![\"Agriculture](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/vilello_2-1-1024x552.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Agriculture](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/vilello_1-1024x551.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Reading, PA \u2013\u00a0Today,\u00a0Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Deputy Secretary Rick Vilello\u00a0highlighted the Shapiro Administration\u2019s $459,000 investment in the\u00a0Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0community kitchen in Reading, which will provide culinary training for individuals who are leaving incarceration, rehabilitation facilities, or are otherwise in need of job skills.<\/p>\n The community kitchen will also create frozen heat-and-eat ready meals to be distributed to people in need of food assistance and will also accept bulk food donations. Additional non-profit partners, the Reading Science Center and the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, will maintain space in the building after renovation.<\/p>\n The $459,000 investment in the project is through DCED\u2019s\u00a0Neighborhood Assistance Program<\/a>\u00a0(NAP), which provides tax credits to businesses that contribute to nonprofit organizations\u2019 efforts to revitalize communities across the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n \u201cHelping Harvest\u2019s community kitchen is a shining example of how Pennsylvania\u2019s agriculture fuels not only our economy but also strengthens our communities,\u201d said\u00a0Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. \u201cBy transforming fresh farm products into nutritious meals and providing hands-on culinary training, this project addresses food insecurity while opening doors to meaningful career opportunities. It reflects the power of partnership between agriculture, workforce development, and social services to build stronger, more resilient futures for Pennsylvanians who need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis new community kitchen will do incredible work to provide new job skills training and help those in need of food assistance,\u201d said\u00a0Deputy Secretary Vilello. \u201cThe Neighborhood Assistance Program plays an invaluable role in bringing together the private and non-profit sector to encourage businesses to invest in their communities. Contributions and support through this program have lasting impacts on people\u2019s lives and help strengthen our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Governor Josh Shapiro\u2019s enacted bipartisan 2024-25 budget doubled the funding for the NAP from $36 million to $72 million, allowing for two rounds of awards. The first round, including the $459,000 for Helping Harvest, was\u00a0announced in September 2024<\/a>\u00a0and the second round was\u00a0announced in January 2025<\/a>. The positive impact of the expanded program across the Commonwealth is why Governor Shapiro is again funding NAP at $72 million in his\u00a02025-26 proposed budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was an ambitious project from the start, and every day I walk into work absolutely amazed that we pulled it off. The reality is even better than anything I could have ever imagined, and I know this kitchen will have a positive impact on our community for years to come,\u201d said\u00a0Jay Worrall, President, Helping Harvest. \u201cOf course it didn\u2019t happen in a vacuum, and we wouldn\u2019t be in this beautiful new facility without the support of so many people who are in attendance today, and countless others.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The program has five main components: The Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP), Special Program Priorities (SPP), the Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP), Charitable Food Program (CFP), and the\u00a0Enterprise Zone Program (EZP).<\/a>\u00a0More information is available on the\u00a0NAP impact brochure<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to the $72 million for the Neighborhood Assistance Program in\u00a0Governor Shapiro\u2019s\u00a0proposed 2025-26 budget<\/a>, the proposal also further focuses on implementing\u00a0Pennsylvania\u2019s Economic Development Strategy<\/a>\u00a0to strengthen communities and make the Commonwealth a leader in job creation, innovation, and economic development.<\/p>\n The Governor\u2019s budget proposal also includes:<\/p>\n \t$12.5 million\u00a0dedicated to WEDnetPA to expand our workforce and close critical workforce gaps For more information about the Department of Community & Economic Development, visit the DCED website<\/a>, and be sure to stay up-to-date with all of our agency news on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a>, and LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n # # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Berks County program\u00a0supported by DCED, will provide culinary training to community members needing new job skills\u00a0and meals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2417,2418,2419,128,130,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-2767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-dced-funding","9":"tag-nap","10":"tag-neighborhood-assistance-program","11":"tag-reading-city","12":"tag-reading-city-headlines","13":"tag-reading-city-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n \t$2 million\u00a0for the creation of Career Connect to build internships at Pennsylvania companies
\n \t$10 million\u00a0for AdvancePA tax credits to create high quality jobs across PA
\n \t$3 million\u00a0to the Marketing to Attract Business program, which supports programs targeting business attraction, retention, and marketing initiatives
\n \tExpediting the\u00a0Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT)\u00a0cuts by two years, reducing the current tax rate each year by 0.75 percent<\/p>\n