{"id":126192,"date":"2023-12-21T18:14:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T23:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=126192"},"modified":"2023-12-21T18:14:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T23:14:58","slug":"rep-wild-sen-casey-mayor-tuerk-highlight-how-500000-federal-grant-will-expand-economic-opportunity-in-allentown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=126192","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Wild, Sen. Casey, Mayor Tuerk Highlight How $500,000 Federal Grant Will Expand Economic Opportunity in Allentown"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALLENTOWN, PA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 This morning,\u00a0Congresswoman Susan Wild, Senator Bob Casey, and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk held a press conference highlighting how the $500,000 federal\u00a0Recompete Pilot Program grant<\/a>\u00a0they secured for the\u00a0City of Allentown<\/a>\u00a0will allow the city to create jobs, tackle barriers to employment, and expand economic opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy addressing key challenges Allentown residents face in securing good-paying jobs\u2014like access to reliable transportation, affordable child care, and skills training\u2014this investment will help ensure that every family can work hard and get ahead,\u201d\u00a0said Congresswoman Susan Wild.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cI am proud to have pushed to deliver this initial funding to Allentown. Now, I\u2019ll continue working to bring further investments home, to implement the city\u2019s plan that will expand economic opportunity for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday in Allentown, we showed how the\u00a0CHIPS and Science Act\u00a0<\/em>is delivering for Pennsylvania,\u201d\u00a0said Senator Bob Casey (D-PA).<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cBecause of this Recompete award, more Allentown residents will get a fair shot at overcoming the barriers to getting and keeping good-paying jobs in growing industries like manufacturing and health care. Barriers like access to child care, reliable transportation, education or skills training have kept people out of the workforce for too long, but this funding will make progress to change that. This is a game-changer for Allentown, and I\u2019m proud to have been here to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, with our partners and the support of our federal representatives, we are embarking on a journey to reshape Allentown\u2019s economic landscape,\u201d\u00a0said Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWe are building a city that not only grows but thrives, with a workforce that reflects the strength, diversity, and resilience of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA career in the union trades can be a great way to enter the middle class, but some people need assistance to get started,\u201d\u00a0said Paul Anthony, IBEW Local 375 Business Manager.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThe Recompete program is designed to help residents in underserved communities begin this path through a union apprenticeship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yesterday, the Department of Commerce announced that the City of Allentown is receiving a $500,000 strategy development grant through the\u00a0Recompete Pilot Program<\/a>\u00a0to help identify and create a plan for tackling local barriers to employment \u2013 including access to child care, transportation, and job training. The City also received approval of their\u00a0Recompete Plan<\/a>, which will allow Allentown to compete for $20 million to $50 million in implementation funding in Phase II of the Recompete Program. This plan lays out a comprehensive strategy to connect residents to good-paying jobs and overcome barriers to entry to the workforce through collaborating with labor unions and employers to expand apprenticeships, skills training, and re-entry programs, investing in micro-transit and childcare services, and funding site development.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Congresswoman Wild advocated for Allentown to receive this funding in a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to Alejandra Castillo, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. Additionally, Senator Casey advocated for the Allentown to receive this funding in a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. Both Congresswoman Wild and Senator Casey voted to pass the\u00a0CHIPS and Science Act\u00a0<\/em>last year, which established the Recompete Pilot Program.<\/p>\n

About the Recompete Pilot Program:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Recompete Pilot Program aims to make targeted investments in communities struggling with high unemployment among people ages 25 to 54 \u2013 known as distressed communities \u2013 by providing them with resources to address to barriers to employment most prevalent in their area.<\/p>\n

Over 500 applications from cities around the nation were submitted for Recompete funding. Of these 500, Allentown was selected as one of 22 applicants to receive Phase I funding through a $500,000 strategy development grant and be considered for between $20 and $50 million in funding during Phase II.<\/p>\n

More information about the City of Allentown\u2019s Recompete Plan can be found\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nKatie Smith<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALLENTOWN, PA\u00a0\u2013 This morning,\u00a0Congresswoman Susan Wild, Senator Bob Casey, and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk held a press conference highlighting how the $500,000 federal\u00a0Recompete Pilot Program grant\u00a0they secured for the\u00a0City of … Continue reading Rep. Wild, Sen. Casey, Mayor Tuerk Highlight How $500,000 Federal Grant Will Expand Economic Opportunity in Allentown<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/wild-ibew.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126192"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/126193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}