Four businesses are stepping to the plate to pledge a whopping $750,000 to invigorate four Slate Belt communities.
Portland, Bangor, Pen Argyl, and Wind Gap will benefit from the state’s first multi-municipal Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP) as they jointly plan and implement community revitalization initiatives as part of a six-year project, officials said.
Merchants Bank of Bangor, Waste Management, ESSA Bank & Trust, and Lafayette Ambassador Bank have pledged a total of $775,000 toward the project.
The program is offered through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Corporate donors can get up to an 80 percent tax credit for participation.
The program — called Slate Belt Rising — will be run through the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley (CACLV).
CACLV has helped develop other NPP programs in the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. The Slate Belt project is unique because its focus is on boroughs instead of cities and because its parameters extend through several municipalities.
Peter Snik, senior vice president of Lafayette Ambassador Bank and a lifelong Slate Belt resident, said the area is a great place to raise a family, but it could be better.
“I think we’re seeing a historical event that will be a turning point for this area,” Snik said.
The purpose of the program is to create a vibrant economic climate, promote regional cooperation, assist neighborhoods and housing, engage youth and develop funding strategies to ensure the program is sustainable beyond 2022.
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Certain economic factors in the region, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, played a part in the state allowing the program to move forward.
For instance, 9.8 percent of Northampton County’s population lives below the federal poverty line. All boroughs in the project exceed that, with Wind Gap at 10.7 percent, Pen Argyl at 10.9 percent and Bangor at 12.1 percent below the poverty line. Portland tops the list with 21 percent of people living below the line.
Median household incomes in the boroughs fall below the county level of $61,000. The highest median income among the boroughs is Pen Argyl at $55,000. Bangor and Portland are at $47,000 and $45,000, respectively. Lowest among the group is Wind Gap, with a median household income of $32,000.
Wind Gap’s unemployment rate of 5.8 percent is better than the county’s 8.2 percent. Bangor and Pen Argyl are at about 11 percent. Portland almost doubles the county rate at 16.1 percent unemployed, according to the datwa.
Wind Gap tends to have newer housing than the other boroughs, where 65 to 74 percent of construction predates 1939.
Besides Waste Management and the three banks, Northampton County is pledging $70,000 toward the program in its first year.
“With a population that exceeds the city of Easton, this area deserves our attention,” said Northampton County Executive John Brown, a former Bangor mayor.
Bangor will receive the bulk of the funding resources in the first year that will go toward improving commercial facades, signs and flower planters, organizers said. The focus will move on to the other boroughs in the following years.
A steering committee of local and state officials, citizens and business leaders will make decisions with community input for projects to be approved for funding during the program.
John Best is a freelance writer. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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