{"id":293049,"date":"2026-09-24T15:38:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T15:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/293049\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T15:38:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T15:38:40","slug":"greater-berks-development-fund-secures-grant-funding-for-three-organizations-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/293049\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Berks Development Fund secures grant funding for three organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Greater Berks Development Fund, an affiliate of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance, recently announced it has helped secure nearly $1.6 million in Local Share Account-Statewide grant funding for three area organizations.<\/p>\n

The Greater Berks Development Fund was the successful applicant for $800,000 to Friend Inc. Community Services, Kutztown; $688,709 to Schuylkill River Greenways, Pottstown; and $104,328 to Opportunity House, Reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe award of the LSA grants will provide significant assistance for three important projects in Berks County,\u201d Kayla Hayick, GRCA\u2019s director of lending and business outreach, said in a statement. \u201cGBDF will continue to facilitate funding for organizations that are undertaking projects that strengthen our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Greater Berks Development Fund is the Certified Economic Development Organization in Berks County and can facilitate applications for LSA funding as well as other Department of Community and Economic Development programs, according to a press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply appreciative for the LSA funding that will allow us to bring to life the next phase of our community focused facility. This next phase will see the addition of service-based agencies having a home in rural northeast Berks County along with a training\/workshop room and a teaching kitchen,\u201d Jim Reece, executive director of Friend Inc., said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In April 2025, Friend Inc. purchased a new permanent site<\/a> \u2014 an 8,500-square-foot building at 60 Bieber Alley in Kutztown for $450,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cFriend Inc. Community Services has created programs and access to a variety of community needs for over 40 years. This LSA investment allows for that to continue for many more years to come,\u201d Reece added.<\/p>\n

\"SchuylkillSchuylkill River Greenways<\/p>\n

Kent Himelright, trails director for Schuylkill River Greenways, said the grant funding will help make much needed trail improvements, adding that the LSA will be used to develop the Schuylkill River Trail along Reading\u2019s Riverfront.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investment allows SRG and the City of Reading to begin making much needed trail and safety improvements to over a mile of trail that connects local and regional trail users to Reading\u2019s downtown district,\u201d Himelright said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"Logo<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Opportunity House<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Opportunity House)<\/p>\n

Opportunity House CEO Alyssa Bushkie said the LSA funding will be used to replace the roof on the organization\u2019s main campus building in Reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cAddressing homelessness requires not only investing in programs but also preserving the places where that work happens. Opportunity House\u2019s main campus is a critical community resource, providing shelter, stability and support to people experiencing homelessness every day,\u201d Bushkie said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Greater Berks Development Fund, an affiliate of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance, recently announced it has helped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,60,6652,182,200,28,15794,736,128,130,129,1015],"class_list":["post-293049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-business","tag-kutztown","tag-local-news","tag-montgomery-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pottstown","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-mer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293049","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=293049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}