Good news about Allentown from the Post Gazette

Allentown gets $1.5 million over 6 years for community improvements

November 10, 2014 12:00 AM
By Diana Nelson Jones / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Hilltop Alliance has secured $1.5 million over six years to pump into Allentown, one of a dozen southern neighborhoods under the alliance’s umbrella.

PNC Bank, Dollar Bank and the UPMC Health Plan are providing the money and will reap tax credits through the state’s Neighborhood Partnership Program.

The money will come in $250,000 increments for improvements to East Warrington Avenue, the main businesses corridor, to help homeowners stabilize and repair properties, to enhance social services and to expand a fresh produce distribution program the alliance operates with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

“We’ve never had dedicated funding for that [produce distribution], so this ensures its continuation and a dramatic expansion,” said Aaron Sukenik, executive director of the Hilltop Alliance.

Allentown is immediately south of Grandview Park, between Mount Washington and the South Side Slopes.

Help to homeowners who qualify will include facade improvement grants. PNC Bank and Dollar Bank will offer home-buying workshops, mortgage education and counseling for people who want to buy homes in Allentown.

East Warrington has had a retail uptick in recent years, and the Mount Washington Community Development Corp. has helped stabilize and sell Allentown homes. The new funding will help pay for crime prevention measures, building renovations, landscaping, rent abatement for new businesses and marketing of retail.

A partner organization, the Brashear Association, will expand its employment assistance center on Warrington and youth programming at the Allentown Learning and Engagement Center — the former pop-up library by the police station — with staff assistance from the Hilltop YMCA Computer Center.

“The Neighborhood Partnership Program will be a game changer in Allentown,” said Tom Smith, president of the Allentown Community Development Corp. and board treasurer of the Hilltop Alliance.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development administers the Neighborhood Partnership Program, whose tax credit incentives encourage corporate investment to low- and moderate-income communities.