Roundtable Report

A Message from our President and CEO Throughout 2019 and into 2020, the Scranton Area Community Foundation, in partnership with many community partners, hosted a series of issue-specific roundtables aimed at taking a deeper look at some of the challenges facing the Northeastern Pennsylvania region. The topic areas covered in this report include Food Insecurity, Animal Welfare, Reintegration from the Prison System, Community & Civic Engagement, and Housing. At the Scranton Area Community Foundation, we are proud to serve as a charitable partner, a grantmaker, and a catalyst and convener around issues that matter to our region. This roundtable report is a compilation of information gained from discussions held in 2019 and early 2020 on various topics of interest to our donors, other funders, participating organizations, and community leaders. While challenges in each of the topic areas addressed in the roundtables are discussed in this report, so are the many entry points of opportunity where participants state that additional attention and resources can make a difference. Scranton Area Community Foundation’s board of governors and staff believe that access to timely information on community challenges is critical in helping to proactively address them. We also believe that this information is of great importance in order to inform interested philanthropists on how they can also make a difference. In several cases, as you will see in this report, the Foundation has been asked to convene a collaborative or facilitate additional discussions for interested organizations and partners who want to work collaboratively in this area. We encourage this and are proud to facilitate these important regional conversations and efforts toward change. We hope that this report provides a basic blueprint for philanthropic possibilities and opportunities for the next steps forward as we work in conjunction with our generous donors, partnering foundations, and community leaders to suggest, inform, and guide regional progress. Very sincerely, Laura Ducceschi President and CEO Scranton Area Community Foundation