SCRANTON, Pa. — NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania is a nonprofit that has been serving the community for more than 40 years. The resources and information employees have offered all of that time are now going to be in one place this weekend at a home fair.
"We help clients every day and do various different things they need, but being able to see all these different services available in one spot is really going to be interesting and fun," said NeighborWorks community development specialist Gerard Hetman.
NeighborWorks employees help those clients every single day at the headquarters on Smith Street in West Scranton. From revitalizing neighborhoods, helping residents get affordable, quality, and safe housing, assisting seniors with staying in their homes, just answering questions for first-time home buyers, and everything in between.
Kathi Tavera came to work here about four years ago and has spearheaded the planning of the inaugural home fair.
"So it's definitely something I'm very proud of; I would call this my baby. When I came to NeighborWorks, I wanted to bring a lot of our services to our bilingual, Spanish-speaking families, so putting on a big event like this and bringing it to the public is tremendous and huge for me," said NeighborWorks home ownership specialist Kathi Tavera.
Organizers of the event say residents of Lackawanna County need this information now more than ever.
"The real estate market always presents different challenges at different times, now especially this is a good time to learn more about options that you may have if you're looking to buy or if you're in a home, just really good information to protect your investment if you already own the home," Hetman explained.
There will be more than 30 vendors at the home fair, including local lenders, realtors, inspectors, insurance companies, legal experts, and even radon and lead protection resources.
"It just shows how much the work we're doing is actually making a difference and how people want to be involved in our community," Tavera said.
The fair will be on Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton this Saturday, July 13, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information about the event, click here.