TITLE
Motion expressing the sense of Allegheny County Council, callingon the Administration, specifically the Allegheny County Health Department, to explore all possible avenues to re-open the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants, and Children (WIC) site in McKees Rocks in order to serve the program participants there and to prevent the loss of any other participants in the program; and, further, requesting that the Allegheny County Health Department report back to this Council by September 1, 2005 as to the results of any conclusions, investigations, or results of looking into reopening the WIC Office in McKees Rocks.
BODY
WHEREAS, the Federal government sponsors the WIC program, run by the Allegheny County Health Department, to provide infant formula, high-nutrient foods, nutrition and breast feeding education, fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets and medical testing and referrals for low-income pregnant and new moms and infants and children up to 5 years old so that they can have a healthy start at life; and
WHEREAS, for over a decade, the County Health Department operated a WIC center in McKees Rocks, located in the basement of the community program Focus on Renewal (F.O.R.), and served approximately one thousand three hundred (1300) families, and
WHEREAS, in September of 2004, McKees Rocks and other areas of Allegheny County were hit by flooding which caused widespread damage, including flooding at the basement of the F.O.R. building; and
WHEREAS, in addition to the loss of computers, equipment and property at the McKees Rocks WIC office due to the flooding, federal cutbacks in the WIC program caused the Allegheny County Health Department to review its budget allocations in the WIC program, and the decision was made to shut down the WIC center located in the McKees Rocks F.O.R, and offer those participants to apply for benefits at one of two alternative sites, in Carnegie or Pittsburgh; and
WHEREAS, although the Allegheny County Health Department has offered those displaced participants alternative WIC sites to apply for benefits, the unfortunate effect has been that some participants have stopped receiving assistance because of the difficulty in getting to the two sites offered as alternatives to the McKees Rocks site; and
WHEREAS, in response to the closing of the McKees Rocks WIC office, the Director of the Focus on Renewal Program has offered the County space in the program's building once it is reopened at no cost because of his belief in the need to have a WIC site in McKees Rocks; and
WHEREAS, the Allegheny County Health Department has expressed interest in reopening the site if it could obtain rent-free space, while protecting its property and office equipment; and
WHEREAS, this Council and the Health Department recognizes that it has a responsibility to protect and help those who are least able to help themselves, something that the McKees Rocks WIC site was clearly providing;
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED, AND IT IS THE SENSE OF THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, that the Administration, specifically the Allegheny County Health Department, should explore all possible avenues and use all practical means to re-open the Woman, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program site in McKees Rocks in order to serve the program participants there and to prevent the loss of any other participants in the program; and, further, requesting that the Allegheny County Health Department report back to this Council by September 1, 2005 as to the results of any conclusions, investigations, or results of looking into reopening the WIC Office in McKees Rocks.