EASTON, Pa. – Northampton County Council approved a plan to utilize 2026 federal housing and community development funds Thursday night at the county building.
The “Annual Action Plan for Fiscal Year 2026” outlines how to allocate the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership Grant and Emergency Solutions Grant.
Initially, the CDBG funding amount totaled more than $2.2 million, while HOME funds registered at $660,000 and ESG funds were at $198,000.
A closer examination shows about $200,000 would be allocated to various service agencies, while about $765,000 will go to various municipalities for construction projects such as road, restroom and stormwater management.
ArtsQuest seeks funding
County Council approved a resolution to seek funding on behalf of ArtsQuest.
The nonprofit group is seeking $350,000 from the Main Street Matters program grant. Should it receive the funding, ArtsQuest would “transform plaza spaces adjacent to the 150-year-old Bethlehem Steel Turn and Grind Shop and the Bethlehem’s Visitor’s Center into a multipurpose hub for public exhibitions and festivals.”
This includes Musikfest and Christkindlmarkt festivals.
Farmers market
The legislative body approved a measure promoting a pilot program to benefit senior citizens.
The bill encourages the Northampton County Area Agency on Aging to pursue a program with LANTA to utilize paratransit vans to shuttle individuals from Northampton County Senior Centers to producer-only farmers markets.
Artificial intelligence
Councilmember Jeff Warren provided a report on his recent excursion to the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania’s summer and annual conference. His comments involved the association’s technology committee discussions on artificial intelligence.
“This ridiculously fast-moving technology is affecting counties, and it will affect counties from an adverse situation down the road,” Warren said.
He indicated that during the committee discussion, Berks County officials said about 300,000 AI-based right-to-know request prompts had been filed.
“This is something we’re going to have to deal with down the road,” Warren said. “We are living in a crazy world of AI…It was a sobering discussion.”