2024-2025 Level Up & Launch Grant Fellows Info:

Economic Mobility

Lancaster County Food Hub ($25,000): The LCFH Welcome Place Street Outreach Team provides access to the enhanced needs of street homeless individuals through a relational, human-centered approach. Logging 39,000 outreach hours in 2023 and a surge in demand for services, workers continue to partner with other Lancaster City Outreach Partners to promote equitable access to services.

Pennsylvania Furniture Mission ($50,000): The Pennsylvania Furniture Mission (PFM) creates warm, welcoming and fully furnished homes for individuals experiencing economic hardship or transitioning out of homelessness. With the award, they will create additional job opportunities, focusing on those with barriers to employment, and create hands-on educational experiences for Columbia High School students.

ASSETS Lancaster ($34,500): The Community Lending program promotes equitable access to capital for BIPOC, female and low-to-moderate income (LMI) entrepreneurs. Loan recipients receive long-term financial and educational support, offering businesses a way to fuel their growth while rewarding them for fueling the growth of their community.

Lancaster EMS ($20,000): EMT academy is an intensive three-month program designed to train and certify aspiring Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). The program offers a unique “earning while learning” approach, where eligible candidates are paid from the onset, providing them with both education and employment opportunities simultaneously. 

Ephrata Area Social Services ($23,500): The grant award supports growth within Community Support Services at EASS to include workforce and employment services. Key components of these additions include education on one-on-one job searching, interview skills, developing plans to find permanent employment, and direct support throughout the application process.

Health

CASA of Lancaster & Lebanon Counties ($10,000): The best-interest advocacy program serves youth who are in foster care because of abuse and neglect. CASA aims to recruit and train 30 new court-appointed special advocate volunteers, who play an important role in advancing the health and wellbeing of the children with the potential of expanding services to 45 additional youth.

Parish Resource Center ($15,000): The Take-Home Totes program connects social workers with resources to sustain their clients between identifying a patient’s need for food and connecting them with a long-term service. Funds also support their Food Delivery Initiative, which provides food boxes to those unable to access long-term food resources.

Arch Street Center ($10,000): The Healthy Eating Food Program provides restaurant quality meals to over 300 members daily. Membership is rising, reflecting the increasing numbers of individuals who lack access to healthy and nutritious food. Funds support hiring of additional staff, new kitchen equipment, and expansion of the program’s network of food suppliers.

Education

Homefields ($22,000): The Agricultural Workforce Training Program is designed for high school students with direct support needs and provides hands-on learning experience to at least 40 youth across 4 school districts over the school year. Grant funds support staffing, curriculum development, and direct costs for farm safety, maintenance, and educational resources.

The Common Wheel ($10,000): The purchase of a Sprinter Van brings the Earn-a-Bike program on the road, offering the enrichment program in a newly structured 5-hour class to youth outside of Lancaster City. The program teaches youth STEM skills through bike maintenance and safe riding skills, and upon completion, provides them with the bike they worked on, a helmet, lock, and light.

Bright Side Opportunities Center ($30,000): Sismantle {Tech} is tailored for high school-aged girls, focused on building support and instilling a skillset to dismantle barriers women face in the tech industry. Through collaboration with Elizabethtown College, the 6-week summer intensive empowers scholars with the skills needed to get a job in computer science and includes the opportunity to earn a CompTIA Security+ certification.