Today, the Bucks County Housing Group has become one of the strongest advocates for the county's working poor. Gairo, a Newtown Borough resident, is the group's executive director. The group recently moved its headquarters from Richardson Avenue in Langhorne to 2324 Second Street Pike, Suite 17, in Wrightstown.
The group has an annual operating budget of $1.6 million. It operates shelters in Penndel, Morrisville and Doylestown. Its food pantry at the Penndel shelter serves 750 families annually. The group also sponsors educational programs for needy families, including job training, drug and alcohol counseling, assistance to first-time home buyers and other programs serving and additional 515 families, according to development coordinator Lorraine Bender.
She estimates that at any given moment there are 1,000 people in Bucks County who are in need of the agency's assistance. "The key element to our program is the education and training we make accessible," she said. "A lot of our clients come to us with minimal educational background. They are referred to our rigorous 60-90 day program through the Red Cross (in Langhorne) or A Women's Place (in Doylestown)."
Clients are assigned a caseworker who helps them design a goal plan. "The case manager assesses their education, employability, their strengths and weaknesses, and they begin to work on those things," she explained. The group also provides rent subsidies for those in need of educational training. "We subsidize rent so they can go to school, meanwhile meeting regularly with a case manager to help work out child care or transportation issues," Bender said. Community participation is one of the strengths of the organization.
Article by Michael Moree of the Courier Times.
BUCKS COUNTY HOUSING GROUP CALL: Lower Bucks, 750-4310, 750-4341; Upper Bucks, 345-4311.
Bucks County Housing Group Web Site
