Eighteen projects in Berks County have been awarded a total of nearly $2.9 million in state tax credits through the Pennsylvania Neighborhood Assistance Program.

The program encourages private sector investment in projects that will help improve distressed communities by providing tax credits of up to 95% on contributions that businesses donate to support projects that address neighborhood and community problems.

The recipients are as follows:

• $594,000 to GoggleWorks Art Park to transform distressed space into safe green space with arts, food and education opportunities for residents and visitors.

• $459,000 to Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank to remediate a blighted historic building that houses the food bank’s community kitchen and Berks County Intermediate Unit Head Start classrooms.

Helping Harvest will also receive $113,750 to purchase and distribute food to low-income residents in Berks and Schuylkill counties.

• $343,125 to Walnut Street Holdings to transform a deteriorated and underutilized downtown building into a productive mixed-use property with new storefronts, restaurant activity, housing, jobs and increased economic activity.

• $190,125 to the Reading Science Center to expand structured after-school STEM programs, providing hands-on learning, safe supervision and increased access to science enrichment.

• $178,750 to the Olivet Boys & Girls Club of Reading and Berks County to renovate their Blue Mountain Camp to expand safe, affordable, structured summer programming for low-income youth.

• $174,166 to the Habitat for Humanity of Berks County for the launch of a six-year plan to revitalize a distressed neighborhood, transforming 40 blighted buildings into affordable homes.

• $157,500 to the Reading Hospital Foundation for its Street Medicine program, which provides health care services, medication and referrals for the most vulnerable in Berks.

• $137,250 to Berks Latino Workforce Development Corporation to complete accessibility-focused building renovations and infrastructure improvements necessary to support safe, functional and accessible educational use within the facility.

• $94,500 to Camp Camino in Washington Township to launch an inclusive intellectual and developmental disability workforce program, animal therapy and farm-to-pantry food distribution at Camino Farms.

• $90,000 to the 18th Wonder Improvement Association to conduct its Green Team and 18th Ward Beautification Project to create a safer, cleaner, greener and more accessible place to live for residents.

• $90,000 to the John Paul II Center for Special Learning to purchase a customized van to ensure reliable workforce participation, transport employees with intellectual disabilities, support consistent cafe staffing and expand catering revenue.

• $60,125 for United Way of Berks County to expand its Read Alliance program, which will increase reading and early literacy proficiency rates for children in Reading.

• $42,250 to the Kutztown University Small Business Development Center to deliver free consulting, financial literacy and digital services to help entrepreneurs.

• $40,500 to Hannah’s Hope Ministries to address housing instability, poverty and underemployment by providing financial education, career mentoring, case management and transportation support for women with children.

• $39,000 to Centro Hispano Daniel Torres Center for the purchase of milk for youth and seniors served by the Feeding Families program.

• $32,500 to Boyertown Area Multi-Service for case management that connects low-income individuals in Boyertown and Pottstown to resources.

• $26,000 to Berks Encore to help seniors throughout Berks facing food insecurity, chronic disease and isolation.

• $6,500 to Alvernia University for its Jumpstart Reading program to train residents to become small-scale real estate developers focused on remediating blighted properties and revitalizing distressed neighborhoods throughout Reading and Berks.