ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office has donated $142,000 to Allentown School District for family engagement, peer mentoring and elementary athletics programs.
Schools Superintendent Carol Birks announced the donation at Thursday’s Allentown School Board Finance Committee meeting.
Birks thanked District Attorney Gavin Holihan, a Republican, for his support.
“When he said, ‘I really want to do something to make a significant difference in the lives of the children of Allentown,’ he wasn’t just talking,” she said.
“Love is an action word, you do something.”
Birks said Holihan was encouraging when she first came to ASD as an interim leader, and the two have become friends.
Drug forfeiture funds
Holihan said the donated funds came not from taxpayer money, but from drug forfeiture funds — cash seized from drug dealers or the proceeds from auctioned off assets seized in relation to drug crimes.
The donation to ASD did not exhaust the county's drug forfeiture funds, he said.
“We thought we would sow it back into the community from where it came from."Gavin Holihan, Lehigh County District Attorney
“My view on that money is, that comes from the community,” Holihan said at Thursday’s meeting. People “in the depths of their addiction” often take money from family and friends, Holihan said.
“We thought we would sow it back into the community from where it came from,” he said.
Pennsylvania law lets prosecutors' offices use drug forfeiture funds to prevent crime and drug use.
Usually, Holihan said, his office puts the funds toward law enforcement, but they’re taking a more “long-term” approach by investing in youth.
Using the donations
Holihan’s office donated $18,500 to family engagement, $28,500 to peer mentoring and $95,000 to elementary athletics. These programs were identified by the district.
For family engagement, the district will put funds toward its partnership with the Cook Center for Human Connection to help provide parents with virtual coaching on how to respond to their children's mental health challenges, Birks said.
In addition to mental health resources, the district also will provide guidance to families on housing and financial assistance.
As for peer mentoring, the district already is piloting programs at both Dieruff and Allen high schools, Birks said. With the recent donation, ASD hopes to learn from both pilots and expand peer mentoring opportunities across the district.
“We are going to hold you accountable. And if it works, we’re going to continue to do it for as long as we can.”Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan
Older students will mentor younger ones on positive behavior and conflict resolution, according to information from the district attorney’s office.
The program seeks to reach students with incarcerated caregivers, students in the foster care system, students experiencing homelessness and students who've already involved in the juvenile justice system.
And with the funds for elementary athletics, the district wants to create a robust sports program for its youngest students so there’s a feeder system to prepare them with the athletic skills they'll need to be successful at the older grades, Birks said.
The program, which aims to reach 680 students, also will introduce youth to fitness habits.
The district attorney said the donations might be the first of more to come.
“We are going to hold you accountable,” Holihan told the district. “And if it works, we’re going to continue to do it for as long as we can.”
