Lebanon County approves $4.78 million human services block grant plan for 2025–26

Lebanon County Commissioners on Aug. 7 approved the county'level Human Services Plan for fiscal year 2025'26, which proposes $4,781,881 in Pennsylvania block grant funding to support mental health, intellectual disability, drug and alcohol, and community action services.

The plan, presented by Holly Leahy, administrator for Lebanon County Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities and Early Intervention, assigns 60% of the block grant ($2,888,398) to mental health, 28% ($1,326,401) to intellectual disabilities, 6% ($291,431) to drug and alcohol services and 6% ($275,651) to Community Action Partnership. Leahy said the block grant represents only a portion of each program's total funding and that Community Action Partnership's block grant funds make up its full support for certain homelessness and development programs.

County officials said the plan was prepared under state guidance issued June 11 and must be submitted to Pennsylvania by Aug. 11. Leahy told commissioners the county completed the 75'page plan expecting flat funding but warned of "large deficits" if state or federal allocations decline. "Even with block funding, it will not meet the true needs of our community nor provide opportunity for any growth," she said, summarizing the plan's fiscal constraints.

Commissioners approved the plan by voice vote. The plan document, which county staff circulated in advance, includes reporting and allocations across multiple county departments and notes the county has been a block grant jurisdiction since 2017.

Because the block grant is fungible across departments in Lebanon County, staff said it allows reallocation where one department is under budget and another is over. However, Leahy and other staff emphasized that program-level needs exceed the anticipated funding and that departments would have to weigh difficult choices should cuts materialize.

The approved plan authorizes county staff to submit the formal documents to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and to proceed with the contract and reporting actions needed for the 07/01/2025'06/30/2026 fiscal year.