Neighborhood News

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners approved $826,000 in federal funding to support youth summer camps in 2025, enabling six providers to serve nearly 630 children with enriching summer activities. This investment aims to expand access to structured, community-focused programming for local youth throughout the summer months.

Community West Foundation has awarded over $1 million in grants to nonprofit organizations serving Lorain County, as part of its broader funding across Cleveland, Western Cuyahoga, and Lorain counties to support community-focused programs. These grants will help strengthen services and resources provided by local nonprofits working to meet needs across the region.

Neighborhood Alliance has been awarded a Community Challenge grant from AARP Ohio as part of the 2025 AARP Community Challenge program, recognizing local projects that improve livability for residents of all ages. The funding will support Neighborhood Alliance’s efforts to provide disaster preparedness kits and training to vulnerable populations in Lorain County.

Leadership Lorain County held its 22nd annual Difference Makers gala, where community members gathered to honor local leaders for their impactful work and vision in improving Lorain County. The event celebrated individuals whose leadership and service have made meaningful contributions to the region.

A local chef is set to defend their title at the annual Spork Off fundraiser, a lively culinary competition benefiting Neighborhood Alliance and its programs serving the Lorain County community. The event brings together area chefs, supporters, and community members for an evening of friendly competition while raising critical funds to support food access and other essential services

Mark your calendars for April 22 — it’s the Giving Day for Neighborhood Alliance’s Family Promise program, a 24-hour online campaign aimed at raising awareness and funds to support families at risk of or experiencing homelessness in Lorain County. This annual effort helps strengthen critical resources and bring stability to families in need throughout our community.

The city of Lorain approved funding to add 25 emergency shelter beds during periods of extreme weather by covering the cost of additional staff needed at Neighborhood Alliance’s Haven Center and Catholic Charities’ St. Elizabeth Center to keep the expanded space open. This measure aims to ensure people experiencing homelessness have safe, warm shelter available during dangerously cold conditions.

Neighborhood Alliance has added Rock ‘N’ Read as a partner program to extend its community services, teaming with the nonprofit that provides baskets of books and handcrafted rocking chairs to new mothers and young children in Lorain County. The collaboration aims to encourage early childhood reading and support families with young kids throughout the area.

Volunteers and outreach workers in Lorain County participated in the annual Point-in-Time census, an effort to count the area’s homeless population by visiting known encampments and locations where people experiencing homelessness may be staying. The count helps local service providers and planners better understand the scope of homelessness so they can direct resources and support where it’s most needed.

Neighborhood Alliance is raising funds to renovate three facilities across Lorain County to better serve individuals and families in need. The upgrades will expand space for shelter, senior meals, childcare, and other critical community services.

The third annual Heroes for Children luncheon hosted by Blessing House celebrated 21 individuals and groups from Lorain County who are making a positive impact in the lives of local children. The event honored community champions working to support, protect, and uplift kids across the area.

The Haven Center in Lorain received a donation of 1,200 pairs of socks from the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority to help support people experiencing homelessness in the community. The donation will be distributed through the Community West Foundation’s outreach efforts to provide essential clothing to those in need.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Elyria donated $50,000 to support the Neighborhood Alliance Community Hub project, contributing to the nonprofit’s efforts to renovate and expand its community services facilities. The gift is part of Neighborhood Alliance’s broader campaign to enhance local programming and space for residents in need.

The Haven Center is hosting a virtual housewarming event to celebrate its newly renovated shelter space, which transitions residents from dormitory-style rooms into private living units with individual bathrooms. The online gathering gives community members a chance to tour the updated facility and learn more about its expanded services for people experiencing homelessness.

Neighborhood Alliance has eliminated the waiting list for its home-delivered meal program for seniors by expanding capacity through the new Neighborhood Nutrition Kitchen, allowing the nonprofit to serve more older adults throughout Lorain County without delays. The increased meal production space will help Neighborhood Alliance provide more nutritious meals and meet growing demand from homebound residents.

Early Childhood Intervention staff joined volunteers to clean up Lakeview Park South ahead of a ribbon-cutting for a new playground, helping prepare the space for its official community celebration. The playground project received around $50,000 in funding split between early childhood intervention and the Children and Family First Council to support play opportunities in the park.

Neighborhood Alliance marked the official opening of the Ben and Jane Norton Center, a renovated facility that expands space for shelter services, community programming, and support for people experiencing homelessness in Lorain County. The celebration highlighted the organization’s ongoing efforts to better serve vulnerable residents and strengthen local resources.

Neighborhood Alliance completed a $3.2 million expansion of the Haven Center Emergency Shelter in Lorain County, creating larger, more family-friendly rooms and additional space to better support individuals and families experiencing homelessness. The upgraded shelter is designed to empower residents with improved living conditions and resources during times of crisis.

Elyria Charities Inc. donated $500,000 to support Neighborhood Alliance’s capital campaign, boosting the nonprofit’s efforts to renovate and expand community service facilities. The gift will help advance renovations and improved programming space for residents across Lorain County.

Neighborhood Alliance is more than halfway to its $10 million funding goal for upgrades and renovations to its buildings and programs, thanks to a $1 million pledge from the Stocker Foundation.

O’Brien spoke to the decades-long partnership between the two organizations, and noted that the time was right for the Stocker Foundation’s next gift to the Neighborhood Alliance.

The $3.2 million, 9,262-square-foot expansion will bring the facility closer to the curb on East 30th Street, and will include a central courtyard and more rooms for families in need of housing, according to CEO Alicia Foss.

The Morning Journal

The expansion will include new dorm rooms, each with its own bathroom and shower. The shelter will be expanded from four family bedrooms to nine, which will adjoin when needed to accommodate larger families, the agency said.

Hunger is an ever-growing demand across Northeast Ohio and now the need among seniors in Lorain County is forcing the non-profit, Neighborhood Alliance, to expand its kitchen services in a new space.

“This aging building houses the only 24 hours, 365 days emergency shelter for men, women and intact families in Lorain County. With the need of shelter services growing the improvements made to this building, will allow us to better serve our neighbors who are experiencing a crisis.

“Thank you to 100 Women Who Care About Lorain County for your continued support.”

The Morning Journal

Neighborhood Alliance received a donation of $8,458 on Wednesday in support of the Haven Center emergency shelter renovation project.

Neighborhood Alliance’s Haven Center in South Lorain will be adding 20 additional beds and renovating its layout to better accommodate families with children.

“Since its founding in 1927, the leaders, volunteers and committed staff of Neighborhood Alliance have established four core areas of service that exist to empower individuals and families. Today our services include Child Enrichment, Family Support, Senior Enrichment and Shelter & Emergency Services. Neighborhood Alliance’s history and its future are rooted in working within our local community to assist with meeting basic needs and to empower individuals and families, sparking change in the lives of those we serve and in our community,” the organization wrote.

To celebrate this occasion, the agency is hosting a friendly chefs’ competition featuring three local chefs and a panel of guest judges who will serve up dishes with items selected by Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio in a combination of canned, frozen and dry goods.

Neighborhood Alliance is asking the community for help in buying a Hotshot to keep its deliveries on schedule, the release said.

The insulated bodies of the Hotshot allow the ability to transport frozen, refrigerated and heated foods.

Alicia Foss, president and CEO of Neighborhood Alliance, said the alliance was in touch with people living in the area through the PATH Program, the outreach team for unsheltered homeless.

“At this time, I have not heard of others reaching out to us for help, but we stand ready to assist if we can,” Foss said.

Kevin Martin, The Chronicle-Telegram

Elyria soon will be home to a new “Neighborhood Nutrition Kitchen” with Neighborhood Alliance and civic leaders celebrating with a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday.

Kevin Martin, The Chronicle-Telegram

Alicia Foss, president, and CEO of the nonprofit that helps out the hungry and homeless in the county, slammed a sledgehammer into a white brick wall April 14 in what used to be women’s locker room at the former Elyria YMCA, 265 Washington Ave., to kick off construction of a new senior nutrition kitchen.

Michael Fitzpatrick, The Morning Journal

The Neighborhood Nutrition Kitchen will house not only the Home Delivered Meals kitchen for Senior Nutrition but also allow Neighborhood Alliance to cook for our other programs in a centralized kitchen, using economies of scale to drive food costs down, and maximize each meal we make to ensure high nutritional value for every participant of our programs. That’s right! Haven Center, both Child Enrichment Centers, the Mobile Senior Center, and Senior Nutrition will all benefit from this new kitchen at Washington Ave.

Neighborhood Alliance has been compassionately caring for the community since 1927. We are helping our community grow stronger by caring for our clients’ most basic needs. We provide emergency shelter, homeless outreach, daily meal delivery, nutrition services including an emergency food pantry and socialization activities for seniors, childcare and child enrichment programs, and access to family support programs such as Help Me Grow for those in need.

Mission: Helping communities grow stronger by meeting critical needs and empowering individuals and families. Learn more: www.MyNeighborhoodAlliance.org

In this Neighborhood News segment, we interview Alicia Foss, President & CEO, and Chef Sonya Thomas, Food Service Coordinator at Neighborhood Alliance. We discussed the Neighborhood Nutrition Kitchen and what it will mean to the community and those served by Neighborhood Alliance programming. Chef Sonya chatted about her roots in Lorain County and how she is excited to see this program grow and serve her hometown. We also announce an update for the 7-Day Match Campaign.

Neighborhood Alliance celebrated 95 years of serving the community on Thursday with its “Come Together” event at Lorain County Community College’s Spitzer Conference Center one week before the organization breaks ground on its new Neighborhood Nutrition Kitchen at the former YMCA building at 265 Washington Ave. in Elyria.

Kevin Martin, The Chronicle-Telegram

Operated by the Neighborhood Alliance, the group said in a PowerPoint presentation to commissioners, “the building expansion is necessary to provide safe access and improve individual spaces and social distancing.”

-Michael Fitzpatrick, The Morning Journal

With food access growing scarcer for seniors between the ages of 65 and 84 in Lorain County, a local retiree decided to use his free time and help a local program deliver meals directly to those in need.

As part of a $1.5 million reallocation of Community Development Block Grant funding, the Lorain-based nonprofit will receive $25,000 in improvements to its child care facility on Clinton Avenue.

-Carissa Woytach, The Chronicle-Telegram

Neighborhood Alliance President and CEO Alicia Foss has released a letter of updates to supporters of the nonprofit agency that helps communities grow stronger by meeting critical needs and empowering individuals and families.

In this Neighborhood News segment, we interview Alicia Foss, President & CEO of Neighborhood Alliance. We discussed some of the excitement of 2021 as we wrap up Christmas for Caring and look at all the accomplishments of the year.

This is one small step in helping our facilities be a little bit better and support the needs of the community and what we do,” said Alicia Foss, president and CEO. “So, that was a step in the right direction, and we’re excited that that was approved.”

Neighborhood Alliance is set to expand its Haven Center due to an increased need brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ron Cocco, an architect with Clark & Post, said the organization is looking to build an addition and also renovate its existing building.

In this Neighborhood News segment, we interview Marla Bartolotta, Sr. Analyst, Retirement and Pension Programs at Avient Corporation. Marla has been an integral part of the Neighborhood Alliance Christmas for Caring collection for years. Orchestrating the logistics of collection and delivery of truckloads of Christmas gifts for Neighborhood Alliance program participants. Marla is our very own real-life “Ms.Claus” and we are excited to announce her as Neighborhood Alliance VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR 2020.