HACP Working With Community Organizations to Bring Resources to Homewood North and Bedford Dwellings

The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh will be partnering with community organizations like 412 Food Rescue and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, as well as concerned local businesses like Roxanne’s Catering and Lynn’s Catering, to coordinate food distribution in two of our public housing communities, Homewood North and Bedford Dwellings.

Food will be delivered to Homewood North at approximately 2:30 p.m. and to Bedford Dwellings at approximately 3:30 p.m. today, April 17, 2020. In both communities, staff, tenant councils, and residents will be volunteering to distribute the food according to strict social distancing guidelines. Appropriate measures will be taken to ensure everyone’s health and safety. HACP has redirected funds regularly spent on catering for resident meetings to be used for providing emergency food relief to communities in need. This has helped us provide residents with direct access to food, while continuing to employ the services of local small businesses that depend on their contracts with HACP.

“Across the nation, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit particularly hard in vulnerable communities like ours, where many families were already struggling to put food on the table,” said Michelle Sandidge, HACP Chief Community Affairs Officer. “Fortunately, our partners have stepped up in a big way to provide relief. We’ve also gotten creative in order to keep many of our business partners engaged despite the drastic changes to the working environment. By modifying our community outreach efforts, we’ve been able to continue to employ the services of many of our business partners – many of whom are small and/or minority owned businesses that can’t afford to miss a paycheck due to the partial closure of HACP operations.”

In addition to food, volunteers will distribute important information and resources, like Census information, employment opportunities (such as Partner4Work’s Learn & Earn program), battery operated cell phone chargers, books for kids, and scamming awareness information provided by the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department. HACP will also be using the opportunity to promote the resident information line, 412-643-2797, in order to ensure that residents without Internet access can remain informed about Authority operations.

In other communities, like Northview Heights, the Pittsburgh Public Schools Grab n’ Go meal distribution program continues to operate three days a week. The delivery of distance learning packets started this week and will continue. HACP plans to maintain its collaboration with PPS to bring food and important educational resources to our families.

“What we need now is collective strength, and we here at the HACP have come together with our community partners from across the city to connect residents with vital resources and services. We will strive to continue to improve and expand remote services and to do so without compromising public safety,” said HACP Executive Director Caster D. Binion.

For more information about HACP’s operations and response to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit hacp.org/covid-19, call the Resident Information Line at 412-643-2797, or the HACP Hotline at 412-456-5111.

Please note: HACP will be conducting its food & resource distribution in accordance with social distance guidelines provided by the CDC and our state and local public health guidelines. We ask that anyone visiting an HACP community do so as well – that means maintaining a distance of at least 6 ft. from others and wearing a face mask.

For additional information, please contact Michelle Sandidge, Chief Community Affairs Officer, at michelle.sandidge@hacp.org.

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