Community Project Funding
FY23 Community Project Funding Requests
City of Bethlehem
Project: Bethlehem Greenway Trail
Requested Amount: $2,700,000
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 10 East Church Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to acquire a stretch of the abandoned Norfolk Southern Railway line in order to close a high-priority regional trail gap in the Lehigh Valley and to construct the remainder of the trail following the land acquisition.
City of Easton
Project: Light Detection and Ranging Equipment Acquisition
Requested Amount: $348,340
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 123 South 3rd Street, Easton, PA 18042
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to provide more accurate 3D maps of traffic incidents, crime scenes, and burning buildings.
KidsPeace Orchard Hills Campus
Project: Building and Facilities Renovation
Requested Amount: $1,000,000
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 5300 KidsPeace Drive, Orefield, PA 18069
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to upgrade fire and security measures; improve HVAC, water, and sewer; and for parking lot safety needs.
Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority
Project: Security Checkpoint and Terminal Connector Project at Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE)
Requested Amount: $600,000
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 3311 Airport Road, Allentown, PA 18109
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used for the acquisition and installation of public circulation control devices.
Museum of Indian Culture
Project: Lenape Village Park
Requested Amount: $963,000
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 2825 Fish Hatchery Road, Allentown, PA 18103
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used for the region’s first authentic recreation of a Lenape Village on the site of one of the most well-traveled routes of the Lenape people (dating back 12,500 years).
New Bethany Ministries
Project: Acquisition and renovation of a building to be used for non-congregate housing of vulnerable populations
Requested Amount: $2,000,000
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 333 W. 4th Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to purchase a building and renovate 30 non-congregate housing units for underserved populations, including families with children, single women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Northampton County Community College
Project: Interdisciplinary Healthcare and Workforce Development Center
Requested Amount: $2,729,288
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem, PA 18020
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to create an integrated, interdisciplinary, and interprofessional teambased space supporting the growing healthcare workforce needs in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos.
Northampton County
Project: Gracedale Nursing Home Facilities Repairs and Improvement
Requested Amount: $1,625,000
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 669 Washington Street, Easton, PA 18042
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to upgrade smoke detectors, replace old compressor units for the walk-in refrigerators, replace Elevator 1, purchase furniture, repair the Victorian garden flooring, renovate the snack bar area, and secure the behavioral garden.
Palmer Municipal Fire Department
Project: Training Room and Emergency Operations Center
Requested Amount: $350,000
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 3 Weller Place, Easton, PA 18045
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: . The funding would be used for the construction of an addition serving as a training and meeting room, as well as a secondary Emergency Operations Center (including audio/visual equipment, tables and chairs, and installation of phone lines).
Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley
Project: Workforce Skills Development Program
Requested Amount: $1,549,360
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 1101 Hamilton Street, Suite 102, Allentown, PA 18101
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to expand the organization’s workforce development skills program, targeting vulnerable groups that face major employment barriers.
Greater Valley YMCA
Project: Greater Valley YMCA Southern Lehigh County Y Facility Project
Requested Amount: $3,000,000
Full Address of Intended Recipient: 1524 W Linden St, Ste 209, Allentown, PA 18102
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to support all pre-construction and land development costs (including land engineering fees, site development, site grading/excavation, utility connections, and geo-tech services), as well as initial construction costs.
Suburban Emergency Medical Services
Project: EMS Training Institute
Requested Amount: $239,629.12
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 2925 William Penn Highway, Suite 301, Palmer PA 18045
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used for classes to train emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in an accelerated eight-week program.
Pinebrook Family Answers
Project: Bolster the collaboration between a coalition of social services groups that develop and implement suicide prevention programs
Requested Amount: $162,025
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 402 North Fulton Street, Allentown, PA 18102
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to staff the coalition with a project manager, an assistant project, and to augment the work of the coalition.
Upper Macungie Township
Project: Construction of Upper Macungie Community Center
Requested Amount: $4,000,000
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 8330 Schantz Rd, Breinigsville, PA 18031
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to help construct Buildings A, B, and C of a long-awaited regional community center for sports and cultural events, senior activities, community gatherings, and other services to residents from Upper Macungie and surrounding rural areas.
Via of the Lehigh Valley
Project: Rehabilitation of Pre-Vocational Workshop
Requested Amount: $1,054,110
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 336 West Spruce Street, Bethlehem, PA 18017
Description and justification for use of taxpayer funds: The funding would be used to complete capital renovations for Via’s prevocational workshop for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities that would improve the health, safety, and effectiveness of the participants and increase the site’s energy efficiency.
