Slate Belt Gets Nod For Neighborhood Partnership Program

Back in September, I told you CACLV Executive Director Alan Jennings had proposed a Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP) that will include Slate Belt boroughs Pen Argyl, Bangor, Portland and Wind Gap. If approved,it would be the first intermunicipal neighborhood partnership program in the state.

Jennings had received the blessing of Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED),and Secretary Dennis Davin will make it official in a news conference on Thursday, 1:30 pm, at Bangor Trust Brewing.    

Though we commonly associate poverty in the Lehigh Valley with the cities, this is also a serious problem in our older boroughs, where the rag mills and quarries are extinct.  In Pen Argyl (population 3,500), 12.2% of the population lives below the poverty level. It's pretty much the same with the populations in Bangor (10.4% of 5,200), Portland (13.7% of 500) and Wind Gap (9% of 2,700). 

How will a Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP) help? It is a tax credit program offered by the state DCED.

Here's how it works. A business making a contribution of at least $50,000 per year for five years can get a state tax credit of up to 80%. This, coupled with a federal charitable deduction, means that it only loses 13 cents on every dollar contributed.

A Portland hot tub

Corporate partners Merchants Bank of Bangor, Waste Management, ESSA Bank & Trust, and Lafayette Ambassador Bank have pledged a total of $775,000 to this project. In addition, the Northampton County Department of Community and Economic Development has committed $20,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funding and $50,000 in Community Investment Partnership Program funding in the first year of the project.

Money would be spent on facades in central business districts. It will also be allocated to housing rehab projects and municipal park improvements. Focus in the first year will be Bangor. In the second, it will be Portland, the Cancun of the Lehigh Valley. 

Jennings: "The Slate Belt Has Been Long Neglected by All of Us"

When we talk about poverty in the Lehigh Valley, most people immediately think of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. But the decaying infrastructure and lack of decent jobs is also a serious problem in our older boroughs, where the rag mills and quarries are extinct. In Pen Argyl (population 3,500), 12.2% of the population lives below the poverty level. It's pretty much the same with the populations in Bangor (10.4% of 5,200), Portland(13.7% of 500) and Wind Gap (9% of 2,700). Alan Jennings, the CACLV ExecutiveDirector who will tell you himself that he's been fighting a losing battle against poverty for decades, wants that to change. He's proposing a Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP) that will include all four boroughs.

"The Slate Belt has been long neglected by all of us," Jennings admitted to NorCo Council last week. He thinks that a NPP is the "best tool that's available for economic development in lower income neighborhoods. This is not a traditional economic development tool. This is a neighborhood development tool. It is a tax credit program offered by the [state DCED]."

What prompted Jennings to make this proposal?

Two words.

Alicia Karner, who lives in Bangor. Jennings said that, when she was employed by Northampton County, she badgered him incessantly. "You can't fight her for very long without getting bloodied and bruised." Karner eventually departed the County for greener pastures in Bethlehem, but Jennings continued seeking financial commitments from area businesses.

He finally succeeded.

Here's how it works. A business making a contribution of at least $50,000 per year for five years can get a state tax credit of up to 80%. This, coupled with a federal charitable deduction, means that it only loses 13 cents on every dollar contributed.

The businesses pledging to contribute to a Slate Belt NPP are as follows: Merchants National Bank ($50,000 per year for five years); Waste Management ($50,000 per year for five years), ESSA Bank ($25,000 per year for five years); and Lafayette Ambassador Bank ($10,000 in Year 1, $5000 in Years 2-5).

How will the money be used?

"We are very Main Street-oriented in the sense that we think central business districts are critically important," said Jennings. He added that money would be spent on facades in central business districts. It will also be allocated to housing rehab projects and municipal park improvements. He said the focus in the first year will be Bangor. In the second, it will be Portland. He believes this tiny river town is an excellent venue for eco-tourism by boaters who can take a break from kayaking and stop in a shop or restaurant.

Jennings has experience, too. He already administers three NPPs in Allentown, South Bethlehem and in Easton's West Ward. What's different about this one, if approved by the state, is that it will be the first to cover several municipalities.

The state will decide in November.

Pen Argyl Borough Manager Robin Szmoda was with Jennings as he spoke to Council. She said borough efforts to attract private investment were unsuccessful.