{"id":98456,"date":"2026-01-28T02:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T02:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/98456\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T02:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T02:44:10","slug":"erie-community-foundation-awards-4-6-million-in-grants-local-ymca-aims-to-reduce-recidivism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/98456\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie Community Foundation awards $4.6 million in grants, local YMCA aims to reduce recidivism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local nonprofits rely on community support to fund their projects and services, and during the last quarter of 2025, the Erie Community Foundation<\/a> awarded $4.6 million to 734 of those nonprofits.<\/p>\n

Of that total, $3.9 million was distributed 715 nonprofits, with $346,000 awarded to 14 nonprofits through its \u201cHelping Today\u201d and $482,000 to 5 nonprofits in its \u201cShaping Tomorrow\u201d program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Shaping Tomorrow projects are really focused on ecosystem building, really encouraging organizations to work together, so we\u2019re really looking at projects that are shovel ready, and are really able to take ideas into action,\u201d said Pat Herr, Vice President of Community Impact at the Erie Community Foundation.<\/p>\n

Erie Community Foundation approves $2.7 million in grants for community projects <\/a><\/p>\n

Herr said the focus for the Shaping Tomorrow grants is to support systemic changes, rather than organizational improvements, whereas the Helping Today grants address more urgent needs.<\/p>\n

One organization receiving money through the Shaping Tomorrow program is the YMCA of Greater Erie<\/a>, which manages the Erie County Re-Entry Services and Support Alliance (ECRSSA).<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a person comes out of incarceration, think of yourself. When you get out, what do you have to do? You have to shower, some people don\u2019t have a place to shower. You grab your wallet, a lot of people don\u2019t even have an ID to grab. Then you get in your car, a lot of people don\u2019t have transportation. Where did you go? You went to work today, they don\u2019t have a job. We do all those things,\u201d said Jake Kelton, Program Director of the Erie County Re-Entry Services and Support Alliance.<\/p>\n

Kelton said the $100,500 they received will go to help people leaving incarceration with those obstacles, and they\u2019ve been servicing more people now than ever with referrals from the county, state and federal level.<\/p>\n

Funding cuts impact refugee initiatives, Erie Community Foundation lends helping hand <\/a><\/p>\n

The alliance served 396 individuals in 2024, and since starting in 2016, he said they have helped 90% or more of their clients find sustainable jobs. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all do something wrong. If I don\u2019t get caught, it doesn\u2019t mean I didn\u2019t do something wrong, but those kinds of charges can follow you for the rest of your life, and a lot of people think that just because of a felony or a misdemeanor, they can\u2019t get a job. That\u2019s just not true,\u201d said Kelton.<\/p>\n

If you would like to learn more or know someone who might benefit from the ECRSSA\u2019s services, you can head to their website here<\/a>, and Kelton said the best way is to walk into their office on 1631 Sassafras Street between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET\/WFXP\/YourErie.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local nonprofits rely on community support to fund their projects and services, and during the last quarter of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[28562,2347,136,142,138,137,48189,48190,48188],"class_list":["post-98456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-community-impact","tag-community-support","tag-erie","tag-erie-county","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-jake-kelton","tag-pat-herr","tag-support-alliance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98456","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=98456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}