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Upcoming Events
Mar
20
March 2011:30 am – 01:00 pm
Community Forum Program | The Future Of Emergency Medical Services In Berks County
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are provided in response to serious illnesses, injuries and accidents, including stabilization and transportation to a healthcare facility. A recent study commissioned by the Center for Excellence in Local Government at Albright College identified a series of challenges facing EMS providers across the state and within Berks County. These challenges include staffing shortages, funding limitations, and the growing demand for services due to an aging population. Over the past decade, more than ten service providers have ceased operating. In 2023 alone, two EMS services in Berks County ceased operations and several others struggle to provide services. Currently, 15 of the county’s 17 EMS providers are providing services outside of the territory that they were created to serve. The Center for Local Government Excellence will participate in the community forum on March 20th to share findings and offer possible solutions to the following questions: What is causing these challenges? What does it mean for patients in Berks County? What could be done to help resolve these issues?
Via Zoom
Feb
20
February 2011:30 am – 01:00 pm
Community Forum Program | City Revitalization And Improvement Zone Program
This event is now sold out. The program will be recorded. If you’d like to receive the recording, please click the button to provide your contact information.Reading is one of two cities in Pennsylvania recently approved for a City Revitalization and Improvement Zone (CRIZ) designation. The other city is Erie. Reading has created a CRIZ Authority to help manage this effort. The CRIZ program allows cities to designate up to 130 acres of properties as part of the improvement zone. The program enables the city to reinvest state and local taxes collected within the zone into economic development projects within the zone boundaries, paving the way for a stronger and more vibrant community. Similar to a tax incremental financing program (TIF), it is structured to protect the existing tax base while providing funding derived from tax revenues from new economic development within the zone. Reading has designated 128.8 acres as the Reading CRIZ zone. These include properties in the area near Canal Street, the Penn Street Corridor and the corridor along Washington Street. It also includes three other properties in the city that have been targets for redevelopment: the Dana Property, the Glidden Property and the Penn Optical Property. The CRIZ program had been dormant for nearly a decade, before Erie and Reading received the designation. Previously, the cities of Lancaster, Bethlehem and Tamaqua were designated as CRIZ communities. In 2023, nearly $15 million was returned to these communities.
435 Court Street, Reading, PA 19601
Christ Episcopal Church
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