Originally Published in Reading Eagle
By David Mekeel

U.S. Rep Chrissy Houlahan was bordering on giddy as she arrived at a construction site in the center of the Oakbrook Homes in Reading on Friday afternoon.

The last time she was there was about a year ago, touring the site on a cold, blustery day. This time around the weather was bright and warm, much like the smile the Chester County Democrat wore on her face.

“I’m so excited to see,” she said after being told that a lot has happened there since her last stop.

Houlahan is heavily invested in the project — the creation of an education center and neighborhood resource center. She has been able to secure a total of more than $2.65 million in federal funding for them through the Community Project Funding program.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan tours the Steven E. Belinski Family Services Complex with officials from the Opportunity House and from the Reading Housing Authority on Friday in Oakbrook. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

The program allows each of the country’s 435 House members to nominate up to 15 projects for federal funding. This is the third year the program has been included in the federal budget.

And the projects at Oakbrook are exactly the kind that Houlahan said she’s happy the federal government can help with.

“It really makes my heart sing,” she said. “All of the resources that will be here for this community aren’t readily available to them.”

The two new centers will provide education, job training, assistance with food insecurity and a host of other services to the 1,600 people living in the Oakbrook homes.

The education center, which has been under construction for about a year and is scheduled to open its doors in April, will serve 67 local kids. It will be operated by Opportunity House, modeled after the organization’s successful Second Street Learning Center.

“We’re really focused on high-quality early learning,” Alyssa Bushkie, Opportunity House’s chief operating officer, said. “High-quality child care is a huge need in Reading and Berks County. People need a place to send their kids where they can be safe and cared for, but also immersed in high-quality programming.”

The education center will feature about 8,000 square feet of space stretched out over three floors. Houlahan was able to secure just over $1.9 million for the about $3 million project.

Sitting just beside the future learning center along the 500 block of McClellan Street is a nearly complete, 7,500-square-foot neighborhood resource center.

Stacey Keppen, president and chief executive officer of the Reading Housing Authority, said the new center will provide a variety of services and resources for families living in the 530 homes at Oakbrook.

There will be two multipurpose rooms where educational and job readiness programs will be held. There will be space for social service agencies, an on-site case worker, a private grocery store, a food pantry supplied by Helping Harvest and a business resource center.

Keppen said the idea behind the resource center is to provide residents with the tools they need to get out of public housing. She said that, too often, people enter public housing but never find themselves with the skills and finances to move out.

“First and foremost, we want to help people move through public housing and into affordable housing and economic self sufficiency,” she said.

Houlahan has been able to secure $750,000 in federal funding for the more than $5.5 million project. The rest of the funding has been raised through various federal, state, county and city sources.

“It has been quite an undertaking putting it all together,” Keppen said.

The resource center is expected to open in late October or early November.