The "jobless recovery" trumpeted in the headlines sounds sort of promising.
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However, said Samuel J. Bressi, president and CEO of the Lancaster County Community Foundation, "In the street, it's not so good."
That's why the foundation is proceeding this month with step two of its $563,000 Family Aid initiative.
The latest round of short-term investments is designed to speed help to about 6,000 people battered by recessionary wage or job loss.
Local charities competed for grants totaling $313,000.
More than 75 volunteers helped the Community Foundation assess the applications, said Shanon Solava-Reid, vice president of programs.
The award recipients are: Tabor Community Services, Community Action Program, YWCA of Lancaster, Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, Lancaster Day Care Center and SouthEast Lancaster Health Services.
Awards were announced during a recent check presentation at SouthEast Lancaster Health Services, 625 S. Duke St.
Because collaboration among charities is growing, advocates expect the helping hand to extend to agencies throughout the community.
The 85-year-old community foundation is better known for funding arts initiatives and long-range community-betterment projects. But, said Bressi, over the past year, the foundation recognized "the greatest [human] need we've seen in years."
It broke with tradition in March by committing $250,000 to four human-services nonprofits, CAP, Tabor, the Lancaster County Council on Churches and Water Street Ministries.
Second-phase money is being targeted to support health care, day care, rental and mortgage assistance and food distribution.
All of these are connected, Bressi explained.
If you can't pay someone to watch your children, you have less chance of finding a job. If you're not working, you might be unable to afford food, shelter and visits to the doctor.
"As [the problem] cascades, Bressi said, "it gets more expensive to fix."
The cycle of poverty and homelessness is claiming thousands of first-time victims here.
Food banks are serving 35 to 50 percent more clients in recent months, according to information compiled by the foundation. SELHS saw 760 new patients — a five percent increase in health service requests — in the past six months.
The big increase is from the suburbs, according to Jim Kelly, executive director, and Dan Jurman, director of development.
They noted that the number of SELHS clients from Lititz, for example, bounded from 112 to more than 240 in one year.
Tabor registered a 22 percent spike in appeals from June 2008 to March 2009.
The Lancaster Day Care Center found in a recent survey that 31 percent of respondents had lost their jobs while another 19 percent had taken lower-paying positions.
CAP clients numbered 9,000 per month just one year ago, said Jeffrey R. Wibberley, director of special programs. In partnership with 30 food pantries countywide, the food distribution organization is now providing meals to 16,000.
"This problem is growing daily," said Wibberley.
The county is an agriculture powerhouse. "Yet," he added, "we have 60,000 people who don't have a secure, reliable source of nourishing food."
Maureen Powers, executive director of the YWCA, said many families can no longer pay to send their children to day care.
People are desperate, said Nina Moragne, director of development for the Lancaster Day Care Center.
"They're emotional, they're distraught, they're coming to us in tears."
Local families are waiting up to nine months for state child care subsidies, according to day care providers.
"You'd be amazed at the goodness this [Family Aid] money is going to do," Moragne said.
The YWCA serves 300 children a day, the Lancaster Day Care Center, 102.
Tabor helps out about 4,000 people a year, including, now, white-collar clients who have never before entered the welfare system.
Financial responsibility counseling is what they need, President Robert Thomas said — and a roof over their heads.
Toward those ends, the community foundation is giving Tabor $50,000 to build a microloan fund and an $18,000 match to help the group access $528,341 in Federal Rapid Re-Housing Demonstration Project funds.
"Our objective is to get this money into the hands of clients as quickly as possible," Thomas said, but there are strings attached.
Recipients are required to pay back the loans, Thomas added. "The advantage of a loan fund is we can continue to recycle the money."
Family Aid funding represents 20 percent of the community foundation budget, according to Bressi, who encouraged resource providers and potential donors to contact the organization.
The community is still benefiting from contributions made in the 1920s and 1930s, Bressi said.
But now, he said, "the need far outweighs the resources we're able to provide."
Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.
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