BETHLEHEM, Pa. — PBS39 focuses on people experiencing homelessness and services that support them in the latest program in its “Community Conversation” series.
“A Community Conversation: The Cost of Home” brings together local officials and advocates, and features several stories on the issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDDLcPWSQZAThe hourlong program, shot partially in the field and at the Univest Public Media Center studios, is available on the PBS39 YouTube channel. It’s hosted by PBS39 Executive Producer Brittany Sweeney.
It comes in the wake of the closure of an encampment along Jordan Creek in Allentown and the scheduled shutdown of a separate encampment in Allentown and another one along the Lehigh River in Bethlehem.
“We seem to find the money for other expenses but whenever it comes to the unsheltered community, we throw up our hands and say we don’t have the money,” said Ce-Ce Gerlach, an Allentown councilwoman who was interviewed in the program. “That’s a policy decision. That’s a budget decision. That’s a moral decision that we can change.”
Among the guests are:
- Matt Tuerk, Allentown mayor;
- Adam Parrault, Allentown firefighter;
- Tiffany Henning, executive director of the River Crossing YMCA Allentown branch;
- Abigail Goldfarb, co-chair of the Allentown Commission on Homelessness and executive director of the Lehigh Conference of Churches;
- Christina DiPierro, co-chair of the Allentown Commission on Homelessness;
- Tjwana Reed, director of the Sixth Street Shelter in Allentown;
- Sara Satullo, deputy director of community development in Bethlehem;
- Anna Smith, director of Community Action Development in Bethlehem.
Tuerk said one of the challenges in the Lehigh Valley is understanding the number of people experiencing homelessness regionwide.
He said a regional approach is necessary to help bring forth solutions.
“What we really need to do is come together as a broader Lehigh Valley and do that kind of research,” he said. “The challenges associated with meeting the needs of people living without shelter are complex and myriad. We need to approach it with compassion.
“Our entire region has to work to figure this out.”
PBS39 is part of Lehigh Valley Public Media along with 91.3 WLVR radio and LehighValleyNews.com.
