Federal funding will be used to support health care, education and housing
Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) is announcing the inclusion of community project funding for 21 projects around Southeastern Pennsylvania in the Senate Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Appropriations bills. Senator Casey advocated for each of the projects to be included in the appropriations subcommittee bills. FY2022 marked the first time in a decade that Congress sent federal dollars directly to community projects across the Nation.
“I am proud to advance this vital funding for projects that will lift up communities across Pennsylvania. From significant investment for the many esteemed colleges and universities across the region to funding to improve health care—including support for seniors and people with disabilities—these community projects reflect the promise of Southeastern Pennsylvania,” said Senator Casey. “As the Senate advances these spending bills, I will fight to ensure the federal government invests in our Commonwealth.”
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee released the 12 subcommittee bills today. The bills will have to be passed in the Senate and then will enter a period of review with appropriations bills from the House of Representatives. Once both the Senate and House agree to legislative text, they will be sent to the President for his signature and enactment into law.
| Recipient | Funding Amount | Project | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abilities in Motion | $20,000 | This funding will support disability/sensitivity training for all first responders in Berks County. This training will provide local first responders with first-hand appropriate education with regards to what it means to be a person with a disability, how first responders can become more adept at the appropriate language with regards to speaking with individuals with many different disabilities ranging from autism, behavioral health, intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities. | Berks |
| Bucks County Community College | $582,000 | This project will support Bucks County Community College in Newtown as they update the technology that that allows them to serve students and provide internet connectivity for all functions of the institution. | Bucks |
| Avondale Borough | $150,000 | The funding will be used to rehabilitate Avondale Borough’s parks and playgrounds to make them accessible to all residents, including those with disabilities. Currently, no parks in Avondale Borough have accessibility accommodations and the funding will be used to add accessible parking and inclusive playground equipment. | Chester |
| West Chester University | $716,000 | This project will provide funding to West Chester University for the purchase of equipment for students to use for experiments and research, a school bus to serve as a mobile STEM lab and funds to support student researchers and mentors in their research. The project is part of West Chester University's "I Want to STEM!" Initiative, which is designed to guide low-income and minority students from elementary school to a bachelor's degree in STEM by establishing a chain of mentorship between K-12 students, undergraduates, and faculty. | Chester |
| Widener University | $115,000 | This project will expand and upgrade facilities and equipment for physical, speech, and occupational therapy as well as physician assistant services and community rehabilitation at the Chester Community Clinic, operated by Widener University. The Clinic provides pro bono care to underserved residents of Delaware County while serving as a training program for the next generation of health care workers. | Delaware |
| County of Delaware | $954,000 | This project will launch the Delaware County Perinatal Community Health Worker/Doula Pilot Program in Media, a workforce development program that prepares participants to work as Perinatal Community Health Care Workers (PCHW) or doulas. This program would aim to reduce racial and economic disparities in maternal care through its educational component and through targeted training and deployment of doulas in communities that are experiencing the highest disparities in maternal/childcare and birth outcomes. | Delaware |
| Allentown Housing Authority | $2,000,000 | The project will provide 50 new high-quality affordable housing units to the local community in Allentown, Pennsylvania. This will be part of the 100-unit redevelopment of the existing Little Lehigh public housing complex. | Lehigh |
| County of Lehigh | $525,000 | This project will support the construction of a new wing of the Cedarbrook Senior Care & Rehab in Allentown, a county-run nursing home that primarily serves seniors on Medicaid. This new wing will enable the facility to reduce room occupancy and add private bathrooms to each room. This project will allow low-income seniors to age in dignity and greater comfort. | Lehigh |
| Jewish Family Services of the Lehigh Valley | $115,000 | The project will address barriers of systemic social exclusion of adults with disabilities through a program focused on in-person and weekly events to enhance participants quality of life. | Lehigh |
| The Lincoln Center for Family and Youth | $32,000 | Through the proposed project, The Lincoln Center for Family and Youth (TLC) will partner with Trellis for Tomorrow to develop a school garden and with it, a site for educational programming to provide valuable STEM learning, career readiness skills, collaboration and leadership experiences, and a host of other benefits for at-risk students experiencing significant academic and behavioral challenges. | Montgomery |
| Historic Bethlehem Museum | $500,000 | This project will support the restoration of the Colonial Industrial Quarter, part of Historic Moravian Bethlehem National Historic Landmark District and home to the 1762 Waterworks, an individually listed National Historic Landmark. | Northampton |
| Community Ventures, Inc. | $1,431,000 | This funding will support the installation of an exterior ramp and interior elevator at the library to make the building more accessible to Cobbs Creek residents with disabilities, as well as physical amenities on library grounds to facilitate additional community activities. | Philadelphia |
| Nueva Esperanza, Inc. | $550,000 | This funding will support the demolishing and remediation of an industrial chemical processing facility in the heart of North Philadelphia. The removal of this blighted structure will benefit the health and safety of the surrounding community and provide opportunities to redevelop the site. | Philadelphia |
| Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Inc. | $1,000,000 | This project will construct a 10,000 square-foot mussel hatchery facility along the tidal Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, PA. Once hatched, the mussels will be deployed across the Delaware Estuary to enhance water quality, improve habitat resilience and prevent soil erosion. | Philadelphia |
| Temple University Hospital | $1,000,000 | This project will cover a portion of the equipment costs associated with Temple University Health System's (TUHS) new hospital for women and infants. The TUHS specialty campus will offer women and families a safe, welcoming environment and the highest quality care, regardless of social and economic circumstances. | Philadelphia |
| Philabundance | $300,000 | This project will provide additional supports and scale Philabundance Community Kitchen’s workforce development program which provides free, high-quality culinary job training to low- and no-income adults with limited work experience and significant personal challenges, including a history of unemployment, mental illness, or incarceration. | Philadelphia |
| Community College of Philadelphia | $750,000 | This project will support the College’s educational programming in the life sciences, particularly technical and subject matter capacity, development and design of curriculum and training for an aseptic technician program, as well as other supports necessary to launch a pilot training program with key employers who have a strong need for a diverse workforce in these positions. | Philadelphia |
| Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation | $607,000 | This project will provide funding for the Corridor Revitalization Initiative in Philadelphia’s Chinatown Commercial District. The Corridor Revitalization Initiative is a COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery initiative focused on creating a space to provide small businesses with culturally-competent and in-language support around capital access, increasing operating efficiency, sales revenue, financial issues and access to business consultants. | Philadelphia |
| The Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) | $83,000 | This project will support the HAP Embedded Legal Professional (H.E.L.P.) pilot program to provide legal services to individuals returning from incarceration. | Philadelphia |
| Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates | $250,000 | This funding will allow Philadelphia Mural Arts to broaden its reentry programs’ reach, deepen impact, and achieve a new scale by increasing the number of participants in the Guild and Women’s Guild, supporting them with additional mentoring and social work staff, and leveraging local partnerships to increase members’ long-term success and reduce violence in their communities. | Philadelphia |
| Philadelphia Office of Domestic Violence Strategies | $300,000 | This project will provide no-cost supervised child visitation program for underserved families in Philadelphia. | Philadelphia |
