This is a community conversation.

2025 Year in Review.

Coming to you from the Universe Public Media Center in Bethlehem, PA.

Here's your host, Brittany Sweeney.

Good evening, and welcome to a special year end edition of A Community Conversation presented by PBS.

39 radio, 91.3 FM and Lehigh Valley News.com.

Tonight, we reflect on nine important episodes that aired throughout 2025, stories that shaped the Lehigh Valley and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, from the state of our schools to our health care system, to the future of public media and the nonprofits that support our most vulnerable neighbors.

We covered a lot this year.

Let's take a look back at some of the moments, voices and ideas that define 2025.

We begin with immigration, one of the most urgent and emotional topics of 2025.

Since taking office in January, President Trump put the fight for tighter immigration regulations at the top of his to do list.

Headlines surrounding Ice raids and undocumented immigrants have dominated news cycles all year.

We look back now at the conversation we had with local lawyers and advocates to understand the topic.

According to US law, being in the country without authorization is a civil violation.

But those who enter without permission can face criminal charges.

And there are pathways for people to come to the country legally.

To break that down and to take a closer look at immigration law.

We are joined now by attorney Ray LaHood from LaHood law Group and Allentown Muhlenberg College.

Spanish Professor Erika Southerland, who is part of the organization Grupo de Apollo, an immigrant support group.

And attorney Mike Rennison from Lehigh Immigration in Bethlehem.

Thank you all so much for joining us.

Thanks for having us.

Mike, let's start with you.

We just kind of broke it down there.

It's a civil offense to be here, undocumented, but there are some lines there that you can cross into the criminal territory.

So is it legal to be here undocumented or illegal?

Well, I think the term legal and illegal are sort of misused because to be here without lawful status doesn't mean that you're a criminal.

I mean, you're basically here without a fulfilling a civil immigration law, but that doesn't necessarily imply that you're a criminal.

And I think there's been a lot of blurring lines, especially lately with politics, where people are basically saying, if you're here without lawful status, you're a criminal.

And I think that's a gross, obviously a gross over characterization.

I mean, millions of people are not criminals.

They're not actively committing crimes.

So I think that's a very scary thing to hear people in positions of power say.

Erika, you're working with a lot of these people.

Where is that line?

Are you hearing people say, as we just heard Maribel say, that she is worried that people think they're criminals.

Are you hearing that from the folks that you work with?

Absolutely.

There's a lot of fear in the community, a tremendous amount of fear.

And I actually have to second what Mike has said about just that whole notion of illegality.

And particularly with the new administration coming in.

They're changing the rules, are changing the definitions, and now everyone who's not a legal permanent resident, almost by default is being called a criminal, which doesn't make sense at all.

There's a huge spectrum of legality or lawful presence.

If you are in status, for example, applying for, domestic violence humanitarian visa.

Well, these things don't happen overnight, but until you get that visa approved, at this point, you're considered illegal when actually you're in the process of applying for something.

Political asylum is, again, that's a process that can take a very long time.

And while you're in process, you used to be considered an immigrant, someone who is there in status but not a permanent status.

And that whole notion of a permanent and permanent status.

There's also the notion of, how you come into the country in the first place.

If you come in with inspection, passing through immigration, you are in a different category than if you come without inspection here in the Lehigh Valley, the vast majority of the immigrant community, be it documented or undocumented, came in on an airplane, came in with a visa.

And so those who have fallen out of status overstayed the visa for whatever reason or in whatever way.

And I think that, again, is something that's important to understand.

If you came in with a visa.

It's actually much easier to adjust your status given certain supports and certain, conditions.

What we are hearing in the community is people are saying, well, what am I?

I'm waiting for this.

I've been waiting patiently.

I've been doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

And yet now I'm being called a criminal.

People are panicking.

I'm sure we're going to get more into that.

But, Ray, as we were going down some of the numbers earlier in the program, you said those numbers seem drastically low.

So what are some of the estimations of undocumented people here in the Lehigh Valley versus the state?

I do want to kind of just just touch base on on what was said here.

I mean, there is, I believe, an agreement among immigration practitioners and judges and like that, those that are in a process or in proceedings are, you know, seeking, protection at the Violence Against Women Act or political asylum or going through a process.

I mean, there's still, you know, what they have been defined as in the past has hasn't changed.

Maybe culture has changed it and call them, you know, criminals or the like.

So that's still there.

There's still that level of protection there while they go through that process.

The rhetoric doesn't match that.

Well.

The public rhetoric isn't the law, though, and that's that's just the fact of the matter.

You know, and another and one more thing, if I could too, is, you know, the fact that the crossing of the border crossing, the physical crossing of the border, I'm not trying devil's advocate, but the physical crossing of the border if seen by a Customs and Border Protection agent and they can identify and it was seen that it actually is considered a crime.

So so, you know, it's and I'm not saying it should be I'm not saying it is, but but there is a there is a it's considered a federal crime.

But to prove that you've violated that, you would have literally have the person from CBP seeing you, watching you walking across the border.

So in essence.

They are they're going back to that.

Living in a standard dorm room.

I am a first generation student on a typical U.S.

college.

I am studying international studies.

Marbella Ramos is in her second semester at a Lehigh Valley school.

Here I am just like trying to accomplish my goals and make my parents proud.

During the summer, I worked almost like 50 to 60 hours per week so I could earn some money and saved all that money for, for college.

The 18 year old is tackling her full time course load and earning money to put herself through school, but her stress goes beyond that of a typical college student.

My parents are undocumented.

My dad is from Guatemala and my mom is from Honduras.

Tell me about your parents.

So my parents immigrated here like almost two decades ago.

Did they say it was dangerous or.

They don't really talk about it.

They have told me many stories about it.

They have told me that even like the toughest guys, the toughest looking guys even cry during the process.

It was only two weeks, but for them, it's like really an eternity because there was no food, no water.

Her parents could face deportation at any moment.

The freshman was born in the United States, granting her birthright citizenship, which is at risk due to an executive order signed by President Trump.

Honestly, we can't do anything about it for now.

So I'm just, like, working hard as a college student.

And when I turn 21, I really hope to sponsor them because definitely, they have worked hard.

My dad is working a lot of overtime right now, so it's like he's working like almost 12 hours per day.

And even some days he loves working so much because he says, if I'm not working, then there's no support in this house.

So that's his mentality.

Yeah.

Her father is a coal miner in northeastern Pennsylvania and has been for more than a decade.

While her mother stays home looking after Marbella 16 year old sister.

She says they fled their countries out of fear.

There's a lot of danger.

All these gangs and all of that manipulate the president.

And it's just so many corruption.

Like we cannot solve anything.

People are fear from the gangs because they kill.

They do like so many stuff and torture the people.

Now, after more than 20 years in this country, her family fears being separated under the latest immigration crackdowns.

I don't want people to think that we're criminals.

We just want better lives here.

So, yeah.

With more than two years until she turns 21, the college student says she's feeling the pressure of paying for college.

Earning a degree and worrying about her parents safety.

I hope everything goes well, even though, we're going through right now with all this immigration stuff.

But I hope that everything goes well.

I just really hope they're my parents soon.

In the meantime, she says she plans to continue saving for school and preparing for the day that she can legally fight for her family.

We're a community, and we really hope that even though we're like in this process, we just hope that something so there could be some change in like the policies and things like that because, definitely we're not criminals at all.

We just want a better life and we just want to work hard towards our goals and just be happy as everyone else.

During that community conversation, immigration close to home, we also spoke to area superintendents about how students are being impacted by the immigration crackdown in schools.

The full episode can be streamed on YouTube.

Backslash PBS 39.

And speaking of schools, another topic that seemed to be talked about throughout the year is the education system.

As parents, teachers and lawmakers debated funding, access and the future of post-pandemic learning.

Our show dedicated an entire episode to understanding our education system and the impact made over the past year through government changes.

I will open the conversation up here with our superintendents.

What are you seeing first hand?

We're in the first month or so of school starting.

What are you seeing firsthand in your districts as it pertains to the dismantling of the Department of Education?

Jack, if you'd like to start.

A lot of uncertainty.

We know that we've over the summer, we've developed the academic programs, hired the staff with the anticipation that the funding streams that contribute to a school district budget would be there.

With, over the summer, when we saw some federal clawbacks, we saw some conditional funding.

And in addition to the states, budgets being uncertain, it sort of holds us in place.

So, that uncertainty does, that does cause delay.

It does cause reduced opportunities for students as we hedge our bets in an uncertain future.

What are some of those programs?

What are some examples of those programs that are federally federally funded that may go away if those funds aren't there?

Perfect example will be title three, which generally serves students who are English language learners in Bethlehem.

That's over 1200 students and the support of them and their families requires language services, language guides, certain assistive technologies or and curricular materials.

Professional training of both English language teachers and regular ed teachers.

That's all up in the air right now.

So the students still have the needs.

They still have language learning needs, but our ability to forecast where we're going to be able to afford those supports is still uncertain.

Tracie, are you feeling that uncertainty as well in Easton?

Yeah, I absolutely agree.

You know, right now our kids are in school and learning and doing very well.

Our schools are quiet and productive, but behind the scenes we are looking every day at what programs can we afford?

How many teachers can we afford to keep on?

What support systems can we afford to keep on?

You know, as was mentioned earlier, Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown, like, are all very diverse communities with, you know, we're about 47 different languages spoken there.

And so when you talk about multilingual or ESL education, it's not just about our Hispanic population, which is by far our largest population of non-English speakers.

But, you know, to program for them appropriately at the various levels that they come into our school system is a challenge.

Not knowing what our funding will be for that and then how to reprioritizing the the funding that we do have so that we are not leaving students behind based on any demographic that they may, experience.

Sure.

And and I'm going to bring you into this.

How might all of this, the, lack of federal oversight on education?

What might that do?

Or how might that impact teachers across the state?

Well, it's just it's a really scary situation because this is a plan that was not well thought out quickly enacted to try that way it can be quickly.

They could quickly dismantle the Department of Education.

And then unfortunately, what we're going to see is a lot of uncertainty is the $1.6 billion that Pennsylvania sees annually.

Is that money going to be coming to Pennsylvania?

And obviously, you know, this is money that, as we've heard earlier, goes for special education.

We have so many students in Pennsylvania.

It's all gone up, you know, 5% from 15% to 20% in the last, a little bit more than a decade who received special ed services in Pennsylvania.

And, you know, we need to be providing them with as many services as possible.

But without that 1.6 billion.

What's going to happen?

We've heard about the title services.

These are affecting our communities that have high poverty.

And of course, we need to be investing more money into these communities that have high poverty.

So there's a lot of uncertainty.

And unfortunately, it's our kids that are going to be losing out in the end.

We're going to have higher class sizes, and that's just not something that our kids deserve.

Our kids deserve all the resources they can possibly get.

What are you hearing from teachers that they're worried?

Well, I was hearing it earlier in the calendar year that this was they'll they read the playbook.

They knew what was coming.

This is something that the administration told everybody was going to happen.

And sure enough, the dismantling has begun.

And we have educators from every corner of the state.

We have support staff from every corner of the state.

They're really worried what's going to happen, what's going to happen to our students?

They're the ones that we care about so much, and we want to make sure that they have every opportunity.

It feels like we're packing them up and putting them on the curb.

It feels like we're kicking them out.

That's a really hard pill to swallow.

Their children.

So, yeah, we have.

To hear have a safe, loving environment.

I try to.

That supports educational growth.

So what's your colors for big.

That red, red and yellow.

Oh, so many.

That's what parents look for in their child care provider.

And when she started coming here, I've noticed, like, a change in her speech.

And although Ashley Barker is juggling parenting and earning a degree, she knows what comes first.

My daughter is just the most brightest, energetic, smartest little girl.

The White home mom just completed the diagnostic medical sonography program at Northampton Community College.

And is taking classes to learn more about health care administration.

She says the last two years of school were possible because she had reliable child care for her four year old Shiloh, at the Friedman Hall family Children's Center.

The facility not only offers full time child care services, but serves as a classroom for early education students on Pnc's main campus in Bethlehem.

There were times where I had classes from ten, 2 to 3.

Like, what would I have done?

I don't have family that live close.

Most of my family actually live far away.

So it was just nice to have that option up to this point.

The cost of Barker's child care has been covered by a grant.

Are Pell Grant recipients on any of our campuses are able to obtain, child care grant, in order to continue their studies and have their children here at one of our childcare facilities.

But that free care is quickly coming to an end.

We are looking at multiple families that by September 30th, that will be their last day.

Wait for your work to be low.

Being that it's been taken away at the end of the month, it also has me like in a sort of like in a panic, because this is very abrupt for to be taken away.

We've been really fortunate over the last 20 years to hold this funding and to work in conjunction with the Department of Education to provide this for families.

And it's built up to be about 25% of our families combined on both our Pocono campus and our main campus, who have received this funding.

Nicole Rooney says the main campus has about 80 children enrolled in the program just as the semester started.

The announcement came that federal childcare grants for Pell Grant recipients will end to have to go to them.

As a parent myself, have to go to them and say, hey, I know that you're trying.

We know here that you're trying so hard and this is it.

And we're going to try we're going to figure it out.

But we don't have a definitive answer for you.

And.

We've got to take it one step at a time.

And it's a lot of uncertainty.

It's hard.

It's really devastating.

I'm so sorry.

It was incredibly devastating.

The loss of funding creates barriers for students that Rooney says could lead to dropped classes or the inability to work.

Just as some of these parents, they're they're here because they escaped such horrible.

Past lives.

I'll call them.

You know, some of them are even here from other countries.

And this is their their start.

And they have children and telling their truly, truly trying to make better lives for their children.

And every time they take a step forward, lately, it feels like two steps back.

So she says the college is working with community funders to provide temporary support.

We are trying our hardest to rally the community as quickly as possible.

We are trying to get our lawmakers and our representatives to pay attention.

We don't we don't need them to pay attention.

A year from now, we need them to pay attention.

Right now, the facility, which is already offering under the market childcare rates, serves as a critical, safe space for both children and parents, many of whom face additional challenges like food insecurity and housing issues.

It made me very sad.

I actually was very emotional when Nicole told me that because I just thought about like, what if I am going?

Is what if I was starting the program now and and I find out that, oh, the grant is being taken away.

I wouldn't know what to do.

I would probably have to pull back on my education because I won't have any any takers that I won't be able to afford it.

That episode, The Changing Landscape of Education, captured what educators were feeling uncertainty, frustration, but also hope.

Our guests emphasized that even in a challenging year, teachers and administrators continued to adapt in extraordinary ways.

Next, we shift our focus to health and specifically the findings of the 2025 Pennsylvania Health Survey.

It was conducted by the Muhlenberg College Public Health Program and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.

Researchers interviewed Pennsylvanians this past spring on everything from health care access to immunizations, mental health, and the political landscape.

For that, we sat down with Christopher Borick, a professor of political science and the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.

We've been doing this survey now since 2013.

It's part of our ongoing outreach in Pennsylvania to study issues.

We do it with our public health program at Muhlenberg.

And every year we go out and interview Pennsylvanians across the Commonwealth, regarding these issues.

It's largely by cell phone.

So we have conversations, interviews with these, Pennsylvanians.

And we ask them an array of questions.

Some of the questions we ask every single year, we repeat them to see how things might be changing among Pennsylvania residents.

Other questions are timely that we add based on what's going on in the world.

What kind of health issues are playing out, what kind of topics are key.

And so this year, we once again, without this spring, talk to over 500 Pennsylvanians, and got some really interesting findings on, on issues that we think are salient for, for the state.

Sure.

What are some of the key findings that really stuck out to you as different than years past?

Well, we asked questions on broad health topics.

For example, how are people feeling about health care in the state?

How are they feeling about their own personal health, their mental well-being?

And we did see this year a little bit of a downward trend in how people evaluate both the overall health care that they receive, and their overall health.

And that's an interesting shift.

You know, it's not dramatic.

I think most Pennsylvanians still think they get good health care.

Most Pennsylvanians still rate their overall health and mental health pretty positively.

But compared to last year, in the last few years, we've seen a bit of a step back in terms of those overall evaluations of individual health and health care.

Sure.

And one of the key findings in that that point was the cost of health care.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So one of my favorite questions that we ask every year is an open ended question.

What do Pennsylvanians think are the biggest issues facing health and health care in the Commonwealth?

And this year, when people, in their own words, told interviewers the most common things are cost and access.

These, in the area of health policy have always been challenges.

Can you get access to health care?

How much and how affordable is that care?

And when individuals in the state were telling interviewers what they thought was the biggest challenge, those words came over time and time again.

Access, affordability.

The results were clear Pennsylvanians remain deeply concerned about access, affordability and mental health supports.

And as we learned from our guest, public health and public policy are tightly intertwined.

To read more about the 2025 Pennsylvania Health Survey, visit Lehigh Valley news.com.

Continuing on the topic of health, the community conversation that received the most engagement from our in studio audience and on YouTube live was won on the stage of a woman's life that doesn't always get talked about menopause.

We welcomed a group of women into the studio to discuss what others need to know about navigating this often taboo topic.

Here's a snippet of the conversation with some of our audience members.

Education for women is absolutely severely lacking.

No doubt about that.

Since menopause affects people in a woman's life, spouse and kids, what kinds of education is needed for them to help support her?

And seeing how difficult or difficult it is to even get women educated on this.

Educating the family may be even more of an uphill struggle.

Is there any work being done to help educate those in the women's circle?

I mean, I think it's a great question and I think, sometimes a forgotten piece of this story.

And I do think that, you know, just to be open and transparent about sort of the biology and the physiology and that this, you know, especially, I think some of the mood issues when can sometimes come out at home or, you know, sleeping issues.

I think just to sort of call it what it is.

And for the, the folks in the family to be aware of what's happening and supportive, you know, of the of the woman both getting information, getting therapy, getting support as they, you know, trans, transition in this process.

Sure.

Shonda, what do you tell families, you know, husbands or significant others of people who are going through this?

Yeah, I appreciate the question.

Appreciate it.

Having a man in the audience.

I say approach it with compassion, curiosity and a little bit of caution.

So just to be aware of that.

But, you know, show them that you're, you're want to be supportive.

Ask the questions and say, you know, is it okay if I share what I'm noticing, if she's not quite aware of what's going on yet and the partner is more so, sometimes they notice before we notice what's going on in the changes.

So, but delicately and know that you were on the same team.

This is not about fixing you.

There's nothing wrong with you.

I really want to support you in getting the treatment that you deserve.

Doctor Friel, I want to get back to the basics of menopause and why this happens.

Why are we feeling some of those symptoms, like night sweats or getting really hot or, you know, the brain fog, as everybody describes it?

Why do these happen?

So, you know, what's happening physiologically, essentially, is that the ovary, you know, prior to menopause, does this beautiful dance of hormonal production with a combination of estrogen and progesterone.

And we have estrogen receptors all over our body.

And once we go through menopause and we no longer have our period, the ovary essentially really diminishes its production of estrogen.

And it's really the lack of estrogen in our bodies that's causing these symptoms.

And, you know, it's it's interesting because the other thing to remember is part of the menopause.

Process is also the aging process.

And sometimes it can be hard to figure out what's actually being caused by low estrogen levels versus what's being caused by getting older.

And maybe it's a combination of both.

Sure.

And so how does this stage of life impact a woman's overall health moving forward as she does age?

You know, menopause and aging go hand in hand, especially when it comes to bone density or heart disease.

How does that all play in?

Yeah.

So I think there are a couple of things to think about and how I really try to approach this with patients is I don't like the word menopause because it sort of sounds like we're stopping.

But I do like the idea of pausing and really taking, account of what you're feeling in the moment as far as the menopause transition and how that can be managed.

But then thinking about long term and what can I do to think about my health?

20, 30, 40 years down the road?

I also don't like the term anti-aging, but I really like the term anti frailty.

And that speaks to what can I do now to help my bones 40 years from now?

What can I do now to help my heart 40 years ago, 40 years from now, as well as my brain.

Some of that is hormone dependent and some of it is lifestyle, which is, I think, so important.

And if the menopause transition can be like a wake up call for women to say, oh my gosh, I see my body is changing, let me figure out how to manage my symptoms now, but let me get educated and think about how I can prepare for the future in the long run.

And some of that might be hormonal, you know, management, but it's a lot of other things, too.

Sure.

So this is a marathon here, not a it's a marathon.

Absolutely.

That was Doctor Christine Friel, an obstetrician gynecologist from Lehigh Valley Health Network, along with menopause mentor and psychotherapist Shauna morales, joining us for that conversation.

That show also includes menopause stories from women of varying backgrounds, and can be found on the Community Conversations section of the PBS 39 YouTube page.

Now we move on to our most viewed episode of 2025, which explored the future of local journalism and public broadcasting.

The financial foundation of public media nationwide and across Pennsylvania came under attack as a $9.4 billion Rescissions package was approved, clawing back approximately $1.1 billion in previously approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB.

The funding stream that supports NPR, PBS, and over 1500 local stations.

Our episode, broadcast in the Balance, featured an interview with National Public Radio CEO Catherine Ma as we asked what happens to democracy when trusted local news disappears?

Catherine, let's start with the big picture.

How significant is CPB funding to NPR and the public radio ecosystem across the country?

How does it all work?

Well, it is a little complicated to do.

Please bear with me.

But the critical thing to know is that APB funding is most essential for local public stations, whether television or radio.

70% of funding goes directly to local stations.

At an organization like NPR, we represent less than 2% of funding allocated for radio.

So really this impact is direct to your local station.

It is direct to the broadcasting, the reporting that happens, the support for cultural programing.

And that's the sort of thing that we want our lawmakers to understand, is that this will directly impact their communities, it will directly impact jobs, and it will directly impact the ability of their constituents to know what's going on around them.

And so, Catherine, what would immediate or long term cuts to CPB funding mean for local NPR member stations, particularly in those rural or underserved areas, especially some areas here in Pennsylvania?

Yeah, I mean, I think that the most immediate impact would be to rural communities, communities where local media as a whole has really diminished over the course of the last two decades.

We've seen so many newspapers across the country go out of business.

We recognize that 1 in 5 Americans lives in a news desert other than public media.

And so if we start to see cuts to federal funding for public media, we will see stations that serve rural communities that do not necessarily have an economic basis for their service, but in fact are supported by federal funding.

They may have to contract, they may have to layoff local journalists or they may have to stop providing universal service.

Right now, public radio reaches 99.7% of Americans across the country, including coverage for areas that are traditionally very difficult to be able to serve.

Places that don't currently have broadband access or even cell phone service.

And yet we are always on and always available and always free.

And so these impacts would really hurt rural communities.

Anybody who does not pay to subscribe to a news service or television service, and that's what we're trying to to fight against.

Sure.

You're talking about local journalism.

Oftentimes NPR national partners with local stations to produce those in-depth local journalism pieces.

So how could these funding cuts affect that collaboration and, by extension, the ability of communities to have access to that news source?

I mean, I think that this is one of the most important parts of what public radio does is it supports nearly 3000 local journalists across the country, people who are there with you, covering education, covering your local economy, covering your statehouse, the decisions of state legislators in ways that other outlets simply can't or won't.

And certainly at the national level, there are very few national media outlets that actually have people in the statehouse, and that is something that we do everyday day in and day out.

NPR has invested very heavily in working with local stations to make sure that we have collaboration with the reporting on the ground.

You know, your community is better than anyone, and we want to make sure that we're bringing your voices to the national conversation so that when something happens in the country, you're hearing directly from the people who it affects.

We work with more than six regional newsrooms as well, to ensure that communities that are underserved, generally by news, have access to information that's specific to their region, whether we're talking the Gulf states or whether we're talking the Mountain West.

In order to make sure that issues that really matter, whether we're things like drought and water rights or things like severe weather events, are covered in ways that really respect and are sensitive to what's going on in your backyard.

The loss of those funds, previously allocated by an act of Congress, led to the closure of the CPB after 58 years, along with the loss of jobs at public media outlets across the country.

And in some cases, the cuts led to entire operations shuttering.

However, from political polarization to dwindling newsroom resources, this episode reminded us that local journalism is essential infrastructure.

It ensures coverage of school boards, public health, elections, stories that shape our daily lives.

Public media nonprofits are not the only ones feeling the pinch.

Many of the biggest challenges of 2025 were felt most intensely by organizations providing food, housing, counseling and stability with funding cuts and increased demand.

The Valley faced the difficult decisions.

They recently talked about those decisions on our community conversation.

When the funding fades, dawn of community action, you're seeing this firsthand.

What are you seeing in terms of federal funding cuts and what they're doing to your programs and the people you serve?

Well, we have seen millions of dollars be cut in the past several months.

We have tried to figure out how to pivot and how to do more with less.

We've had to cut staff.

We've had to cut programs.

And so we're trying to continue to serve the community without too much of an impact on the people that we serve.

Sure.

What are some of the programs that you offer through Community Action Lehigh Valley that get government funding?

Well, our largest is Second Harvest Food Bank, which, distributed about 16 million pounds of food last year.

We saw, various cuts to our senior boxes to, programs that, serve, the 200, some pantries that we, we, engage with and, with the, the federal cuts that have happened.

We have seen quite a significant, increase in the need and decrease in what we were able to initially get out to folks.

Sure.

And what are we talking about here when we say that federal funding has been cut?

Is this, you know, a couple dollars here and there or these substantial grants?

I would say it's been about two and a half to $3 million worth of, of, funding that we were able to partner with local, farmers that we were giving dairy and protein and eggs and milk out to the pantries that we serve.

And those farmers are feeling an impact as well, because we used to purchase from them directly and then distribute those, those supplies out to, the various pantries that we work with, which are seeing about a 40% increase share.

And community action also has, sheltering or housing, funds that they give out as well.

How's that been impacted?

Well, we see our, our sixth Street shelter in Allentown.

It's the largest family shelter in the region.

We do not get a lot of federal funding for the Sixth Street shelter, however, so.

But we are seeing more families, facing homelessness.

So that is where it impacts us.

Because the more families we see, we have to, you know, have supplies for those families while they're getting back on their feet.

Absolutely.

Mark, I want to bring you into this new Bethany does some of the similar programing to community action when it comes to serving the unhoused and offering some type of sheltering assistance as well as food?

What are you seeing first hand it at New Bethany?

Well, we're seeing a lot more people come into our meal center.

We have a drop in center.

We do a lunch a day.

We're seeing 140 people every day now and for contact before the before the pandemic, we would see 50 to 60 people.

And so 140 is quite a bit, this last summer it was more like 80 or 90 people.

And so to see that sort of spike in just the last 4 to 6 weeks is a really big deal.

So we have seen homelessness on the rise.

There is definitely a homelessness crisis in the Lehigh Valley right now.

And I wanted to talk just a little bit about a really wonderful program that happened during the pandemic, sponsored by the federal government sponsored.

But the federal government supported what I would just call a homeless prevention program.

So you provide rental assistance or financial assistance to families who are just having trouble making ends meet.

And over the time since the pandemic, and especially just in the last 6 to 8 months of that funding has gone down significantly.

So we are seeing programs where we can help people stay in their homes, really almost be practically eliminated.

So now some local sources, some city government, federal government or city government and state government have been, supportive of these programs because we know that prevention works, but not on the federal level.

We're not seeing that too much anymore.

And I wanted to I want to make a point that these are not just people who have continuously been unhoused.

A lot of times it's people who are working paycheck to paycheck that all of a sudden something, you know, a car payment, that kind of thing.

It's our friends.

It's our neighbors.

Are you seeing that firsthand?

So I get phone calls from people who ask about our food pantry.

What is it like to go to the food pantry?

I've never used a pantry before.

And so, especially in light of, recent snap decisions that have been made either to change the regulations, or when there was the actual federal stoppage for that moment in time during November, we saw more people just showing up.

And we ask is, are you here because of the Snap benefits?

And over 50% of the people that come to our pantry say, yes, that's why we're here.

That conversation was one of the most emotional of our season.

Nonprofit leaders shared stories of families struggling to stay afloat and the community support that helped sustain them.

Those same agencies are the ones that support another growing crisis in the Lehigh Valley.

One that's often hidden in plain sight, affecting hundreds of men, women and families in both Allentown and Bethlehem.

Shelters are full.

Encampments are being cleared, and local leaders are working to find lasting solutions.

We began our year looking at the issue of homelessness, only to revisit the issue this past fall.

As the housing situation's changed locally.

So who are the people that are experiencing homelessness?

In our first community conversation of 2025 unhoused in the Lehigh Valley.

We hit the streets in Bethlehem to meet some of our unhoused neighbors and find out how they got where they are today.

At first glance, the tarps sticking out of the brush under the Hilda Hill Bridge in Bethlehem go unnoticed.

I've been out here since 2001 unnoticed, just like the people who call those tarps home.

Those who need to know and understand homelessness.

They need to come out here some time and actually see it for themselves.

Christine Baso is one of those people.

You're out now almost every day.

Every day, whether it's hot, cold, raining, snowing on this frigid January day with temperatures in the single digits.

We talked to Baso Loveless and wearing two heavy sweatshirts about how she got here.

It's hard getting into a place where you don't have a check every month, and there's a long list for housing.

The Taremi native showed us around her camp, where she's been living for nearly five years.

This one's mine right now.

I don't have no light inside because, the fact that I need to charge stuff.

To charge fights along with my family, my other devices.

That is a storage that okay with there being behind me?

His tent.

There's insulated and he keeps it warm.

But see, with mine, it's too big to keep warm.

So he has me staying with him and his tent for me to keep warm because of my health problems.

I have with the asthma, the allergy problems.

I am a breast cancer survivor and I also am a colon cancer survivor.

So and all the other health problems I learn to deal with it.

She says those health problems limit her ability to travel, to seek shelter or food.

We go to soup kitchens, but as in weather like this, you don't want to walk in.

For many people who are unsheltered, walking is their only form of transportation.

But without proper footwear, some in this situation end up with feet problems like David Mares.

David, you want to come over to the couch, maybe, and I can work on your dressing up.

Oh, for walking you off.

You walk on it.

Yeah, I got a blister.

Oh, even having the sneakers and boots on our whatever I had on a now and not have a clean area to, to be able to give them proper medical attention and, a dinghy got infected and went down to the bone.

Oh, it's looking really good.

Mares, who grew up in Allentown, is also experiencing homelessness.

He has not had a place to live for the past few years.

After my mom got in phase here, for the time being, he's in a medical respite program while his foot heals.

Healing nice now, but anything can happen.

It can be gone.

One good, one maybe bad.

Next.

Once he's given a clear bill of health, he says he too will be back on the streets.

Should not be the biggest challenges.

And I always keep warm because I have a puppy, seizures and seizures and I when I get too cold, I go to Cedars Sinai.

Biggest challenge when it's cold at night, I go to the YMCA, you know, warming stations.

All you have to do is walk in and give them your ID and they'll run your name so you don't have no warrants from nothing like that.

And if they have a bed, don't give you a bed.

A couple rules you got to follow, but don't give you a bed.

You know, you should have a warm place to stay.

And so how?

During that episode, we were joined by the mayors of the three major cities in the area.

Mayor Reynolds, let's start with you.

So what does homelessness look like in Bethlehem?

I think it's the same thing, it looks like throughout the Lehigh Valley, and it takes many faces.

You have people that are homeless or unsheltered, that have full time jobs, that have part time jobs that are getting out of medical bankruptcy.

You have people that are dealing with a variety of issues.

But it all comes back to the same one.

And the bottom line is people want to live in Lehigh Valley, and right now we don't have enough housing for everybody.

And we have successful, programs with our Community Connections program with the Health Bureau and some of our partnerships with our nonprofits.

But the bottom line is, you know, with these two, you know, fantastic leaders to the right of me, the Lehigh Valley needs to be doing more across all 62 municipalities to be able to get to what the root of this problem is, which is housing instability caused by a lack of housing supply.

Sure.

I want to get into that a little bit more.

But, Mayor Turk, what does homelessness look like in Allentown?

Yeah, similar to what Mayor Reynolds said, it looks like it looks like in the rest of the Lehigh Valley, which means that the people at the center of it.

So in Allentown, it's people like PCU, it's people like Susie, it's people like Vanessa.

It's people that you got it.

You must understand them and the challenges that they face, which are the challenges that we all face.

It's the cost of housing that that affects us.

It's there's various different debts that we can find ourselves in.

It's mental illness.

It's substance abuse, disorders.

But fundamentally it's about people.

And it's not just street homelessness.

That's you mentioned the visibility of homelessness.

It's people who you might not realize are living in precarity, either precariously housed or living without a house.

And I think it's important to be clear about what those terms are.

When we talk about homelessness, we talk about people who are living unhoused.

And when we talk about people living unsheltered, they all look very different.

But they're all very, very significant challenges to people in Allentown and across the Lehigh Valley.

Sure, different backgrounds, different genders, different cultures of people.

Sure.

Mayor.

Mayor pants, what does that look like?

Sorry.

In Easton, you know, we're we're we face different challenges as well because new Jersey is right across the border.

They don't have any shelters in Warren or 100 and County.

100 County is a fifth wealthiest county in the United States.

It does not even have a homeless shelter.

Our homeless shelters at capacity.

Our goal there at Safe Harbor is to try to move them out, get them housed for short term, no more than six months, and get them educated if they have a if they need a GED and then train them for interview to get a job and then move out.

Right now we're building, transitional apartments so that the people who move out of the homeless shelter can move into a transitional apartment for maybe two years as they get on their feet financially.

That was in January.

Since then, the conversation has turned towards Allentown as the city clears out homeless encampments.

There.

The situation is the catalyst for yet another show on homelessness.

In October.

We're here along the Jordan Creek in Allentown, just near the Jordan Creek Greenway, and I am joined today by Allentown Council Member Casey Gerlach, as well as Lehigh Valley News.com Allentown reporter Jason Adi, thank you both so much for joining us for this conversation.

And we're going to start today with Jason.

As I just said, we're here along the Jordan Creek.

This used to be an encampment for folks who are unhoused.

Now it's a clearing.

You don't see anything here.

And so bring us up to speed.

How did this become what we're seeing here today?

Right.

So dozens, maybe up to more than 100 residents made this place their home in recent months and maybe dating back more than a year.

In early August, Mayor Matt Turk ordered this camp to be shut down.

He originally gave about two and a half weeks for residents to get out.

At that point, the city and the local United Way started talking about opening the YMCA warming station early.

It usually opens in mid-November.

Those discussions began and the mayor delayed the eviction here until September 29th, giving the Y just enough time to open.

Bulldozers rolled in on September 29th, the morning of.

And that night, the Y's warming station opened.

So it was just in time.

But not everyone was able to go to the Y's warming station, and not everyone wants to.

And your reporting, what have you heard from the folks who are living here and the folks that are supporting the folks that live here?

Like I said, not not a great percentage of them said that they were going to go to the Y right away.

Some said they were going to look for other places to, to set up their tents.

And some inside Allentown, some already made the decision to leave the city.

They felt that the pressure was clear, that they would just be pushed out if they went somewhere else.

So there's a lot of people still in flux right now because, you know, the Y isn't fully able to support everything at this particular location.

There was also a lawsuit that was brought against the city.

Can you tell me what you've learned about that during your reporting?

Sure.

Maybe 200 yards away.

The local landlord, Matt Heimann, owns an apartment building.

He's filed suit this spring, alleging that the city isn't doing enough to get people out of this area.

He said that the people who lived here were affecting his property values by urinating on it, and trespassing and other activities that were driving down his property values.

He he reached out to the mayor, he alleged, and got no response.

So eventually he filed a lawsuit, shortly after the city deemed this to be a flood risk.

A fire chief came in and looked at it, looked at FEMA, flood maps, and determined that people are living in a 100 to 500 year flood plain.

And based on that information, the mayor said he decided to shut this down.

Thank you so much for sharing your reporting and for sharing this information with us.

We're going to go over now to Councilwoman Casey Gerlach from the City of Allentown.

CC.

Thanks so much for joining us for this conversation.

Where do you stand right now on the homeless situation?

That's that's playing out in the city?

It's definitely a crisis.

And it's a crisis that will only continue to grow.

We have rents that are skyrocketing, food prices that are skyrocketing, the potential of food stamps being cut next month.

Homelessness isn't going away.

We will continue to see more and more people, people who you would never would have thought would become homeless.

You will continue to see them find themselves in situations like this.

Sure.

And how did this situation play out in council when it came to clearing the camp down here near Jordan Creek, and how to offer resources to these folks?

Yeah.

You know, I think one point of frustration from people on council is that we were not made aware that this was going to happen.

I was made aware by someone on the Commission on Homelessness.

She told me that she was in a meeting with members of the administration and other service providers, and then I called a couple folks up on council and then mostly in the community.

And next thing you knew, we had over 100 people show up to a council meeting to discuss this very topic.

Sure.

And in our talking about the situation, you had said that some of the folks from this very camp had shown up to council.

What did they have to say?

Yeah, I mean, some of the, people that were living down here, they did show up.

And as it's been covered, they feel like ghost.

They feel like they're not treated as humans.

They feel like no one sees them.

This from their perspective, was not a floodplain.

And then when you look at the map, it's not all a floodplain.

So there was a lack of, communication and understanding as to why their home had to be demolished and bulldozed.

Sure.

So recently at council, you've, introduced a new bill.

What would that bill entail?

As it pertains to the unhoused community?

Yeah, it would make sure that whenever there is a sweep, in case there is a hazard, like an actual hazard in the future, that it would be done so with dignity and procedures.

We do not have any internal or external meaning legislation in terms of how this happens.

It's it's just, as I say, willy nilly and it's just arbitrary.

And we cannot we cannot treat human lives like that.

We cannot treat people's property like that.

We cannot treat people's homes like that.

We must have clear operating procedures as to what is deemed to be a hazard.

We must try to mitigate that hazard instead of just immediately jumping to bulldoze people's homes.

And we must make every effort to actually house people, because it ends up costing the city more money to just continue to sweep place after place with no clear solutions.

Rather than slow down, take our time and do.

If we're going to sweep an encampment, let's make sure that the people end up in a better situation than what they were, and then we won't have to sweep them somewhere else.

Since the recording of that interview, the city cleared another couple camps along the Jordan Creek.

And finally, to close our year end show, reflecting on the community conversations we've had in 2025, we close out with a piece of a conversation we can all relate to.

Traffic.

I think it's very heavy, especially 20 to the volume and the back ups.

Basically, the volume is is really bad at rush hour, so it takes you forever to get from point A to point B. I think it's definitely picked up, probably in part due to the warehouses and the tractor trailer presence.

I mean, they open up new jobs and more people are moving up here.

They're constantly building, you see a Horton job site, Keystone Homes, everyone's building up here.

It's not bad at all.

On most days, going to work, I never I never feel like the road is congested, you know?

So it's smooth compared to, you know, like, Philly or, you know, one of those, towns across the street is usually a lot more congested.

But here, it's not bad at all.

I realize that we need the trucks to give us all the shipment and stuff that we need to buy things.

So I try to take that into account when I'm like, oh, there's so many trucks.

Many of those sentiments felt by others in the Lehigh Valley here.

Well, generally people seem to be annoyed by the traffic, but in some instances, traffic situations can cause anger and even lead to road rage, which is pretty scary here.

Now to talk about behavior on the roads and the psychology behind it, our counselor, Eric draws an arc from Elliott Mental Health in Bethlehem Township along with Theresa Gesicki, the director of legislative affairs for triple AA East Central.

Thank you both for joining the conversation.

Thank you.

Theresa.

Let's start with the Lay Foundation for traffic Safety's report, the Traffic Safety Culture Index.

You've said it shows a public health crisis on roads.

Yes.

And that's kind of what we're hearing now.

So explain that for us.

So what the Traffic Safety Culture Index found and it's self-reporting.

So people reported some dangerous behaviors.

So we saw speeding aggressive driving and distracted driving as being the prevalent behaviors that people self-reported.

So we see that as a public health problem, a public health issue because of that, because, there are so many people who realize the dangers of driving distracted of of aggressive driving.

And yet they have self-reported that they've done some of these actions in the past 30 days.

Sure.

We're going to talk more about distracted driving and that kind of thing.

But Eric, aggressive driving, road rage, it seems like we're hearing about it more and more.

And it like I said, it's scary.

So why are we seeing this more, do you think?

Well, along with that public health crisis and whether we're looking at our own, national organization for we're looking at world organizations, we're looking at this huge mental health crisis.

The reality is, is that, like, stressful, you know, many of us are working 40, 50, 60 hours.

We're commuting an hour, hour and a half one way.

It's a lot of stress.

You know, the idea of an eight hour workday gave us a third of a day at home, a third of the day at work, and a third day to sleep well when you're working ten hours and then adding another two hours into that, you're really losing a lot of downtime.

And in that we're also losing connections because we all have work family.

We use that term kind of jokingly, but because we spend so much time with these people, but we're not spending as much time with our family.

We're not, involved in bowling leagues, softball leagues.

We're missing the interpersonal relationships that help us manage a lot of these stresses.

And then all of a sudden, we find ourselves just for.

And now we're in a situation where it's heavy traffic.

I'm late.

I got to get to work.

I got to do more things.

I got to get home for this event.

That event we're exhausted.

We're stressed.

We're just too much.

And analysis by Lehigh Valley News.com found some stretches in the Lehigh Valley have experienced increases of 40% to 50% in traffic volume, while across our nine episodes this year, certain themes emerged funding instability, political polarization, uneven access to services.

But we also saw collaboration, innovation and resilience, from the arts to public health to economic recovery.

2025 was a year of challenge and also of possibility.

These conversations didn't just highlight problems, they offered solutions and they remind us of just how strong our community can be when we face issues together.

Thank you for spending this hour with us, and thank you for supporting the mission of a community conversation.

If you'd like to rewatch any of the full episodes, you'll find them on our PBS 39 YouTube channel.

Please take a moment to subscribe and follow our upcoming shows in 2026 from all of us here at PBS 3990 1.3 and Lehigh Valley News.com, I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Have a safe 2026 and good night.