The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley's take on poverty, how it affects our communities, and what we're doing about it.
How embarrassing is it that the World Health Organization has now stated that the United States of America is likely to be the next epicenter of the battle to survive Covid-19? How is it that the most powerful country in …...
There are few people on the planet who have experienced worse. You would have had to be alive before 1918. My life has been about fighting for the folks who keep getting knocked down, helping them get back up and …...
US Senator Pat Toomey, who lives here in the Lehigh Valley, issued a press release calling Mr. Trump’s budget “A Pro-Taxpayer Budget.” Of course, the taxpayers, at least those at the top of the income ranks among us, already got …...
So many Americans were so fed up with politics as usual that you elected someone as far from “usual” as you could get. Tell me, is this what you meant? Did you mean that you wanted someone who would align …...
I have never in my 61 years been more ashamed of my country. I was raised to believe in America. That we were a good people, that our democracy was the greatest political system in the world, that our economic …...
The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley today issued its report to the community on how this community’s benevolence was distributed to the families who lost their homes to a multi-alarm fire on North Fountain Street in Allentown in …...
Our president is chastising California for having a very serious problem with homelessness. Now, can anyone truly say, straight-faced and one hand on The Bible, that he is sincerely concerned about homelessness? Come on! This is the same president who, …...
I can remember, and it doesn’t seem so long ago, that there was no way I or, for that matter, the rest of the world would ever see a day this deep into a new century. Hell, I can remember …...
For Immediate Release Media Contact: David Jones: (610)-739-3386Don Cunningham: (610)-266-6775Kumari Ghafoor-Davis: (484)-893-1033Alan Jennings: (610)-248-9900 CACLV AWARDED $110,000 GRANT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF REGIONAL DIVERSITY PLAN Nonprofit Receives Discretionary Federal Block Grant Funds Through PA DCED The …...
To the Editor: My former dentist and his assistant would talk, disparagingly, about Hispanics and African-Americans during my visits. I’m sitting in the chair having to listen to them, unable to respond. It drove me nuts. Finally, at what became …...
Media Contact:Alan Jennings(610) 248-9900 CACLV Partners with TD Bank on Innovative Initiative The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley will hold a press briefing on Tuesday, November 19th, to announce a significant new tool to continue …...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Alan Jennings 610-248-9900 REGIONAL GROUPS COMBINE ON EFFORT TO NEGATE THE IMPACT OF RACISM Multi-year Strategic Plan Will Bring Socio-Economic Justice and “Make the Lehigh Valley a Better Place” An impressive array of Lehigh Valley’s …...
MEDIA ADVISORY CONTACT: Alan Jennings 610-248-9900 LEHIGH VALLEY COMING TOGETHER TO NEGATE IMPACT OF RACISM Many of the Lehigh Valley’s major leadership groups will be coming together to announce an unprecedented effort to dull the impact of racism on the …...
MEDIA ADVISORY CONTACT: Alan Jennings 610-248-9900 CACLV INTRODUCES ITS “PRIORITY BLOCKS” STRATEGY FOR UPSIDE ALLENTOWN Tenth Street’s 200 Block is the First of What the Nonprofit’s Leaders Hope Will Be More On Tuesday, October 15, at 1:30 PM, the Community …...
Anti-Poverty Nonprofit Has Broad Agenda, Addressing Housing, Community Development and Helping Low-Income Find Their Voice September 26, 2019 The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley held its Annual Meeting today in downtown Allentown with a sellout crowd of 260 …...
25 September 2019 This is the highest turnout in the history of the agency, even topping the year HUD secretary Henry Cisneros spoke. There are over 250 good people here. Thanks to each and every one of you for giving a damn …...
In the interest of transparency, we are posting the following report in response to an unfortunate accusation made against the agency last year. It has diverted a substantial amount of attention of several staff and board members. It unfairly led …...
The County of Northampton is embroiled in a battle over there need to improve their voting machines to protect against voter fraud. CAC LV plans to weigh in at the Council meeting tomorrow evening. Susan Dallandan will represent the …...
“The Contrast Between Right and Wrong Has Never Been So Clear” Donald Trump has issued his proposed budget that eliminates all of the federal funding in the annual budget of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley. Alan L. …...
Here is a quick update on some things going on around the agency and the wider community: WEATHERIZATION AND FURNACE REPAIR OR REPLACEMENTAs we slowly work our way through the waning weeks of winter, those who struggle to pay …...
22 January 2019 SHARON’S PANTRY Comments of Alan L. Jennings Executive Director Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley The people who brought us the idea that we as a nation could go as low as to wrench children out …...
CADC Bethlehem Moves the Needle The homeownership rate in the Hayes Street area (specifically block group 112-02) has increased 9.1% from the 2008-2012 period to the 2013-2017 period. Comparatively, during the same time period the City as a whole experienced …...
And, so, another new year has begun. I’m guessing that most of us are more than a little scared of what might be in store for us; optimism seems to be in short supply, anxiety plentiful. Many of us are …...
On Saturday morning, our executive director, Alan Jennings, was the guest speaker at Bethlehem’s 53rd annual Community Advent Breakfast. Here are his comments, relative to the season and the state of our society. COMMUNITY ADVENT BREAKFAST Moravian Village DECEMBER 2018…...
17 NOVEMBER 2018 OK, I get it that some folks might get bored with the opinion columns. So, as an antidote, here are some briefs on activity around the agency: 1,200 Homeowners Rescued From Foreclosure We just did some math …...
CACLV Executive Director Alan Jennings offers his thoughts on the challenges of finding common ground on the otherwise intransigent issue of immigration in America in the following post. His comments set up the discussion at the Hispanic Center’s Health Equity …...
In 1989, Bill Dedman, a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles that exposed distressing disparities in mortgage lending between households of color and their white counterparts. This, of course, was no surprise to the …...
One of my favorite comments is, “I’m cynical enough to know what I’m up against but optimistic enough to pick the fight anyway.” Folks, getting results in the public policy arena these days seems almost impossible, especially in Harrisburg. But …...
I’ve always thought of myself as a cutting edge, hipster kind of guy. I’m a fan of the counterculture of the 60s, participated in many efforts to collectively change the world, listened to rock and roll and tried to dress …...
The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley and its subsidiary community development corporations in downtown Allentown and South Bethlehem have run comprehensive community development initiatives in all three of our Lehigh Valley cities as well as a multiple municipal …...
CACLV’s executive director, Alan Jennings, received Communities in Schools’ Annual Community Champion of Education Award on April 6, 2018. Following are his remarks upon receipt of the award. I want to start by thanking Tim Mulligan, Ed Baldrige, Rose Craig …...
I am, unabashedly, a behavioralist: let’s stop suggesting that people who are poor are in that spot simply because the economy doesn’t or can’t create enough good-paying jobs to support every household in America. Without a doubt, it’s a tough …...
Following are comments made by CACLV’s Alan Jennings at a press conference to discuss fair mortgage lending in this market. The press briefing took place on February 16, 2018. PRESS BRIEFING MORTGAGE LENDING DISPARITY 16 FEBRUARY 2018 In the late …...
The president’s budget proposes the elimination of funding for a series of programs that make it possible for the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley to offer a wide range of assistance to the Lehigh Valley’s low-income families, from …...
I run a nonprofit organization. It is called the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley. As anti-poverty organizations go, it is pretty significant in size (95 employees and a $24 million budget). I have been here for 37 years. …...
Tell them you don’t want your money back. Tell them you believe in America, that America’s promise is a level playing field and that public education, infrastructure and not letting a child starve are investments in ourselves as a civilized …...
I have long said that I am cynical enough to understand what I’m up against but optimistic enough to pick the fight anyway. Watching, disgusted and sickened by the presence of the devil in Stephen Pollack, tips the balance …...
Diaspora: the movement, migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland. That’s how the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it. It’s one of those rarely used words that is almost poetic in its sound and rhythm, …...
These next 25 minutes are the best part of my year as I get to brag about what each of you and so many others in this community helped us make possible over the past year. I am going to …...
Joseph Conrad, author of Heart of Darkness, wrote about “fascination with the abomination.” It explains people rubbernecking when driving past auto accidents. It also applies to how I watch the news these days. When this man was elected president, …...
Written by Kathryn Hoffman SNAP Outreach Coordinator, Second Harvest Food Bank of Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania The new Administration’s “Better Way Tax Plan” would deliver big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. For example, according to the Economic …...
Local Community Lender Has Best Year in its Sixteen-Year History Brian Nguah, owner of Royal Lioness, is one happy entrepreneur. He credits his $25,000 loan from The Rising Tide Community Loan Fund with helping him double sales of his very …...
Proposed Budget Would Shut Down CACLV Donald Trump’s first demonstration of his priorities through his proposed budget makes it very clear that the billionaire whose father set him up in business doesn’t understand how much a few friends can make …...
DCED Secretary Davin to Join Slate Belt Community Leaders to Announce Neighborhood Partnership Program Rural, Multi-Municipal Project is First of its Kind The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley (CACLV) will announce the approval of the first multi-municipal …...
What separates us from any other species on the planet is our ability to reason. That ability forces us, too, to consider ourselves in the context of others. How close do we live to one another? How much do we …...
New Home Dedicated to the Late Sharon Gausling The Second Harvest Food Band of Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania celebrated the completion of its $3.3 million fund raising campaign to pay for its new warehouse at 6969 Silver Crest Road …...
RENEWLV SMARTH GROWTH SUMMIT 2 December 2016 KEYNOTE Let’s talk about the market place. I know: in our divided, us vs. them, i-won’t-get-mine-if-you-get-yours world, you all have already started the fissure in your minds. On the left: Jennings, you’re …...
I’m shocked. I’m scared. I’m lost. You taught me that we are a great nation. Great nations don’t bully the weak. You taught me to be tolerant. Tolerance is not roughing up people who don’t agree with you.…...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: CHRIS HUDOCK (T) 484.893.1039 (C) 484.553.3171 The Rising Tide Community Loan Fund has expanded its services yet again, announcing today the creation of a first-of-its-kind line of credit for micro-enterprises, start-ups and other businesses that struggle …...
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