Across the Lehigh Valley, families are feeling the impact of shrinking federal support.

Food assistance.

Housing, health care, afterschool programs.

The nonprofits that hold our community together are being asked to do more with less on this community conversation when the funding fades.

Hear directly from people on the frontlines of this challenge.

Those running some of the Valley's crucial nonprofits.

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

Here's your host, Brittany Sweeney.

Good evening and welcome to our community Conversation When Funding Fades, presented by PBS 39.

All Over radio 91.3 FM and Lehigh Valley News.com.

Tonight, we're taking an in-depth look at how federal funding cuts are reshaping the heart of our community right here in the Lehigh Valley.

Nonprofits across the region food banks, shelters, afterschool programs, libraries and health centers are seeing reduced federal grants.

At the same time, local demand is rising.

Tonight, we'll hear from the people working every day to adapt to the current financial climate and bring services to those who need them most.

Over the next hour, we'll break this conversation into four key areas.

Shelter and stability.

Health and Hope.

Food and family and youth and education.

Let's begin with federal cuts to HUD programs and community development block grants.

Housing nonprofits across the region are struggling to keep up.

Tonight, we're joined by the executive director of community Action, Lehigh Valley.

Dawn God Shaul, the executive director of New Bethany, Mark riddle and the CEO of Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley, Melissa Miranda.

Thank you all so much for joining us for this crucial conversation.

It seems like now more than ever, this conversation is so important.

Donna.

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.

Sure.

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 context, 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 want to do 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, the 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.

We're going to talk more about the Snap benefits in just a few minutes.

But when it comes to offering assistance, either rental assistance or housing, especially this time of year when we're expecting a really cold winter, how are we preparing for that?

Both that community action and New Bethany.

So I'll answer a new Bethany.

We have 54 units of housing, so that's different units.

Some are permanent housing, some are short term transitional.

We also have subsidized housing where you have a section eight voucher.

And you pay more, no more than one third of your income to live there.

And in all of those units in the past, I would say over time, New Bethany has sort of treated this as, look, you have housing.

Isn't this great?

And it's kind of a permanent sort of solution.

But if we see more people living in their cars and we see more people living in tents, we currently have in both Allentown and Bethlehem, a big challenge that the tents are being cleared.

So systematically, sort of on different dates and there's different deadlines for different portions of the community where we need to clear the tents.

So we have our people calling us looking for housing.

So what we're doing with our units of housing is finding ways to get people in and then out.

So while you're with us for, say, up to a year or two years at the most, we'll help you with social services.

We obviously have the food pantry and the and the meal center to help you.

But then we need to move you somewhere else so that more people can come in.

So we're working with caseworkers to get people as independent, as sustainable as possible so that we can kind of cycle people through.

We've been fairly successful with that.

But not because of a federal program of any kind.

Gotcha.

And we did our last community conversation on the housing crisis.

It's even come even further since just last month alone, a lot of things have changed.

Of course, the weather getting colder.

Dawn, are you seeing some issues or pauses in the rental assistance programs or the housing programs that community action offers?

Well, we had a $2.4 million grant, initially to do more housing.

When those happened, they shut down that entire department and we could never get anyone to answer the phone.

So that whole grant just went away.

So we were going to use that funding to help build more affordable housing for people in the region, because most of the people that we deal with, like at the sixth Street shelter, they are working people.

So 90% of the unhoused that are coming to the shelter have jobs.

So it's not like people are trying to live off of the system.

They're just trying to make ends meet and everything has gone up astronomically.

I think that's a good point to make, that these aren't just people who maybe are disabled or can't work, but these are working people as well who have full time jobs.

That's just inflation right now.

And then, some of these funding cuts on top of that have impacted their lives.

I do want to talk health care now.

And so for many families, access to health care is also becoming more difficult.

Health care providers are also feeling the strain, with federal program reductions impacting everything from Medicaid reimbursements to community health grants.

And so, Melissa, that's where you come in a community health center receives federal funding.

What are you seeing right now as we end this 2025?

So hi.

Thank you.

So community health centers as a model of care has not received any direct cuts right now.

And I say direct because the reimbursement model for Health center is a little more intricate.

Created as a safety net.

They, they offer subsidies to help underwrite the care for uninsured and underinsured.

But then that's coupled with the understanding that we're predominantly serving a medicaid eligible population.

So those policy changes, starting with right after the pandemic and through that great unwind, saw an increase in our Medicaid and uninsured population.

Now, this newer wave, we're seeing an even more, elevated increase of uninsured so that, with the penny cuts pending, then we'll expect to return back to the pre ACA period.

And so when I started with NHC, LV, which is a patient led community organization, seven out of ten individuals that were coming to NHC of were uninsured through the pandemic.

We had actually gotten it down to maybe two out of ten.

So people were able to access care, take care of the hypertension, their diabetes, whatever it was.

Right?

Annual wellness visits, with the unwinding, it has jumped back up to about 45 to 47%.

We're averaging between 3 to 4 people that are uninsured and or they're deferring their care.

So our no-show rate traditional, you know, private offices is around 10%.

We hovered around 19.

We thought that was a success.

We are now at 43, 44%.

So even though patients are confirming they're they're having to make that decision between food, housing and health care.

And we're the ones on the bottom end of that stack.

Right.

Because they'll defer the toothache.

They'll defer their blood pressure.

We are expecting that post penny change that actually will go back to about seven out of ten of our patients will be uninsured.

And that small subsidy that has not increased for ten years will clearly not be enough to sustain the model.

So we're trying to, you know, innovate and figure out how, as an organization, this health center, which has the five sites across the valley, can continue to serve the patients.

What services are you worried about right now that may have to be scaled back if that happens?

Well, at that point, we're pretty basic to begin with, right?

So we're basic primary care dental and behavioral health.

It very well may be that like as we're looking at the cost, we'll have to look at well, okay, can we afford to provide restorative care and dental.

Can we afford, those services that might, cost more to provide?

We are looking more positively at what can we add to maintain our base, as opposed to scale back.

For me, it would probably be, you know, consolidating, opportunities.

I have staff being cross-trained, at our school based health center at Donegan.

It's okay.

Do you know, do we need these two people, or can we reassign this person someplace else?

Not higher.

Right.

So, our board of directors recently reminded me that, you know, we may be saving on the personnel line, but at what expense?

I was just going to ask about the personnel.

The neighborhood health centers have to compete with some of the major networks when it comes to personnel.

Do you find that challenging, especially in this economic climate?

Can you offer those those competitive wages that, you know, the nurses or the physicians are being offered at the bigger networks?

We've never been able to adequately compete.

My selling point for the incoming staff generally was either the loan repayment or grant subsidy, the recognition, or, it's a more I don't want to say, you know, to take away from the networks, but family focused in terms of, you know, we're able to offer some of those intangible things.

We may not be able to offer the quarter million dollars to a physician, but you know, there are other things.

I just recently had a physician say to me, you know, Melissa here, I can be the mom I want to be and be a physician because, you know, you've allowed me to have the schedule that allows me to be both.

You know, we have staff that are going back to school, and so what we've had to figure out is how do we accommodate people wanting professional development while still maintaining the access to care that that we've committed to?

And we are being put in a position that we have to meet some of those, competitive salary packages.

And that has placed us in a little bit of a financial bind.

Sure.

And when we talk about nonprofits as a whole, right, retaining folks and, having staff who can come in and do the jobs for us and make a living wage, do you do you find that challenging?

Mark?

You're shaking your head.

Yeah.

I mean, staffing is a huge challenge right now.

I mean, most nonprofits, ourselves included, even if you're fiscally healthy, you're living paycheck to paycheck.

And so if you lose staff, that's challenging.

And you start questioning, like, can I even afford to rehire that staff?

We've been facing that in a couple of instances as well.

So, maintaining now for us, we work on a calendar year for our fiscal year.

And so we're, you know, reevaluating our insurance package for next year.

Nonprofits usually have like really wonderful insurance packages.

And we just have to look at it.

So I don't anticipate making a huge change this year in particular.

But the fact that we have to have the conversation is really important.

That's a whole other conversation across the the country right now is the rising insurance premiums and dawn at Community Action Lehigh Valley.

You mentioned staffing changes right off the bat.

With funding cuts often come staffing changes.

Did you see that firsthand?

Absolutely.

Well, during Covid we had we were flush with funding.

Everyone wanted to help.

People were giving, giving, giving.

But after Covid and years, as years went on, those those donations started decreasing.

And so but the need didn't.

So the need was large and the, the funding was starting to level off.

And so while we probably should have, furloughed staff a couple of years ago, based on the funding, the need was so great, it just didn't make sense to do it at the time.

And so as we were going right before the state impasse and the government shutdown, we started to furlough staff to try to, you know, even our budget out and begin to build reserves so we wouldn't be in a bad position.

And then when the government shut down, it became, okay, we just let go a whole bunch of staff.

And now the need is even more astronomical.

So it became very difficult to keep up.

And as you mentioned, the need, we did pay a visit to, Second Harvest earlier this week.

And so I wanted to mention that a little bit.

Across the Lehigh Valley, food insecurity has risen sharply over the past year.

Meanwhile, many hunger relief organizations have lost critical federal support, leaving them to do more with less housing and family stability are also deeply connected to financial insecurity.

Here's what they're seeing at Second Harvest right now from Associate Executive Director Sarah Lossl, Second Harvest Food Bank distributes to over 200 organizations, whether they be pantries or soup kitchens, charitable organizations, schools, anything of of the sort.

We distribute fresh proteins, milk, dairy, eggs and shelf stable foods.

We have 1.2 million pounds of food sitting on the shelves and like they're ready to be ordered by our pantries.

And that's the system that we've had set up.

Well in most recent times, because of the demand, we're more like a distribution center, meaning no sooner is to come in, but it's going right back out.

Currently, the need is pretty dire.

We have seen it increasing over the past few months.

When I first started here with Second Harvest Food Bank, which was about eight, nine months ago, we were distributing to about nine 90,000 people per month, and we've increased to 124,000 a month.

So as you can see that there has been a pretty significant increase of course, the increase initially started with the Snap benefits being, discontinued, as well as just the state of our federal and state economy.

A lot of our pantries are reporting that they are seeing some of the most trauma that they've seen in a very long time because of just how dire they are.

We have families who are working one, two, three jobs.

They're feeding their children, and they're they're coming to us in a place of severe and dire need.

And that's what we're here for.

We're here to support and get you back up on your feet.

Oh, snap.

Benefits are supposed to be the very like the number one stop gap to, to helping hunger and the food pantries are like your last resort, and we're only supposed to be supplementing now.

We're no longer supplementing, and we're actually providing food for longer periods of time versus just to supplement.

And so we're seeing the biggest impact that way because we're having to distribute more and more food.

And that that becomes a bigger issue because now the demand is becoming heavy.

And we thank Sarah for sharing that vital information.

I want to come back to our panel here.

Don, we just heard her say some pretty staggering statistics.

As the need grows.

And so how do you ask for extra from the folks in the community to continue these, these, these, efforts at places like Second Harvest?

Well, the community has really stepped up recently.

We haven't had to do much asking, but that was because some of our local partners have done that, asking for us.

We have seen an uptick in people wanting to give, sort of like right after Covid happened, people started giving, at when snap was, you know, interrupted for the period of time people started giving again.

They knew that the need was there, and they knew that they, you know, if they cared about their neighbors, that that was the right thing to do.

And so we're very grateful that people have stopped, started, you know, showing, an uptick in their donations.

It sounds like we're seeing some Covid era practices coming into play here when it comes to people giving and stepping up.

Mark, how about over at New Bethany?

Yeah, I have been in the health and human services sector for 18 years now, and our food access director, who runs the meal center in the pantry, she's been doing this for 25 and never has she come to me and said, we're out of peanut butter, we're out of pasta.

And that's what she's been doing.

And other things too, is usually, usually the story goes like, we'll make it work, you know, we'll make it work with what we do in the nonprofit sector.

And she was like, no, could we put something on line and say, please send us rice?

And that was new.

And so there really was a stoppage in the food supply.

Staples were not available.

And when that reality started hitting the community as a really stark reality, yeah.

People started asking what they can do.

You know, we're really lucky to live in the Lehigh Valley.

The community is extremely generous.

We do have a lot of food right now from multiple food drives.

The holidays generate food drives, but also this crisis has generated food drives.

And of course, we're going to question like, well, the week after Thanksgiving, I hope we still have food that sort of thing.

Not to mention March, you know, that's that's usually what happens, in the food kind of realm.

But because of the crisis, like, we truly, we truly had a need.

And so it's been really nice to see people step up, step up.

But it's not just during the giving season, right?

You need it beyond the giving season, what can folks do, aside from bringing cans to the shelters.

So it's interesting because for profits sell something and then they make more money.

Nonprofits are really at the, at the mercy of, of donors, foundations of government funding.

And so as we keep seeing more funding cuts, we really need people to step up on a regular basis.

We don't want to see what happened after Covid happened, which was, here's a whole lot that we're pouring into you, but now we're done.

I don't see this going away anytime soon.

And although we really appreciate the food drives that also takes staff time because we have to go through cans and different things and make sure it's not expired.

So the, the most helpful thing that people can do right now is to donate money so that we can continue to purchase food in bulk and get it out to the people who need it.

Have we made appeals to local lawmakers?

And if so, what's been their response?

Mark?

I was going to answer the previous question, but, but we have you know, we're in we're in touch with local lawmakers and, I sometimes sometimes you can see a connection between, you know, feeling the sympathy and how you vote.

Sometimes you do not see that connection.

And honestly, different people have different points of view.

There are perspectives that the federal government should not be in this space, but privately people should be in this space.

And so you see donors, not just politicians.

You see donors sort of act in that way.

And then you see others who say like, no, this is very much a community need and policies need to match because otherwise will be completely failing, because otherwise we can't even pay for our buildings.

But I would, I would really want to say, like from a solution point of view, if you are going to give money, that's very important.

And I would encourage people to give regularly.

And if you give it your time, it should also be regularly.

So if you volunteer a volunteer once a week or once a month, if you give, get on a monthly plan, and have that be like an automatic payment that goes to your local charity of some kind.

So I think the regular is something that's very, very important to for nonprofits.

Yeah.

And, Melissa, I have to ask, are the lawmakers coming to places like the Neighborhood Health Center to talk about some of the changes in, you know, Medicaid, that kind of thing.

And health care.

Health care is such a hot topic right now.

Are you hearing it firsthand?

So thank you.

Yes.

The three health centers in the area, did visit lawmakers in the summer, and we regularly have conversations with them.

The perspective on Medicaid is a hot topic.

The perspective on the penny as a hot topic, we try to demonstrate that true impact of these are individuals that are part of your community.

They're working.

They're working poor.

They're living under 200% of poverty.

And what does that really look like?

So trying to put a face to it for them, have not necessarily seen the votes follow through on that.

So we're, you know, strategizing otherwise.

Well, folks, thank you so much for joining this.

Dawn.

Mark, Melissa, thank you so much for joining this conversation.

Dawn, I want to, segue into another segment that we're going to talk about here, but you mentioned partnering with other organizations.

And earlier this week, the United Way and Community Action teamed up to give an update on the local efforts to raise money for Second Harvest.

Here's what God shall our panelists here tonight had to say at that event, along with Marcy Lesko, the president and CEO of the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

With ongoing government funding cuts, we simply could not keep up with the need.

That's when our community partners stepped up in a big way.

The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation recognized the urgency and mobilized the financial resources to help us purchase more food in bulk.

Thanks to their efforts, we've been able to get additional food out to pantries across the region, many which have seen a 40% increase in need in just over two weeks.

Our collective efforts since launching the Critical Support Fund has raised $667,000.

And to raise those funds, the United Way says about 80 different partners and individuals immediately sprung into action to give.

And on that note, I'd like to welcome our next guests from the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

Jill Pereira, the vice president of strategic partnerships.

Jill, thank you so much for joining this conversation.

We just saw Marcy Lesko and Don Gordon, God all come together for a giving event.

It was a two week long event.

They raised a lot of money.

Is this the sort of thing that the United Way is used to doing?

Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks for having me.

We are absolutely a convener in this community, and we have a generous Lehigh Valley community.

So we've been tracking what's been happening in the food space for the last couple of months, actually.

And as the state budget impasse was prolonged and then the government shut down, we just we knew we needed to hop into action on trying to raise some money, in the midst of our annual campaign.

So that was a challenging decision to make.

We we are raising $27 million over the course of our annual campaign.

And this was basically a campaign inside of that campaign.

Thankfully, we've had nearly now 100 donors, step up to raise nearly $700,000 in just over two weeks in partnership with the Community Foundation.

And how are those partners?

You know, how did this partnership start?

How do you combine them?

How do you find the folks who are willing to help?

Yeah.

So we have been building relationships with people for a very long time in this community.

We have, giving society of over 400 families that give a significant amount of money to our annual campaign every year.

They care about people in this community.

So leaders could be, CEOs of companies, or they could be individuals that happen to have wealth and generosity, that they want to be able to give back.

And they see United Way as a really strong partner in being able to give them money through United Way to make sure that good things are going to happen in community, where it seems like United Way is quite the liaison to help facilitate these kind of, you know, funding fundraiser events, that kind of thing.

And so what are you hearing from the folks who often give to these, fundraising events, especially a time like this when, when things are so tight?

Yeah.

Well, we do a lot of work to educate on what's actually happening in community with everyday people.

And we raise a lot of awareness around what's happening with policies or potential cuts that were coming down the pike.

And so, through those relationships and that information sharing, we're able to really, have straight talk with folks that have the means to do more in support of our community.

And they're they're happy to do it.

They're happy to be champions for this community.

And, they're proud to support our our United Way.

The United Way is known for stepping in at times of crisis.

What strategies are you putting into place at a time like this, or even ahead of this, to prepare for something like the times we're seeing right now?

Yeah.

So there's a funders group that has been active for quite a while now, and even prior to the budget impasse and the and the government shutdown, they developed a survey that they sent out to nonprofits across the region, really just trying to keep a pulse on, what is the, health of the nonprofit ecosystem?

And at that point in time, it was mid-June, about 55% of nonprofit organizations were reporting at that time, less than six months worth of reserves.

And so we were already starting to, you know, increase our our conversation with potential partners around what we saw coming.

So the fund is one, one clear way that we are raising money.

And, and we use that money first to do some bulk purchasing of food to support organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank and about 100 different pantries across a three county footprint, Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon.

But we're also working with other partners to figure out how do we, make sure that more needs inside of schools and inside of early care centers are and inside of, senior centers for older adults are being met through some of the funding as well.

Yeah.

I was going to kind of switch gears here.

It's not just the shelters or the food banks that are needing help.

It's everyone across the board in the nonprofit world when it comes to education and children.

What are you seeing right now from and hearing from your nonprofit partners in that sector?

Well, the statistic that I heard just a few days ago that was alarming was since the state budget impasse, prolonged or went on for such a long time, about 400 early child care centers in the state of Pennsylvania have closed down.

And so that's coming on the heels of quite a significant decrease in early child care centers, because of Covid.

And so we know that child care is not just about making sure that our babies are safe, but also for working parents who rely on that safe place for their children to be so that they can be gainfully employed.

It's a lifeline.

It's a lifeline, and it's having a ripple effect throughout our economy.

Inside of schools, mental health continues to be a challenge.

And so when you think about all of these various challenges that everyday families are having around, how do I pay for my food, my transportation, my my utilities?

There is trauma happening to our young people, and they are carrying that into schools.

And schools are looking for, different ways to continue to meet those mental health needs as well.

And so what does the United Way do to help either fund or facilitate programing in the education realm?

Yeah.

So we are leading, 34 schools in a community school network across the region.

We're working with five different school districts.

And really the heart of that work is to help schools understand how to be really good partners with the assets that exist in their community.

And those assets are not just organizations, but also people.

Families are assets in our community.

And so are the various, out-of-school time providers and, health providers, etc.. And so part of what we're doing is just kind of knitting those partners a bit closer together.

Jill.

If the folks at home that are watching right now are the folks in our audience want to get involved and help some kind of way, whether it be helping the United Way or some of these nonprofits, what's the best thing they can do right now through the United Way?

Yeah, I mean, you can always give if you have treasure and you're able to give that is really a critical need at this moment.

I think for folks that are high skilled and have, time and energy, we see in the nonprofit sector, there's a lot of nonprofits that really, would benefit from some guidance around financial, finance, financial, the finance department, functions of keeping a healthy and strong organization.

There's recruitment efforts that are going on across the region and nonprofits to just recruit really good talent.

And so, folks out there that are listening, tap into your local nonprofit that you care about, check on them, make sure that they're okay, and then and then encourage other folks to get involved and give some really encouraging information.

You shared Jill Pereira from the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

Thank you so much for joining this conversation.

Thank you.

And as she mentioned, in addition to programs that combat issues pertaining to food, shelter and health care, community hubs are feeling the pinch.

Like the Bethlehem Area Public Library.

Here's what executive Director Josh Burke had to say about the current state of funding.

There.

The federal government isn't super involved in, like, the running of local libraries, or really very much at all.

But there's a lot of benefits that we as a library and our community receive through this, federal funds, because they fund a lot of the programs that come through our state library, the, which is part of the Department of Ed office that come with libraries, they really, pick up a lot of these research, tools, these research databases, this, like important software that we use.

The federal government funds the internet connections for most public libraries and schools.

If that money went away, it would just blow a giant hole in our budget.

So at first we were preparing for that to happen.

And now we're like, maybe it's not going to happen.

And then sometimes you hear something that maybe it will happen.

So it's the instability that is really stressful.

And the fear of having these resources and this funding source that we rely on, to do our job every day, could just go away at any time.

And it just is a real challenge.

Burke says money from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, or the Imls, used to be their most reliable source of funding, but even that's changed.

The instability is the biggest challenge.

Honestly, that's the hardest thing is, like, you used to be able to predict the stuff that Imls, which is the federal government's piece that impacts like museums and libraries, is like the tiniest bit of the federal budget.

And you used to be able to just expect it to be pretty stable.

And these tools that were here last year will be here next year.

The E-Rate it's called, which is the funding for our internet connection is like hugely important to us.

We have a ton of computers in the library.

We have a really high speed internet connection.

We have multiple locations.

We have tons of people on and at work at any given time.

So we have to really fund our, broadband at, we have to have a, you know, a good connection.

We have to have, high rate of speed, all those things.

And that bill would be probably unaffordable if it wasn't supported by the federal government.

And we thank Josh Burke for those comments that he offered to us.

And for many young people, after school and mentorship programs are critical lifelines, but they are too often under financial pressure.

Our next segment explores how youth programs are adapting many youth serving nonprofits rely on federal grants to keep kids safe, supported, and learning after school.

When those grants fade, the impact can be immediate and severe.

We're joined now by Katara Jordan, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Allentown.

Hassan Botts, founder of Promised Neighborhoods, the Watson Baths School of Construction, and the Prison Survivors Networks, as well as Alisa Barata, executive director of the Third Street Alliance in Easton.

Folks, thank you all so much for joining this really important conversation.

Katara, we're going to start with you, the Boys and Girls Club.

It's just such a name that we all know we all love.

We associate it with such great relationships when we think about these programs at the Boys and Girls Club offers, what are the funding cuts that you're facing right now as we kind of navigate this new economic landscape?

Absolutely.

Thank you for having me.

Soon as you said, Boys and Girls Club, it brought a smile to my face because, like you said, we are so blessed to be able to create spaces where our children feel safe and can thrive after school and during the summers.

We feel it.

We feel it in a very heavy, burdensome way.

You know, when funding fades, kids feel at first it means that our programing is cut short, our staff cuts happen, our doors aren't open as long.

So we feel in and all the ways we've lost approximately, you know, 300 and 400,000 in federal funding just in the last couple of months.

So, you know, all of the innovative things that our children deserve get put on hold.

And you have to focus in on the, the necessities that they deserve.

And when we hear and see, you know, impasse and funding for food being cut, it hits us even harder.

So we've heard this time and time again, not only was it federal cuts that we're feeling right now, it's also the budget impasse that was going on for so long that has hung up a lot of federal funding.

And so what does that look like?

You've you've lost a significant amount of funding.

What does that look like firsthand?

What programs are being cut?

Absolutely.

And I think a lot of it that we feel is a lot of our funding is reimbursable.

So we've spent this money and we're waiting and we're waiting for it to come back.

And and we feel it heavy, you know, like we said, do we need to cut back on hours?

Do we need to reduce some of the fun things that we have in mind, the field trips, the pieces that really keep our kids engaged?

We're having to pull back on.

So, you know, we try to always keep our literacy, at the forefront of everything we do.

So if we have to cut things around it, then, you know, that's what we we start with.

But we feel it in all of the areas.

Our people feel it.

The community, the people that we serve, excuse me and the people who serve them.

So our staff are from the community.

Most of them are club kids.

So they know and understand what this feels like firsthand, and they're experiencing it in their own homes.

So to come to the club and to experience it is double the impact.

How are the programs that the Boys and Girls Club offers?

How are they so critical to the families that that take advantage of them and use them?

Why?

Why are they critical?

So I mean, when we talk about just a place, just a place and a space, you know, for our kids to be after school in summer, we have our children for six hours after school, you know, parents are working to that 8:00 mark where they have to come and pick up their children.

So it's critical, you know, and then we're really touching on the math and the academics piece for our children, City of Allentown and and where our children are measuring up as far behind where they need to be and when the funding stops, where it puts them either further behind.

So we feel it in every aspect.

We are hoping that when our kids come to our centers, that they are getting that holistic support, we're putting the mental health pieces on top of it.

But all of as I said, the innovative things we want to do have been stopped and halted.

So installed right now.

Hopefully in the new year, they'll be reinstated.

Alyssa, I want to bring you into this conversation.

Third Street Alliance serves not only women, but children as well, offering some child care programs.

How is Third Street Alliance being impacted right now?

Well, for the most part, our funding is state funding for our child care program.

Our federal funding is within our housing program.

And so the families are seeing that be their biggest challenge right now.

Affordable housing is no longer affordable in the Lehigh Valley.

And folks are really struggling.

We see women coming into our shelter with 2 or 3 kids living in cars.

So to be able to get back to work and to be able to get back into the community, they need early childhood education opportunities for their kids.

We know that getting families into early childhood and into jobs quickly means that they will leave our shelter within 90 to 120 days.

That's huge for us and that's what we need to stay focused on.

As families are losing Snap benefits and are fighting to have to be reinstated for Snap to see their health care benefits being cut back.

They're struggling every day and that is what's driving people into homelessness and it's impacting the kids.

What are you hearing firsthand from the folks that are coming in through your doors?

Well, for the most part, they're traumatized.

Most of them are working families who have had jobs, have had their kids stay in schools and in childcare programs.

And when they lose their housing, they lose access to the support services from their networks and their neighborhoods.

So they have to reinvent them while they're in the shelter.

And it's exhausting.

It's traumatizing, and they don't know where to go next because they're being told there aren't enough resources for us to help you right now.

So our job is to really make those resources available to the best of our ability.

That theme of instability seems to be touching every aspect of life in the Lehigh Valley right now.

Hassan, you're shaking your head.

You work with a lot of different nonprofits.

You're the founder of Promise Neighborhoods.

You're also the founder of a couple different other organizations.

You are you are embedded in the community right now.

And what are you hearing from these folks that you're working day in and day out with?

We're hearing that our community struggling people are suffering and the people that are serving us are suffering also, what we do know is that this is a resource rich community that is a very giving community, and people are stepping up and showing up, and we want them to continue to do that.

As we have these difficult times and moments.

When you take a look at federal funding cuts, what concerns you most when you are looking deep in these neighborhoods as it pertains to the federal funding cuts?

Where are you seeing it hit the hardest that the cuts are hitting the people that are already struggling most?

So the people that have the greatest needs are the ones that are going to be most impacted, looking at these efforts being erased across the board and what impact that has on folks, you know, funding to things like gun violence prevention, reentry, food.

I mean, some of the conversations that we're having this evening.

Sure.

And so how do you have the conversation of funding, getting more funding, and who do you go to for that?

For those those extra funds?

Yeah, I think it's a conversation.

The strategy we've always used is called nonprofit repositioning.

Really looking at what is your mission, looking at what are your assets, what are the levers that you can pull, and who are the people that really support the work?

And where is it that you have to go?

Not not only in terms of to seek funding, but also in terms of strategies, you know, what are the ways in which we need to continue to do this work that are a little different?

How do we have to pivot?

And we saw that during Covid, right?

We saw organizations and institutions froze initially because we didn't know what to do, but the smaller grassroots organizations were able to pivot.

And that's the same swath that we're at now, that there's a crucial turning point where nonprofits are going to have to make some some real decisions and what we'll see is it's not the nonprofits with the largest budget that will survive.

It will be the ones that are able to reposition themselves.

And that's to donors, and that's what staff and that's what the community and that's also no longer a political landscape with some of the funds being depleted.

What do you see long term in terms of, you know, violence and gun violence in the city?

How does that have a direct impact in the long term?

Yeah, when people don't have jobs, when people don't have food and people don't have housing, all of the things we've heard today, it impacts the decision making.

It impacts children's brain development.

It impacts literacy rates, graduation rates, all of the things that, increase diseases of despair, the increase the social ills that continue to destroy our community.

So, again, we need individuals in our community to step up.

We need the leadership across our community.

We heard some conversation around corporations that are in a position to to give more and partner more.

And we need more collaboration.

Katara, you're shaking your head.

And we were just talking about the neighborhood has as a whole.

But when it comes to children and their safety and their academic success, how could this impact, you know, how could funding decreases impact the long term for them?

It it affects the next minute tomorrow, the next week, the next month, the next year.

And those seem like little increments.

But for a child, they're really, really big increments.

And we are seeing our children fall further and further behind because we don't have these supports.

I think something Hassan said was perfect.

It's about collaboration.

That's how we're going to tackle it.

You know, we have to pull in our partners, our neighboring organizations.

To really, you know, to really support each other, to get us through.

I think the next couple of months and years that are ahead of us, and we heard about some of the programs that are being cut, but what innovative ways, I will say innovative ways are you trying to make ends meet?

Like what have you had to change?

What have you had to do?

And is it being successful in that effort?

Absolutely.

I would say beginning of the year we had a phenomenal partnership form with preventive measures.

They do not or they do.

Excuse me, mental health support.

In Allentown, Lehigh Valley area for children in specific.

It is what our conversation started around and you know, excited to bring them into our sites, to have them sit and work with small group and funding was cut.

So, you know, did all of this work to get them.

Their funding is cut.

How do we continue?

And it was really just coming together around the table and having the hard conversations that we can't let this work stop here.

Where do we move other funds?

How do we bring in other donors?

How do we, as an organization move around our budgets and pivot, as he said, so that we can keep these important, aspects of our business happening for our children.

And we've been able to and we have seen and heard so many stories during that time, you know, that our kids get to really express who they are and what they're feeling.

And as she said, they're traumatized.

They're hurting.

They feel it.

They know when their their home frigerator is don't have what it's supposed to have.

They know when their parents are have a little bit of gas left and they can't ask to go here and there.

And when they're sharing those things with us, you know, it's helping reinforce and it's helping to form our direction that we want to take with them as much as possible.

Elise, at the Third Street Alliance, I'd ask the same question.

How are you making a little go a long way and stretching that for the people that you serve right now?

So Third Street Alliance is really lucky in that we control our own space.

We have 50,000ft² of space, and we need to open a new classroom so that we can, you know, meet the needs of the community.

We make do.

And so we've used places that used to be offices and turn them into child care classrooms.

Right.

We've taken an old swimming pool, filled it in and made more child care classrooms because that's the only way for us to really be able to make sure kids get safe, affordable child care for their families here.

So it's constantly looking at what resources do we have that we can repurpose.

Because right now, there aren't a whole lot more that are going to be coming to the table for early childhood education for a bit of time and have fun at community organizations, especially ones that don't have maybe a brick and mortar building.

To go to the same question, how do you make a little go a long way?

How do you stretch things?

How do you reach out to other people in the community to expand these resources when funding is limited?

I think it was Marc that mentioned on an earlier segment.

Right.

When we reach out to the community for people to show up more, to give more time, to give more donations, to give more support.

I'm on the board of panel, Pennsylvania's Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

And this is not just a Valley issue, but one of the strengths of the Valley is, again, it's a very giving community.

People give people believe in the work.

They know that the nonprofit sector is critical to to the valley moving forward every day.

Everyone has been impacted by the work that all of these organizations are doing.

And by continuing to to reach out and share the wealth right, and share the dreams that the children at Qatar talks about have, that the folks that need housing have.

That's how we're going to make a difference.

It sounds like, you know, I hear a theme here in the Lehigh Valley especially, you know, this is a problem that's not just the Lehigh Valley specific, but one thing I keep hearing again and again, talking to everybody for this community conversation is how people are stepping up compared to other places that you've lived and worked.

Do you see the Lehigh Valley as kind of a unique space when it comes to funding Qatar?

You're kind of shaking your head here.

Absolutely.

We are seeing our alumni.

So we at the Boys and Girls Club have seen generations of individuals come through and families come through the door, and our alumni are stepping up like never before.

And they know that it was a safe place for them growing up, and they see what's happening around them.

And, you know, we are so grateful for the individuals within the community.

You know, we couldn't make it without some of these anchor institutions, United Way, all of the support from Lehigh Valley Community Foundation.

But if it wasn't for the individuals coming to spend three hours a day at the Boys and Girls Club to answer doors and to help with homework help, we wouldn't be able to do it.

So yes, we see it and we appreciate it and we need more it in those times, you know, the hard times, the times of darkness that you really see people come through in the light, shine through.

They shared a story at Second Harvest about a woman who really wanted to give, and she didn't have the monetary donation to give, but she was couponing.

And she was able, through her couponing, to provide 12 different boxes of a week's worth of groceries for folks.

And it's those stories that we hear that kind of give us hope and encouragement.

Do you folks have any any stories of encouragement that you've heard through, you know, the fall or even the past year, as we've seen, kind of the funding cuts, you know, the funding cuts happen, the economic climate change.

So I can talk a little bit about one of the the great stories in the Lehigh Valley is some of the housing providers who get together and collaborate on grant proposals rather than compete with one another for the funding.

So we go after Grant and then we work together to make the the job happen.

And that's unique to the Lehigh Valley.

You don't see that elsewhere.

Sure.

And Hassan, I wanted to ask you because you you are part of that organization for nonprofits.

Do you see a lot of nonprofits working together?

Are these individual silos, you know, Boys and Girls Club, their true alliance, or are people collaborating and how are they doing?

So if they are, yeah, I would say locally, that's one of the strengths that we see.

I mean, when you walk into a room, everyone knows each other.

People are working together, people know where the needs are with the suffering is what strength one another have.

And I don't want to say it's unique to the valley, but it's something that really lift the valley up.

When I think about the statewide and national work that we do is that people in the Valley, they they know when we know when our neighbors are suffering and struggling, and we will reach out to help, whether it's a fire, the response that we get, whether it's a food drive, the response that we get is people.

I continue to say it is a very giving and resource rich community, and I believe that the individuals in the Valley are the ones that are going to step up and do for one another.

For those who are watching this, and they want to be part of that and help their their neighbors, their friends, their colleagues, what can they do for, say, the Boys and Girls Club at your individual organization?

How can people help?

Yeah.

So given show up like was, you know, it was said earlier, we are going into what I feel is going to be a tough holiday season for a lot of families.

And we have 1200 children that we serve a year that are looking forward to a Christmas like they had last year, like they had the year before, and they are believing that there is still magic out there and we need to make that possible for them.

So however, you can step up and donate to the Boys and Girls Club.

We are we are welcoming it.

Hassan, how would you say folks can step up and step out to help others?

I would say set a standard set step up, set the standard, and develop a generational giving plan where people continue to give what your children are learning to give.

They're showing up for days of caring.

They're showing up to volunteer.

They're giving from their allowance that they are learning, that we are the ones that are going to continue to build this community for everyone to thrive and Third Street Alliance as well.

So I think for us it is about the families.

So anything that you're doing within your own community to support families go a little bit above and beyond this year, because people really need it, you know, talk to your faith communities, talk to the people in your PTA, get together and say, how can we help the people we see around us suffering?

Right?

Because that's the critical need right now.

It's Third Street Alliance absolutely needs support.

But we know that so many people across Lehigh Valley do.

And so give locally right now.

Alisa, what keeps you going?

What keeps you coming back to your job at a nonprofit sector that's helping other people?

And how important is it to project that to others in your field?

So what keeps me going is the incredible staff that I have, right?

I walk in there every day and these people are doing the work, and they do it with a smile on their face, and they do it even though they're experiencing challenges in their own house and in their own home and paying their own bills.

And yet they come to work every day to help other people, make sure they're getting housing, make sure they're getting quality child care.

Those kids are safe and secure.

And so it makes my job really easy.

I love that, and as a parent, nobody wants anything more than their children to be safe and secure.

That Kartal what keeps you going?

What keeps you showing up for the boys and girls at the Boys and Girls Club?

The Annabella, the Isabel's, the Ava's the even yours.

We have phenomenal kids at the Boys and Girls Club, phenomenal kids in this community, and I will continue to show up and serve them every day.

I think they they do.

They deserve it.

They deserve all of us as a community to show up for them.

And that's not just when they're at school.

That's not just when you know they're being awarded something.

It's when we have to talk about disciplinary issues.

It's when we have to redirect.

It's when we have to, wrap our arms around and physically love them, you know, to the next space.

So, I show up because of the children we serve every day.

Wonderful.

And, Hassan, I ask you the same question, but you are bouncing all over the place.

You have you have just touched so many lives in the Lehigh Valley.

What keeps you going and what keeps you on to the next project to help more people?

I know what I needed when I was little Hassan, and I know what it feels like when people care, when people see the best in you, when people show up, when you need them most.

So that keeps me going.

It's a thing.

The lives that all these organizations continue to change just by just by being there.

And if folks are watching this and they either need help or they want to step in to help, what's the best route for them to take to get in contact with any of these different organizations?

Qatar, do you want to start?

Yeah, you can go directly to the Boys and Girls Club of Allentown website.

You can reach out to me personally.

You know, we have a team of people who are a small, small, but mighty team of people who are there but ready to answer.

So, you know, our blue doors are on the corner of sixth Street.

We have four sites in Allentown.

Please stop by knock.

We are there and available.

That's on the same question.

You can reach out directly to some of the organizations you can use for on one of their support that you need.

You can go to panels website, or you can look on social media.

People in the community are always willing to support you, help you, and direct you in the right place.

And Alisa over at the Third Street Alliance, certainly for early childhood, you can give us a call if you're experiencing homelessness 211 immediately to get help.

All right.

Some wonderful information.

And some of the other organizations we've had on tonight also partner with a lot of the organizations that you folks work with.

And so folks can reach them at some of the same resources as well, especially for one one.

That's a great 10211.

Excuse me, 211.

That's a great one.

Thank you all so much for joining us for this community conversation.

It was really enlightening.

Katara Hassan, Alisa, thank you all so much for your insight tonight and good luck to you through the holiday season.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Tonight's conversation makes one thing clear.

Nonprofits across the Lehigh Valley are working tirelessly to keep families healthy, housed, and supported.

But they cannot do it alone.

There are ways each of us can help.

We've addressed that in this program tonight.

That's all the time we have.

Thank you for joining us for a community conversation.

When the funding feeds, we want to thank all of our guests for joining us and you for watching from all of us here at PBS.

3990 1.3 Wolves and Lehigh Valley News.com.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Have a good night.

And stay safe.