We recently co-hosted a shared equity housing education session, Achieving Lasting Affordability: Tools for Creating Permanently Affordable Housing, together with the Scranton Area Community Foundation and NeighborWorks America. This event provided an overview of shared equity housing models and facilitated a discussion on how these innovative solutions can help address housing challenges across the region. We are looking forward to continuing the conversation on sustainable housing solutions in the future.

We want to thank our various community, lender and realtor partners who joined us today at this session, as well as representatives from the City of Scranton and U.S. Senator John Fetterman's office who were in attendance. Thank you to the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine for hosting us!

Residents of the City of Scranton, City of Carbondale and City of Pittston are invited to join with their neighbors to apply for our Beautiful Blocks program. Beautiful Blocks provides matching grants of up to $1,000 per property to groups of five or more residents in participating communities to help them make exterior improvements to their homes.

Interested residents are asked to read and review our pre-application instructions, before working with neighbors to complete the pre-application document. These items are available on our Beautiful Blocks homepage, where interested residents can also access video testimonials from our past program cycles. The pre-application deadline is Friday, March 28, 2025.

More information is also available by contacting Gerard Hetman, NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania Community Development Specialist, at (570) 558-2490 or ghetman@nwnepa.org.

As our Beautiful Blocks program kicks off in Scranton, Carbondale and Pittston for the 2025 cycle, we are excited to share the success of our inaugural year in Pittston this past year. The expansion of our Beautiful Blocks program into the Tomato Capital of the World represents a new chapter for our community development work in the region. Residents who participated in our inaugural Beautiful Blocks cycle in the City of Pittston during 2024 share their experiences as part of the program in this video.

Registration is now open for our Spring 2025 Neighborhood Leaders Forum. The Neighborhood Leaders Forum brings together a series of presenters from nonprofit partners, governmental agencies, and other community entities, connecting resident leaders with the programs and services offered by our presenters.

The forum is set to take place Wednesday, March 26, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., in the Rose Room of Brennan Hall, 320 Madison Avenue, on the campus of the University of Scranton.

Our lineup includes presenters from the City of Scranton Recycling Program, City of Scranton Shade Tree Commission, Pennsylvania American Water Customer Assistance Program, and Operation Lifesaver.

Dinner will be provided for all in attendance at this event; there is no cost to attend. Registration is required, and can be completed by registering here or by calling Gerard Hetman at 570-558-2490.

Want to hear the full episode? Subscribe to us on Spotify! We are also available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music and Audible, Podbean, Overcast, Castro, Castbox, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic and Stitcher!

Owen Worozbyt, Director of Operations at the Lackawanna Heritage Valley, joins hosts Parker Dorsey and Gerard Hetman in this episode of the Be a Neighbor podcast. We were excited to discuss how he got into his current position, the history and mission of the Lackawanna Heritage Valley, the development of the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, other community assets that are important to the Trail’s long-term health and development, and more!