Ciresi, Friel: Nearly $1M awarded to YWCA, Trellis for Tomorrow: State program funding will support after-school initiatives
Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus April 15, 2026 | 4:09 PM
ROYERSFORD, April 15 – The YWCA Tri-County Area was awarded a $500,000 grant to expand its intervention-centered programming outside of school time, and Trellis for Tomorrow received $460,451 for its after-school program, Project Thrive, state Reps. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery, and Paul Friel, D-Chester, announced today.
The competitive grants, approved today by the School Safety and Security Committee under the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, is part of more than $64 million awarded to organizations across the state.
According to Ciresi, the YWCA Tri-County Area will use the funds to expand its Youth Community Building and Empowerment initiative, a prevention-centered out-of-school-time program serving approximately 200 middle school youth across Montgomery, Berks and Chester counties in the Pottstown, Pottsgrove and Owen J. Roberts school districts.
Trellis for Tomorrow will expand its existing Garden Club at Pottstown School District into a structured, prevention focused after-school program serving approximately 30 middle and high school students annually. Funds will be used to support employee pay, travel for field-based learning at Trellis garden sites, and equipment needed for garden expansion, grow towers and safe tool usage.
“Helping young people thrive requires looking beyond the school day, and this funding will provide our at-risk youth with the educational, mentoring, and peer-led advocacy supports necessary to help them recognize their own value and their potential for positive change,” Ciresi said. “The empowering sense of self-worth participants develop in this program is the key to a successful and productive adulthood.
“I am grateful to PCCD for recognizing and supporting the tremendous work YWCA Tri-County Area and Trellis for Tomorrow are doing in helping to raise a new generation of southeastern Pennsylvanians.”
"Investing in after-school programs supports the safety, academic success and potential of our youth,” Friel said. “This kind of programming transforms the critical afternoon hours after 3 p.m. into a positive destination where students gain support, build confidence and engage with the community and beyond.
“It’s also refreshing to see Trellis for Tomorrow use its unique agriculture and gardening mission to help students. As we well know in Chester County, agriculture is the leading sector in our commonwealth, offering both a bounty of opportunity, and purpose and enrichment for anyone interested in it.”
Programming through the YMCA will be based at the Pottstown Integrated Wellness Complex and will connect youth from multiple school districts through bi-monthly Empowerment Sundays, evidence-based curricula, mentoring, and structured recreational activities.
Funds will partially support a Director and Manager of Youth Education & Prevention, and a Director of Recreation; employee benefits; travel for transporting youth from target counties to program sites; supplies and operating expenses such as clearances, outreach materials, program supplies, food, incentives, curriculum materials, and field trip costs; and indirect/administrative costs for fiscal management, compliance, operations, and organizational support.
The program responds to significant needs where students report high rates of school-based and community violence exposure, low feelings of safety and elevated rates of depression, self-harm and substance use, according to the funding application. Project THRIVE provides twice-weekly after-school programming, integrating experiential gardening education, social-emotional learning, mentoring, leadership training, and micro-internships.