In this 2025 edition of Lancaster County Progress, we take a look at how Lancaster County has changed in the past decade by revisiting some of the issues and events we reported on in 2015. From bold organizational goals to affordable housing to hospital mergers — what progress has Lancaster County made and what work still needs to be done?
ON THE COVER (from left):
Ewell Plaza is one of many downtown projects that had the support of Lancaster City Alliance.
Photo by Blaine Shahan. Page 6
Jessica Sierra takes the vitals of Ryan Metzger inside the school-based health center at J.P. McCaskey High School.
Photo by Suzette Wenger. Page 14
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology has seen growing enrollment over the past decade.
Photo by Blaine Shahan. Page 28
Millersville resident Jack Gibson is a member of SmartLife VIA Willow Valley, one of a growing number of options for aging in place.
Photo by Willow Valley Communities. Page 11
Lancaster General Health’s merger with Penn Medicine a decade ago has brought advanced services to the area.
Photo by Suzette Wenger. Page 16
A New Year’s Day hiker at Pinnacle Overlook. The county is below its goal for preserved recreational land. Photo by Andy Blackburn. Page 26
Abby Rhoad Visual Editor: Abby Rhoad
ANDY BLACKBURN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
ECONOMY
Grants through the City Revitalization and Improvement Zone program managed by Lancaster City Alliance have helped fund city revitalization projects, including Ewell Plaza and Lancaster Public Library. PAGE 6
BLAINE SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
TOUR DE FORCE
Despite a pandemic, Sight & Sound Theatres continues growing its ministry
MICKAYLA MILLER AND LISA SCHEID MJMILLER@LNPNEWS.COM AND LSCHEID@LNPNEWS.COM
In the last decade, Sight & Sound Ministries Inc. has expanded its domain well beyond its theater walls in Strasburg and Branson, Missouri. Since Matt Neff and Josh Enck, the sons-in-law of founder Glenn Eshelman, stepped up to lead the company in 2015, Sight & Sound has increased its Lancaster County staff by 60% and extended its reach to a global audience of 4 million people.
Sight & Sound is a privately held company that declined to share details of its finances.
In June 2024, Sight & Sound rose to No. 50 on the state’s ranking of county businesses by number of employees for the first time, becoming the first theater and tourist attraction to do so.
With Neff as CEO and Enck as chief story officer, the company developed new shows more quickly, brought back tweaked versions of past shows and invested in new technologies. And, despite the setback of the pandemic, the strategy and $10 million in Shuttered Venue grants gave Sight & Sound a financial runway by nearly doubling ticket sales so it could enter the feature film business.
Neff credits prayer and listening for God’s wisdom with leading to Sight & Sound’s successful strategy.
“In 2020, we experienced a miraculous survival that also led to creating a streaming platform and reaching millions of people around the world,” Neff said in an email. “As we look to the future, we aim to faithfully follow God’s leading and continue to find more ways to share His story.”
This timeline shows how Sight & Sound has grown.
2015
Sight & Sound has 630 employees, including 420 in Strasburg as it performs a reboot of 2000’s “Joseph.” The company releases its eighth DVD of a stage show, a recording of its live performance of “Moses.” It has sold 222,000 DVDs across seven previous stage productions.
2016
Sight & Sound premieres “Samson,” telling the story of flawed Biblical character Samson, the “first superhero,” complete with special effects like a temple crashing, the defeat of entire armies and more.
The production moves set pieces by using GPS. It fills 85% of its available seats in Strasburg and Branson, selling a record 1.4 million tickets.
2017
Sight & Sound Theatres takes movies, once only available at its theaters’ gift shops, to homes nationally and to movie theaters for the first time. The company releases a filming of its performance of its 2017 show, “Jonah: The Musical,” as a $19.99 download from iTunes, Amazon and Google Play, and as a DVD from Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble and Target. Another first:
Sight & Sound presents “Jonah” in more than 600 cinemas across the country, reaching about 50,000 people.
2018
“Jesus,” Sight & Sound’s first production about Jesus Christ, premieres, bringing an upgrade to the stage by way of a 113-foot-wide LED screen, created by Upstage Video in the Rock Lititz campus. The 12-ton, 30-foot-high screen costs $1.3 million. The company ventures a second time into movie theaters with “Moses,” a stage performance recorded in 2014. More than 725 theaters show the movie, netting about
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, Sight & Sound announced a new generation of leadership and a continuing strategy to develop new shows more quickly, bring back tweaked versions of past shows and sell DVDs of its shows worldwide.
lanc.news/ SightSound
90,000 viewers. Its stage productions of Bible stories are so popular that Sight & Sound has become a significant driver of the county’s tourism.
2019
Sight & Sound scraps its intentions for a production of “Noah” in 2019, deciding to do another full run of the widely successful “Jesus,” which becomes and remains the company’s most popular show, selling 1.35 million tickets in two years. The company releases its third stage-to-movie, “Noah,” from a 2013 production, in 700 theaters nationwide.
“Daniel” was livestreamed to theaters nationwide for a special event in 2024.
SIGHT & SOUND THEATRES
2020
The COVID-19 pandemic delays the debut of “Queen Esther,” which tells the story of a Jewish woman named Esther who was exiled in Persia. It eventually opens July 30 with limitedcapacity seating, around 50% of the 2,000-seat theater. Films of “Jonah” and “Jesus” are broadcast on Trinity Broadcasting Network and the company debuts its own streaming platform, Sight & Sound TV. Sight & Sound is awarded a $10 million federal Shuttered Venue grant.
2021
After investing 3 1/2 years of work and at least $6 million for sets, costumes, salaries and other expenses, “Queen Esther” opens to full audiences on June 12, 2021. On Sept. 2, the theater cancels eight shows of “Queen Esther” due to a COVID-19 outbreak among cast and crew. Filming begins for Sight & Sound’s first film, “I Heard the Bells.” Much of the film is shot locally.
2022
Sight & Sound Theatres premieres “David,” with a 15-foot automated Goliath. The theater uses the same LED screen that debuted with “Jesus.”
2023
Sight & Sound Theatres premieres “Moses,” though it’s a different version of the “Moses” production that opened in 2014. Sight & Sound Theatres creates its film branch,
Sight & Sound Films, and premieres its first film on Dec. 1. Feature-length film “I Heard the Bells” tells the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the events that led to him write the poem “Christmas Bells,” which would become the beloved Christmas carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” The film brings in $2.77 million during its opening weekend, and earns more than $5.7 million at the box office during its monthlong run.
2024
Sight & Sound Films announces that its next feature-length film will be “A Great Awakening,” highlighting George Whitefield and the rise of evangelism, slated for 2026. The company seeks to allow film production on 29 adjacent acres, containing a barn used for theater and film production, a historic home and a horse track. The film receives $2.6 million in film tax credits from the Pennsylvania Film Office. “Daniel” returns; it is a refreshed version of its 2002 show. “Daniel” is livestreamed to theaters nationwide for a weekendlong special event. The company rises to No. 50 on
the state’s ranking of county businesses by number of employees for the first time, becoming the first theater and tourist attraction to do so.
2025
“Noah” is set to return after 30 years, with new songs, a tweaked script, refreshed costumes, 140 live animals and advanced animatronics. It originally premiered in 1995. A reboot was scrapped in 2019 with the success of “Jesus.” Ticket sales for “Noah” broke Sight & Sound’s record, selling 200,000 in the first 24 hours, which is a quarter of the goal for sales. The company employs about 860 people, with about 630 in Lancaster and the rest in Missouri.
BY THE NUMBERS
n In the last decade, Sight & Sound ticket prices have increased by about 50%. In 2015, LNP | LancasterOnline reported tickets for adults to see “Joseph” cost between $52 and $67. In 2025, tickets for “Noah” cost $79-$99.
n Since the launch of Sight & Sound TV in 2020, there have been nearly 50,000 ondemand purchases, not including on-demand purchases through third-party partners.
n Sight & Sound has sold nearly 438,000 DVDs to date.
Left: A recording of a 2014 stage performance of “Moses” hit movie theaters in 2018. Right: A scene from “I Heard the Bells,” Sight & Sound’s first feature-film release, in 2023.
Theatres
A SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY
A decade in, Lancaster City Alliance updates its 15-year economic development plan
RACHEL CURRY FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE
Ten years ago, then-young Lancaster City Alliance published its 15-year “Building On Strength” economic development plan, a framework to guide growth and investment in the city.
Now, 84% of the plan’s recommendations — from retail space to privately led investment and beyond — are achieved or in progress, and the organization is in the process of recalibrating the plan to maximize its impact through 2030 and beyond.
While the plan’s official recalibration won’t be ready until mid-year, LNP sat down with the Alliance and sifted through the numbers to see where the city is — and perhaps more importantly, where it’s headed. Given the city adopted its first comprehensive plan in 30 years in October 2023, this recalibration will marry the goals of the city’s plan with that of the Alliance’s “Building On Strength.”
The ‘bricks and sticks’
The Alliance’s “bricks and sticks” (goals relating to construction and material investment) are coming along nicely despite delays in hotel rooms and still not enough housing inventory.
In recalibrating the plan, the Alliance is looking at updating these numbers to set new goals.
“We’re still taking a look at the effect of COVID, especially things like the office market, and how that may affect what we want to see the office market be in the next five or so years,” says Marshall Snively, president of Lancaster City Alliance.
“We’ve been pretty fortunate that we’ve had so many housing projects come out of the ground over the last couple of years, but we would
In 2015, the Lancaster City Alliance introduced a strategic plan to see $1 billion in private investment in the city over the next 10-15 years.
still like to see more affordable and mixed-income housing, and ensure that there are tools to make that happen.”
The cost of housing, especially when it’s market rate and affordable, is a big obstacle for the city and elsewhere. Using funds from the American Rescue Plan, which President Biden signed into law in 2021, helped the city produce some affordable housing. Additionally, the Alliance’s City Revitalization & Improvement Zone Program serves as a mechanism to support housing.
People are undoubtedly drawn to Lancaster, but there’s a shortage of housing inventory.
“We’ve become a victim of our own success,” Snively says. “If you don’t have the inventory, which has proven true, it just raises prices, and that’s when you start to see people being
priced out of the city.”
Not just downtown
The “Building On Strength” plan wasn’t the first of its kind in Lancaster. In 1998, the city developed the Lancaster Economic Development Action Agenda, whose goals helped birth the Downtown Investment District.
“Most of that investment happened downtown, in the northwest, and some would argue it left some of the other communities behind,” Snively says.
“Building On Strength” aimed to be more equitable in its allocation of funds, and the Alliance is continuing this effort.
The 2015 plan started with 40 investment opportunity sites in different corridors around the city, where
the Alliance planned to increase investment for revitalization and improvement. This number has since doubled, and 43% of them have been fully or partially developed, or there are plans for those sites.
“We’ll likely look to add some additional sites to that map as we do this new recalibration,” says Jeremy Young, director of community and economic development for Lancaster City Alliance. “The county prison site is an example of one of those sites that wasn’t on our radar before.”
Snively also mentions the Plum Street corridor, which they intend to add as a focus area on the recalibrated plan.
“We see that as a strong commercial corridor that we think could see some increased investment that would be great for that community,” ALLIANCE, page 8
SUZETTE WENGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Zoe Kaminski, left, Ed Kaminski and Riley Kaminski stand inside Rendezvous Pizzeria & Steak Shop after it reopened on West King Street in December 2023. The restaurant received funding from the City Revitalization & Improvement Zone, which is administered by Lancaster City Alliance.
GROCERY LANDSCAPE SEES A SHIFT
TODD LASSA FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE
First to go was Darrenkamp’s.
After 86 years in business, the family-owned supermarket closed three stores and sold its flagship fourth location in Willow Street to Giant Food Stores in November 2018. The following June, 103-year-old Ferguson & Hassler, better known as “Fergie’s,” sold its single Quarryville location to Giant.
Then Musser’s, which opened its first grocery store at the Buck in East Drumore in 1925, shut down its three stores in October 2019. Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but all three Musser’s locations — at the Buck, outside Mountville and in Lebanon — reopened about a week later under the Giant banner.
This is only half the story of how Lancaster County’s grocery landscape has evolved over the past decade — with newcomers bringing a decidedly more “big city” vibe and some remaining independent grocers tweaking their business models to find success in changing times.
After announcing in 2015 that it planned to build in Lancaster County, the upscale supermarket chain Wegmans opened its Harrisburg Pike location in September 2018 (shortly before Darrenkamp’s closed) to so much fanfare it was described as an “event.” Amazon’s Whole Foods Market opened its store in Lancaster three months before Wegmans, in June 2018.
These larger grocery chains with a “corporate bent” have huge marketing and research departments, said Jeff Metzger, publisher of Food Trade News, which covers the midAtlantic grocery industry. Companies like Whole Foods and Wegmans came to Lancaster looking for high household income and education levels and other “core” demographics, he said.
“That’s clearly evolved, and you can
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, Wegmans confirmed its plans to open a store in Lancaster County, following a similar announcement by Whole Foods in 2014.
lanc.news/Grocery
ing foodie television shows like “Chopped” and “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” Wegmans, Whole Foods, e-commerce and many others responded by featuring prepared meals you simply had to heat and eat, said Jon Hurst, general manager for Oregon Dairy.
see the shift,” Metzger said. “This is not something unusual.”
‘Tougher and tougher’
Giant first approached Darrenkamp’s in 2005 with an offer to buy its Mount Joy store. When the family declined, Giant opened a new store “eight months later, probably less than a half mile away,” said Joe Darrenkamp, who retired as president of the local supermarket when it closed. His great-grandfather opened the first “physical” Darrenkamp’s in 1932.
Darrenkamp’s was the very model of a modern local grocer, with 650 employees at four stores and no selfcheckout, but “personal, human service for its customers,” Darrenkamp said. Darrenkamp’s sold 70 varieties of homemade sausage.
“We had great customer relations and a super staff,” he said. “It was hard to sell.”
Darrenkamp’s began offering such items as diapers and baby food at a loss to draw in young families, but
with Wegmans, Whole Foods, Lidl, Aldi and dollar stores, “the industry is just getting tougher and tougher,” he said.
In hindsight, the timing of this shift in the local business is remarkable.
Darrenkamp’s, Fergie’s and Musser’s closed, and Whole Foods and Wegmans opened within two years before the COVID-19 pandemic turned the supermarket business upside down.
Darrenkamp’s began delivering groceries in the 1970s, its former president said, but that would not have been consolation had it survived into the 2020s.
“I thank the good Lord I got out before COVID,” Joe Darrenkamp said.
Successful changes
Lititz’s Oregon Dairy did not get out of the business. Supermarkets imposed social distancing and relied heavily on home delivery during the pandemic as the supply chain crisis left entire shelves barren. As consumers avoided restaurants, often to have dinner in front of stream-
“That’s really when the ‘meal solutions’ hit our radars,” Hurst said. Meal solutions means The Market at Oregon Dairy emphasizes seafood, and especially meat selections, on the outer aisles, with sides, spices and other fixings that go into preparing the whole meal at-hand, Hurst said. Customers can find everything they need for one good meal in one part of the grocery, then take it home and cook it on a smoker, grill, air fryer or by sous vide, he suggested.
Oregon Dairy has “probably touted our meat department in the last three years more than ever,” with its local butchers and custom cuts, Hurst said.
This comes at the expense of Oregon Dairy’s “center store” aisles. The store is finished trying to compete with big warehouse markets by offering paper products and other nongrocery items for little or no profit margin.
“Our center-store just keeps shrinking,” Hurst said. “We’re getting rid of entire aisles.”
It’s working. Oregon Dairy celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025, having avoided the problem of succession that Metzger, of Food Trade News, said is killing off many familyowned groceries. Oregon Dairy was passed from the second generation
Shoppers enter Wegmans during the grand opening of its Harrisburg Pike store in 2018.
Alliance
Snively says.
The Alliance goes about this investment with the help of its implementation partners.
“We don’t like to go in in a vacuum,” Snively says.
They work alongside more than 40 private and public groups, including SoWe (Lancaster’s Southwest community) and the Spanish American Civic Association, the latter of which partners with the Alliance on projects like the South Duke Street Plaza (Plaza Centro). They’re working with Manheim Township on the Lancaster Train Station Small Area Plan, which calls for housing, retail and improved walkability in the area surrounding the train station.
“The previous plan in 1998 really focused on downtown,” Snively says. “We were very intentional with the ‘Building on Strength’ plan to ensure that while downtown remains strong, the corridors that supported the neighborhoods would see investment, many of which hadn’t seen investment in decades.”
He says the Alliance is focused on doing so in an equitable way, “where it builds up the neighborhood and doesn’t force people out.”
“There’s always a fear of gentrifying new areas when we’re prioritizing investment in a particular area, especially areas that have a higher concentration of lower-income res-
Grocery
Continued from 7
of its founding family last April to third-generation owners Hurst and Krista Martin, and fourth-generation owner Konrad Martin. A 35-year-old millennial, Hurst worries about e-commerce competitors as well as the big chains.
‘BUILDING ON STRENGTH’ PROGRESS REPORT
Here’s a look at how Lancaster City Alliance’s “bricks and sticks” goals for construction and material investment are coming along 10 years into its 15-year strategic plan. Only one goal so far, new hotel rooms, has not been met yet.
A CLOSER LOOK
n Annual tax revenue from the CRIZ program most recently brought in nearly $13 million.
n The CRIZ program, managed by the Alliance, awarded $961,244 in grants and low-interest loans to 21 diverse businesses in 2023. Notable projects subsidized by the program include the new Lancaster Public Library, the relocated and expanded Issei Noodle and the revived Rendezvous Pizzeria & Steak Shop.
idents,” Young says.
The 2015 plan also recommended the creation of a land trust and land bank. The city has created a land bank and has a Land Bank Authority — whose goal is “to deter blight and to return vacant property to productive status,” according to its website — though it has so far been unsuccessful in creating a land trust.
The idea for the land trust, Young says, is to acquire properties with the goal of keeping rents affordable for residential and commercial purposes.
Despite having a ways to go, Snively can’t help but appreciate Lancaster’s collaborative capabilities.
“We often get asked from neighboring cities what our secret sauce is,” he says. “I do think the collaborative efforts that we have between the private, the public and the non-
What’s ahead
Oregon Dairy, John Herr’s Village Market in Millersville and Yoder’s Country Market in New Holland, along with three Saubel’s Markets outside Lancaster County, comprise Family Owned Markets, a consortium that has better wholesale foodbuying power and saves on advertising costs.
SOURCE: LANCASTER CITY ALLIANCE
profit sectors is unparalleled in other communities.”
Two-thirds of the way through the 15-year “Building On Strength” plan, which was designed to be somewhat elastic, the Alliance is not slowing down. As a new federal administration takes root, changes are likely on the horizon, including ones that could impact Lancaster and cities like it.
Homelessness, affordable housing and workforce development — to name a few — remain key areas of focus. All the while, Lancaster City Alliance and its complex web of partners see a steadfast, if not clear, path to the future.
“We’ve got folks from all different political ideologies all working together to make sure that the city continues to grow,” Young says. “There are challenges, but I think for the most part, we are able to rise.”
n Since 2019, the Facade Improvement Grant Program — which offers a 1:1 match for homeowners to preserve and restore neighborhood architectural character — has given out more than $658,000 in grants. Of these funds, 25% went to low-to-moderate-income homeowners who only paid a 10% match toward their grant.
n An extension of the Facade Improvement Grant Program, Light Up Lancaster, is in action to improve pedestrian lighting around the city.
n The 2015 plan set a goal of increasing per-capita income to 70% of that of Pennsylvania. At the time, the city’s per-capita income was 58.7% that of the state, according to Alliance research. By 2022, it was up to 69.5% but trended downward to 67.8% in 2023. Meanwhile, the percentage of city residents living under the poverty line went from 29% in 2015 to 18.7% in 2022, then up to 20.7% in 2023. Reversals in progress in 2023 may be the result of discontinued federal and state pandemic recovery stimuli, says Jeremy Young, director of community and economic development for Lancaster City Alliance.
n The 2015 plan’s recommendation for a food hub contributed to the development of Southern Market.
n The $1.45 billion private investment over a six-year period in Lancaster is strong when compared to the $1.5 billion public investment over a 10-year period prior to “Building On Strength.”
The Lancaster County half of Family Owned ranks eighth largest in the county with 3.75% market share, according to Food Trade News’ 2024 list of 26 area food stores. That’s between No. 7 Wegmans and No. 9 Target. Whole Foods is No. 10. Giant is No. 1, with 28.78% market share. Hurst’s best guess for the next 10 years is that many stores will shrink their footprints and surrender their
center stores to the warehouse outlets, as Oregon Dairy has, and that we’ve seen the last of the big chain influx, except for maybe Trader Joe’s. “We have become so saturated in Lancaster County with groceries,” Hurst said. “Trader Joe’s would be perfect for this area. It really would. I don’t see there being much more market share. In my opinion, I think we’re kind of settled in. But who knows?”
HOME
HDC MidAtlantic’s Apartments at College Avenue complex takes shape in the city’s northeast quadrant. Its 64 apartments represent only a small portion of what is needed to address the city’s affordable housing shortage. PAGE 10
A PLACE TO CALL HOME
Despite a decade of progress, shortage of affordable housing in county remains largely unchanged
CHRIS REBER CREBER@LNPNEWS.COM
A new development with 64 affordable apartments, including 12 for people with disabilities, is taking shape on the site of a former doctor’s office in the city’s northwest quadrant.
HDC MidAtlantic’s Apartments at College Avenue has been five years in the making, competing for grants, assembling philanthropic funds, and weathering pandemic price increases and legal challenges.
While those 64 apartments are the city’s largest affordable housing development in decades, they represent a small portion of the number needed to address the county’s shortage of affordable housing, according to Shelby Nauman, CEO of Tenfold, a Lancaster-based housing advocacy nonprofit whose housing trust fund gives loans to affordable housing developers, including the Apartments at College Avenue.
“It’s great, and it’s true affordable housing,” she said of the College Avenue development. “But for people that are struggling to afford to stay housed it’s not going to make a huge dent, because so many are looking for affordable units.”
In the last decade, developers like HDC have built hundreds of new lowincome units in Lancaster County with help from local governments and nonprofits, but the shortage of affordable units remains largely unchanged from where it was 10 years ago.
Since 2014, the percentage of Lancaster County renters who are costburdened, which means that they are paying more than 30% of their income toward housing, went from 52.6% to 47.9%, according to census data.
For the county’s poorest renters — those making less than $25,800 for a family of three — there is a shortage of 9,354 housing units, up from 9,265 in 2012, Federal Reserve data shows.
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, a Federal Reserve Bank study confirmed that Lancaster County had a dire shortage of affordable housing.
lanc.news/AffordableHousing
Projects added
According to Chris Delfs, Lancaster city’s director of community planning and economic development, the biggest obstacle in the way of more affordable housing is the cost. Developers of affordable housing rely on government and charity help to cover costs because they do not charge market rate for their apartments.
“Affordable housing always comes up as a top priority we hear from constituents and stakeholders, and that’s bumping up against these market economics that make it very, very difficult to get a new project out of the ground,” Delfs said.
In recent years all developers have faced increased costs due to interest
rates, supply chain issues and inflation. Affordable housing developers have had to cover those expenses while keeping rents level.
The federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit is the biggest funding source for such projects. For the College Avenue Apartments, HDC applied and received tax credits, which it sold to generate about 70% of the project’s $23 million budget. Dana Hanchin, president and CEO of HDC MidAtlantic, said only 25% to 30% of projects get funding, so it often requires multiple tries to secure the tax credits.
In the last decade, 361 subsidized affordable units have been constructed in the county using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit — the tool used for the vast majority of affordable housing development in the county. Projects included new construction, such as the 62-unit Saxony Ridge Apartments completed in 2023 in Lititz, and conversions of existing structures, such as the 52-unit Long Crest Project on West Walnut Street
in Lancaster city, completed in 2020.
Recognizing the need for public funding, Lancaster city put $10 million of its pandemic relief funding toward affordable housing, as part of a goal of adding 300 affordable units between 2021 and 2026.
Of that amount, $5 million went toward producing new units, and the other $5 million was split between continued funding for existing affordable housing and homeless shelter services. Delfs said the city has approved approximately 2,100 new housing units since 2018 — of which 10% are affordable.
Effects widespread
Since 2014, Lancaster County’s median rent has increased from $894 to $1,329. Wages aren’t increasing as fast, Nauman said, leading to more residents who are cost-burdened.
Nauman said the high cost of rental housing in Lancaster County is fueled by its low housing inventory. The county’s vacancy rate — the percentage of housing units available to rent or buy at a given time — was 3.5% in 2022, the lowest of all metropolitan areas in the country, according to a housing market analysis by EDC Lancaster County.
That causes issues for older adults seeking an apartment or condo to downsize, and younger adults looking for starter homes. It can also present a challenge for businesses looking to attract workers.
“The biggest factor affecting us is the vacancy rates, and it’s breaking the sort-of natural continuum of housing here locally,” Nauman said. She would like to see more Lancaster County municipalities follow the lead of East Lampeter Township, which adjusted its zoning to allow more housing units. The township HOUSING, page 12
Work is underway to convert the George C. Delp pavilion of the former St. Joseph Hospital into apartments for low-income residents.
BLAINE SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
AGING-IN-PLACE OPTIONS EXPAND
REBECCA LOGAN FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE
Jack Gibson doesn’t want to live in a retirement community.
He prefers a traditional neighborhood. He likes his single-story (plus basement) three-bedroom home near a golf course in Millersville.
Gibson moved there from North Carolina in 2019 specifically because of a program designed for people like him — seniors looking to age in place.
The program is SmartLife VIA Willow Valley, a membership-based plan offering those who want the security of continuing care in their own home should they need it in the future. The plan and its growth over the past decade illustrate how demand for aging in place is shaping industry offerings.
At the start of 2015, SmartLife had 28 members who all signed up during the first six months of Willow Valley’s then-fledgling program. Early discussions involved reaching a cap of maybe 200 or 250 members, said Andrew Solodky, SmartLife’s manager of marketing and sales. There are now about 405 active members with more applications in the process, he said.
“Our program has really exceeded all of our actuarial projections,” he said.
Willow Valley isn’t the only entity working to better reach the age-inplace market. Cue the January grand opening of the Lititz satellite office of Home Instead. Director of Community Relations Lisa Miller said that made sense given that Home Instead provides home care services to people living in many of the numerous continuing care retirement communities in and around Lititz, as well as people in traditional neighborhoods.
“If you have somebody coming in to check on them, looking at the situation and helping to avoid any fall risks and things that could cause accidents? That’s huge,” Miller said. “Preventative care is awesome.”
Some of the others courting the age-in-place market include: Ma-
What to consider
Several Lancaster County builders are among 144 in Pennsylvania certified by The National Association of Home Builders as active Certified Age-in-Place Specialists, or CAPS. MBC Building and Remodeling in Lancaster was the first in the county to be one.
“Most homes are not built for people to stay in as they grow older,” MBC’s owner Mike Blank told LNP in 2015. His son, Matt Blank, says this year that a growing number of clients recognize that. Even if they’re not seniors yet, when they embark on bathroom remodels, they frequently seek features like low-entry showers that they’ll want when they are, Blank said. People are thinking
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, Willow Valley Community’s fledgling Lifecare At Home membership program, SmartLife VIA Willow Valley, was one of only 15 such programs in the country.
lanc.news/Aging
ahead, he added.
Gibson said proper planning is essential for aging in place.
“You have to get the right house,” he said. “I have some friends who still live in a 4,000-square-foot house in Richmond. I said, ‘You’re out of your mind.’ ”
One-level is ideal, he said.
“If you have the wrong house,
AGING, page 12
sonic Village in Elizabethtown, with its home assistance program; Landis at Home, which offers home care services to adults living on the Landis Homes campus or within a 15-mile radius of the Lititz office; and LutherCare and Moravian Manor Communities, who have teamed up for a program called Your Neighborhood Connection.
Among seniors looking to age in place, 37% say that’s because it’s their preference, 1 in 6 say it’s a financial necessity and the rest see it as a combination of both, according to an October 2024 survey of more than 1,000 seniors done for health care product provider Carewell. Physical space was among senior concerns.
“Surprisingly, suburban seniors — often thought to have ideal living conditions with spacious homes and family-oriented neighborhoods — reported the greatest concern, with 60% saying their homes weren’t equipped for comfortable aging,” Carewell reported in January.
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Millersville resident Jack Gibson is a member of SmartLife VIA Willow Valley.
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Aging Housing
you’re not going to be able to do it like you want to,” he said.
Careful financial planning is also key, said Gibson, whose career in insurance helped him comb over SmartLife’s contract. He said Willow Valley’s financial position also gave him confidence the plan won’t someday fold and urged anyone considering any aging-in-place program to closely examine the financial health of its provider.
So far, Gibson said, SmartLife has worked as it should, including during the difficult period prior to his wife’s death from cancer. There was help in their home 15 hours a day toward the end, and his plan covered that. It also covered help with meal prep and other tasks after he had a shoulder operation and rides to and from cataract surgery.
Helen Foster, chief marketing officer for Willow Valley, said SmartLife is not intended as a feeder program for the organization’s community offerings. That better-known part of Willow Valley serves about 2,600 residents, half of whom previously lived in other states, Foster said. While roughly 10 SmartLife members have transitioned into residents, that’s not the goal. Willow Valley sees two distinct markets, Foster said.
“While we believe very strongly in the social model of community life and how that enriches one’s wellbeing, we also recognize that there are some people who simply would prefer to stay in their existing homes or live in traditional neighborhoods,” she said.
Continuing care retirement community living is not for everyone, Foster added. That’s coming from someone recently quoted in Newsweek
about why Willow Valley was ranked No. 2 on that publication’s annual list of top CCRCs in the country.
“There are people out there who would prefer not to live even in the best ones,” she said.
Many seniors also have adult children or grandchildren living with them. “The composition of the household is changing,” she said, adding SmartLife is an option for multigenerational homes.
The program started only for Lancaster County and now serves Dauphin, Lebanon and York counties. It’s similar to maybe about 40 others across the country, Solodky said, adding the concept had a slow roll out.
“There wasn’t really a great option for individuals who wanted to age in place. And now these types of programs are really helping to fill the void,” he said. “You’re going to see a lot more of these at-home programs coming into play over the next five or 10 years.”
Continued from 10
now has 600 proposed apartments at High’s Greenfield mixeduse development, and another 504 at the Shops at Rockvale — though none are subsidized affordable units. Both projects are expected to have their first units available in 2026.
While HDC wraps up construction on the Apartments at College Avenue, it is also seeking tax credits to add 69 more affordable units to a wing of the former St. Joseph Hospital, located across the street. Hanchin said the goal is to continue building housing for the most vulnerable, and to address inequality.
“Housing is a human right, and we should all have the opportunity and access to a stable, safe and affordable place to live,” she said.
HEALTH
14
Lucas Messick, co-owner of Messick Farm Equipment, stands in the Mount Joy showroom, where an on-site clinic offers employer-paid medical care to some 250 workers. Such inhouse health care is growing more common.
EMPLOYERS LOOK TO SAVE LIVES, COSTS WITH IN-HOUSE HEALTH CARE
GAYLE JOHNSON FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE
Ron Dixon said he owes his life to the employer-sponsored medical clinic across the parking lot from Signature Custom Cabinetry Inc. in Ephrata.
The 46-year-old, who rarely visited a doctor previously, now receives free primary care through a company-paid health membership. He recently scheduled surgery after receiving a December diagnosis of colon cancer that spread to local lymph nodes.
“If they wouldn’t have put that clinic over there, I never would have known” about having cancer, said Dixon, who has worked for Signature for five years. “I just don’t take off work.”
Peter West, Signature’s CFO, shares Dixon’s story whenever he touts the benefits of employer-paid accessible health care. The executive’s notes also mention that several workers who haven’t seen a doctor in more than 20 years now receive regular medical care.
Signature partnered with Penn Medicine HealthWorks, a corporate component of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, which charges Signature a monthly subscription fee for about 132 employees and spouses.
The on-site clinic opened in September 2023 for full-time employees. The company began paying for spouses in July.
“We firmly believe it’s the right thing to do for Signature associates,” West said.
Lucas Messick would agree.
“As a business owner, I want the absolute best for my employees,” said Messick, who co-owns five Messick Farm Equipment locations. Walk past the tractors, snow blowers and
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, LancasterLebanon Intermediate Unit 13 announced plans to open an onsite doctor’s office, making it what was believed to be the first county employer to bring health care inhouse.
lanc.news/ EmployerHealth
lawnmowers inside the company’s Mount Joy location to find a Penn Medicine HealthWorks clinic inside the 10,000-square-foot showroom. Some 250 workers receive employer-paid basic medical care.
“I was intrigued by the idea” of opening a clinic when a sales call from Penn Medicine HealthWorks came in 2018, Messick recalled. The retailer had started building a new showroom that had space for tenants. The medical center opened in late 2021, Messick said.
Messick and West named taking care of workers as their primary goal in providing free medical care. “Anything that happens inside the four walls of that clinic is free,” Messick said.
They’re hoping, however, that the
move also will save money.
“The cost of care has gotten astronomical,” Messick said.
“There’s no doubt it’s saving us money,” West said. “We have to get people engaged with their health before it manifests itself in harmful, expensive ways.”
Signature and Messick, for instance, pay for employee medical costs from their company’s own health care accounts.
For Signature, the amount in that fund balance has increased, West said, which means the company is spending less money on claims. The executive has no firm dollar amounts for cost savings but will compile numbers as more time passes, he said.
“We want to push past the basic
wellness incentive programs and engage in a more meaningful way that creates lasting change, while keeping cost control at the forefront of the proposition,” West said.
Numbers
Employers in Lancaster and surrounding counties paid more for annual individual worker insurance than the national average but less for family coverage in 2023, according to two studies.
Nationally, the annual average cost to insure an employee stood at $8,435 for workers and $23,968 for families in 2023, according to The Kaiser Family Foundation.
Locally, the cost to insure an indi-
SUZETTE WENGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Assistant Principal Judith Veitia of Lancaster, right, has her vitals taken by Jessica Sierra, a certified medical assistant at the school-based health center inside J.P. McCaskey High School.
On-site clinics help reduce barriers to care
GAYLE JOHNSON FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE
When Adam Aurand felt ill, he didn’t have to leave work to discover he had a sinus infection. Aurand, the School District of Lancaster’s communications director, walked downstairs from the district’s administrative offices to a medical clinic inside Carter & McCrae Elementary School.
He received a diagnosis, picked up antibiotics on the way home and was back in the office the next morning without missing work one day during the 2023-2024 school year.
“I thought that I had allergies,” recalled Aurand, who said he usually would have delayed seeking medical attention until he was too sick to work. “Chances are, I’m going to wait until it’s bad.”
Providing accessible health care to students led the district’s decision in 2016 to partner with Union Community Care, a federally funded health center with medical centers in Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Pupils can get physicals, flu shots and basic medical care without leaving school. SDL previously worked with Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, said Lauren Reagan, who coordinates the district’s health services.
Union first operated clinics at Reynolds Middle School and Fulton Elementary School. The medical provider expanded services to J.P. McCaskey High School and George Washington and Carter & MacRae elementary schools in August 2023. A mobile clinic now visits Phoenix Academy once a month, Reagan said.
Students, staff and community members may visit Union locations, using self-pay, insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, said Nicole
Employer
Continued from 14
Specht, Union’s chief communications officer.
Providing on-site primary medical treatment “reduces barriers to care,” said Jessica Null, who coordinate’s Union’s school-based clinics. “Any time you increase access to affordable care, the entire community benefits.”
Justin Reese should know. The J.P. McCaskey High School principal received his annual flu shot in the 810-square-foot medical practice steps away from his office. “Everything in our society comes down to access,” said Reese, who noted that many of the campus’s 360 staff members also visit the clinic.
“Any time you have a teacher who doesn’t have to leave class — it’s a good thing,” he noted.
The Union partnership also contributes to a wellness package that helps the district hire and retain workers, Williams said. “What are some of the latest and greatest things to help people stay healthier?”
For instance, employees may earn points that can be redeemed for cash by participating in healthy activities, completing health challenges, such as walking, and filling out health questionnaires or get-
vidual worker came in at $9,000 for 2023, while providing family coverage hit $21,564, according to the Central Penn Business Group On Health, which polled about 80 employers in Lancaster, York, Adams, Berk, Cumberland, Dauphin and Lebanon counties.
More than 25 health care clinics have opened in businesses and schools in Lancaster and Lebanon counties, up from one site in 2015, according to those interviewed. Some employers provide free primary care for workers, spouses and dependents. Others offer space for practitioners who accept insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.
Some medical centers serve only employees or their families, while others see members from other companies or are open to community members.
Penn Medicine HealthWorks opened its first on-site medical clinic at Rock Lititz in 2018 for Clair Global, which provides audio and video services. The medical provider opened its fourth clinic in 2022 but has added seven locations in the past two years, said Amber Murr, a registered nurse who manages Penn Medicine HealthWorks.
Clinic members receive conciergebased care, with appointments that last up to 90 minutes. Identifying medical conditions early ultimately saves businesses money, Murr said.
“There should be less trips to the emergency room or urgent care” after working hours, Murr explained, because clinic patients know they can see a provider the next day.
“Being able to go to an on-site health care clinic with same-day access helps,” said Jaan Sidorov, a retired physician and health care executive who now chairs The Central Penn Business Group. “It’s a big deal.”
The beginning
In 2018, HealthWorks and Clair
Global opened Rock Medical at the firm’s Rock Lititz location. That first on-site clinic has grown into an 11-office network of health care providers treating workers from 60-70 businesses serving about 12,000 members, Murr said.
“At Clair Global, people have always been our top priority,” said Shaun Clair, the firm’s executive vice president of business development. “We know that when our employees feel supported and set up for success, they can do their best work and deliver amazing service to our clients.”
“Clair Global wanted to do something for their employees, and we came up with this” model, Murr explained to “prevent issues that can happen later down the road.”
When a HealthWorks clinic first opens, practitioners often find patients who don’t have a “medical home,” Murr said. Workers “don’t necessarily talk to you about a primary doctor — they tell you about a (medical) practice.”
Accessible health care allows patients to form relationships with clinicians, those interviewed said.
HealthWorks clinics employ no receptionists. A doctor or nurse might answer incoming calls. “The majority of our employers pay 100% for their workers” to receive primary care. Murr. “It helps reduce overall health spending.”
The Lititz location started with 166 employees, spouses and dependents. Other Rock Lititz companies have joined HealthWorks, and the location serves more than 430 members.
For employees with the LampeterStrasburg School District, a nearby HealthWorks clinic in Willow Street “allows patients to develop a relationship with a provider,” said Keith Stoltzfus, district business manager.
“It also saves time. The biggest thing that I’ve heard is same day/ next day service,” Stoltzfus noted. Employees also have told him they appreciate the clinic’s texting app, which lets them communicate with clinicians while students may be leaving a classroom. “They don’t have to wait for a call,” he said.
Jessica Sierra, a certified medical assistant at the school-based health center inside J.P. McCaskey High School, checks the vitals of a student.
SUZETTE WENGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
‘MORE ADVANCED SERVICES’
A decade after merger, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health touts improved quality of care
LUCY ALBRIGHT
LALBRIGHT@LNPNEWS.COM
Services and staff have expanded at Lancaster General Health since its merger with Penn Medicine in 2015.
“If there’s one thing that’s different over the last 10 years, it’s our ability, and really, a growing ability ... to provide more advanced services, beyond what Lancaster General Health was able to do prior to becoming part of Penn Medicine, a greater amount of that advanced care that we’re actually able to provide right here in our community,” said Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health CEO John Herman.
Those advancements include new treatments for cancer and stroke patients, more access to clinical research and a growing number of staff members. While LNP | LancasterOnline reported skepticism about health system mergers in 2014 when the Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health merger was announced, Herman said the last decade has shown significant growth.
One major achievement is the Proton Therapy Center at the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute, which opened in 2022 and allows cancer patients to receive this specialized type of radiation therapy locally instead of traveling to Philadelphia or Baltimore. Another new addition is CAR T-Cell therapy, a type of immunotherapy used for specific blood cancers, he said. By March, approximately 19 people will have received the treatment, which became available at the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute in 2022, spokesperson Marcie Brody confirmed in an email.
LG Health has also advanced its stroke program — it added a stroke intervention called mechanical thrombectomy — and its neurology program, Herman said. The number
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, Lancaster General Health, the county’s largest health system, finalized an agreement to join the University of Pennsylvania Health System. lanc.news/LGH
of neurologists at LG Health has increased, he said, and a “significant” number of them are subspecialized. Behavioral health saw growth as well, both among its core services and its new offering of interventional psychiatry services, Herman said.
A recent addition is the Behavioral Health Center at Lancaster General Hospital, which houses the Interventional Psychiatry Program and the new Crisis Walk-In Center. And in 2020, LG Health opened a fertility program, Brody confirmed.
Herman said that during his fouryear tenure, no services at the health system were discontinued — instead,
services grew. In the 2015 to 2021 period before Herman’s hiring, no services were discontinued, Brody confirmed.
Another area of growth is access to clinical research, Herman said.
Since the merger, LG Health has “at least doubled the number of patients that are on a clinical trial, and really it’s providing them with new, novel ways of treating whatever disease they have,” Herman said.
LG Health programs have benefited from the connection with Penn Medicine, with experts from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania coming to
Lancaster, providing their expertise to local teams or doing both, Herman said. There are 68 physicians and 38 advanced practice providers from Philadelphia who provide care in Lancaster County.
Staffing has been another area of expansion since the merger with Penn Medicine. LG Health has grown its staff from 7,100 in 2015 to 9,300 in 2025, Brody confirmed. Medical staff has also increased during that period, Herman said, from 250 employed physicians to more than 500. Advanced practice providers increased from less than 100 to over 450. Be-
Lancaster General Health’s merger with Penn Medicine has resulted in advanced services, including the Proton Therapy Center that opened in 2022 at the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute.
Merger
fore the merger, LG Health had six or so neurologists, and now has close to 30, Brody confirmed.
However, Herman noted that there were “personnel challenges” during the pandemic — many staff decided that they wanted to leave the health care industry, he said. But since the middle of the pandemic, when hundreds of travel nurses were employed, the health system now employs none, and has grown its own nursing team, Herman said. In March 2023, LG Health laid off fewer than 65 employees.
Impacts of mergers
When Penn Medicine and LG Health first raised the possibility of consolidating in 2014, an LNP | LancasterOnline article reported the potential benefits and drawbacks to these types of mergers. Dr. Hilda Shirk, president and CEO of what is now Lancaster Health Center, questioned in 2015 whether a larger entity would value LG Health’s connection and commitment to the community. Lancaster Health Center has received financial support from LG Health.
According to the American Hospital Association, hospital mergers and acquisitions have a number of benefits, including to patient care — a fact sheet from the group cited reduction
the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, added that mergers may also bring access to capital to invest in infrastructure, technology and initiatives that benefit the community.
But there can be downsides to mergers. Martin Gaynor, an expert in health care and antitrust, told LNP in 2014 that, based on U.S. health system mergers in the years prior to the Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health merger, “the benefits have been elusive.”
BY THE NUMBERS
LG Health spent $125 million on community benefit in fiscal year 2024, up from $86 million in 2014.
That includes:
n $9.7 million spent on financial assistance in 2024, up from $8.7 million in 2014.
n About $5 million a year invested in lead abatement.
ting biometric screening or blood tests, Williams said.
For students, Reagan cites national research that shows on-site clinics increase student attendance rates and improve academic performance. Clinicians can manage chronic con-
in health care costs, benefits to financial sustainability, improvements in certain outcomes, reductions in readmission rates and mortality measures, and access to a wider range of specialists or services.
Becoming affiliated with a health system “can help keep hospitals open and serving patients and communities, particularly in rural and other underserved areas. It also can enable hospitals to improve quality of patient care by standardizing clinical protocols, investing to upgrade services, and deploying additional staff where needed,” the association said in a statement.
Kim Yakowski, a spokesperson for
More than 10 years later, Gaynor’s still skeptical. There is no consistent evidence that hospital mergers improve patient outcomes or quality of care, Gaynor said. However, this finding is based on the average from around 1,600 or 1,700 mergers and does not mean that a particular merger won’t lead to better care, said Gaynor, who once served as director of the Bureau of Economics at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Teresa Hartmann, assistant professor of nursing at Millersville University — who worked at Lancaster General Hospital until 2013 — said that since the merger she’s seen increased access to resources, including access to specialties. And she’s seen a “broader perspective” among nurses in the classroom, which she said would hopefully lead to improved patient outcomes.
Herman said that LG Health has maintained quality since 2015, citing Lancaster General Hospital’s five-star rating from the Centers for
n More than $400,000 a year invested in the Food is Medicine program, which supports healthy eating in Lancaster County, particularly for those with low incomes.
Additionally, LG Health makes the following annual payments:
n $1.5 million paid yearly to Lancaster city in lieu of taxes.
n $1.5 million paid yearly to School District of Lancaster in lieu of taxes.
Medicare & Medicaid Services, its place in the Healthgrades top 50 hospitals list, and its Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade of A.
“In terms of quality ... because we’ve enhanced access to high-level care and care overall within our community, I would suggest that we’ve increased the quality of care that we’re providing in Lancaster as a result of coming together as part of Penn Medicine,” Herman said.
ditions, such as asthma and diabetes.
“This is really a way to focus on the whole child,” Reagan said. “It’s significantly beneficial to us.”
The Union agreement, though, also may save the school district money on health care claims and by reducing the amount of money paid to substitutes now that staff members can access care at work.
“The sooner that we can make it
for employees to get seen, the less work time they miss,” Aurand said but noted, “saving money is secondary.”
The district pays for insurance claims through a health care fund that routinely doesn’t have enough money in it, said Angela Williams, who directs the district’s human resources department. School board members have expressed the same
thought.
For 2024, the district expected a $3.6-million deficit in the health care account because of larger-thanexpected claims, Kimberly Reynolds, district finance director, told board members in April.
SDL raised employee health care contributions 5% for some 1,200 workers beginning in July — the first premium increase since 2015.
n Sources: Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health CEO John Herman and spokesperson Marcie Brody.
John Herman, CEO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, speaks before the opening of its new Behavioral Health Center in 2024.
SUZETTE WENGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
PURSUE
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COMMUNITY
Jack Crowley took the helm of Water Street Mission a decade ago. The organization has seen changes in that time as it remains a vital part of the community.
LOGAN GEHMAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER SPONSORED
‘JOURNEY OF RESTORATION’
Water Street Mission makes changes over past decade but stays true to its history
JADE CAMPOS JCAMPOS@LNPNEWS.COM
Jack Crowley wanted to rebuild Water Street Mission when he took the helm as its president in 2015. Financial challenges brought on by the 2008 recession forced former leaders to cut back on programming and shelter services. Crowley, who had been with the nonprofit for 20 years, thought Water Street could become a wraparound services agency again.
Over the past decade, Crowley said the nonprofit has become a vital resource in the community, filling a niche of Christian-focused longterm development. Water Street provides an emergency shelter alongside a residential shelter program that requires personal growth through classes and counseling. The nonprofit also provides education, health care and food to the broader community.
Crowley spoke with LNP | LancasterOnline about how the nonprofit has changed during his 10-year tenure. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was it like 10 years ago at Water Street as you were transitioning into your role as president?
Water Street was really faced with deciding who we were going to be for our future. We had come through some financial challenges, and we were actually on the upswing. I think as we reached out to our friends and shared honestly that we were struggling financially, the community really stepped up and helped us overcome that moment.
With that, we had to decide, “Is our primary focus going to be just providing shelter, or are we going to be true to our history?” Which is looking at each individual for who they
I think we’ve seen greater diversity in who the typical person experiencing homelessness is. The age range has widened. The most common people were maybe in their 40s or 50s, single men. Now, it depends on the day. We’re seeing 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds. We’re seeing 75-year-olds experiencing homelessness, some for the first time.
—
Jack Crowley, president, Water Street Mission
are and meeting them in their worst moment, but walking with them on a full journey of restoration. Just providing short-term shelter doesn’t do that.
What programs did you want to bring back at the time? Have you established any new programs since then?
One of the things we did was orient more staff who were case managers and life coaches toward the (basic 30-day shelter) to build trust.
Over time, we expanded that shel-
ter to 60 days because we recognized it’s hard to get anything in place in 30 days. More recently, we’ve actually moved that to 90 days. During that time, we want to build relationships and invite them to say, “Maybe I want to work on something more than just finding a place to live. I do want to address some of these health issues I’ve never been able to overcome.” They can join the residential (program). We shifted it so there are elements of the program that are similar for everybody, but an individualized action plan looks at, “What do I need
to address?” That way, we’re not having someone who’s never used a drug or alcohol in their life in an addictions recovery program.
Have you seen more success since focusing more on individuals in the residential program and the shelter?
Anecdotally, I would say we’ve seen much better engagement. We’ve seen less of the churn of people in our programs. When they come, they stick a little bit more. We used to
Jack Crowley, president of Water Street Mission, talks about the changes at the mission over the last 10 years. SUZETTE
Mission
average 800 unique individuals per year, 800 to 1,000 even some years, and now we’re averaging between 500 and 600. Some of that is they’re staying longer. Part of it is we went from 30 days to 90 days. Part of it is that more people are choosing residential when there are spots open. When they’re at residential, they’re staying longer. We’re serving less raw numbers, but we’re staying full.
Could you speak to any changes you’ve noticed over the past 10 years in the state of homelessness, poverty and housing in Lancaster County?
I think we’ve seen greater diversity in who the typical person experiencing homelessness is. The age range has widened. The most common people were maybe in their 40s or 50s, single men. Now, it depends on the day. We’re seeing 18-, 19-, 20-yearolds. We’re seeing 75-year-olds experiencing homelessness, some for the first time.
I think we’re seeing the uptick because of the affordable housing crisis, but all of the factors are the same. We saw an especially pronounced swell in homelessness … post-COVID. There were so many resources available. There was the eviction moratorium, the (emergency rental
assistance) programs, the financial stimuluses and the expanded child tax credit. You’ve got four of the largest anti-poverty initiatives that we’ve ever seen, and then they all expired within a six-month window.
What are you planning for the next 10 years at Water Street?
We’re looking to expand what we’re doing in outreach ministry, so we want to get in front of homelessness. We want to continue to do what we’re doing really well with those we’re serving in our shelter and residential program, but we also want to reach more families in more impactful ways.
We’re growing a lot of those nonhomeless-focused services, but then we’re also looking at how we help people with that transition. Right now, we will eventually deal with a bottleneck of people coming through the shelter into the residential program who can’t find a place to live.
We’re looking at creating intentional communities where, for lack of a better term, it’s another type of transitional housing where we’d have six to eight formerly homeless who’ve gone through our program move into a place with six studio apartments, a common kitchen and a living space. They’d be supported by a life coach and a case manager to help them bridge that gap back into the community.
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Jim Crowley discusses the goals of Water Street Mission.
A COLLECTIVE IMPACT
United Way abandoned the goals of a new funding model launched in 2015, but not the collaborative spirit
OLIVIA SCHLINKMAN FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE
In 2015, the United Way of Lancaster County set four high-aiming, collaboration-driven goals: to support local nonprofits in improving kindergarten readiness, higher-education attainment, health care access and poverty reduction throughout Lancaster County. With a fresh funding framework to distribute United Way grants to nonprofits, they hoped their “four bold goals” would see fruition by 2025.
Now at the finish line, the United Way is not where it thought it would be; it abandoned the four bold goals framework in 2019.
But an ardent pursuit of collective impact has persisted.
Collective impact, a community model that rewards interagency collaboration, completely transformed the United Way of Lancaster County’s funding strategies in 2015. Forming the foundation for the four bold goals, collective impact mobilized nonprofit grant applicants to form “community impact partnerships” with other organizations and propose shared, mutually-funded projects that tackle broad social issues.
Prior to 2015, nonprofits could receive and use United Way grants individually.
“One of the shifts in the United Way funding model to collective impact,” said Joel Janisewski, vice president of impact at United Way of Lancaster County, “is that we look to fund organizations that have a long presence in the community and are doing really important work, and at the same time work to identify and fund organizations that are responding to new and changing community needs.”
Local nonprofits felt uncertain over what the shift would mean for their programs and operating capacities. Some feared a withdrawal of in-
Gonzalez-Vela moves a stack of tables around the warehouse of Pennsylvania Furniture Mission in Columbia. The mission, a recipient of a United Way Level Up and Launch grant, offers free furniture to individuals experiencing economic hardship.
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, United Way of Lancaster County switched to a collective impact model of community betterment in pursuit of four bold goals. lanc.news/UnitedWay
dividual funding would weaken some of Lancaster County’s crucial social services. Others hoped it would open a door for startups to have a chance at the limited financial support.
In a 2015 opinion piece, the LNP Editorial Board broached the question on many minds: “Will the ‘four
bold goals’ approach work?”
Now, 10 years later, has it?
A new direction
LNP | LancasterOnline coverage best described the United Way’s 2015 transformation as, “jettisoning a long practice of funding several dozen nonprofits and their helpful but narrowly-focused programs… (to) award three-year grants to a few newly formed, multi-agency teams set up to tackle stubborn problems.”
As of 2019, the United Way no longer requires grant applicants to propose projects pursuant to the four
bold goals. They shifted away from this framework after finding it difficult to measure progress toward the goals, Janisewski said.
Currently, the United Way of Lancaster County expects grant applicants — who now can be partnerships or individual organizations — to address their current core focuses: education, economic mobility and health. Janisewski said the current framework helps the United Way provide multifaceted services.
“We provide funding and programs to help address immediate needs,” Janisewski said, “but then also have programs and funding that is there to help address some of the systemic challenges that our community is facing.”
In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, United Way of Lancaster County received $3,005,910 in campaign dollars, falling in line with prior years’ totals: $2,875,674 in 2022-2023 and $3,203,676 in 2021-2022.
Ultimately, Janisewski said a positive outcome of the 2015 transition has been deeper connection and collaboration forged between organizations.
“It’s exciting and important to see, because different organizations focus on different issues, and when organizations are able to collaborate, the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts,” Janisewski said.
Since 2015, the United Way of Lancaster County has introduced various new grant programs, including the Level Up and Launch grant. Janisewski said the grant funds projects that address disparities in education, economic mobility and health, and promotes collective action by requiring organizations to engage in collaborative work if they want to receive the grant for a second year.
The program also encourages comGOALS, page 23
Jason
SUZETTE WENGER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Goals
munity investment; on top of the grant, United Way matches dollarfor-dollar every community donation up to the original grant amount, giving recipients the chance to triple their funds.
This year, a total of $250,000 was awarded to 11 nonprofits and their projects, including the Pennsylvania Furniture Mission, which received $50,000. Just two years old, the mission offers free furniture to individuals experiencing economic hardship as well as job opportunities for some of their clients.
The Pennsylvania Furniture Mission originally set a goal of furnishing 250 homes if they received a Level Up and Launch grant, said Pashk Sokoli, the organization’s co-founder and executive director. It surpassed that goal in 2024, furnishing over 375 homes and providing over 700 bed sets to individuals throughout Lancaster and surrounding counties.
“It has been very impactful, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support not just of the grants, but also from the community,” Sokoli said.
United Way of Lancaster County has seen various other achievements. During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, according to its community report, the Pre-K Scholarship program granted over $50,000 to local partner schools, which reduced early education costs by 50% for 26 Lancaster
families. The organization increased its Summer Youth Experience grants by 50%, providing $30,000 for Lancaster student enrichment programs. Since 2016, United Way also has presented an annual $250,000 grant to the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition.
Nonprofit impact
The community has experienced varying degrees of impact from United Way of Lancaster County’s 2015 decision.
For some organizations that received no or reduced funding in 2015, the shift proved challenging — but despite obstacles, many have persisted.
In 2015, YWCA Lancaster’s grant allocation was $45,000 — over $375,000 less than the organization’s previous grant. According to Maureen Powers, CEO of YWCA Lancaster until 2014, the organization previously received one of United Way’s largest grant amounts, which was crucial for its child care programs, sexual assault prevention counseling and racial equity services.
Despite this, current CEO Stacie Blake said the historic YWCA Lancaster building is now undergoing renovations pursuant to its “Y Forward” project — an initiative that will offer 16 affordable housing units, trauma-informed meeting areas and ADA-compliant entry for clients.
Similarly, Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development received $10,000 in 2015 funding, down from
its previous year’s disbursement of $104,000.
Due to the reduction, the center initially had to limit programming. United Way funding made up for what clients’ Medicaid didn’t cover and helped keep prices reasonable, said James DeBord, the Schreiber Center’s president.
“We’ve had to do more fundraising internally here, particularly because the demand for our services has only grown,” DeBord said.
By forging stronger philanthropic connections, Schreiber has since doubled its budget from what it was in 2015, and has managed to increase its staff and build out its facilities.
“We have grown,” DeBord said, “but the reality is what happened with United Way didn’t make our job any easier; it really only made it more difficult.”
To Erin Conahan, coordinator of school, family and community partnerships for the School District of
Lancaster, the United Way’s collective action approach has helped the district serve its students and families beyond merely academics.
Though the district does not receive grant money from the United Way, it has been a partner in community impact partnerships — in 2015, it was involved in five funded collaboratives, many focused on providing family support services.
Conahan says the school district has found value in establishing connections with local organizations even beyond United Way fundedpartnerships and has come to rely on collaborations to support its students’ diverse needs. For example, the district partners with many local child care providers.
“Getting individuals to really understand what collective impact means, and to have a backbone organization really support the work of partnerships, I think is so critical,” Conahan said.
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ENVIRONMENT
A
in January. Preserved recreational land has increased over the past decade but still falls well short of the goals set in the county’s land-use plan. PAGE 26
from
view
Pinnacle Overlook in Martic Township
ANDY BLACKBURN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
PRESERVING RECREATIONAL LAND
County has seen incremental increase in protected natural space, parks in past decade
RACHEL MCDEVITT
RACHEL_MCDEVITT@WITF.ORG
The areas protected in Lancaster County for hiking, paddling, biking, hunting and playing outside have grown in the past decade, but slowly.
Preserved recreational land in the county has increased 6.6% since 2015, but still falls well below goals set in the county’s land use plan, Places2040.
In 2015, Lancaster County Planning Commission reported the county had 21,595 acres of preserved recreational land, or 3.5% of the county’s total land.
That included 16,361 acres of natural land, which is made up of nature preserves, state parks, state game land, and county parks; and 5,234 acres of park land, which is managed by municipalities.
Now there are 23,031 acres, an increase of 1,436 acres. That brings preserved recreational land to just under 4% of the county’s total land. Places2040, the county’s plan for growth and land use, lists open space as a priority and envisions a future county with more places to hike, bike and play; where forested land is protected; and where water quality is a priority. The plan envisions a county where 16% of total land is permanently preserved natural areas, or a total of 97,382 acres.
County government did not preserve any new land since 2015, according to Michael Fitzpatrick, spokesman for the Lancaster County Commissioners. It transferred parts of Chickies Rock County Park to East Donegal Township and Marietta Borough.
Wesley Robinson, spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said 432 acres of recreational opportunities have been added in the county since 2015 in the category of local
vancy is able to preserve land. People who own forested land who don’t have a family member to inherit it may approach the conservancy to protect it from development. Some people donate their land while others want market value.
Sometimes land goes up for auction that the conservancy is interested in acquiring and the group has to compete against developers.
Securing land can be a slow and expensive process that often takes years, Schroeder said
The conservancy and other land trust organizations have had some support in preservation efforts from state grant programs. Robinson said DCNR’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program grants have protected 744 acres in the county since 2015.
parks and open space.
For state land, Susquehannock State Park in Drumore Township added two parcels of protected land since 2015. It protected 146 acres in 2016 and 227 acres in 2022 to bring the total to 724 acres, according to Robinson.
The nonprofit Lancaster Conservancy played a big role in increasing recreational land in the last decade. Between the start of 2015 and the end of 2024, the conservancy grew its footprint of publicly accessible nature preserves from 4,100 acres to more than 5,200 acres.
“Our community recognizes the benefit of protecting forested land,” said Fritz Schroeder, president and CEO of Lancaster Conservancy. Those benefits include cleaner air and water, as well as providing more opportunities for people to get outdoor exercise and commune with nature, Schroeder said.
Since 2015, the conservancy has
added six nature preserves in Lancaster County, totaling more than 439 acres.
The land trust also protects more land in neighboring counties and through privately held conservation easements.
The conservancy has put more emphasis on the Susquehanna River and surrounding riverlands in recent years. It protects 2,505 acres in York County and leads opposition to development projects it says would be disruptive for the ecosystem. The conservancy is challenging a preliminary permit granted to York Energy Storage. The permit allows the company to study building a hydroelectric project that would flood the area around Cuffs Run, a tributary to the Susquehanna.
From May 2024 to May 2025, Schroeder said the conservancy will have added 700 new acres between Lancaster and York counties.
There are a few ways the conser-
After land is acquired, it needs to be maintained. Of the more than 30 full- and part-time staff of the conservancy, Schroeder said about half are professional stewards.
“We have a team of professionals that are out managing the preserves, removing invasives, siting and building trails, parking lots, rain gardens, native meadows,” Schroeder said.
The conservancy is also taking steps to ensure people of all abilities can enjoy their preserves. Schroeder said they are investing in “universal access trails,” which are smoother and flatter than typical hiking trails, and are accessible to visitors with strollers, wheelchairs, walkers or other mobility devices.
“We’re focused on the health of ecosystems and the forest, and then how we bring people into nature, with the idea that: the more people that get out and experience it, the more people that appreciate it, the more people that will support our cause long term,” Schroeder said.
Educator Kelly Ford, of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, leads a New Year’s Day hike at the Pinnacle Overlook in Martic Township.
ANDY BLACKBURN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
EDUCATION
PAGE 28
Adam Strosser-Schwebel welds the floor of a vehicle in the collision technology program at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. While some county colleges prepare for a sharp enrollment decline, Thaddeus Stevens has continued to see enrollment growth over the past decade.
BLAINE SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
COUNTY COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES BRACE FOR DROP-OFF IN STUDENTS
ASHLEY STALNECKER ASTALNECKER@LNPNEWS.COM
Higher education in America stands at the edge of an enrollment cliff that’s been years in the making, and as many institutions prepare for a sharp decline in prospective students, colleges in Lancaster County say they are ready.
With 7,009 students enrolled – an almost 300-student increase over last year — Millersville University is avoiding declining enrollment that’s already affecting most of the 10 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, said Christopher Fiorentino, interim chancellor of the state university system.
Projections that the number of Pennsylvania high school graduates will decline by nearly 10,000 in the next five years — bottoming out to just under 118,000 in 2033 — has Fiorentino worried that soon there won’t be enough degree-holders to support several industries in the commonwealth.
From the dwindling population of high school graduates, even fewer are choosing to attend two- and fouryear colleges. The rate of Lancaster County high school graduates enrolling in a post-secondary institution decreased by 10 percentage points to 53% from 2008 to 2023 and is lower than the state rate of 59% and neighboring counties Chester (72%), Berks (61%) and York (56%), according to the Lancaster County Community Indicators.
The community indicators, a project of the Steinman Foundation, is a collection of data that provides insight into trends across Lancaster County over time.
In 2015, LNP | LancasterOnline reported on a tighter job market
last school year.
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, an increasing number of people with bachelor’s degrees were returning to school for tech training.
lanc.news/HigherEd
that required a degree and beyond. Two-year colleges, including Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, saw an increase in bachelor’s degreeholders furthering their education to better their job prospects or switch careers.
Thaddeus Stevens President Pedro Rivera said the college continues to see an increase in bachelor’s degreeholders enrolling at the college, but it’s not always out of necessity as it was in 2015; students can afford to build skills and want to advance in their fields.
What’s next for Pennsylvania is “the question of the moment,” Fiorentino said. “Where are we going to get our nurses, where are we going to get our teachers, where are we going to get entry-level business people, where are we going to get people with
engineering skills to meet the needs, the growing needs in those arenas?
“We’re talking to legislators about ‘What are we going to do?’ because if we can’t identify people to fill these positions, the commonwealth is going to stagnate,” he said.
Colleges across Pennsylvania have already buckled under the financial pressures after enrollment dropped substantially during the pandemic.
Pittsburgh Technical College, Clarks Summit University, the University of the Arts and Cabrini University all closed permanently in 2024, citing declining enrollment and cash shortfall.
Mergers also have become more commonplace.
St. Joseph’s University acquired Lancaster County’s Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences in Janu-
ary 2024. PASSHE merged six of its universities into two in 2021. Even Penn State University has pared down, bringing 11 universities under the leadership of four chancellors in 2024.
F&M sees decline but expects growth
Enrollment is down by nearly 700 students to 1,867 at Franklin & Marshall College since 2012 – with the most substantial decline occurring between 2020 and 2024.
Leslie Davidson, vice president for enrollment management at F&M, said the pandemic accelerated and amplified trends that were in evidence — particularly a drop-off in the number of 18-year-olds expected to
Incoming freshmen move into Millersville University’s West Village Residence Hall for the start of the 2024-25 school year. The university had an increase in enrollment over
Schools
begin this year.
“The immediate post-pandemic job market had an effect there,” Davidson said, referring to the school’s enrollment decline. “It was a buyer’s market in terms of employees and so some young people found it more worthwhile to go to work, and there is an increasing question of the value of higher education and the cost of higher education.”
The college aims to grow to and maintain an enrollment of around 2,000 students, even as colleges compete for a dwindling pool of potential applicants. To do so, Davidson said the college will rely on experienced recruiters placed in markets of growth like Washington, D.C., and in California.
With those efforts, Davidson said the college has already experienced a resurgence in the number of applicants.
But the college isn’t immune to the impact of a smaller enrollment. In response to a decreasing student body, the school has not only reduced the number of visiting, adjunct and open tenure-track faculty positions but plans to lay off an unspecified number of staff in April, according to a statement from spokesperson Pete Durantine following an announcement of the impending layoffs by college president Barbara Altmann in early February.
Thaddeus Stevens strong
Meanwhile, Lancaster County’s two-year technical school, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, has been and expects to continue seeing growth.
Aside from two years during the pandemic, Thaddeus Stevens’ enrollment has grown year over year for the last decade — claiming record-breaking enrollment years in 2023 and 2024. The 1,451 students attending Thaddeus Stevens this
ENROLLMENT CHANGE
How has enrollment at Lancaster County’s largest colleges changed since 2015? Here’s a look at enrollment figures from the fall of 2015 and 2024.
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology n 2015: 985 n 2024: 1,470 n 49% change
Millersville University n 2015: 7,988 n 2024: 7,009 n 12% change
Elizabethtown College n 2015: 2,275 n 2024: 2,283 n 0.4% change
Franklin & Marshall College n 2015: 2,354 n 2024: 1,867 n 20% change
n Sources: Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, Millersville University, Elizabethtown College and F&M.
year is nearly double the 786 enrolled in 2013.
And still, even that is not enough to keep pace with industry demands, as there are 18 job openings state and nationwide per graduating student, according to Rivera.
To meet demand, Rivera said he hopes to continue growing enrollment at the college, even as the number of high school graduates declines, by also offering programs for students who are underemployed or unemployed rather than the traditional college age.
“In the short term, we’ll continue to see really good interest driven by our programs and our outcomes,” Rivera said. “Long term, we have to think differently about who we educate and about what the commonwealth needs in terms of our work-
force competencies.”
Thaddeus Stevens is part of a trend in national growth and interest in two-year technical colleges as prospective students see less value in the traditional four-year college. Nationally, enrollment at community colleges with a high vocational program focus grew 17.6% — by 117,000 students — from spring 2023 to spring 2024 and surpassed pre-pandemic enrollment by 6.1% or 45,000 students, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Two-year college enrollment was the driving factor in the 2.5% or 359,000-student growth in undergraduate enrollment nationwide over spring 2023, according to the research center.
Increasing interest in technology education at Thaddeus Stevens demonstrates a broader shift in perspectives toward higher education.
Value of higher education
Heightened media focus on the rising cost of higher education paired with low unemployment rates making entry-level positions easier to obtain for high school graduates has diminished the public perception of the value of higher education in recent years, said Douglas Zander, Millersville University’s associate vice president of enrollment management and dean of admissions.
But Zander said the college wants to educate prospective students on just how lucrative a four-year degree can be. For example, he said, a fouryear degree holder makes $1 million more in their career than someone with a high school diploma.
Plus, Millersville boasts affordability that some private institutions can’t claim. Millersville and every PASSHE university have frozen tuition at $7,716 per year for the last seven years.
Meanwhile, Millersville has anticipated and prepared for an enrollment drop-off for some time, Zander said. The university has
increased outreach to traditional prospective undergraduates while, like Thaddeus Stevens, developing programs to attract nontraditional students.
“We have to be flexible and grow and need to meet the world where it is,” Zander said, suggesting accelerated degree programs to cut the time and cost of spending four years in a classroom.
With its preparation, Zander said the university hopes to maintain enrollment at around 7,000 students.
‘Being realistic’
Elizabethtown College strives to maintain enrollment, too. While the college’s student population increased to 2,283 students from 2,152 last year, the private four-year college hasn’t seen much change in the long-term. In 2015, it enrolled 2,275 students.
In 2024, the college enrolled 550 first-year students, which is right on target with the college’s enrollment goal of 510 students, said Keri Straub, vice president of enrollment management, marketing and communications. The college has met or surpassed its enrollment goal for six consecutive years.
“We know that the demographic shift is looming,” Straub said. “So, we need to make sure that we’re prepared and ready and being realistic.”
Preparations include annual curriculum evaluations to ensure Elizabethtown is offering high-demand programs to meet society’s needs.
The college also plans to make cuts. By the end of the academic year, the college will reduce its fulltime faculty by 13 positions and drop the fine arts major, sociology major and minor, and the Spanish and Spanish education majors.
“I would say right now we’re in a good position, a strong position, in terms of staffing, in terms of resources for our students,” Straub said, though she noted the college is always monitoring the factors that play into its operating costs.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS SEE FLUCTUATING OPT-OUT NUMBERS FOR STATE TESTS
REBECCA LOGAN FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE
“Seeds of discontentment with standardized testing are taking root in Lancaster County.”
That was the first sentence of a February 2015 article in LNP detailing how the number of thirdthrough eighth-grade students in the county who were opted out of state math and reading exams rose to 87 in 2014 — more than five times the number of students who were opted out in 2013.
Fast forward a decade, and 478 students in districts that serve Lancaster County were opted out of state math tests in 2024, according to the state Department of Education. Reading and science opt-outs have also increased.
“I don’t think these tests give the teachers anything they don’t already know about their students,” said Leslie Gates, a mother of two children who sit out the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests in Hempfield.
Gates, an art education professor at Millersville University, and a former public school teacher, co-founded a group called Lancaster County Opt Out. That was before her own children reached state testing age. They’re in middle school now. She objects to the money and time spent on testing and says that detracts from learning.
The more recent figures provided by the state include — in addition to grades 3 through 8 — students who were opted out of grade 11 Keystone exams. Though the state did not break opt-outs down by grade, the total for individual districts for 11th graders is minimal. That’s because Keystones are linked to state graduation requirements.
WHAT WE REPORTED
n In 2015, LNP reported on a spike in opt-outs for state exams in math and reading, with 2014 numbers more than five times the number in 2013.
county districts.
Penn Manor — which had 32 optouts in 2014 reached 96 opt-outs in 2016, then saw a drop. In 2024, eight Penn Manor students were opted out of math tests and four out of reading. No Penn Manor students were opted out of science testing, making it the only district in the county with no state science test opt-outs last year. A Penn Manor spokesman declined to comment on the numbers.
Systems like the School District of Lancaster are still seeing higher opt-outs than in 2015. SDL’s optout count that year was 15. In 2024, 68 SDL students were opted out of math, 72 from reading and 36 from science.
Higher percentage changes over that decade exist in the county. Eastern Lancaster County School District had two opt-outs in 2015, per previous LNP reporting. In 2024, 45 students were opted out of math tests there, per the state data. In Elizabethtown Area schools, those numbers jumped from 6 to 64.
There are a few alternative methods of meeting graduation requirements if a student is opted out of Keystones. (For example, students can alternatively meet certain benchmarks on Advanced Placement or Scholastic Aptitude Tests.)
But it’s not as straightforward as in
grades 3 through 8, when students who don’t take the PSSAs just don’t take the PSSAs.
Statewide, the number of students opted out of state testing increased over the past decade, then started back down over the past couple of years, though trends varied among
Much of Elizabethtown’s increase happened after the COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to other issues like mask mandates, said district spokesperson Troy Portser.
“There was division in our community, as there was in a lot of communities, and parents became aware of their overall rights,” he said. “And, in
Students at Manor Middle School in Penn Manor School District walk beneath a banner designed to motivate them for PSSA testing in 2015.
Test
some ways, they’re exercising those rights more today.”
Word gets around in a small community, Portser said.
“A lot of these parents run in the same circles,” he said. “It’s on social media. It’s a lot of factors.”
Changes in population or class sizes also could be contributing to fluctuations.
For an entity the size of the School District of Lancaster — with 10,015 students in 2024 — 72 students opting out of reading and 68 opting out of math is a drop in the bucket, even though those figures represent the highest number of opt-outs for both subjects among all county school districts.
“We respect the rights of parents and guardians to make this decision, though fewer than 1% of our students opt out,” said Adam Aurand, a spokesman for the School District of Lancaster.
Opting out can, however, limit teachers’ ability to provide necessary acceleration or intervention based on test performance, Aurand writes in an email, adding that higher-performing students are “typically” those who are opted out, meaning more opt-outs could lower overall test achievement.
Hempfield Superintendent Mike Bromirksi also writes in an email that fewer test takers can drag state-reported scores down. Hempfield had the largest number of science opt-outs in 2024 at 47.
How it works
According to Chapter 4 of Title 2 of the Pennsylvania School Code, parents or guardians can excuse a child from the state assessment if they inspect the testing materials and find those conflict with their
We respect the rights of parents and guardians to make this decision, though fewer than 1% of our students opt out.
— Adam Aurand, School District
of Lancaster
religious beliefs.
The state’s guidebook for PSSA coordinators notes that if a parent refuses to have a child participate and does not provide a reason in accordance with Chapter 4 rules, the coordinator must check a block marked: “Student’s parent/ guardian chose to exclude the student from participation based on reason(s) other than conflict with religious beliefs, even though there is no provision for this exclusion in Pennsylvania regulation.”
Gates used to talk often to groups of concerned parents. She doesn’t do that much these days. People can often find answers online, she said. Still, parents seeking guidance are referred to her each year. Gates said communication about what’s required for an opt-out can be inconsistent between districts and even within them.
Parents can check with their individual school districts about specific instructions for reviewing testing materials.
“Schools are incentivized to make it difficult to opt out because they need to meet participation rates,” Gates said. “Although we don’t have any evidence that anything would actually happen if they don’t.”
Gates said she doubts any Lancaster County schools will fall below the state-required 95% participation rate.
“Especially locally, I don’t think the numbers would ever get there,” she said. “But I do think it’s really important for parents to know that it’s an option. And a lot of them still do not.”
STANDARDIZED TESTING OPT-OUTS BY DISTRICT
Here’s a look at the total number of PSSA and Keystone standardized testing opt-out requests by subject for each Lancaster County school district in 2024.
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