Pittsburgh council votes to codify Stop the Violence Fund with new accountability rules

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday passed an ordinance to repeal and reenact the city code chapter that governs the Stop the Violence Fund, establishing clearer disbursement guidelines, a steering committee and new reporting language for award recipients.

The measure, presented by Councilman Anthony Coghill as part of the public safety committee’s agenda (Bill 19‑56), passed on a 9‑0 roll call after council members amended the bill to replace the words “grantees” and “grants” with “awardees” and “awards” to reflect the city’s current contracting practice.

The change, Councilman Bobby Wilson said during debate, aligns the ordinance with how the city now executes agreements. The amendment was adopted before final passage.

Why it matters: Council members and dozens of community speakers said the fund supports community-based violence‑prevention services, after‑school programming and other interventions they say reduce shootings and homicides. Several residents and service providers urged the council not to reduce the fund’s overall support but to add accountability measures to ensure programs produce results.

Public testimony: Multiple speakers at the public-comment period urged council to retain and strengthen the fund. Brandon Davis of Lawrenceville said, “I am here to once again support the Stop the Violence Fund.” Amara Iheme, a recent University of Pittsburgh graduate, called gun violence “a public health crisis” and urged urgency and investment in youth programs. Reverend Robert Tedder of Project Destiny described his agency’s operations, saying, “Our agency... serves 50 youth every school day” and urged funding for evaluation and professional development so service providers can demonstrate effectiveness.

Several commenters also criticized the council’s security response during a recent meeting, arguing that the presence of multiple officers and decisions by the sergeant at arms created optics of mistrust; other speakers said the security actions were a procedural staffing call. Those criticisms informed part of the council debate but did not alter the final vote on the ordinance.

Council debate and accountability provisions: Councilwoman Theresa Warwick defended the fund’s outcomes, citing council materials showing a drop in shootings since the program’s inception, and pressed for continued tracking of every shooting and its response. Councilwoman Barbara Smith pushed for stronger performance and reporting standards, saying, “I want to make sure that there’s real results because our kids depend on us being the adults in the room and making sure we’re yielding results for them.”

Councilwoman Gross clarified how one funding cap in the bill operates, noting that the provision that references a 40% cap applies to a subset of administrative allocations and described the maximum as $2,000,000 under the bill’s language rather than 40% of the entire fund.

Formal action: The ordinance was read by title, amended to change grant terminology to awards, and passed on final reading by a recorded vote of 9 ayes, 0 noes. The council president said subsequent conversations will determine how to spend down the fund and what additional accountability or allocation changes — if any — are necessary.

Ending: Council members said they expected further public conversation and amendments as they move from codifying guardrails toward deciding specific award allocations and programmatic priorities for the fund.