Lower Bucks County Projects Get Help From Neighborhood Assistance Program

Seven Bucks County projects received funding from the state’s Neighborhood Assistance Program.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s office announced the funding last week as part of $26.5 million in projects across the state.

The Neighborhood Assistance Program is design “promote community participation and collaborations among nonprofits, businesses and residents while producing outcomes that assist a distressed area or the low-income population in a neighborhood.”

“The Neighborhood Assistance Program demonstrates the value of public-private cooperation in ensuring the health of our communities, and the benefits that Pennsylvanians see through these partnerships,” Wolf said in a statement.

The projects that are being funded, according to the applications submitted:

• Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania – Bristol Township – $55,000 – Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s project increases the number of residents in a target area of lower Bucks who have skilled legal help in resolving serious problems that impact their livelihoods, housing, family stability or personal safety. About 35 percent of the county’s low income people live in this area (zip codes 19007, 19020, 19021, 19056 and 19057). About 51,000 are eligible for Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania services. Last year, Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania had resources to serve only 743. A 2017 study by the Legal Services Corporation showed that for every client served by Legal Aid in PA, two equally eligible clients were turned away because of a lack of resources. Skilled legal help can be crucial to resolving problems such as eviction, foreclosure, denial of government benefits, consumer debt issues and other legal problems with potentially life-changing outcomes. Legal help also increases the likelihood that abuse victims will obtain protection orders or that low income people can clear minor criminal records & remove this barrier to employment. Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania will achieve these goals with addition of a staff attorney in the Bristol office who will work specifically with clients from the targeted area. The attorney will also be responsible for outreach to social services, housing, emergency shelter, older adult, and other agencies that are located in the area or serve clients from the area. As needed, Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania attorneys with expertise in particular legal areas (eg: foreclosure, domestic violence, elder law, benefits law) will assist this attorney in representing clients. Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania anticipates serving an additional 100 people in the target area. Of these, about 40 will receive tangible benefits such as maintaining housing, successfully appealing a benefits denial, or obtaining a protection order. 60 will benefit from legal advice that is specific to their situation. They will gain an improved understanding of their situation so they can make better choices for themselves and their families.
• Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County – $101,250 – Habitat Bucks plans to double the capacity of its Home Repair program and complete 40 projects this year. We partner low-income homeowners to make home repairs or modifications that preserve the home make it safe and accessible for everyone living in the home. Many families are living in unhealthy, unsafe conditions that they cannot afford to remedy. The Approved Bucks County 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan recognizes the need to improve existing affordable housing stock through rehabilitation and renovation of existing owner-occupied housing units. Typical home repair projects are focused on health and safety (ex. grab bars), critical repairs or modifications for accessibility (ex. ramps). Critical Repairs include roof replacement or major system repairs. In the past two years, 88 percent of completed home repairs were for residents who were elderly or disabled. Habitat Buck is using its expertise in home repair and universal design to assist low-come older adults to stay safe at home. During FY20, we plan to repair 40 homes to be safe, secure and accessible for low income families including elderly and disabled residents. These repairs include 25 Safe Home Repairs, 10 Critical Repairs and 5 Keystone Accessibility (Access) Repairs. Safe Home Repairs focus on repairs to assist older and disabled homeowners to live safely at home. Critical Repairs focus on roof replacement and major system repairs. Access Repairs are ramp/lift installations or modifications to rooms to make a home more accessible to residents. We expect the repairs to impact 76 residents who can remain in their homes for a longer period of time. These repairs will maintain or may slightly increase the median value of the home. Support from Habitat Bucks keeps repairs affordable for the homeowners who otherwise might not be able to afford the cost of repairs. Through this project, Habitat Bucks will create 1 new job.
• 510 Station Avenue Bensalem LLC – Bensalem Township – $500,000 – 510 Station Ave Bensalem LLC is buying and renovating a 85,602 square foot modern one story masonry and steel building, and will complete repairs that the previous negligent landlord refused to do, thereby retaining the onsite business tenant (Utopia Fulfillment). Serious roof leaks were severely impacting the tenant, because the leaks were damaging boxes of products in the onsite warehouse every time it rained. Unless repairs were made, the tenant was going to terminate their lease and leave the property, resulting in a loss of jobs and industry within the Bucks County Enterprise Zone. Utopia is a warehousing supplier for Amazon, and as Amazon began receiving complaints due to damaged Utopia goods, Utopia stood to lose their entire business of $1,400,000+ annually due to these leaks. 510 Station Avenue Bensalem LLC will be investing a total of $4,050,000 in qualified investments between 7/1/2019 – 6/30/2020 for this project. 510 Station Avenue Bensalem LLC will purchase the building and make the numerous repairs, there by retaining the onsite tenant and their 12 current employees, and allowing for future creation of 18 jobs within one year. Through retention of the tenant, and as their business contuses to flourish, they intend to run a second shift and will hire an additional 8 Utopia employees in the next year. All of these new positions will be available to low-income and/or untrained individuals in Bensalem, and the Bucks County area as whole.
• ARS Warehouse and Cold Storage – Bensalem Township – $500,000 – We are proud to be relocating our food distribution business from Burlington, NJ to the Bridgewater Business Park in Bensalem, PA. We will be purchasing the property located at 1231 Ford Road in Bensalem for $2,000,000, and will be making nearly $400,000 in renovations to make the facility suitable for ARS operations. Our facility in Burlington provided only 6,000 sf of space, which limited our warehousing capabilities and stunted our customer outreach. We have been looking for the right location to move to for 10 years. Many other sites were scouted; however, none offered the proximity to I-95 or space for more refrigerated storage that we needed for our operation. This room to grow is important, because ARS plans to put its roots down in Bensalem for a long time to come. We look forward to the future growth that this new facility will accommodate, and we are excited to be bringing ARS jobs and revenue back “home” to Bucks County. We will purchase the 30,500 sf building at 1231 Ford Road in Bensalem and will install 10,000 sf of refrigeration space. This property’s advantageous proximity to I-95 and other arterial roadways will allow us to reach and serve more customers, and the increased refrigerated warehouse space will allow us to meet the demands of this growing customer base. With the additional space, we can bring in a larger selection of products, which can increase the size of our orders per store. This in-turn will create the need to hire additional sales people, truck drivers, and office staff. We currently have 38 employees. All of these jobs will be brought over from New Jersey, and we anticipate hiring another four employees within one year of project completion. As such, this project will create up to 42 jobs within the Bucks County Enterprise Zone within one year. 50 total jobs will be created within three years. For all jobs created, we intent to hire residents of Bucks County specifically.
• Global Affinity Inc. – Bristol Township – $500,000 – Within just a few years, Global Affinity has made great strides toward our goal of becoming the number one service center for outsourced metalworking in the northeast region. We have quickly established ourselves as an industry leader. However, our growth has been such that we currently no longer have sufficient space to safely accommodate new employees needed to meet the demand from current and prospective clients.We are grateful to have been awarded EZTCs in ’15 for our first project, which allowed Global Affinity to put its roots down in Bristol. We have outgrown that first facility and have had to purchase additional property just to maintain our workload. As we set our sights on the new facility that’s outlined in this proposal, we look forward to seeing our investment help Bristol to continue to grow with us as well. Current space allowances are rather “tight”, and we need to expand from a safety standpoint. As such, we have purchased two additional lots, which will increase our amount of usable space from 15,000 to 40,000 sf and allow us to triple our workload and hire 51 new employees. Within the next three years, this project will create between 100-125 new full-time jobs. The average wages of these jobs is $27.00 an hour, which is a family-sustaining wage for the area. Of these new jobs, we anticipate that all of them are likely to come from Bucks County (20 percent from Bristol; 80 percent from Lower Bucks County). Welders receive paid training courses locally from the Bucks County Technical School & Eastern Tech, where they have a co-op program that employees utilize to further their education and professional skillset.
• Amlo Hospitality LLC – Bensalem Township – $500,000 – We are investing $2,200,000 to purchase and improve a blighted hotel/motel at 4331 Old Lincoln Highway in Trevose, PA from neglectful previous owners, and will be rehabilitating it into a positive, revenue-generating arts hotel in Bucks County. The property was previously notorious for crime and drugs. Police and fire departments were often deployed multiple times daily. However, Amlo Hospitality started managing the property in February 2017, and immediately started making much needed cleanup and cosmetic improvements. The name was changed from the Mall Motel to the Penn Lodge Hotel and Suites, which better reflects the high level of quality that the new hotel operation provides. We created and implemented a marketing strategy which emphasizes attracting quality guests who are looking for unique lodging that leaves them feeling positive and well-rested. We currently have 32 of 46 units in operational condition. By completing the additional renovation of the remaining 14 units, we will experience increased demand, which in turn will create additional employment opportunities for housekeepers and maintenance personnel. Upon completion of the lobby, we will hire additional front office personnel which would include front desk staff, sales and marketing personnel, and revenue management. This project will create 10 jobs and retain 3 jobs. All employees receive on-the-job training. Two positions created will be full-time positions, and two more full-time positions are projected to be created later. The majority of the other jobs created will be between 25-30 hours a week. Another exciting, job creating component to our project is the food truck. The food truck will create up to 4 jobs, and we plan to work with a local vendor who will lease the truck from Amlo.
• Philabundance – Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County – $1,801,250 – Food insecurity, which is defined as a household’s lack of ability to provide enough food for a healthy and active lifestyle for all household members, can have devastating consequences on the communities that it affects. Individuals facing food insecurity are often at risk for a variety of diet-related illnesses and have to make difficult choices between food and other essential needs, such as rent. According to the latest research, there are over 500,000 food insecure individuals in our five-county service area in Pennsylvania, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia County. Philabundance meets the needs of its region by strategically distributing food through our network of 355 community agencies. Additionally, Philabundance also operates several programs targeting specific neighborhoods or clients, including Fresh for All (a free, weekly farmer’s market that distributes free, fresh food) and Kids BackPack (which distributes kid-friendly meals and fresh produce to schools where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced-cost meals). In order to support healthier habits, Philabundance prioritizes our distribution of “Foods to Encourage” that promote healthy diets, such as fresh produce and proteins, which currently account for around 75% of all the food we provide for clients. In addition to food distribution, Philabundance is also working to tackle the root causes of poverty and improve our clients’ access to other services through collaborations with organizations that offer essential services such as education, financial literacy, and housing.