Now in its 41st year as a humanitarian aid agency in the Monongahela Valley, Heritage Community Initiatives has become a victim of its own success.
The Heritage Foundation, which operates out of a former Mellon Bank building in Braddock, runs transportation, nutrition and early childhood education programs. Driven by demand during the pandemic, the food program has expanded to more than 200,000 meals a year and doubled its budget to $6.2 million annually over the past two years.
As a result, President and CEO Paula McWilliams said Tuesday that the agency has begun an effort to raise more than $3 million over the next 18 months to renovate the nearby Couder Building it already owns. The goal is to put the agency's offices on the first floor of the former Italian joint and a commercial kitchen in the basement to prepare meals for nutrition programs.
Heritage currently operates out of a kitchen in the Woodland Hills School District administration office in nearby North Braddock, and over the past year the program has grown from about 170,000 homemade, non-prepared meals to more than 200,000.
“The kitchen is getting cramped,” McWilliams said in an interview during Heritage Transit's 25th anniversary celebration in Couderville. The agency is preparing blueprints and expects to complete the renovations in about 18 months.
“A lot of the prep work has already been done,” McWilliams said. “It's just a matter of fundraising. The longer it takes to move, the longer it will take to get more meals to people in need.”
The agency has owned the building for about 20 years, with previous plans to build an upscale restaurant, coffee shop and popcorn stand that never came to fruition.
The transportation program operates four vans to provide transportation to residents of 41 communities six days a week on four fixed routes. On July 1, the agency expanded its services through a new provider and operates as the only state-funded transportation program run by a humanitarian program. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-Swissvale) called it a “model for everyone to see.”
Currently, about 67% of Heritage's riders use Heritage to connect to a system operated by the Pittsburgh Regional Transit Authority. PRT plans to begin operating a microtransit line similar to Heritage, but McWilliams said the two companies could continue to work together.
“It's our greatest hope that we can work together to provide these services,” McWilliams said. “The only way we're going to have a vibrant transportation system is by working together.”
Ed covers traffic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and is on strike. E-mail him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.
