Contact: Emilia.Rowland@mail.house.gov

 Rep. Lee Secures $2 Million from Infrastructure Law to Link East Liberty Business District with Bakery Square along with Senators Casey, Fetterman 

This funding is the second ‘Reconnecting Communities’ grant the Congresswoman has delivered for PA-12 following Lee and Casey’s $1.4 million investment to reconnect Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhoods last year 

PITTSBURGH, PA — TODAY, Congresswoman Summer Lee (PA-12), Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) announced a $2 million Connecting Communities Pilot Program (RCP) event for the Allegheny County Industrial Development Authority’s Penn Avenue Cap Connector Project. The grant from the US Department of Transportation   will connect economically disadvantaged communities to transit, grocery stores, and jobs by linking the East Liberty Business District with Bakery Square. 

“I’m proud to announce our second Reconnecting Communities Pilot Grant – this time $2M for the Penn Avenue Cap Connector Project to connect families and small businesses in bakery square with the grocery stores, transit, and jobs in the East Liberty Business district” said Rep. Summer Lee. “By working with the Biden administration to build on the  $1.4 million investment Sen. Casey and I delivered one year ago to reconnect Pittsburgh’s North Side and Chateau neighborhoods, we’re righting the wrongs of economic redlining that has forced Black, brown, working class and poor folks to live in food, hospital, and transportation deserts. I will continue fighting to make sure all of our families can stay in the communities they call home with access to all the resources and infrastructure necessary to thrive.”

Background

• This is the second Reconnecting Communities Pilot Grant that Lee has worked with President Biden’s Department of Transportation to deliver for Western PA. Last March, . RLee worked with Senator Casey to deliver a $1.4 million grant for Pittsburgh and Manchester Citizens Corporation to reconnect Pittsburgh’s North Side and Chateau neighborhoods currently separated by the Route 65 wall during the first round of grants for this pilot program. Watch Lee’s press conference with Senator Casey and Pittsburgh Officials highlighting the impact of the $1.4 million grant here. 

• In January, Rep. Lee hosted Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to announce the $142 million investment to fix to the I-376 Eastern Parkway, where she made the case for additional investments in Western Pennsylvania to build improvements to Pittsburgh International Airport and continue investing in our transportation needs, including through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program. “We wouldn’t be here today without the work of this delegation,” said Secretary Buttigieg during his visit to Pittsburgh.
• Since coming to Congress, Lee has worked tirelessly advocating for Western PA to receive as much funding as possible through implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which established the Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) grant program, the first-ever federal program dedicated to reconnecting communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities by transportation infrastructure by providing funding that supports planning and capital construction grants to restore community connectivity through the removal, retrofit, mitigation, or replacement of eligible transportation infrastructure facilities.

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Since taking office in January, Lee, who serves on the House Oversight Committee and Space, Science and Technology Committee, has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $1 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $200 million for infrastructure, over $50 million for affordable transit, and over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs.  Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 1,600 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.

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