WLVT - TV - U.S. Representative Susan Wild (D, PA-07) and Alan Jennings, head of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley (CACLV), announced the local nonprofit will receive a $1.8 million federal funding increase at a virtual press conference yesterday.
"The nonprofits like CACLV are the closest to the people in our communities, much closer than we are at the federal level, much closer than people at the state level are" said Rep. Wild. "So I think it's really important that we put the resources in the hands of those organizations that are so close to the community."
Jennings said he hasn't seen such a substantial increase in a federal grant since 1997.
"This increase we’re announcing today is the biggest increase in my 40 years of being a witness to this country’s unwillingness to take sincere and substantive steps to reduce the likelihood of people being left behind," said Jennings.
Jennings said part of the funding will be used to expand existing CACLV programs like the Second Harvest Food Bank and the Sixth Street Shelter. The grant will also be used to help launch and sustain neighborhood revitalization projects in the region.