The Backpack Project was established in 2007 by the ACBA Public Service Committee as a means to provide school supplies and backpacks to students at schools in low-income areas of Pittsburgh. The project has been very successful over the years with volunteers gathering to pack backpacks with school supplies, which are purchased through the generous donations of individual and firm donors.
The Backpack Project provided supplies to students at schools including Vann Elementary School in the Hill District and Grandview Elementary School in the Allentown section of Pittsburgh. In 2010, the Project partnered with Storehouse for Teachers and was able to provide more than 1,000 backpacks to students at the following schools: Pittsburgh Schaeffer Primary School, St. Benedict the Moor Catholic School, Cardinal Wright Regional School, Urban League Charter School, Pittsburgh Faison Pre-K/8 School, and Manchester Academic Charter School, Pittsburgh Northview K-5 School, The Homeless Children's Education Fund, The Neighborhood Academy K-12, and Sto-Rox Elementary School.
In 2011 and 2012 the Backpack Project partnered with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Dozens of volunteer attorneys distributed 1,500 backpacks directly to in-need families and children at the food bank’s “Produce to People” locations in Sto-Rox, Braddock, Homewood, North Side, McKeesport, Duquesne, and the South Side.