The second annual West Scranton Garbage Olympics, a part of Scranton City Pride, was a huge success! This event has grown tremendously, growing from 42 volunteers last year to 60 this year. We're so grateful to the families, community groups, individuals, and local businesses for helping clean up West Side. Together, we made a difference with 60 volunteers picking up 57 bags of trash! Many noted Main Avenue looked significantly cleaner after the clean up and lots of participants also noted that the areas did not have as much trash at them as last year.

Thank you to the individuals, organizations and teams who participated, including The City of Scranton, the AllOne Foundation, Scranton Counseling Center, NEPA Junk Removal, Scranton Strong, Bank of America, City Sweepers and the NeighborWorks team!

As for the rest of City Pride, we organized almost 180 volunteers from May 31st to June 9th. This totals to about 510 volunteer hours and an estimated value of $14,300 of community impact. City Pride is an annual project of Scranton Tomorrow, NeighborWorks Northeastern PA, and United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania. For more information on City Pride, visit scrantoncitypride.org.

We would also like to give a huge shout-out to volunteers from MTF Biologics for participating in the kick-off for Scranton City Pride! Over 100 volunteers were mobilized to provide exterior painting, yard maintenance and landscaping for nine older adult-headed households throughout Scranton. We also had a large group joined by the City of Scranton Parks & Recreation department and the Scranton Department of Public Works, who were responsible for clearing overgrown trees and shrubbery, tall grass, and litter pick-up at the West Scranton Little League field.

NeighborWorks will host its inaugural Home Fair on July 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton. This community-centered event aims to provide valuable information on housing health and safety, homeownership, and affordability resources to residents of Lackawanna County.

The Home Fair will feature a diverse array of community resources. Attendees will have access to several homeownership resources, from lenders and realtors to home inspectors and insurance providers. Additionally, the event will highlight essential home safety information on lead, radon, domestic violence, and fire prevention.

Read more here, and follow our Facebook event page here for updates.

NeighborWorks has officially kicked off the Bi-Weekly Allen Park Concert Series! It will be running until August 26th, and events are from 6-8 pm rain or shine. This year we are partnering with NEPA Scene to secure the bands. The concert series will feature performances from Running in Flip-Flops, Tori V & The Karma, The Contact Collective, Brendan Brisk Band, The Holtzmann Effect and Meet Me on Marcie.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs and blankets. Food and drinks will be available for purchase from nearby small businesses, and parking is conveniently located across the street. Read more about our official announcement here.

NeighborWorks recently accepted a contribution from FNCB Bank, in the amount of $25,000 and a contribution from PS Bank, in the amount of $10,000, both through the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development's Neighborhood Assistance Program.

Thank you for your continued support for our programs! Read more about the contribution from FNCB Bank here and read more about the contribution from PS Bank here.