Scranton Area Community Foundation Awards Grants The Scranton Area Community Foundation awarded grants to The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement and The University of Scranton. The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement (TWCPCE) was recently awarded an $18,500 grant from the Scranton Area Community Foundation to support the organization’s Community Health Workers’ Patient Assistance Program in Lackawanna County. Community health workers will use the grant funds to respond to the hardships identified in social and economic determinants of health (SDOH) screenings that are administered at a patient’s first appointment with an emphasis on providing food donation bags, bus passes, and filled school backpacks for needy students who reside in Lackawanna County. “Patients will receive these items to help alleviate poverty in Lackawanna County. We will provide 74 children with backpacks filled with school supplies, making sure they have the supplies they need to learn and grow,” said Kara Seitzinger, director of public affairs for The Wright Center for Community Health. “This program will help ensure that individuals and families will not go hungry, and that reliable transportation will be available when needed.” In addition to the children’s backpacks, the organization’s goal is to provide 521 bus passes and food donation bags to 207 families and individuals. During a SDOH screening, community health workers determine if a family is experiencing financial hardship or food insecurity and transportation issues and more. In 2021, The Wright Center’s community health workers made 2,630 outreaches to patients receiving services at the Scranton practice, illustrating the dire needs of individuals who completed the SDOH screenings. Housing, food, utility, phone, health care assistance, clothing, childcare and transportation were needed, along with behavioral health and stress relief. In 2020, TWCPCE participated in food drives that fed 1,800 families. The team also distributed 1,000 school backpacks and 378 winter coats. “We provide 160 bus passes every six months per clinic and at least 10 bags of food per week to needy families,” said Amanda Vommaro, co-director of TWCPCE. “The need is growing due to the ongoing pandemic and the economic impacts of the war in Ukraine. Our community health workers will have the necessary resources to immediately respond to needs identified during social and economic determinants of health screenings, thanks to the resources provided by the generosity of the Scranton Area Community Foundation.” TWCPCE’s mission is to improve the health of the community through education, advocacy, patient-centered services and efforts directed toward the SDOH. Its 18-member board, comprised of Wright Center for Community Health patients and area professionals, is passionate about helping the less fortunate in the service area, including those experiencing homelessness, poverty, food insecurity, social isolation or other hardships and encompasses people of all ethnic/racial backgrounds and ages. The University of Scranton received an $11,000 Community Needs grant from the Scranton Area Community Foundation to support a program that helps teens and young adults who are living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Northeastern Pennsylvania achieve their employment aspirations. The free program, called the Job Club, will be offered each semester on campus by the University’s Rehabilitation Counseling faculty and graduate students. Through the program, motivated teens, who are age 16 or older, and young adults with ASD will develop the necessary technical and soft skills to prepare them to secure meaningful employment. Learning modules include skill development in a variety of related topics and activities, such as setting employment goals, creating resumes, employment soft skills, completing applications, practicing interviewing skills, understanding/starting the job-hunting process and what to expect on your first day of work. The program will be customized to participants to meet their individual needs.
Saint Joseph’s Center Summer Festival The 2022 Saint Joseph’s Center Summer Festival includes the WNEP Telethon and Go Joe Ride Along. The Summer Festival will return to the Festival Grounds at Marywood University on Friday, July 29 from 4—10 p.m., Saturday, July 30 from 4—10 p.m. and Sunday, July 31 from Noon to 7 p.m. We are happy to announce that this is the 25th Anniversary of the Go Joe Bike Ride! We are forever grateful to Joe Snedeker and WNEP for all the miles, friendships and great memories thanks to the Go Joe Bike Ride. Joe has pedaled hundreds of miles, within and beyond WNEP’s viewing area to raise critical funds for important resources for individuals and families served by Saint Joseph’s Center. In conjunction with Go Joe 25, this will be the third year for the Go Joe Ride Along that invites all interested cyclists, beginners and experienced, to do their part for Saint Joe’s. This year’s Ride Along will feature many family friendly events sponsored by the Borough of Dunmore and Lackawanna County. There are also many indoor, independent and open cycling events to sign up for. WNEP will host the annual Telethon on Friday, July 29th and Saturday, July 30th, 2022 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm on the Festival Grounds at Marywood University. Viewers can tune in to watch WNEP-TV 16 and learn more about the positive ways that Saint Joseph’s Center is impacting the community. Tickets for the Summer Festival Cash Raffle with a prize of $10,000 will be sold for $50 each. Chances on other monetary prizes can be mailed to those interested.
Epic Revenue Consultants Offers Chamber Members Discount at NYC Hotel Epic Revenue Consultants is happy to offer Scranton Chamber members a discount at Iberostar 70 Park Ave, NYC. Chamber members will receive up to 20% off the rate by using code “Scranton Chamber of Commerce Rate” when making reservations. Reservations can be made by calling 212-973-2400 or at the link below. Additional benefits include: Complimentary WifiComplimentary fitness centerRobe and slippersEvening turndown serviceComplimentary upgrade, based on availabilityFacility fee waived (normally $25 per room per night) Make Reservations
FNCB Bank Announces Scholarship Winners FNCB Bank, locally based since 1910, is pleased to announce the winners of the FNCB Bank Foundation merit scholarship awards for the 2022-2023 academic year. Overall, the foundation awarded $1,000 scholarships to three area high school seniors based on their academic excellence, community and school involvement, and citizenship. This year’s winners are Tanisi Patel of Crestwood High School, Baylor Lounsbery of Abington Heights High School, and Samantha Quinn of Wyoming Seminary. Ms. Patel will be attending Villanova University, Ms. Lounsbery will be attending the University of California Santa Cruz and Ms. Quinn will be attending the University of Pittsburgh. “We applaud these exemplary young adults on their achievements and want to congratulate them on being selected as winners of this year’s FNCB Bank Scholarship award,” said Michael Cummings, FNCB Bank Senior Vice President, Marketing Manager and Foundation Chairman. “We wish them success in their future academic and professional pursuits.” For more information on the FNCB Bank Foundation Scholarship program, please visit www.fncb.com/scholarship.
The Children’s Advocacy Center is Raising Awareness of Red Sand Project On Friday, July 29, the Children’s Advocacy Center of NEPA (CAC/NEPA) will be creating a sidewalk art installation outside of its Mulberry Center location in support of the Red Sand Project. The installation is designed to raise awareness of human trafficking that happens domestically and across the globe. The event, located at 1630 Mulberry St., Scranton, PA at 1pm will be free and open to the public, and attendees will be able to help spread the Red Sand Project’s iconic red sand throughout sidewalk and walkway paths. Attendees in the process will also learn facts about modern human trafficking and actively aid in the conversation to stop it by creating a unique piece of art. The Red Sand Project was founded in 2014 by Molly Gochman to increase public awareness and engagement in finding a solution to contemporary slavery. The organization uses a symbolic approach of spreading red sand in and around sidewalk cracks, representing those individuals who fall through the cracks of our society. (CAC/NEPA) will also leave a basket of the remaining packets of sand in front of the main center building 1710 Mulberry for anyone who wishes to take sand and add to the sidewalk art at a later date. Since 1998, the Children’s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania has helped more than 18,000 children and adolescents by effectively assessing and treating child abuse and neglect. Often experiencing shame and guilt, these children undeniably need the special treatment they receive at CAC/NEPA to repair their broken childhood…and keep it from having a lasting effect on their adulthood. Now in existence for over twenty years, CAC/NEPA continues to strive to expand its services for child and teen victims of abuse in our region, including Forensic Medical Examinations and Assessments, Forensic Interviews, Trauma Therapy, Counseling Coordination, Child Advocacy Services, and Child Abuse Prevention Education. If you have any further questions about the event, please contact the CAC/NEPA through the information below.
University of Scranton to Offer First Ph.D. Degree The University of Scranton’s Board of Trustees have approved the change of the doctoral business administration degree to a Ph.D. in Accounting degree beginning with the 2022-2023 academic year. The curriculum and degree requirements will remain the same. This is the first Ph.D. degree to be offered at Scranton. The business doctoral degree, which the University began in 2017 and graduated its first cohort of students in 2021, has already been internationally recognized when in 2019 the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) listed the program among the “Innovations and Best Practices in Canada, Latin America and the United States.” The program was recognized for providing a non-traditional research doctoral degree in accounting that “promotes diversity and practice relevance by providing a flexible path for experienced practitioners to gain the knowledge and credentials required to succeed in tenure-track positions at AACSB-accredited institutions.” “The doctoral program was developed in direct response to calls made by the Pathways Commission to transform experienced accounting professionals into exceptional academics and teachers capable of producing original-practice relevant research grounded in the ethical foundation of Scranton’s Jesuit identity,” said Douglas M. Boyle, D.B.A., C.P.A., C.M.A., professor and chair of the University’s Accounting Department and Ph.D. program director “As co-chair of the Implementation Phase of Pathways, the Accounting Ph.D. at The University of Scranton is exactly what we hope institutions would strive to create,” said Mark Higgins, Ph.D., Dean of the Kania School of Management. “We wanted institutions to create terminal degrees that align with an institutions mission and this program does that by incorporating Jesuit values and producing graduates that are capable of publishing in relevant practiced based research in quality journals.” The first and second cohorts of doctoral graduates and faculty have already co-authored and published more than 20 manuscripts in internationally recognized refereed journals with six of the publications winning awards from the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), including two Lybrand Competition Medals and the Curtis C. Verschoor Ethics Article of the Year. Gregory Kogan ’22 and Joy Chacko ’21 were awarded the Institute of Internal Auditors Michael J. Barrett Doctoral Dissertation Award for their respective years. Scranton’s accounting professors in the program have received numerous awards for teaching and have also been recognized internationally for their research. The 2021 Brigham Young University Accounting Report Update, which annually ranks accounting programs and faculty throughout the world based on their success in publishing in top-tier accounting journals, placed the Accounting Department at The University of Scranton as the fourth most prolific department in the world for accounting education research (excluding cases) over the most recent six-year period. The department was also ranked internationally for all methods, audit and experimental accounting research. With respect to authorships of individual accounting faculty in the area of accounting education reported in the 2021 Update: Dr. Douglas Boyle, was ranked No. 7; and James F. Boyle, D.B.A., C.P.A., associate professor and director of the MAcc program, and Brian W. Carpenter, Ph.D., professor, ranked No. 18 (tied). The doctoral program, housed in the University’s Kania School of Management, also engages renowned scholars from other institutions to advise and serve on dissertation committees. These esteemed faculty members include George W. Krull, Jr., Ph.D., external global strategic advisor for the doctoral program, Dr. Krull served as a partner in the executive office of Grant Thornton LLP and was the firm’s chief learning officer. He has served as an executive-in-residence and professor of accounting at Bradley University where he was awarded emeritus status in 2011. During his distinguished career, Dr. Krull has served with the American Accounting Association (AAA), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pathways Commission. He was a member of the AACSB International’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Accreditation Quality and has served four terms on the AACSB’s Accounting Accreditation Committee. In 2014, Dr. Krull was recognized as one of one hundred distinguished graduates of Spears School at Oklahoma State during its centennial anniversary celebration, and in 2015 he was inducted into the Spears School Hall of Fame. In 2016, he received the American Accounting Association Outstanding Service AwarStudents currently enrolled in the program and students entering the program for fall 2023 will receive a Ph.D. degree. Students currently enrolled in the program and students entering the program for fall 2023 will receive a Ph.D. degree. For additional information about Scranton’s first Ph.D. program, visit the program’s webpage or contact the Accounting Department at the University at 570-941-4047 or Caitlyn Hollingshead.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners Invests in IGNITE Client The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s (BFTP_NEPA) board of directors has approved the investment of $252,500 in support of regional economic development. Five companies from BFTP_NEPA’s 21-county service area received funding. Investments identified as a continuation project indicates that the client achieved pre-determined milestones and is receiving more funding to accomplish additional project work. BFTP_NEPA announced the early-stage company investment of the GUIDE, IGNITE client of The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. GUIDE, Scranton Enterprise Center, Scranton, Lackawanna County Ben Franklin Investment: $100,000 Complete the development of a new version of GUIDE’s mobile application and commercialize the app to organizations including mid-sized corporations, first responders, and veteran groups. GUIDE provides a wellness and mental health Software-as-a-Service mobile app. The app combines daily, micro-learning practices with a peer support community to improve mental and emotional well-being and provide personal, professional, and community development.
