CLEARFIELD – Central Pennsylvania Community Action Inc., (CPCA) has been awarded a discretionary grant of $110,000 from the Department of Community and Economic Development’s (DCED) Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) for the “Vehicle Assistance Program” (VAP).
The program will assist consumers with vehicle purchases and other related vehicle issues. The CPCA will partner with the Center for Community Action and Blair County Community Action. The grant will cover the following six counties: Centre, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Fulton, Bedford and Blair.
Vehicle problems exist throughout the counties because of their rural nature. For Centre County, the average commute time is 19 minutes and the commute time is even longer for Clearfield County at 24 minutes.
Also, the lack of affordable housing within the counties makes commuting times to and from work longer. Reliable transportation is essential to maintaining employment due to the long commute times.
The VAP program will assist individuals from low-income households struggling to hold a job due to lack of a vehicle, or other needed vehicle repairs and services.
The program will provide an allotment of up to $2,500 to help purchase a vehicle from a certified car dealership, $1,000 for larger repairs and up to $50 will be provided to perform necessary required services to keep the car running efficiently and legally (i.e. state inspections).
CPCA will also work with local banks to help secure low-interest loans for consumers and work further with consumers with poor or no credit. CPCA will also be working with the County Assistance Office and its one-time assistance grants, if the consumers have funding left and are eligible.
Grant requirements will include:
- being a low-income individual under $125 percent of poverty;
- being an individual who is currently working (must show written proof);
- being an individual with an offer of employment secured (must show written proof); and
- being an individual without any other vehicle at the home.
There will be no exceptions to any of the requirements.
CPCA has been looking forward to creating a program for quite some time. CPCA staff members feel this is a big need in local communities, in helping maintain employment and working towards self-sufficiency.
However, CPCA noted that this is one-time funding, so it will be searching for opportunities to build upon this for the future.
For more information regarding this program, please contact Bonnie Potter-Boop at either 814-342-0404 or 800-822-2610 or Susan Hawthorne, executive director, 814-404-5688.