Pilot program for buying houses directly from the City.
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$40,484 reallocated for Bedford Park planning.
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