ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A $20 million federal grant could provide a “transformative” boost for some of Allentown’s most distressed neighborhoods, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said Thursday.
Casey, D-Pa., and a host of other elected officials who represent Allentown held an event Thursday at the downtown headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 375.
There, they celebrated the city’s selection among 22 finalists for an eight-digit grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program.
The EDA reviewed more than 500 applications.
The EDA, a division of the U.S. Commerce Department, plans to allocate $200 million in grants for “economic and workforce development projects that connect workers to good jobs in geographically diverse and persistently distressed communities across the country.”
“The potential of this region, of this city, is boundless."U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
The administration will fund up to eight proposals ranging from $20 million to $50 million.
City officials and staff now must work to further develop the plan over the next four months, according to Trevor Tormann, a senior planner who officials credited for drafting the Recompete funding proposal.
The proposal targets several major barriers to employment in Allentown, including the Lehigh Valley’s lack of accessible transportation and affordable childcare services.
Those “intersect and compound each other, raising the barrier to entry into the workforce and keeping the city’s prime-age employment gap high,” the city’s proposal says.
‘Pockets of unemployment’
As Allentown officials work to finalize the Recompete Plan proposal, the city’s representatives in Washington said they will fight to show the EDA that a $20 million grant for Allentown is a smart investment.
“It’s up to me and the senators to really work with the Department of Commerce and make them understand that the city of Allentown is the ideal venue for this program to be a success."U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley
That grant would “be transformative to meet the goals of knocking down the barriers to people’s employment,” Casey said.
“The potential of this region, of this city, is boundless,” Casey said.
For elected officials, the second phase of the Recompete Plan process is “really just [about] using our voice and making sure that federal officials really know the value of this for Allentown,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, also promised to advocate for the city’s proposal to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo “and everybody around her to make sure that they understand Allentown.”
“It’s up to me and the senators to really work with the Department of Commerce and make them understand that the city of Allentown is the ideal venue for this program to be a success,” Wild said.
Allentown, which sits at the heart of the fastest-growing region in the state, has “significant pockets of unemployment,” though the Lehigh Valley’s employment rate is “super low,” Wild said.
Recompete funding would be “focused primarily on the first and sixth wards” on Allentown’s East Side, as well as the area around Franklin Park and the corridor between those areas, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said Thursday.
‘Crucial investment’
Federal funding “can make a difference” in those areas by improving access to childcare services, skills training and public transportation, Wild said.
There are many good-paying jobs in the Lehigh Valley, but some in Allentown can’t reliably reach them, she said.
“If you’re talking to somebody in downtown Allentown who can’t get to one of the great jobs, and you tell them, ‘Our manufacturing sector is doing great,’ that doesn't help them to know that, out there, businesses are doing well,” she said.
“A lot of these jobs are just a couple of miles away. It's not like they have to drive 45 minutes down the Schuylkill Expressway or something.”U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley
“A lot of these jobs are just a couple of miles away. It's not like they have to drive 45 minutes down the Schuylkill expressway or something.”
Tuerk on Thursday said the $20 million federal grant would be a “crucial investment in the city of Allentown and the people of the city of Allentown.”
The city’s plan is one of seven finalists for funding that includes labor organizations among their proposed investments.
Tuerk said the city would work closely with IBEW 375, Lehigh Carbon Community College and other partners to implement the plan.
Allentown got a $500,000 federal grant Wednesday from the EDA to further develop the city’s Recompete Plan and make it more competitive for the second phase of the funding process.
