A Braddock-based agency said a shift in federal funding will mean an end to a program offering 13,000 rides per month across the Mon Valley.

Heritage Community Initiatives said it will hold a press conference on Thursday to detail plans to shut down its WorkLink come June 30.

“More than 3,000 families in Western Pennsylvania will be impacted due to reallocation of funding from the federal Job Access Reverse Commute program,” Heritage director of development Amy Schnarrenberger said in an email.

The $134 million JARC program was eliminated a year ago when Congress passed a two-year transportation plan.

WorkLink received $900,000 a year, half from JARC and the rest from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It started in 2001 as a link between Braddock and the 59A Port Authority bus into the Waterfront.

HCI calls it “a fixed-route transportation feeder service designed to provide efficient, cost effective, and non-duplicative services to residents of the geographically isolated and low-income communities of the Mon Valley.”

Its aim is to connect “the underserved population of Mon Valley communities” to bus routes as well as places of employment, job training, childcare and related services.

It provided approximately 6,000 rides a month in 2010, but after Port Authority cut back routes in 2011, demand rose.

Its vans carry 15 passengers at a time to East Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek, North Versailles Township, McKeesport, Port Vue, Glassport, Clairton, Jefferson Regional Medical Center and Community College of Allegheny County South Campus in West Mifflin, weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Ironically, Braddock isn’t on the list of areas served because of existing Port Authority runs there.

Heritage CEO Michele R. Atkins, incoming board chairman Morton Stanfield and WorkLink manager Sarah Morgan are scheduled to address Thursday’s briefing.

Patrick Cloonan is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext. 1967, or pcloonan@tribweb.com.

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