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Year: 2021

What Authority Do Municipalities Have with Cannabis License Seekers?

By Contributor
Law

MREs and HCAs

By Mary-Lou Rup

Under Massachusetts’ recreational-marijuana statute, those seeking to operate a marijuana retail establishment (MRE) must obtain a license to operate from the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). Municipalities exercise local control over MRE applicants through ordinances or bylaws setting ‘reasonable’ controls on the time, place, and manner of operations and limiting the number of MREs within their borders.

During the first step of the licensing process, MRE applicants must obtain approval from the municipality, and the municipality and applicant execute a host-community agreement (HCA), which sets forth the conditions under which the MRE can operate. During the second step, the CCC determines to which approved applicants it will issue licenses, which in part requires a one-page certification that the applicant and municipality have executed an HCA.

Municipalities may require that MREs pay a ‘community impact fee,’ statutorily capped at 3% of the MRE’s gross sales for five years, to cover a variety of actual costs to the municipality reasonably related to the MRE’s operations.

“An appeal now pending in the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) may resolve issues related to the degree to which municipalities exercise control over which applicants move on to the second step.”

In HCAs, many municipalities require additional payments by the MREs, often based on an additional percentage of gross sales and/or charitable donations to entities selected by the municipality. These additional costs have, for the most part, gone unchallenged by MRE applicants anxious to obtain the HCA necessary in order to be licensed to operate.

An appeal now pending in the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) may resolve issues related to the degree to which municipalities exercise control over which applicants move on to the second step. The case involves Mederi Inc., which sought to operate one of five MREs permitted by the city of Salem. Mederi received the necessary special permit and alleges it met all other requirements of the city’s application process. A city committee reviewed the applications before entering HCAs with four applicants; Mederi was not among them and sued. Dismissal of that suit lead to Mederi’s appeal.

Two arguments made by Mederi are of interest. Mederi challenges the city’s authority to select with which qualified applicants it would enter HCAs, effectively controlling those which the CCC could then consider for licensing. Mederi also argues that the city exceeded its lawful authority by, among other actions, imposing as a condition of its HCA fees in excess of the 3% community-impact fee. Specifically, the city required five annual payments of 1% of gross sales to a ‘traffic-enhancement fund’ and at least $25,000 in charitable contributions to local causes.

Mederi posits that allowing municipalities to utilize these ‘pay-to-play’ provisions and to pre-select which qualified applicants it will allow to advance to the CCC adversely impacts the statute’s provisions giving priority to economic-empowerment applicants — provisions intended to assist areas of disproportionate impact disadvantaged by high rates of criminal activity involving marijuana.

In opposition, the city argues that it could properly decide with which applicants to enter into HCAs. It asserts that the local-control step of the MRE-licensing process allows municipalities to weigh competing proposals and exercise discretion in choosing the most suitable applicants. The city argues that its selected applicants were the “strongest possible operators” based on experience in the marijuana industry and intent to operate in the “least impactful locations” in Salem.

The CCC filed an amicus brief in the case. Pointing to competing legislative mandates, it asserted that, while the statute does not authorize it to regulate or participate in the initial local-control portion of the licensing process, the statute also requires that it give MRE licensing priority to existent medical-marijuana treatment centers and economic-empowerment applicants.

It noted that municipalities’ exclusive control of the HCA process seemed to advantage more experienced and better-resourced applicants, leaving economic-empowerment applicants at a competitive disadvantage, and, in effect, controlled those whose license applications the CCC is able to consider. The CCC has recommended amendments to the statute, addressing, among other matters, this issue and the additional fees imposed in HCAs. Its recommendations are presently under consideration in the legislature.

Stay tuned. The SJC heard arguments on Feb. 3 and, under its usual 130-day timeline, may be expected to issue its decision by early summer.

 

Mary-Lou Rup served as associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court until her retirement in 2018, when she joined the litigation group of Bulkley Richardson as senior counsel.

How to Avoid Those Family Fights Over Grandma’s Tchotchkes

By Contributor
Law

Knick-knack Knockouts

By Valerie Vignaux, Esq.

The most prolonged and venomous arguments I’ve witnessed in my estate-administration practice have not been over money. In my experience, the highest level of emotional warfare is reserved for tangible, personal property, or the ‘stuff’ that mom and dad, or grandma and grandpa, leave behind in the house.

The $7 porcelain ballerina that sat on the mantel for 50 years, the carbon-steel chef’s knife in the kitchen, costume jewelry, a crocheted Kleenex holder, photo albums, even the washing machine, if you can believe it — these are the objects that can send otherwise well-behaved, loving, and gentle family members to opposite corners of the boxing ring to steel themselves for a fight. And fight they do.

“Not me, and not my family,” we all say. But it can happen to the best of us, and the conflict has the potential to do serious damage to a family already grieving the loss of a loved one. Adult siblings revert to traits and behaviors not exhibited since ages 6 to 12. Beloved in-laws who were once an integral part of the family are now interlopers who deserve nothing. And only after mom is gone do we learn that she seems to have promised her cuckoo clock to all four of her children. (Pro tip: none of you should take the cuckoo clock. Your own families will thank you for letting that one go.)

How do we prevent such consternation at a time when we should be coming together in our shared sadness? A list. A simple, old-fashioned list. I call such a list a will memorandum, and Massachusetts General Laws recognizes such a “separate writing identifying [the] devise of certain types of tangible property.”

One of the most appealing aspects of the will memorandum is that this list can be updated, changed, thrown out, and begun anew at any time, without having to change the will itself. In fact, a properly written and executed last will and testament document typically provides that the author (the testator or testatrix) may leave such a memo, listing specific items for specific people.

“The most prolonged and venomous arguments I’ve witnessed in my estate-administration practice have not been over money.”

For any object of significant monetary value — jewelry, works of art, vehicles, and rare books are all such examples — I recommend providing for distribution directly in the will or trust document, as opposed to a separate memorandum. Similarly, a will memorandum is not an appropriate place to include gifts of money or real estate. But for all those personal belongings that have more emotional than dollar value, such a list is perfect.

Some of my clients have also placed notes on the backs or bottoms of objects around the house, stating who is to receive it upon the client’s death. This works, but I prefer a list that is dated and signed and kept with the client’s copy of his or her will. It is helpful, too, if I, as the client’s estate-planning attorney, have a copy in my file.

How does one start writing a will memorandum? Ask your family members what they want. Understandably, many people are not eager to have these conversations, but it is a gift to those you leave behind to prepare for your passing, and a gift to prevent discord in the family.

Want to achieve the next level of preparedness? Start giving possessions away before you die. If you know that your niece would enjoy your bamboo fishing pole, give it to her now so you can see her smile, hear her thank you, and forestall any arguments about it later. Further, giving away some of your possessions now will reduce the burden on those you leave behind to clean out your residence.

Take a look around your home. Is there decluttering that could be done now? (For almost all of us, the answer is assuredly yes). Start making a list of items that you can part with now, and ask your family and friends if they’re interested in any of them. By starting the process during your life, you are lessening the burden you might otherwise leave your loved ones.

‘But I’m only 40 (or 50 or 60),” you say. You’re not too young to start. Do yourself and your family members a favor and start making that list. Every one of us has at least a few things that would be meaningful to another. If you don’t have children, consider your siblings, nieces, nephews, and friends.

One last thing: although it can feel like tempting fate, please be assured that making a will memorandum (or having a will prepared, for that matter) will not cause your death. It will not court the agents of your demise. It will be an exercise of control over the uncontrollable. It will actually make you feel better, not worse. And it will make things markedly easier for those loved ones you leave behind.

 

Valerie Vignaux is an attorney with Bacon Wilson, P.C., and a member of the firm’s estate-planning and elder-law team. She assists clients with all manner of estate planning and administration, including probate, and provides representation for guardianship and conservatorship matters. She received the Partner in Care Award from Linda Manor in 2017 and served on the board of directors for Highland Valley Elder Services; (413) 584-1287; [email protected]

What Are Employers Really Getting with These Documents?

By Contributor
Law

Non-competition Agreements

By Timothy M. Netkovick, Esq.

Everyone is aware of the honeymoon phase of the employment relationship — that time period when the employee begins work and both parties are filled with high expectations for the relationship.

Possibly, prior to beginning the relationship, an employer has the employee sign a non-competition agreement as a sort of prenuptial agreement, hoping to never have to use it. However, fast-forward a few years, the employment relationship goes sour, and the employee leaves the company. Not only does the employee leave the company, but they also begin soliciting clients, or maybe even fellow employees, to join them at their new place of employment.

As employers are aware, Massachusetts enacted the Noncompetition Agreement Act in 2018. Prior to the act, there was little restriction on the contents of a non-competition agreement other than what terms would be enforced by a court in the event of a dispute. That changed with the provisions of the act. Now, in the scenario above, if the employer sought to enforce the non-competition agreement, it would need to pay the former employee not to work during the competition period.

This is because the act mandates that, to be enforceable, a non-competition agreement must contain a ‘garden-leave clause,’ defined as 50% of the employee’s highest annualized salary within the two years preceding termination.

“While the Noncompetition Agreement Act requires employers to pay former employees not to work, there may be other options available to employers.”

Employers therefore must answer the question: what do I really want with a non-competition agreement? Is it to stop the former employee from working? Or is the goal to maintain the status of my business? If the goal is to maintain the status of the business, employers may be able to utilize non-solicitation and non-disclosure agreements, which can protect the former employer’s interests while also allowing the former employee to work.

Both such agreements are excluded from the definition of ‘non-competition agreement’ by the act, meaning they do not need to include garden-leave clauses.

A non-solicitation agreement does not prohibit a former employee from working for a competitor when the employment relationship ends. Instead, it serves to prohibit the former employee from soliciting clients and other employees of the former employer to join them at their new place of employment. A non-solicitation agreement can therefore be an effective tool in preserving the current status of the business by prohibiting a former employee from taking clients and other employees with them to their new place of employment.

A non-disclosure agreement also does not prohibit a former employee from working for a competitor when the employment relationship ends. Nor does it prohibit the former employee from soliciting clients and other employees from joining them at their new place of employment. Instead, it serves to prohibit the former employee from disclosing any confidential information from the former employer. The confidential information protected could be a trade secret or other highly sensitive material.

In short, while the Noncompetition Agreement Act requires employers to pay former employees not to work, there may be other options available to employers. It is therefore wise to consult with employment counsel to review your potential options to protect your business interests after the employment relationship has ended. u

 

Timothy M. Netkovick, Esq. is a litigation attorney who specializes in labor and employment-law matters at the Royal Law Firm LLP, a woman-owned, women-managed corporate law firm certified as a women’s business enterprise with the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office, the National Assoc. of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council; (413) 586-2288; [email protected]

Viability’s New CEO is Mission-driven, Focused on the Big Picture

By
Colleen Holmes says client employment, inclusion, and empowerment have been challenged by the pandemic.
Employment

Putting Experience to Work

Colleen Holmes says client employment, inclusion, and empowerment have been challenged by the pandemic.

Colleen Holmes says client employment, inclusion, and empowerment have been challenged by the pandemic.

Colleen Holmes calls it a ‘full-circle moment.’

That’s how she chose to describe her decision to assume the role of president and CEO of Viability, the Springfield-based nonprofit with a broad mission that boils to providing services — and creating opportunities — for those with disabilities. Those opportunities come in a number of forms, and we’ll get to that shortly.

But first, that ‘full circle’ reference. Holmes used it to note that she spent a full decade at one of the legacy agencies, in this case Human Resources Unlimited (HRU), that became Viability in 2107 (Community Enterprises was the other) before moving on to a new role leading as president and CEO of the 18 Degrees agency.

So she’s back where she was. Well, sort of, but not really. Viability is a much bigger agency than HRU was — it boasts $36 million in annual revenues, 420 employees, and 37 sites in four states — and so much has changed in the interim, much it before COVID-19. And the pandemic has simply added another layer — or several layers, when you get right down to it — of challenge and intrigue.

“Coronavirus has in no way taken away from the need for the services we provide. And in many ways, it has made it even more important to provide those services; that has been job one for me, and for all of us here.”

“Coronavirus has in no way taken away from the need for the services we provide,” Holmes explained. “And in many ways, it has made it even more important to provide those services; that has been job one for me, and for all of us here.”

In that respect, much hasn’t changed, and she has, indeed, come full circle, especially when it comes to agency’s mission, which boils down to enriching the lives of the people served by the agency and continuously reinforcing the belief that every individual, no matter their ability, can be a valuable contributor to the community — and the workforce.

It carries out this mission through a number of programs and services, including:

• Clubhouses, which provide members with a supportive environment to increase their vocational, educational, and social skills;

• Partnering with more than 600 employers to provide members with a variety of supported employment opportunities;

• Community living programs that provide that provide care management, direct care, and referral services to individuals with disabilities, enabling them to live in the community with dignity;

• Day supports and various recreational programs that provide individuals with a broad range of community activities; and

• Transitional services that provide members with upfront job-readiness skills, placement assistance, and ongoing supports.

The common denominator in each of these areas, said Holmes, is dedicated staff that not only make the programs happen, but make the individual goal set by and for each member attainable.

“This work doesn’t happen without our staff — and I don’t mean that simply from the standpoint of hands being on deck,” she said. “A lot of the way in which progress is made with individuals is through trusted relationships that are built that give people a safe space to try things, to grow, to progress, to fail and come back and try again another day. Those trusted relationships are pivotal, and our staff’s ability to offer that is everything.”

But COVID has certainly impacted many of these initiatives, said Holmes, adding that the agency has collectively overcome a number of challenges to keep employment, inclusion, access, and empowerment for people with disabilities in the forefront, despite the pandemic. Moving forward, lessons learned from the pandemic will be applied to the future of these programs and services and how they are provided.

“What worries me is that some of these people are losing ground that they worked so hard to gain — people who were working, people who were gaining life skills, people who were gaining in their levels of independence, people who were ready for their next step in employment. There are a number of folks who have lost ground.”

And there will be some important ground to be made up, she said, adding that, in some cases, COVID stunted the progress being made by some members who were forced inside and into a form of isolation that is not part of this agency’s MO.

“What worries me is that some of these people are losing ground that they worked so hard to gain — people who were working, people who were gaining life skills, people who were gaining in their levels of independence, people who were ready for their next step in employment,” she noted. “There are a number of folks who have lost ground.”

Overall, however, many members, and the agency as a whole, have been able to carry on and move forward through this pandemic, she went on, adding that many members work in essential positions, and they take pride in being essential.

For this issue and its focus on employment, BusinessWest talked at length with Holmes about her new assignment, but especially about how the pandemic has only magnified the need for the various services this agency provides, and how Viability has gone about responding to this changed landscape.

 

Work in Progress

Holmes said she certainly wasn’t looking for a new challenge when Don Kozera, the long-time CEO of HRU, her former boss (she served the agency as special projects coordinator), and, most recently, the interim president and CEO of Viability following the unexpected passing of Dick Venn (who stepped into that role after having the same titles at Community Enterprises), asked to talk with her about possibly becoming a candidate for this role.

Suffice it to say he did a good sales job, although it wasn’t necessarily a quick or easy sell.

“He said he thought I would be a good fit for this position and asked if I might consider it,” Holmes recalled. “And I said, ‘I don’t know … I’ll go talk to people; I’m always happy to do that.’”

She did talk to people, and came away intrigued by the possibilities.

“What I saw in this was an opportunity to sort of test my skills and challenge myself in a larger organization; this one is probably two and half times the size of the organization I was leading,” she explained. “Also, and this is probably most compelling, coming to Viability was an opportunity to advance work that matters to me in a different and larger arena.

“Our focus is on employment, training, empowerment, and inclusion with people who have disabilities and other challenges and disadvantages,” she went on, “and that speaks very much to me, in the combination of capacity building and social-justice change.”

Fast-forwarding a little, she did enter what became a nationwide search for a permanent president and CEO, and prevailed through a series of interviews conducted virtually, which she described as a new and different experience — at least as the interviewee.

She arrived in November to a full plate of challenges, including continuation of the daunting process of combining HRU and Community Enterprises into the larger entity that exists today, work that was in some ways slowed, and complicated, by both the passing of Venn and then the arrival of COVID.

“As I came on board, the organization that I am coming to know was ready to be on the other side of that transition,” she told BusinessWest. “And it would have been on the other side sooner had it not been interrupted by the grief and loss of Dick Venn, and had it not been for a pandemic.”

Elaborating, she said that what has been delayed has been the process of “breaking down the silos” within the organization. “You have a much larger organization in every way you can name — there’s more staff, many more programs and services, and in more geographic areas — and one that was continuing to grow, not just as a result of the merger but because it’s part of the mission, vision, and value of the organization. It’s about silos, systems work, and some of the basic functional things, like IT.”

A big part of the process of leading the organization to that proverbial ‘other side’ is to do a lot of “listening, watching, and learning,” she noted.

“You don’t walk into an organization like this one and think you know what you need to know,” she explained. “And I can say I’ve walked into an organization of people who are very welcoming, very helpful, who have lots to share, and who are deeply committed to the mission. Our people show up because they believe in the work that they’re doing and the people they’re working with.”

 

The Job at Hand

Supporting and nurturing this staff is just one of the many priorities for Holmes moving forward — and is, in itself, a challenge.

“One of my larger concerns, and it’s one that’s certainly shared, is the fact that human-service salaries are woefully inadequate to the jobs people do,” she explained. “Joining in advocacy efforts at the state level for eliminating the disparity in pay between community-based providers and state employees who do substantially the same work is important. But it’s also important for us as an organization to prioritize our staff to the extent that the limitations of our largely state-funded dollars allow us to do. Continuing services and supporting our staff are real priorities.”

Another priority, of course, will be transitioning, if that’s the right word, to a post-COVID world. Many staff members have been working remotely, she noted, and there are questions moving forward about how and where work will be carried out and even how much office space the agency may actually need in the short and long term.

And there are many factors to consider in making those decisions, she said.

“It comes down to how we most effectively support the services and the staff members that are delivering the services,” she explained. “There might be a natural tendency to say, ‘OK, there are certain positions that can be carried out remotely, so let’s just put all of them out and save that space.’ But it’s more complicated than that; human-services work is very collaborative. It’s teamwork, but more deeply than that, there is an environment of support that’s hard to come by when you’re not in contact with people, when people don’t see you walk through the hall and see you being a little more tired, a little more stressed than normal. In the kind of work we do, we need to pay attention to that.”

Meanwhile, there are those lessons learned and the new ways of doing things that came about out of necessity — and ingenuity.

“There was a brief period when staff needed to switch to providing services remotely, and … by golly, they did it,” Holmes told BusinessWest. “You get creative, and I’m sure we all have; you learn how to do some things differently, and you discover that the paradigm of how services are provided is turned on its head.

“That’s a new skill set we’ll carry forward, but it by no means replaces in-person services,” she went on, adding that, moving forward, the agency will look toward using the new skills and new technology, including virtual reality, to carry out its mission.

She noted that Viability is using virtual reality to acclimate and train clients and members for job placements. “We started during the pandemic, and we’re very much in the testing and piloting stage,” she explained, adding that early results are very positive. “If you have folks who have autism or others who for various reasons are highly sensitive to changes in environment or to noises, or just to new experiences … to be able to take a work environment and load it into a virtual-reality system so that people can safely explore and navigate that workspace without actually being there is very advantageous. It can lead to much smoother transitions.”

As for the employment programs, the ones that put thousands of individuals in jobs across this region and beyond, COVID prompted some businesses to close and many others to slow down, said Holmes, adding that obvious question marks remain about when and to what extent business, and jobs, will pick up again.

“It is a concern as to how long the economic rebound takes, and if there continues to be a shortage of positions,” she said. “As is so often the case, people who are marginalized are pushed out first, so that is a concern. But there are a number of employers we partner with who, through experience, will tell you the value of working with us, and that, when it comes to our members, their attendance is superior, and the quality of their work is at least on par.”

 

Past Is Prologue

Holmes has talked with many such employers over the years, so she understands those sentiments. She has, as she said at the top, come full circle when it comes to her career in human services.

But in most all respects, she is not coming back to where she was years ago. The landscape has changed in myriad ways and, thanks to COVID, it continues to change, each month and almost each week.

This is a different test, a sterner test, one she fully embraces. As she said, she’s excited about the opportunities — for herself, but especially for those benefiting from Viability’s programs and services.

 

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Court Rules Employer Can Bar Politically Motivated Clothing

By Contributor
Employment

Don We Not Our BLM Apparel

By Tim Murphy

Americans across the country have been actively engaging in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) social-justice movement, which advocates against incidents of racially motivated violence police. Often, BLM supporters will demonstrate their commitment to the movement not only by protesting, but also by wearing apparel, such as T-shirts and face coverings, with BLM messaging.

But what happens when supporters wear this clothing to work? Can employers enforce a dress code requiring employees to refrain from wearing politically motivated clothing? Yes, a recent Massachusetts federal court determined. Even so, is it worth the negative publicity and PR fallout? You be the judge.

The case involved the well-known Whole Foods grocery store, and a group of nearly 30 Whole Foods’ employees who claimed to be negatively impacted by the store’s “neutral” dress-code policy, which prohibited employees from wearing clothing with visible slogans, messages, logos, and/or advertising that are not Whole Foods-related.

“Can employers enforce a dress code requiring employees to refrain from wearing politically motivated clothing? Yes.”

Beginning around June 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and subsequent nationwide protests, Whole Foods employees began wearing masks and other attire with BLM messaging to work. Some employees were disciplined for violating the dress-neutral dress-code policy, while others were sent home without pay and directed to change clothing. Several employees quit, and others kept wearing BLM clothing to protest the store’s actions.

Then, a group of 27 employees filed a lawsuit against Whole Foods, accusing the store of racial discrimination. They claimed Whole Foods was selectively enforcing its dress code banning “visible slogans, messages, logos, and/or advertising” against black employees.

Last month, a federal District Court judge dismissed the race-discrimination claims. The court was not convinced that Whole Foods was enforcing the policy based on race-related reasons. Instead, it was enforcing a neutral dress-code policy with no consideration to race. The court noted that, “at worst, they were selectively enforcing a dress code to suppress certain speech in the workplace.” The judge went on to state that, “however unappealing that might be, it is not conduct made unlawful” by anti-discrimination laws.

On its face, this decision makes sense. Generally speaking, an employer can lawfully implement and enforce a dress code, as long as it is applied equally to all employees. This is particularly important when violations of the dress code negatively affect productivity or lead to employee disputes. As far as political speech is concerned, the First Amendment provides no protection for employees unless they work for the government, because the First Amendment applies only to governmental restrictions on speech.

Additionally, in Massachusetts, there are no state laws or protections for speech in a private workplace. It also appears there was no evidence in this case supporting the argument that Whole Foods was selectively enforcing the dress-code policy against black employees.

Given the current political climate, employers may be left wondering whether Whole Foods and other retail employers are making the right move by enforcing dress-code policies in a way that restricts political and socially progressive speech. Certainly, there are arguments to be made that these policies are geared toward improving customer relations and eliminating politically charged disputes between workers and customers. Last summer, much news was made about a customer in Target berating an employee wearing BLM attire with questions about whether “all lives matter.”

The same can be said for employee relations. It is not hard to envision heated disputes around the water cooler over clothing that bears political or social-justice messages.

That said, this case has generated a lot of publicity for Whole Foods. And they are not alone. Starbucks had a similar dress-code policy that prohibited employees from wearing BLM attire and other clothing bearing political and social messaging. After protests and public outcry, Starbucks reversed its position and began allowing employee to wear T-shirts or pins supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

Businesses need to pay careful attention to this issue. While the adoption of strict, ‘neutral’ dress codes appears legal, there could be unintended consequences, including irreversible harm to employee morale and negative public-relations nightmares.

 

Tim Murphy is an attorney with the Springfield-based firm Skoler Abbott & Presser, specializing in labor relations, union campaigns, collective bargaining and arbitration, employment litigation, and employment counseling; (413) 737-4753.

Forum Reveals Women Still Face Challenges — and a Glass Ceiling

By Contributor
Women in Businesss

Progress Report

By Janine Fondon

On March 8 (International Women’s Day), the 2021 On the Move Forum to Advance Women, presented by Bay Path University, Springfield Museums, and a host of local organizations, virtually hosted some 200 women of all backgrounds from Western Mass. and beyond. Through conversations and speakers, women voiced their hopes and elevated their concerns to support the future success of women in leadership at all levels.

Speakers noted there is much work to be done to change the trajectory of women in companies and organizations, given that women still operate in a world where they are paid less than men. Also, women have limited leadership opportunities in the C-suite and have experienced workplace challenges in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. Also, black women and Latinas still make less than anyone in the workforce, and their opportunities for promotions are certainly limited. Where do we go from here?

The forum theme, “Women in Leadership: This Is What Change Looks Like — Past, Present, and Future,” offered attendees an inter-generational, cross-cultural, gender-inclusive, and history-infused conversation focused on advancing women, led by moderator Nikai Fondon.

The event presented voices and content that showed what change could look like — young, diverse, professional women on the move to create a new world; experienced leaders of all backgrounds who share their expertise; and college-aged women exploring new skills. Now in its fifth year, the event has engaged more than 1,000 women in community conversations and presentations on women’s history, empowerment, and advancement.

“The numbers also show us that change needs to happen to build more inclusive workplaces at all levels and in all industries. We must keep watch that our colleges and universities understand the magnitude of not only recruitment and retention, but belonging and mentoring.”

This year’s event aligned with the priority theme of the 65th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World.” According to Catalyst, “in 2020, women of color represented only 18% of entry-level positions, and few advanced to leadership positions. While white women held almost one-third (32.8%) of total management positions in the U.S. in 2020, Asian women (2.2%), black women (4.1%), and Hispanic women (4.5%) held a much smaller share.”

During the forum, the speakers and participants during the conversations voiced the sentiments expressed in these statistics. Most women still face obstacles in moving up the ladder at work. These statistics remind us that young women professionals who are rising to new opportunities in industry may have to pick up the path of experienced women today who still fight these trends after more than 20 years.

The numbers also show us that change needs to happen to build more inclusive workplaces at all levels and in all industries. We must keep watch that our colleges and universities understand the magnitude of not only recruitment and retention, but belonging and mentoring.

Also, as black women, Latinas, and women of color climb the ladder of success, they find that every step along the way may not come with the support they need or expect. A study conducted by Lean In and SurveyMonkey finds that, although more than 80% of white employees view themselves as allies to women of color at work, just 45% of black women and 55% of Latinas say they have strong allies in the workplace. There is more work to be done to build relationships that drive trust and transformation in the workplace, and more conversations need to confirm informal and formal sources of support.

 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

To help make a change in the workplace, educational institutions, companies, and organizations continue to underscore the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. While these efforts allow for some change, we need strategic approaches to systemic racism and inequities that address issues for companies and individuals. Many young professionals, consumers, and communities are at the forefront of social justice, so shifts in social responsibility, outreach, and accountability could drive change on many levels.

Bay Path President Sandra Doran noted in her speech that she has been committed to the advancement of women and the power of education. “I embrace these beliefs because I come from a family of educators and strong women. I have witnessed first-hand the power of higher education for women. My grandmother attended Barnard, a women’s college, and my mother returned to school to earn her degree at a women’s college as an adult learner. With such personal role models, I felt called to be the president of Bay Path.”

However, noting the effects of COVID-19, she noted that, “by now, we all know the burden of the pandemic fell harder on women than on men. Women make up the majority of front-line workers in deeply affected industries like retail, food service, hospitality, and healthcare, and also picked up a disproportionate share of the additional loads of schoolwork, housework, and elderly care. Black women have faced the highest rate of unemployment among women at 8.9%, followed by Latinx women at 8.5%. This pandemic has uncovered the fragility of our systems, from healthcare to daycare to education, and it is our calling, women — and men of substance — to create change. And the pipeline of women in leadership positions has shrunk.”

“As we move past International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, there must be even more commitment to revisiting practices in workplaces, classrooms, boardrooms, meeting places, and Zoom rooms to deliver equity, belonging, and dismantling ‘isms.’”

Doran also referenced an IBM study that “noted how women on corporate boards and in C-suites around the world have made no progress since 2019, when IBM did its first study on the subject.”

Another report, the 2020 Women in the Workplace study, conducted in partnership with Lean In and McKinsey, tracked the progress of women in corporate America. The data set reflects contributions from 317 companies that participated in the study and more than 40,000 people. According to the report, “the boundaries between work and home have blurred, and women, in particular, have been negatively impacted.”

In the study, women of color were noted as particularly impacted by COVID. “Women — especially women of color — are more likely to have been laid off or furloughed during the COVID-19 crisis, stalling their careers and jeopardizing their financial security. Meanwhile, black women already faced more barriers to advancement than most other employees. This is an emergency for corporate America. Companies risk losing women in leadership — and future women leaders — and unwinding years of painstaking progress toward gender diversity.”

 

Adverse Impact on Black Women and Latinas

While many black women and Latinas have made strides and found success in corporations and organizations, far too many remain underutilized, left behind, not included, and overlooked for opportunities. The numbers document their trajectory in a world where, in most cases, they are paid less than everyone else. Also, according to a report by CNBC, “employment for black women is 9.7% lower than it was in February 2020. Employment for white men, white women, and black men is down 5%, 5.4%, and 5.9%, respectively.”

A report by Lean In also confirms the experiences of black women in the workplace, noting that black women are significantly underrepresented in leadership roles, much less likely to be promoted to manager (and their representation dwindles from there), more likely to see their successes discounted, and less likely to get the support and access they need to advance. In addition, black women face more day-to-day discrimination at work. They want to lead — and they are motivated to improve their workplaces — but often find themselves unfairly penalized for being ambitious.

These findings should cause us all to pause and revisit our workplace policies, practices, and procedures. While not every black woman may have these experiences, other personal scenarios that they face result in negative trends. Most of all, these findings should prompt us to think about how everyone is treated in the workplace and how we treat each other. Most of all, we should consider how we can understand what others feel and find ways to communicate. If we were all treating each other as ourselves, we would not have these trends.

 

LGBTQIA+ Equality

While many communities and individuals experience an uncertain landscape in the workplace, we must continue to stay vigilant about trends that impact inclusion. For LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, genderqueer, queer, intersex, agender, asexual, and other queer-identifying) communities, the journey to equality continues to “ebb and flow,” as Kathleen Martin of Springfield College and her wife, Andrea Hickson Martin of Bay Path University, noted:

“There is no doubt that there have been tremendous strides over the past decade for LGBTQIA+ equality. In 2012, the Obama administration supported marriage equality. In 2015, in the Supreme Court of the United States case Obergefell v. Hodges, marriage equality was made federal law, paving the way for our marriage in 2017. In 2019, Congress approved a comprehensive LGBTQIA+ civil-rights bill, providing non-discrimination protections for the LGBTQIA+ community in employment, housing, public spaces, education, jury service, credit, and federal funding. During the Trump administration, however, LGBTQIA+ rights were rolled back through a ban on transgender military service, the appointment of anti-LGBTQIA+ judges at various levels of the judicial system, the rolling back of the Obama-era Civil Rights Act protecting transgender and non-binary workers from employment discrimination, and the rescinding of Title IX rules requiring schools, including colleges and universities, to address sexual harassment, including sexual violence.

“As with everything in life, there is a constant ebb and flow,” Martin and Hickson continued. “On the first day of the Biden-Harris administration, President Biden signed an executive order preventing and combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, reinstating the LGBTQIA+ protections the Trump administration removed. More recently, the administration has directed the Department of Education to ‘review all of its existing regulations, orders, guidance, and policies to ensure consistency with the Biden-Harris administration’s policy that students be guaranteed education free from sexual violence.’ This includes an evaluation of the Title IX burden of proof issued under the previous administration.”

As stated, the ebb and flow of policy continue to take us away from setting a more consistent, inclusive world and workplace where all people can succeed.

As we move past International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, there must be even more commitment to revisiting practices in workplaces, classrooms, boardrooms, meeting places, and Zoom rooms to deliver equity, belonging, and dismantling ‘isms.’ Also, we must begin to employ new ways for engaging, recognizing, and retaining black women, Latinas, and women of color who are still hidden in plain view.

 

Janine Fondon is a writer, speaker, assistant professor, and chair of Undergraduate Communications at Bay Path University. She is a frequent contributor to publications and media outlets on the topics of social justice, women’s history, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She recently curated and produced an exhibit and series of public events at Springfield Museums, called “Voices of Resilience: The Intersection of Women on the Move.” She was named a 2020 Difference Maker by BusinessWest, a 2020 Pynchon Award winner, and one of the top African-American female professors in 2018 by the African American Female Professors Assoc.

COVID-19 Takes Significant Toll on Women in the Workforce

By Contributor
Women in Businesss

Pink Slip

By Joanne Hilferty, Dan Kenary, and Brooke Thomson

In 2020, the same year a record number of women were elected to Congress and the first woman was elected vice president, COVID-19 had a devastating and potentially permanent impact on women in the workforce.

The percentage of women participating in the U.S. labor market in October 2020 was the lowest since 1988, and of the 9.8 million jobs that have not yet returned, 55% belong to women. In one year, COVID-19 wiped out a generation of progress and put the precariousness of being a woman in the modern American workplace into stark perspective.

Before the pandemic, women in Massachusetts were participating in the workforce at increasing rates, surpassing the national rate by 2019. COVID-19 brought them back to where they were at the end of the Great Recession in 2009.

More than 40% of female employees in Massachusetts work in education, healthcare, and social assistance, sectors that have been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn. Add the lack of quality childcare options brought about by the closure of schools and early-education programs, and you have a perfect storm forcing women to face gut-wrenching choices.

“In one year, COVID-19 wiped out a generation of progress and put the precariousness of being a woman in the modern American workplace into stark perspective.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in September 2020, when schools typically reopen, a staggering 69% of women said the pandemic was keeping them from returning to work for reasons other than downsizing or business closure. In a survey conducted by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) last fall, 67% of employers listed lack of childcare as a primary concern for their workforces.

Fortunately, organizations in Massachusetts are taking a leadership role in addressing the ongoing challenges facing women in the workforce. The Boston Women’s Workforce Council, the Commonwealth Institute, and the newly formed Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education are focused on advancing important changes, such as pay and representation equity. Even before the pandemic, women on average made about 81 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.

Women and men should have the same options to pursue a career and raise a family, but the pandemic has laid bare the reality that women are expected to take greater responsibility for their families without sufficient support.

Ensuring that jobs traditionally filled by women have more extensive protections and finding a path toward more balanced representation of women in industries like information technology, transportation, and construction — fields where female representation is still limited — are also critical steps to achieve greater balance in the long term. However, immediate action is needed to ensure progress made by women does not erode further.

That is why AIM is calling on employers to make a commitment now to review their practices and policies and make immediate, substantive adjustments to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on women and other caregivers in the workforce. Specific recommendations include:

• Committing to providing pay increases and advancement steps to women caregivers on schedule rather than penalizing those who have been on leave or working limited hours;

• Extending the time workers can be on leave to coincide with the duration of the pandemic;

• Giving hiring preference to former workers, if their experience and skills allow, who were required to leave the workplace due to family demands;

• Extending the time that returning workers can bridge tenure for benefits and other considerations to coincide with the full duration of the pandemic;

• Listening to individual employees about their specific needs and expectations and not making assumptions about what each woman or caregiver can or cannot do; and

• Instituting practices that reduce conflict with remote schooling, such as not holding meetings before 9 a.m. or at lunch, when children need assistance.

These steps alone will not fully offset the impact of the pandemic on women; they will, however, demonstrate the business community’s commitment to supporting the Commonwealth’s skilled female labor force. Massachusetts cannot afford to go back to business as usual as the light begins to shine at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, especially when it comes to how businesses and public policy treat working women.

The pandemic has presented an unprecedented responsibility for the Commonwealth and the nation to see decreasing numbers of female workforce participation for what they are — gaps in the system allowing available and accessible talent to fall straight through. Failure to act on them now will have long-term, devastating impacts on the Massachusetts economy.

Joanne Hilferty is board chair at Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) and president and CEO of Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries. Dan Kenary is immediate past chair of the AIM board and CEO and co-founder of Mass Bay Brewing Co. Brooke Thomson is executive vice president of Government Affairs at AIM. This article first appeared as an op-ed in the Boston Globe.

 

MGM Must Get Back on the Ramp

By
Opinion

Editorial

When everyone gathered on Main Street that hot August day back in 2018 to mark the opening of MGM Springfield, no one really knew what to expect or what the future would bring.

Certainly, no one could have predicted what the scene would be like two and half years later.

Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic took a resort casino that was ‘ramping up’ — that’s the phrase we kept hearing over and again from past and present leaders — and knocked it completely off the ramp. The casino was shuttered for several months, and when it reopened, it was only at a fraction of its full capacity. Until very recently, the hotel and most of the restaurants were closed, and the event venues were quiet and dark.

These days, the capacity is not quite half and destined to keep inching higher. The hotel is open on weekends, and the sports bar has reopened its doors as well. But huge question marks surround just when and under what circumstances the casino complex will again be able to host concerts, shows, and other large-scale gatherings.

In some ways, we’re all back where we were almost 32 months ago … wondering what will happen and just what the casino will mean for Springfield and this entire region. That’s where we are as MGM Springfield tries to get the ramping-up process back to something approaching the plane it was on before the world stopped almost exactly a year ago.

We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again … this region needs MGM to make a solid comeback from all that COVID has tossed at it. It needs to come, well, roaring back and play an important role in restarting, if that’s the right word, the renaissance that Springfield was enjoying before the pandemic made Main Street a quiet, almost depressing, place to be.

And a lot will have to go right for such a comeback to happen. First, people will have to regain the confidence needed to gather in large numbers. In other parts of the country, and especially Las Vegas, where the casino business is coming back to life, the signs are quite positive. ‘Pent-up demand’ is the phrase we’re hearing a lot these days, and the hope — the expectation — is that there will be large quantities of it.

But Springfield’s casinos — and all the state’s casinos — could use some help as they proceed back up the ramp. And the state Legislature could deliver some in the form of sports betting.

Lawmakers have been dragging their feet on this issue for years now, and we cannot understand why. Sports betting, if done right, would provide another, potentially huge revenue stream for the state’s casinos at a time when they really need it.

New Hampshire and Rhode Island now have sports betting, and Connecticut is poised to join the fray. Much-needed tax dollars are going to other states or the illegal-betting arena, and Massachusetts simply cannot afford to keep sitting on the sidelines. To borrow still another sports phrase, it needs to get in the game, and soon.

Reflecting once more on that day in August 2018, the expectation among many was that MGM Springfield would not solve all the region’s ills and would not magically transform the region overnight. Instead, it would be a player — a large and important player — and an economic engine.

The pandemic has certainly altered the timeline, but hopefully it hasn’t changed those expectations, or the probability they can be realized.

One Year After the Shutdown

By
Opinion

Opinion

By Nancy Creed

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the state of emergency in Massachusetts, we continue to take steps on our path forward.

Last week, legislators reached agreement on a COVID-19 package to support our business community as it begins to recover from the pandemic. The package would include two items that the Springfield Regional Chamber has been aggressively advocating for: unemployment-insurance rate relief and tax relief from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan proceeds.

The agreement calls for a freeze in the unemployment insurance (UI) rate at the current Schedule E rate for 2021 and 2022, limiting the increases employers will see. Without passage, employers could see the unemployment insurance rates increase from an average of $539 to $866 per employee. This legislation would hold the average UI rates to $635 per employee in 2021 and $665 per employee in 2022.

The agreement would also exclude PPP loan amounts forgiven in 2020 from taxable gross income for those small businesses that are organized as pass-through entities. While Congress excluded these loans from federal taxation, without legislative action, these loans would have been taxed as income at the state level.

The agreement would also guarantee paid leave to employees who are sick with COVID-19, required to quarantine, or need to take time off to get the vaccine. As well, it will allow for state borrowing, through a temporary employer assessment, to ensure the solvency of the UI trust fund, which is projected to have a $5 billion deficit by the end of 2022, triggering higher increases in unemployment-insurance rates to remain solvent.

We applaud the Legislature for recognizing the long-term economic impact this pandemic has had on our employer community and to take these steps to support its recovery.

The federal government also recently took action, with the Senate approving a $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package. One item your chamber supports in this package is the state and local aid to help our region’s cities and towns as they deal with their own economic hardships resulting from the pandemic. As specific details around this aid remain to be seen, we will continue to watch this closely, as we believe this funding is critical to the fiscal health and stability of our communities.

The CDC has also issued much anticipated guidance for individuals who are fully vaccinated. As of last week, more than 715,000 people in Massachusetts have been fully vaccinated, ranking Massachusetts first among states with 5 million people or more for total COVID-19 vaccine doses administered. Massachusetts is currently in phase 2 of its vaccination plan, with teachers becoming eligible last week.

We have been through the wringer, and we know we have a ways to go, but these are all significant steps on our road to recovery and, we hope, the first of many more to come.

Stay safe and stay well. We can — and will — get through this together.

 

Nancy Creed is president of the Springfield Regional Chamber.

Picture This

By
Picture This

Email ‘Picture This’ photos with a caption and contact information to [email protected]

 

Supporting Students

Jane Schwartzberg and James Machia, advanced manufacturing and technology students at Asnuntuck Community College, were each awarded a $2,500 scholarship through a 3M grant. The scholarships are available to students entering or currently enrolled in programs in mechatronics, advanced manufacturing technology, robotics, or industrial maintenance. Schwartzberg and Machia are pictured standing behind the Festo Mechatronics Learning System that 3M donated to Asnuntuck.

 

 

Tackling Tough Issues

Springfield College doctor of physical therapy (DPT) student Xavier Gibson was selected as one of two finalists in the annual physical therapy essay contest co-sponsored by the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy Consortium for the Humanities, Ethics, and Professionalism and the Journal for Humanities in Rehabilitation. Gibson’s essay — which highlights his responsibilities and obligations as a DPT student of color, the only student of color in his cohort, to come to terms with addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in society and inequalities in healthcare — will be published in the JHR’s fall 2021 issue.

 

 

In the Bag

JGS Lifecare was selected as the nonprofit beneficiary of the Big Y Community Bag Program for the month of March at the Big Y located in Longmeadow. JGS Lifecare will receive a $1 donation every time the $2.50 reusable “Big Y Cares” Community Bag is purchased at this location during March, unless otherwise directed by the customer through the giving tag attached to the bag. “We are thrilled to receive the support of our local Big Y and our community,” said Susan Kimball Halpern, vice president of Development and Communications at JGS Lifecare (pictured).

 

 

Agenda

By
Agenda

Pynchon Award Nominations

Through March 19: The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts is seeking nominations from throughout Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire counties for the Pynchon Award, which recognizes Western Mass. citizens who have rendered distinguished service to the community. To nominate an individual, submit a one-page letter explaining why the nominee should be considered. Include biographical information, outstanding accomplishments, examples of service to the community, organizations in which the individual is or has been active, and the names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of at least three people who can further attest to the nominee’s eligibility for induction into the Order of William Pynchon. Nominations must be submitted by March 19 to William Pynchon Trustees, Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts, P.O. Box 1022, West Springfield, MA 01090-1022, or by e-mail to [email protected]. The 2021 recipients will be announced in June, with an awards ceremony tentatively scheduled for the fall.

 

Ubora, Ahadi Award Nominations

Through March 31: The Springfield Museums is seeking nominations for the annual Ubora Award and Ahadi Youth Award. These prestigious awards — conferred by the African Hall Subcommittee — are awarded to African-American people from Greater Springfield who have gone above and beyond in demonstrating commitment to the fields of community service, education, science, humanities, and/or the arts. The nomination deadline for both awards is March 31. The Ubora and Ahadi awards will be presented at a ceremony at the Springfield Museums in the fall. True to the Swahili word that comprises its name, the Ubora Award recognizes an adult of African heritage who exemplifies excellence in their commitment to creating a better community through service. Named for the Swahili word for promise, the Ahadi Youth Award is presented to a young African-American who excels in academics and performs admirable service to the Greater Springfield community. Eligible candidates must be age 19 or younger, live in or have strong ties to the Greater Springfield area, and be currently enrolled in grades 10, 11, or 12. Nomination forms can be downloaded by visiting springfieldmuseums.org/ubora. Nominations may be e-mailed to [email protected] or mailed to African Hall Subcommittee, c/o Valerie Cavagni, Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards St., Springfield, MA 01103.

 

Fundraising Walk in Remembrance of Dave Stawasz

April: Western New England University (WNEU) faculty, colleagues, family members, and students are invited to participate in a commemorative event in memory of Assistant Vice President of Marketing Communications Dave Stawasz, who passed away peacefully on Jan. 28, surrounded by his family, after a courageous two-year battle with stage-4 colorectal cancer. Stawasz was a graduate of South Hadley High School and Syracuse University. His early career was as a news producer at WWLP and then later at WFSB. He joined the university in 2004. Steps for Stawasz is a virtual walk taking place throughout the month of April in his honor. Participants will log as many virtual steps as they can during the month by either walking or running while collecting donations along the way through friends and family sponsorships. By signing up, participants will receive a link to share on social media. From there, participants can create a personal giving page to collect donations and update progress. Details and instructions can be found at runsignup.com/race/ma/springfield/stawasz. Interested individuals can also make a direct donation on the website without participating in the walk. All proceeds will go directly to the Stawasz family.

 

Institute for Trustees

Starting April 7: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (BTCF) announced it is partnering with the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF) in presenting the 2021 Institute for Trustees, an annual conference inviting nonprofit leaders to gather together for educational workshops and networking opportunities. Building on the success of BTCF’s 2018 Board Leadership Forum and designed for board leaders and executive directors, the event features 24 virtual workshops from leading nonprofit experts and opportunities to connect with hundreds of peers equally committed to their leadership roles. This partnership is part of a broader effort between BTCF and ECCF to leverage resources in support of building capacity and leadership within the nonprofit sector, given the challenges facing organizations due to the pandemic and its economic consequences. The Institute for Trustees kicks off on April 7 with a keynote address by Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, titled “Leading for Nonprofit Impact Amid Unprecedented Challenge.” Beginning April 9, workshops and opportunities to connect with fellow attendees through topic-driven, informal peer discussions will be spread over the course of four weeks. Workshop topics include racial equity, endowment building, crisis planning, governance, advocacy, finance, and much more. To register for the program, visit eccf.org/ift. Registrations will be accepted at a discounted early-bird rate of $110 until March 7. After that, registration will cost $130 and will close April 7.

 

Nominations for Ad Club Creative Awards

Through April 18: The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts invites the community to apply for its 2021 Creative Awards. The club has simplified the rules and eliminated physical entries entirely, due to COVID-19 restrictions. As always, Ad Club members will receive a discounted rate; members will receive a personalized discount code via e-mail. Participants will have the opportunity to virtually meet the agencies, marketing departments, and freelance artists behind the work. Award winners will be announced at the Ad Club’s Creative Awards show scheduled for Thursday, May 20. Categories that qualify participants for entry include advertising, copywriting, design, interactive and web media, photography, video and motion, and student work. Visit www.adclubwm.org/events/creativeawards2021 for the guidelines and application form, or contact the Ad Club at (413) 342-0533 or [email protected].

 

Alumni Achievement Award Nominations

Through April 23: When BusinessWest launched its 40 Under Forty program in 2007, it did so to identify rising stars across our region — individuals who were excelling in business and through involvement within the community — and celebrate their accomplishments. In 2015, BusinessWest announced a new award, one that builds on the foundation upon which 40 Under Forty was created. It’s called the Alumni Achievement Award (formerly the Continued Excellence Award). As the name suggests, it is presented to the 40 Under Forty honoree who, in the eyes of an independent panel of judges, has most impressively continued and built upon his or her track record of accomplishment. To nominate someone for this award, visit businesswest.com/40-under-forty/40-under-forty-alumni-achievement-award. The deadline is Friday, April 23 at 5 p.m., no exceptions. The 2020 honoree will be announced at the 40 Under Forty gala in June. Candidates must be from 40 Under Forty classes prior to the year of the award — in this case, classes 2007 to 2020. A list of 40 Under Forty Alumni can be found at businesswest.com/40-under-forty/40-under-forty (scroll to the bottom). Past winners include: 2020: Carla Cosenzi, president, TommyCar Auto Group (40 Under Forty class of 2012), and Peter DePergola, director of Clinical Ethics, Baystate Health (class of 2015); 2019: Cinda Jones, president, W.D. Cowls Inc. (class of 2007); 2018: Samalid Hogan, regional director, Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (class of 2013); 2017: Scott Foster, attorney, Bulkley Richardson (class of 2011), and Nicole Griffin, owner, ManeHire (class of 2014); 2016: Dr. Jonathan Bayuk, president, Allergy & Immunology Associates of New England (class of 2008); 2015: Delcie Bean, president, Paragus Strategic IT (class of 2008).

 

Springfield Partners for Community Action Scholarships

Through April 23: Springfield Partners for Community Action announced it will award a number of $1,000 scholarships that can help recipients with tuition and alleviate the cost of going back to school and investing in bettering themselves. All applicants must be Springfield residents, and income-eligibility guidelines may apply. Scholarships will be awarded to those attending accredited/licensed schools in Massachusetts. Applications must be received by April 23. Late entries will not be considered. If selected, recipients must be available to attend an awards event (most likely virtual) in June. Visit www.springfieldpartnersinc.com/whatwedo/scholarshipsprogram for the application form and information on how to apply.

 

VA Healthcare Virtual Summit

May 24-26: The Institute for Defense and Government Advancement (IDGA) announced plans for the IDGA VA Healthcare Summit. HCN is sponsoring this event, at which attendees will have the opportunity to meet with the leaders positioned to provide substantive change across the department, with a particular focus on advancing patient advocacy and experience, digital transformation, community and vendor engagement, e-learning, the VA’s innovation ecosystem, and more. IDGA’s summit will highlight these areas across the agenda, as well as include enabling VA initiatives currently underway to advance the most critical needs for veterans across the U.S. This year’s agenda, developed through indepth research by IDGA, covers a range of topics, including VHA innovation ecosystem initiatives, VA telehealth capabilities, financial management and business-transformation efforts, and a deep dive into clinical delivery. For more information and to view the agenda, visit www.idga.org/events-veteransaffairshealthcare-spring. To join and receive a 20% discount, register at bit.ly/3sts2FV and quote code VAH_HCN. All federal, state, and local government, as well as military and law enforcement, can attend at no cost.

 

People on the Move

By
People on the Move
Thomas Downey

Thomas Downey

Peter Moran

Michael Cardaropoli

Michael Cardaropoli

The law firm of Pellegrini, Seeley, Ryan and Blakesley announced that attorneys Thomas Downey, Peter Moran, and Michael Cardaropoli have been made partners in the firm. Downey is a graduate of Norwich University. He holds both an MBA and a juris doctor degree from Western New England College. He is admitted to practice law in the state courts of Massachusetts and before the Social Security Administration and the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents. He has been with the firm since 2003. Moran obtained his bachelor’s degree at Boston College and his juris doctor degree at Boston University School of Law. For more than 30 years, he has focused his area of practice on workers’ compensation law, and has been with the firm since 2005. Cardaropoli joined the firm in 2008, concentrating his practice in workers’ compensation, Social Security disability, and personal-injury litigation. He received his bachelor’s degree in business from American International College and his juris doctor degree from Western New England University. He is the vice chair of the MBA Workers’ Compensation Committee.

•••••

Lisa Carpenter

Lisa Carpenter

Bacon Wilson announced that Lisa Carpenter has joined the firm as the new executive director. She comes to Bacon Wilson with more than 20 years of experience in legal administration and management in the Kansas City area, with specialized skills and expertise in law-firm management and operations. She works directly with Bacon Wilson’s managing shareholder, Kenneth Albano, on all aspects of directing the firm’s five offices. Before joining Bacon Wilson, Carpenter served as office administrator for Littler Mendelson P.C.’s Global Service Center in Kansas City, Mo., as well as its Kansas City local practice office. Prior to that, Carpenter worked for 14 years in operations management at the Kansas City headquarters of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP, a large international product litigation firm with more than 16 locations. Carpenter holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Friends University and is a member of the Assoc. of Legal Administrators (ALA), where she has published multiple articles.

•••••

Dr. David Brown

Dr. David Brown

Dr. David Brown has begun serving as the interim president and CEO at Cooley Dickinson Health Care. Brown steps in to lead the organization after Joanne Marqusee announced her resignation in January following seven years of service to Cooley Dickinson. Brown, chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), will serve in an interim capacity while a search is conducted for a permanent president and CEO. Brown will continue to oversee the MGH Department of Emergency Medicine as well as maintain his major administrative and committee roles at both MGH and Mass General Brigham. After receiving his undergraduate degree at Princeton and then his medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1989, Brown began his career in emergency medicine as an intern at MGH, later becoming vice chair, then department chair. He is the MGH trustees professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a diplomate of both the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine, and a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine. He has also served for many years as the physician for the New England Patriots.

•••••

Jeremy Forgue

Jeremy Forgue

Jonathan Applefield

Jonathan Applefield

Tracy Belanger

Tracy Belanger

Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. recently welcomed attorney Jeremy Forgue and two paralegals, Jonathan Applefield and Tracy Belanger, to its team. Forgue received his law degree from Western New England University School of Law, where he was drawn to business and employment law and was the managing editor of the university’s Law Review. Prior to joining Skoler Abbott, he was a law clerk for the Massachusetts Housing Court. He enjoys preparing employers for new and changing laws to prevent compliance issues, such as reviewing existing policies for vulnerabilities and assisting in open-forum discussions. As a paralegal, Applefield provides broad administrative support to the attorneys and their clients. Before joining the firm, he worked for 16 years as a legal assistant in Manhattan, a job he held while earning graduate and postgraduate degrees in art history at Columbia University. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College in Maine. Belanger, also a paralegal, earned her associate degree in administration of justice and a certificate of achievement with an emphasis on the law and public policy at Pasadena City College in California, where she was a member of the Alpha Gamma Sigma honor society. She then pursued her bachelor’s degree in criminology, law and society from the School of Social Ecology at the University of California Irvine, followed by completion of an ABA-accredited paralegal studies program and an externship at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

•••••

Morgan Stanley announced that John Pappas, a senior vice president and financial advisor in its Wealth Management office in Springfield, has been named to the firm’s prestigious Century Club, an elite group composed of the firm’s top financial advisors. The appointment recognizes his consistent creativity and excellence in providing a wide range of investment products and wealth-management services to his clients. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management provides access to a wide range of products and services to individuals, businesses, and institutions, including brokerage and investment advisory services, financial and wealth planning, cash management and lending products and services, annuities and insurance, and retirement and trust services.

•••••

Paul Shepardson

Paul Shepardson

Monson Savings Bank announced the promotion of Paul Shepardson to digital systems officer. In that role, he is responsible for overseeing Monson Savings Bank’s electronic banking services and support. Additionally, he is responsible for staying up to date on cutting-edge and convenient digital banking options that could be offered to the bank’s customers. Shepardson began his career in the banking industry with Monson Savings Bank 10 years ago. He initially worked as a customer service associate before being promoted to customer service representative. He later became the bank’s first business banking administrator and e-banking specialist. Since then, he has excelled in the electronic-banking department. He is a graduate of the New England School of Financial Studies.

•••••

Kim Alli

Kim Alli

Andrew Bresciano

Andrew Bresciano

Tina Flagg

Tina Flagg

Panna Royal

Aleta Smith

Aleta Smith

Greenfield Savings Bank (GSB) announced the promotions of Kim Alli to vice president and commercial loan officer, Andrew Bresciano to first vice president and commercial loan officer, Tina Flagg to assistant vice president and commercial loan administration manager, Panna Royal to vice president and senior network administrator, and Aleta Smith to commercial lending assistant. Alli is responsible for meeting with local business customers to determine their financial needs and helping them with a wide range of commercial-loan products and services. Her position also includes developing new strategic relationships for business development, as well as establishing commercial account relationships with area small businesses and serving as an ambassador for the bank with the community. She is a member of the GSB PPP loan task force and the bank’s contributions committee. Bresciano is responsible for working with local business customers to assist them with their credit needs, including commercial credit lines, commercial real estate and development loans, operational and equipment loans, and inventory loans. Last year, he was appointed to the leadership team managing the bank’s PPP loan task force. Flagg is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the loan assistants and loan-servicing specialists in the bank’s Commercial Loan department to ensure quality customer service. In addition to monitoring the department workflow, she performs a broad variety of duties related to the documentation, regulatory-compliance requirements, and servicing of commercial loans throughout their life cycle and provides customer service and administrative support to commercial-loan customers and lenders. She is also a member of

Company Notebook

By
Company Notebook

WNEU Center for Social Justice Receives HNE Mini-grant

SPRINGFIELD — The Western New England University (WNEU) School of Law’s Center for Social Justice was awarded a $6,000 DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) mini-grant from Health New England (HNE). The grant provides funding to local nonprofit organizations that are actively addressing racial health equity and disparities, and at least one of the CDC’s social determinants of health (SDOH). These are conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes; these include healthcare access and quality, education access and quality, social and community context, economic stability, and neighborhood and built environment. The grant seeks to dismantle systemic racism in two ways. The project will first educate the WNEU community about the connection between racism and health disparities and the structural barriers to equity that exist across society, and then will work to facilitate racial healing and relationship building between the institution and the local community through healing-circle conversations. Since its launch in 2019, the Center for Social Justice has been a key stakeholder in the pursuit of social justice in its community and beyond. In the last year, the center has sponsored or hosted more than a dozen events, including various know-your-rights trainings and programming, panel discussions addressing the racial disparities of COVID-19, and lawyering in the time of Black Lives Matter, as well as speakers like Evan Wolfson, who is considered an architect of the marriage-equality movement. Its work is entirely grant-funded from supporters like HNE and MassMutual, as well as individual donors.

 

Visiting Angels West Springfield Wins Provider of Choice Award

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Visiting Angels West Springfield received the 2021 Best of Home Care Provider of Choice Award, which is granted to the top-ranking home-care providers in North America according to Home Care Pulse. The Provider of Choice Award recognizes Visiting Angels’ dedication to client satisfaction and commitment to offering quality, affordable in-home care services. Visiting Angels West Springfield was established in 1999 and has served the elder population of Western Mass. for more than 20 years. It has grown to provide more than 70,000 hours of care annually by helping seniors to maintain a sense of independence, dignity, and quality of life in their own home. Visiting Angels strives to foster lasting client-caregiver relationships by offering family-like compassionate care and dependability.

AIC Named to 2021-22 Military Friendly Schools List

SPRINGFIELD — American International College (AIC) announced it has earned the 2021-22 Military Friendly School designation. Institutions earning this designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,200 schools participated in the 2021-22 survey, with 747 earning the designation. The 2021-22 Military Friendly Schools list will be published in the May issue of G.I. Jobs magazine and can be found at www.militaryfriendly.com. Methodology and criteria were determined by VIQTORY with input from the Military Friendly​ ​Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher-education and military-recruitment community. Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey response set and government/agency public data sources within a logic-based scoring assessment. The institution’s ability to meet thresholds for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer), and loan-default rates for all students are measured.

 

Team 413 Moves to William Raveis Real Estate

EAST LONGMEADOW — Shawna Gutowski and Heidi Pafumi, founders of Team 413, announced their move to the East Longmeadow office of William Raveis Real Estate. Team 413 finished 2020 top five in sales volume for all real-estate transactions in Hampden County. When asked why they decided to move their team, Gutowski noted that, “as we quickly grew from two to 16 agents, we realized a partnership with a name and reputation like William Raveis was the next step. Using their structure, technology, and years of experience, we plan to continue to exponentially grow.” In the previous four years, Team 413 has consistently ranked in the top 1% of Hampden County teams, with more than 500 transactions and $100 million in closed volume. The team has sold homes in more than 30 towns across Western Mass. and Northern Conn. Team 413 prides itself on its cultural diversity, as well as its extensive resources, spanning from contractors to interior designers.

 

ACC Designated as 2021-22 Military Friendly School

ENFIELD, Conn. — Asnuntuck Community College announced that, for the 14th year, the college has earned the 2021-22 Military Friendly School designation. Institutions earning this designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,200 schools participated in the 2021-22 survey, with 747 earning the designation. Asnuntuck has had nearly 300 active-duty and/or veteran students enrolled during the last three years. The college offers a multitude of services to these students. Asnuntuck and other campuses in the North-West Region worked with Resilience Grows Here to each offer a “No Wrong Door” training at the campuses last year. Asnuntuck, in partnership with Tunxis Community College, has done community outreach by sponsoring the Hartford Yard Goats Military Family of the Game for each of the baseball team’s home games.

 

Holyoke Hummus Food Truck Comes to Resinate Northampton

NORTHAMPTON — Holyoke Hummus and Resinate Northampton recently announced a new partnership. The Holyoke Hummus food truck is now serving in the parking lot of Resinate at 110 Pleasant St. in Northampton and is open Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. Holyoke Hummus serves falafel, hummus, and other Middle Eastern treats. Delivery and online ordering are available at holyokehummus.com. The truck is also available for special events and catering.

 

Girls Inc. of the Valley Receives Amelia Peabody Grant

HOLYOKE — Girls Inc. of the Valley received a $145,000 grant from the Amelia Peabody Foundation, which will enable the organization to further develop its virtual programming, help prepare for the time when in-person programs may resume, continue its Learning Pod collaboration with Holyoke Public Schools, and ultimately bring staff together in one building, fostering even greater creative and collaborative synergies. The foundation awarded $25,000 to Girls Inc.’s general program and $120,000 to its comprehensive campaign, “Her Future, Our Future.” This commitment will help Girls Inc. to establish a new, permanent home and provide the space, resources, and opportunities needed to enable more girls to participate in the transformative Girls Inc. experience. The grant will support both program planning and implementation; funds will be used for staffing, expanded outreach, and program supplies. Additionally, the grant will facilitate bringing all Girls Inc. staff together under one roof to create greater collaborative and economic efficiencies.

 

Christina’s House Gets a Hand with Giving a Hand Up

SPRINGFIELD — The Davis Foundation recently awarded Christina’s House with a $15,000 grant to do what it does best — giving a hand up to homeless and near-homeless women and their children. A largely underserved population, these women and their families will stay with Christina’s House for 18 months to two years while they establish healthy living habits, become employed, and earn a GED or job training for upward mobility in the workforce. Paul Belsito, executive director at the Davis Foundation, and Magnus Monroe, grants and project manager, met with the organization in early fall to better understand how the foundation could support Christina’s House. The Davis Foundation, long known in the community for its educational agenda, found a fit, and the board voted to approve and provide much-needed funds to help the organization through a tough year. Christina’s House provides transitional housing and social services for homeless or near-homeless mothers and children. It educates, embraces, and encourages families in the program with the life skills needed to become self-sufficient as they transition from homelessness to stable environments. The organization also helps each mother seek, obtain, and maintain employment once accepted into the program, and promotes occupational advancement through résumé writing and job-skills training.

 

Bradley International Airport Named in USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) announced that USA Today has named Bradley International Airport a winner in its 2021 10Best Readers’ Choice travel contest in the “Best Small Airport” category. Bradley placed seventh out of 15 airports that were selected by industry experts as the best across the nation. In response to COVID-19, the CAA has continued to enhance services at Bradley International Airport over the past year, aimed at providing a safe, clean, and comfortable travel experience. More information about the safety measures undertaken and what travelers can expect can be found at www.bdlcares.com. On its website, USA Today noted that Bradley International Airport “ranks as the second-busiest airport after Boston Logan, yet it remains a convenient option with on-site parking, lots of charging stations, free wi-fi, and proximity to both New York and Boston.” Bradley was chosen by a panel of industry experts for inclusion in the USA Today contest, which was followed by four weeks of public voting nationwide. This is the airport’s second national recognition within the year after placing as a top-10 airport in the 2020 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey.

 

Doing Business as Certificates

By
DBA Certificates

The following business certificates and/or trade names were issued or renewed during the month of February 2021. (Filings are limited due to closures or reduced staffing hours at municipal offices due to COVID-19 restrictions).

DEERFIELD

Apothecary Inc.
4A Sugarloaf St.
Danielle Sullivan-Beck, Jaime Young

The Griffin Family Farm
225 Upper Road
Danielle Griffin, Robert Griffin

South Deerfield Veterinary Clinic
112 River Road
Samantha Clay

HADLEY

Famous Footwear #2388
335 Russell St.
Famous Footwear

Northern Creek Farm
54 Chmura Road
Elizabeth Pelis

Riverbend Animal Hospital
43 Russell St.
RB Riverbend AH, LLC

Valley Inn for Pets
320 Russell St.
Vetcor of Hadley, LLC

Valley Veterinary Hospital
320 Russell St.
Vetcor of Hadley, LLC

SOUTHWICK

Bitcoin Depot
587 College Highway
Lux Vending, LLC

Calabrese Farms, LLC
249 Feeding Hills Road
Thomas Calabrese

Delia’s Hair Studio
627 College Highway
Delia Bromley

Moon Snail Creations and Engraving, LLC
11 Great Brook Dr.
Erica Heng

WESTFIELD

Bill’s Repair Service Inc.
530 Pochassic Road
Bill’s Repair Service Inc.

D. Rossi Custom Pallet Service
264 Lockhouse Road
David Dolan

Ergonomic Collaboration Group
207 Munger Hill Road
Patrick Carley

Gabe’s 252
252 Elm St.
Krause, LLC

It Takes 2 Bakery
31 Elm St.
It Takes 2 Bakery

Jasmeine Moonsong
598 Granville Road
Brandy Latshaw

Just Like Home Daycare
26 Kellogg St.
Helena Drozaliev

MG Construction
19 Forest Ave.
Matthew Gavrilov

Quality View
344 Prospect St. Ext.
Noah Rivera

Santiago Family Restaurant
34 Franklin St.
I. Santiago

Tin Bridge Brewing Co.
487 East Main St.
Tin Bridge Brewing Co.

The Whip
287 North Elm St.
Whip City Patriot Inc.

YFC Construction
19 Forest Ave.
Y.M.D. Gavrilov

Yola’s Caring Touch Massage
10C Union Ave.
Jolanta Abramczyk

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Damoonweb
768 Main St.
Faruba Nujaeub

Dynamic Dock & Door Inc.
64 Lowell St.
Bret Leveillee

Expert Car Rental
1800 Riverdale St.
James Balise

Gen X Records
27 Squassick Road
Thomas Poulin

Great Clips
343 Memorial Ave.
Catie Laraway

The Pawsitive Look
865 Memorial Dr.
Doris Ruiz

Tip Top Nails
239 Memorial Ave.
Hoa Chi Thach

Toe-to-Toe Dance Center
1419 Westfield St.
Cherie Hodgdon

Welch Government & Public Relations
270 Christopher Ter.
James Welch

Bankruptcies

By
Bankruptcies

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

Anderson, Coralee
113 Andrews St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/13/2021

Benoit, William
McIntire-Benoit, Monica
a/k/a Lenz, Monica
140 Union St., Apt. 3
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 01/31/2021

Frederick, Robert
90 Highland Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/01/2021

Helms, Laura Dianne
a/k/a Radebaugh, Laura D.
191 Franklin St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/04/2021

Longs, Isaiah A.
72 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/15/2021
Marcano, Gloria I.
156 Leyfred Ter.
Springfield, MA 01104|
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/08/2021

Ouellette, Yvette
a/k/a Duval, Yvette
a/k/a Hitchcock, Yvette Duval
a/k/a Nichols, Yvette
1449 County Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/01/2021

Pelkey, Donald R.
24 Western Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/13/2021

Rapier, Mary Annette
43 Devens St., Apt. A
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/03/2021

Rosa, Luis F.
258 Pendleton Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Date: 01/31/2021

Terrero, Ana F.
672 Alden St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/02/2021

Unterberger, Kevin M.
247 Onota St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/01/2021

Wontota, Richmond B.
13 Kendall St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/02/2021

Real Estate Transactions

By
Real Estate

The following real estate transactions (latest available) were compiled by Banker & Tradesman and are published as they were received. Only transactions exceeding $115,000 are listed. Buyer and seller fields contain only the first name listed on the deed.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

ASHFIELD

152-A John Ford Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Jane Kaufman
Seller: Tatiana C. Berindei
Date: 02/08/21

BERNARDSTON

23 Center St.
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $268,896
Buyer: Aaron C. Hunter
Seller: Leslie Hunter
Date: 02/09/21

308 Northfield Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $332,764
Buyer: JP Morgan Chase Bank
Seller: Janine Viencek
Date: 02/10/21

175 West Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Thomas B. Hamilton
Seller: Errol W. Caswell
Date: 02/08/21

BUCKLAND

7 South St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $269,000
Buyer: David Gamelli
Seller: Gaffigan IRT
Date: 02/12/21

49-51 State St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $317,000
Buyer: Diego Sharon
Seller: Kelly A. Hanley
Date: 02/16/21

DEERFIELD

Elm Circle
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Clay RE Holdings LLC
Seller: Elizabeth A. Schmitt
Date: 02/19/21

30 Elm St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Clay RE Holdings LLC
Seller: Elizabeth A. Schmitt
Date: 02/19/21

7 Graves St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $144,000
Buyer: Thomas J. Mitchell
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 02/09/21

7 Thayer St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $199,155
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Marie Drozdal
Date: 02/19/21

GREENFIELD

80 Beech St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Benjamin Conrick
Seller: Christopher J. Edes
Date: 02/12/21

335 Chapman St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Levi Kelley
Seller: Andrew Lively
Date: 02/10/21

333 Federal St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: White Mountain Realty Group LLC
Seller: Paul W. Allis
Date: 02/08/21

25 Frederick Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Jason Sadler
Seller: Paul J. Levasseur
Date: 02/12/21

24 Linwood St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Daniel Littlefield
Seller: Michael Hutchinson
Date: 02/09/21

151 Montague City Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Kristina N. Smyth
Seller: Christopher D. Sawyer
Date: 02/09/21

78 Peabody Lane
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Min L. Lu
Seller: Eileen F. Brown
Date: 02/18/21

92-94 Peabody Lane
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $675,000
Buyer: Adam Konner
Seller: Ricky Greenwald
Date: 02/12/21

32 Power Square
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $131,500
Buyer: Andrew R. Hutchison
Seller: Goodridge, George L., (Estate)
Date: 02/10/21

77 Verde Dr.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $398,400
Buyer: Jamie Roberts
Seller: Greenfield KMW LLC
Date: 02/08/21

LEVERETT

49 Cave Hill Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $406,405
Buyer: Eric J. Mulvihill
Seller: Frederick J. Bashour
Date: 02/16/21

MONROE

146 Main Road
Monroe, MA 01350
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Nathan H. Cote
Seller: Russell R. Oakes
Date: 02/12/21

MONTAGUE

22 Coolidge Ave.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Crystal-Ann Hoffman
Seller: Lenois, Ronald R., (Estate)
Date: 02/10/21

107 Federal St.
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Denise D. Salmon-Shand
Seller: Michael McGrath
Date: 02/16/21

33 Union St.
Montague, MA 01351
Amount: $315,250
Buyer: Jonathan R. Bray
Seller: Robert J. Bray
Date: 02/11/21

NEW SALEM

27 Stone Hill Road
New Salem, MA 01355
Amount: $236,500
Buyer: Dylan J. Matilainen
Seller: Christine C. Fannin
Date: 02/19/21

NORTHFIELD

153 School St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Yong-Zhi Mei
Seller: Douglas A. Baker
Date: 02/08/21

ORANGE

113 Congress St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Max Carrazana
Seller: Edgewater Construction Inc.
Date: 02/09/21

67 Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Tina Diaz
Seller: Daniel M. Kimball
Date: 02/08/21

95 New Athol Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $1,090,000
Buyer: Motor City Automotive Group
Seller: George H. Newcomb
Date: 02/11/21

38 Robin Lane
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $214,900
Buyer: James D. Hancock
Seller: Jignesh R. Patel
Date: 02/12/21

181 Wheeler Ave.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Brent E. Sulham
Seller: Nathan E. Sulham
Date: 02/19/21

SHELBURNE

30 High St.
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: Katherine Barr
Seller: Ricki Carroll
Date: 02/09/21

Patten Road
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $353,000
Buyer: MA Audubon Society Inc.
Seller: Patten Hill Farm TR
Date: 02/16/21

SHUTESBURY

527 West Pelham Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $274,500
Buyer: Skyway Properties LLC
Seller: Andrew L. Cook
Date: 02/16/21

SUNDERLAND

190 North Silver Lane
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $485,000
Buyer: Dennis O’Loughlin
Seller: J2K Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

114 Carr Ave.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $153,000
Buyer: Alex Boyko
Seller: Laura L. Farrington
Date: 02/12/21

19 Hamilton Circle
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Joanne Askins
Date: 02/10/21

16 Norris St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Tifany Inacio
Seller: Melissa Noonan
Date: 02/10/21

5 Red Oaks Circle
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Ryan D. Sheehan
Seller: Laura J. Conant
Date: 02/11/21

43 River Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Sergey Dikan
Seller: Joann K. Chiaro
Date: 02/18/21

105 South Westfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $230,500
Buyer: Zeni L. Gushue
Seller: Russell P. Stetson
Date: 02/08/21

 

BLANDFORD

103 North Blandford Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $183,302
Buyer: Bl Ma Land LLC
Seller: Housatonic Solar 1 LLC
Date: 02/08/21

BLANDFORD

28 Blair Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Mia Hanlon
Seller: Emerald City Rentals LLC
Date: 02/19/21

CHESTER

104 North Chester Road
Chester, MA 01011
Amount: $382,000
Buyer: David S. Muenzer
Seller: Christopher L. Towne
Date: 02/18/21

CHICOPEE

71 Britton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Michael Croteau
Seller: Mark E. Slayton
Date: 02/17/21

1063 Burnett Road
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Michele A. Lemieux
Seller: Connor S. Sormanti
Date: 02/17/21

621 Chicopee St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: CIG 4 LLC
Seller: Alyson E. Reid
Date: 02/16/21

61 Claire St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Joshua J. Medero
Seller: Thomas P. Garvey
Date: 02/12/21

47 Conrad St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $231,500
Buyer: Joleen A. Ramos
Seller: Michael Jackewich
Date: 02/12/21

37 Eldridge St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: JBD Empire LLC
Seller: Natalia Trznadel
Date: 02/18/21

19 Emerson St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: RBT Enterprise LLC
Seller: MJT Properties LLC
Date: 02/18/21

10 Everett St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: CIG 4 LLC
Seller: FNMA
Date: 02/16/21

101 Fairview Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Colleen Bates
Seller: William M. Parker
Date: 02/09/21

90 Fernhill St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Seweryn W. Grabowski
Seller: Bank New York Mellon
Date: 02/12/21

11 Fisher St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Carlos M. Hernandez
Seller: Richard S. Fedak
Date: 02/16/21

81 Frink St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $227,900
Buyer: William M. Parker
Seller: Jeffrey P. Paquette
Date: 02/10/21

245 Grattan St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Tony Tereso
Seller: Marc N. Turgeon
Date: 02/17/21

75 Greenpoint Circle
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Scott T. Pirog
Seller: Elizabeth A. Forgue
Date: 02/12/21

49 Jean Circle
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Yesenia R. Martinez
Seller: N. Riley Construction Inc.
Date: 02/17/21

17 Leslie St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $228,000
Buyer: Nicol D. Diaz-Rodriguez
Seller: Extremely Clean LLC
Date: 02/19/21

311 Montgomery St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Connor K. Kennedy
Seller: Roland N. Menard
Date: 02/11/21

8 Pleasantview Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Antonio Valdez-Cabral
Seller: Meadowbrook Property Solutions
Date: 02/09/21

645 Shawinigan Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $1,162,050
Buyer: Western Mass. Emergency Communications
Seller: Shawinigan Drive LLC
Date: 02/16/21

151 Silvin Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Jack Solock
Seller: Shannon L. Drake
Date: 02/18/21

385 Springfield St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Plata O. Plomo Inc.
Seller: Antonio S. Francisco
Date: 02/12/21

2 West St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Juan A. Rosario
Seller: Blanco Electric LLC
Date: 02/12/21

EAST LONGMEADOW

Baldwin St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $1,500,000
Buyer: Purpose Storage E
Seller: Baldwin Street LLC
Date: 02/10/21

34 Brynmawr Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: MNB Builders LLC
Seller: FNMA
Date: 02/16/21

419 Chestnut St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Alexander Provoda
Seller: Diana Kumisca
Date: 02/12/21

5 Corning St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01108
Amount: $284,000
Buyer: Hadley B. Pellegrino
Seller: Giancarlo Mei
Date: 02/19/21

68 Gerrard Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $290,900
Buyer: Brett Richard
Seller: Erick Arroyo
Date: 02/19/21

Glendale Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $1,500,000
Buyer: Purpose Storage E
Seller: Baldwin Street LLC
Date: 02/10/21

Grove Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $1,500,000
Buyer: Purpose Storage E
Seller: Baldwin Street LLC
Date: 02/10/21

27 Kingman Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: James N. Conlon
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 02/19/21

39 Lombard Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $299,900
Buyer: Timothy J. Becker
Seller: Robert J. Schroeter
Date: 02/17/21

55 Mapleshade Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $234,500
Buyer: Bradford T. Mills
Seller: Brian Tondera
Date: 02/12/21

45 Scantic Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: James Bertier
Seller: Tracey L. Giard
Date: 02/12/21

HOLYOKE

71 Berkshire St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $231,000
Buyer: Anne M. Lisella
Seller: Westmass Apartments LLC
Date: 02/18/21

15 Clark St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $263,000
Buyer: Victoria M. Bonazoli
Seller: Albert Czupkiewicz
Date: 02/16/21

921 Dwight St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Daniel Carrell
Seller: Gladysh Capital LLC
Date: 02/19/21

5 Gamelin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,000,000
Buyer: Holyoke Medical Properties
Seller: Mercy Hospital Inc.
Date: 02/17/21

1244 Main St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $276,000
Buyer: Justin Tomasini
Seller: Greenvale Properties LLC
Date: 02/08/21

41-43 Mosher St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: 556 South Bridge St LLC
Seller: Windsor Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

2060-2062 Northampton St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $216,000
Buyer: Michael L. Davenport
Seller: NAR Realty LLC
Date: 02/12/21

17-19 Parker St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Shannon C. Dillard
Seller: Mario Tedeschi
Date: 02/12/21

430 Rock Valley Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Michael D. Rabtor
Seller: Jennifer Wilda
Date: 02/12/21

556 South Bridge St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: 556 S. Bridge St. LLC
Seller: Windsor Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

224 Walnut St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Jonathan Z. Glogower
Seller: Anna K. Rigali
Date: 02/18/21

50 West St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: 556 South Bridge St. LLC
Seller: Windsor Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

52 West St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: 556 S. Bridge St. LLC
Seller: Windsor Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

19 West Glen St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Heidy L. Lanausse-Ramos
Seller: Alfred Shattelroe
Date: 02/08/21

272 Whitney Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: Nicholas O. Rodriguez
Seller: Christopher M. Buell
Date: 02/17/21

LONGMEADOW

37 Captain Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Philip B. Jones
Seller: Michael Sullivan
Date: 02/10/21

1183 Converse St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $555,000
Buyer: Jaime Cabezas
Seller: Rajeev Kumar
Date: 02/17/21

73 Falmouth Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $376,000
Buyer: Katie Lynch
Seller: James B. Punderson
Date: 02/17/21

163 Hillcrest Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $271,000
Buyer: Kate E. Schoenberger
Seller: Jeffrey A. Beaulac
Date: 02/19/21

58 Shady Side Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $527,500
Buyer: James J. Manoussoff
Seller: Kim D. Tanzer
Date: 02/12/21

37 South Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $319,000
Buyer: Robert E. Kelley
Seller: Jaime F. Cabezas
Date: 02/17/21

LUDLOW

8 Autumn Ridge Road
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $532,000
Buyer: William E. Grise
Seller: Hemlock Ridge LLC
Date: 02/12/21

14 Bucknell St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $292,500
Buyer: Suzanne Middleton
Seller: Raev LLC
Date: 02/19/21

448 Fuller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $372,000
Buyer: Jonathan M. Cheria
Seller: Gerard J. Deslauriers
Date: 02/19/21

Marias Way #5
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Augusto G. Crespo
Seller: M&G Investors LLC
Date: 02/12/21

177 Overlook Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Khanh Nguyen
Seller: Patricia Coderre-Guyette
Date: 02/12/21

73 Ridgeview Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Alice G. English
Seller: Stoddard, Mary E., (Estate)
Date: 02/12/21

Sunset Ridge #7
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Danny Elias
Seller: Alex G. Kudla
Date: 02/19/21

Sunset Ridge #17
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Alina Leclaire
Seller: Baystate Developers Inc.
Date: 02/12/21

MONSON

28 Bethany Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Joanne P. Kelly
Seller: Sarah E. Danos
Date: 02/12/21

PALMER

11 Conant St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $243,480
Buyer: Kathleen A. Scarglia
Seller: Nathaniel Messier
Date: 02/19/21

4 Norbell St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Jennifer L. Bolduc
Seller: Linda Thibeault
Date: 02/17/21

1570-1572 North Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Roger Parker
Seller: Stephen A. Mushenko
Date: 02/10/21

17 Old Farm Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Naomi R. Jackson
Seller: Doreen Cunningham
Date: 02/09/21

103-A&B South High St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $287,600
Buyer: Joshua Banas
Seller: Glennair Executive Services
Date: 02/09/21

103-B South High St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $287,600
Buyer: Joshua Banas
Seller: Glennair Executive Services
Date: 02/09/21

49 Springfield St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $239,000
Buyer: Anthony L. Fields
Seller: Rehab Home Buyers LLC
Date: 02/16/21

Wilbraham St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $535,000
Buyer: Jerzy Sajerda
Seller: Wilbraham Road LLC
Date: 02/10/21

RUSSELL

41 Westwood Dr.
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $292,000
Buyer: Caio Veloso-Silva
Seller: Jay M. Smith
Date: 02/16/21

SOUTHWICK

3 Amberleaf Way
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $455,000
Buyer: Brian J. Laframboise
Seller: Seetharaman Raghuraman
Date: 02/17/21

681-R College Hwy.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Jaydub LLC
Seller: Hillside Development Corp.
Date: 02/17/21

21 Ed Holcomb Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Christopher M. Barden
Seller: Harold A. Heap
Date: 02/16/21

71 Kline Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Steve Howes
Seller: Joan C. Morvidelli
Date: 02/19/21

21 Sterrett Dr.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Randy Wessels
Seller: Frank T. Larson
Date: 02/11/21

19 Veteran St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $139,176
Buyer: Brian E. Kelley
Seller: Angelo S. Melloni
Date: 02/17/21

138 Vining Hill Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $340,824
Buyer: William J. Kokocinski
Seller: Marc A. Pereira
Date: 02/12/21

SPRINGFIELD

139 Abbott St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $212,000
Buyer: Amanda Pagan
Seller: Joseph A. Pietrocola
Date: 02/12/21

104 Alden St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Eileen Santiago
Seller: Hedge Hog Industries Corp.
Date: 02/11/21

211 Ambrose St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Alfonso Roman
Seller: Lydia E. Torres
Date: 02/12/21

27-29 Ames St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Luis R. Cintron-Amaro
Seller: Paul A. Dyrkacz
Date: 02/09/21

68-70 Appleton St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Roosevelt Amanfo
Seller: Guillermo Negron
Date: 02/19/21

459-461 Armory St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $174,900
Buyer: Ching Chi Lee
Seller: Jonathan Lurie
Date: 02/11/21

18-20 Batavia St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $218,000
Buyer: Dennis D. Terron
Seller: Edwin Ortiz-Gonzalez
Date: 02/12/21

50 Beauregard St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $173,999
Buyer: Edgardo Garcia
Seller: MVP Partners RE LLC
Date: 02/12/21

992 Berkshire Ave.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Jonathan Vargas-Garcia
Seller: Bruce R. Buckley
Date: 02/12/21

292 Breckwood Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Hector M. Hernandez
Seller: Eagle Home Buyers LLC
Date: 02/18/21

5-9 Caldwell Place
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Purposefull Holdings LLC
Seller: Jose M. Goncalves
Date: 02/12/21

19 Carlton St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $168,000
Buyer: Odayls Agosto-Flores
Seller: Francine Savoie
Date: 02/08/21

379 Central St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Santana Real Estate Inc.
Seller: Lionel Cruz
Date: 02/09/21

68 Cheyenne Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Nicholas D. Delnegro
Seller: Jason Bacis
Date: 02/12/21

28 Clarendon St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Carlos Kuilan
Seller: Round 2 LLC
Date: 02/09/21

260 Cuff Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Jesus M. Nieves
Seller: David P. Bergeron
Date: 02/19/21

122 Drexel St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Jazmin I. Martinez
Seller: Celestino Diaz
Date: 02/08/21

48 Driftwood Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $226,000
Buyer: Dallas Clark
Seller: Shalonda M. Edwards
Date: 02/11/21

93-95 Edgewood St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $234,000
Buyer: Edwin M. Molina-Nunez
Seller: Jarineth Velez-Torres
Date: 02/09/21

153 Ellsworth Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $187,000
Buyer: Amanda L. Upchurch
Seller: Kathleen A. Shaw
Date: 02/12/21

79 Eloise St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $221,000
Buyer: Joanna Rodriguez
Seller: Russell, Mary J., (Estate)
Date: 02/16/21

22 Florentine Gardens
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $314,900
Buyer: John J. Blackshear
Seller: James P. Hager
Date: 02/19/21

97 Francis St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Jevhan Velez
Seller: Lawrence F. Army
Date: 02/16/21

33 Fullerton St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $184,000
Buyer: Cyndia Gonzalez
Seller: Andrew C. Kalinyak
Date: 02/12/21

282 Gilbert Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $418,000
Buyer: Luz Martinez
Seller: Bretta Construction LLC
Date: 02/12/21

762 Grayson Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $190,400
Buyer: Marcio Freitas
Seller: Lydia Vega
Date: 02/11/21

22 Hobart St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Purposefull Holdings LLC
Seller: Jose M. Goncalves
Date: 02/12/21

80 Howes St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Robert L. Gladden
Seller: Wilmington Savings
Date: 02/10/21

208 Island Pond Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $153,000
Buyer: Donald Cushing
Seller: Guczek, Edward J. Sr., (Estate)
Date: 02/17/21

23 Kerry Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $189,100
Buyer: Carmen B. Galarza-Colon
Seller: Brett R. Richard
Date: 02/19/21

121 Laconia St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Sivakumar Jagadeesan
Seller: TL Bretta Realty LLC
Date: 02/12/21

144 Lamont St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Robert Chamberlain
Seller: Stacey Hildreth-Fortin
Date: 02/16/21

91 Lancaster St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $181,000
Buyer: Alexander Rohan
Seller: Matthew E. Donnellan
Date: 02/17/21

34-36 Langdon St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Chazalyn Santa-Colon
Seller: Keith Blake
Date: 02/12/21

80-82 Leyfred Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $286,000
Buyer: Calisa Kennedy
Seller: Madison Property Investment LLC
Date: 02/19/21

40 Luden St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Jacob J. Tagan
Seller: Noah B. Hatton
Date: 02/18/21

279-287 Main St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $462,675
Buyer: Matthew D. Grunwald
Seller: 855 Liberty Springfield LLC
Date: 02/08/21

143 Marion St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Karelis Dejesus
Seller: Amat Victoria Curam LLC
Date: 02/10/21

16 Marsden St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Gilbert Santiago
Seller: Joejoe Properties LLC
Date: 02/16/21

33 Michigan St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Christopher J. Berthiaume
Seller: Ellen T. Moore
Date: 02/12/21

50 Montclair St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: Kenny A. Martinez
Seller: Steven Lemoine
Date: 02/12/21

123-125 Mulberry St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Jasper McCoy
Seller: Theocles, Charles A. (Estate)
Date: 02/11/21

737 Newbury St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Zachary Edelman
Seller: Michael Sheltra
Date: 02/17/21

54 Newhall St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Jaritza Rios
Seller: Kelly R. Holbrook
Date: 02/16/21

173 Oakland St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $309,000
Buyer: Monica Rahall
Seller: Mister Mister LLC
Date: 02/17/21

988 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Reshawn Buckhannon
Seller: Jerome T. Weldon
Date: 02/19/21

210 Peekskill Ave.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Langevin
Seller: John Martin
Date: 02/10/21

18-20 Rifle St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $220,883
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Vanessa Johnson
Date: 02/17/21

27 Sherbrooke St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $133,000
Buyer: Michelle Stuart
Seller: Jose A. Rivera
Date: 02/08/21

70 Sherman St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $233,600
Buyer: Felix DeLaCruz
Seller: Orange Park Management LLC
Date: 02/12/21

905-909 Sumner Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Patalano Property Mgmt. LLC
Seller: Anthony Patalano
Date: 02/16/21

147 Sunridge Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Abundio Cortes-Palacios
Seller: Michael J. Culhane
Date: 02/10/21

55 Tyler St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Shanice M. Torres
Seller: Allan Cumberbatch
Date: 02/18/21

331-333 Water St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Latonya Hinds
Seller: H. P. Rum LLC
Date: 02/16/21

85-87 West Alvord St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Arielle Christian
Seller: David A. Springer
Date: 02/09/21

116 Wheeler Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Susan Cagan
Seller: Parker, Patricia G., (Estate)
Date: 02/19/21

901 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Michelle L. Giguere
Seller: Wayne G. Giguere
Date: 02/19/21

WESTFIELD

11 Bush St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Veteran Stan LLC
Seller: Joseph Busby
Date: 02/12/21

10 Cross St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jay M. Smith
Seller: Robert E. Kelley
Date: 02/17/21

1047 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: David Bagge
Seller: Barton, Hazel A., (Estate)
Date: 02/19/21

35 Grandview Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Benjamin R. Fischer
Seller: Jonathan Hawkins
Date: 02/19/21

8 Lincoln St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $272,500
Buyer: Lisa M. Kozik
Seller: Caio H. Veloso-Silva
Date: 02/16/21

10 Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: 10 Main WF LLC
Seller: Johnston Holding Co. Inc.
Date: 02/16/21

107 Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $256,000
Buyer: Luis A. Lopez
Seller: Eric Mancini
Date: 02/18/21

100 Meadow St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Dmitriy Ryabichenko
Seller: Aleksandr Popov
Date: 02/12/21

11 Myrtle Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: John M. Phillips
Seller: LP4 LLC
Date: 02/12/21

45 Orange St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Arismendy Larancuent
Seller: Scott A. Machler
Date: 02/19/21

46 Orange St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: Tyler J. French
Seller: Emmanuel N. Cheo
Date: 02/08/21

440 Southampton Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: JAI Hanuman LLC
Seller: 440 Southampton Road Realty
Date: 02/17/21

31 Summit Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Isobel A. McMahon
Seller: Joanne A. Manley
Date: 02/11/21

160 Susan Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $291,000
Buyer: Andrew K. Hall
Seller: Kurowski, Doris A., (Estate)
Date: 02/11/21

107 Tannery Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $226,000
Buyer: Henry R. Talbot
Seller: Crawford, Carl J., (Estate)
Date: 02/11/21

WILBRAHAM

6 Birch St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Todd N. Ashford
Seller: Kathleen A. Scarglia
Date: 02/16/21

3155 Boston Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $124,500
Buyer: Jad Mourad
Seller: Maureen G. Christofori
Date: 02/17/21

11 Delmor Circle
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $237,500
Buyer: Richard Hebert
Seller: Nicholas M. Brown
Date: 02/08/21

716 Main St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Christine R. Augustine
Seller: Suzanne E. Middleton
Date: 02/19/21

843 Main St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $262,500
Buyer: William W. McElroy
Seller: Olga D. Vonflatern
Date: 02/09/21

12 Red Gap Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $555,000
Buyer: Nicole S. Gee
Seller: Charles E. Hatch
Date: 02/17/21

WEST SPRINGFIELD

422 Dewey St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Allison K. Smith
Seller: Ellen M. Guimaraes
Date: 02/19/21

89 Edgewood Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: William J. Lyons
Seller: Martin C. Lyons
Date: 02/10/21

55 Fox St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $127,500
Buyer: Joseph Kot
Seller: US Bank
Date: 02/12/21

82 Garden St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $206,000
Buyer: Kyle Marquez
Seller: Michele A. Dandy
Date: 02/08/21

48 Oakland St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Justin P. Hancock
Seller: Mark P. Skypeck
Date: 02/18/21

89 Pheasants Xing
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $485,000
Buyer: Thomas Permar
Seller: David J. Vickers
Date: 02/12/21

30 Ravenwood Lane
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $417,000
Buyer: Dante R. Demaio
Seller: William T. Bostick
Date: 02/12/21

231 River St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: William G. Marchand
Seller: Maitri J. Patel
Date: 02/12/21

19 Rochelle St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $295,500
Buyer: Kevin Truong
Seller: Kevin Boyle
Date: 02/19/21

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

273 Amity St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: 273 Amity Street RT
Seller: 273 Amity Street RT
Date: 02/11/21

72 Belchertown Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $735,000
Buyer: Town of Amherst
Seller: Keith O. Kaneta RET
Date: 02/16/21

76 Belchertown Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $735,000
Buyer: Town of Amherst
Seller: Keith O. Kaneta RET
Date: 02/16/21

80 Belchertown Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $735,000
Buyer: Town of Amherst
Seller: Keith O. Kaneta RET
Date: 02/16/21

110 Henry St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: W. D. Cowls Inc.
Seller: Dinsmore-Spence TR
Date: 02/17/21

418 Shays St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Meredith E. Marvin
Seller: Lauder, Shirley L., (Estate)
Date: 02/11/21

51 Station Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $482,000
Buyer: Katherine E. Tease
Seller: Kevin S. Mepham
Date: 02/12/21

23 Tracy Circle
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Amherst Community Land Trust Inc.
Seller: Gesualdi, John J., (Estate)
Date: 02/18/21

19 Vista Ter.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $578,400
Buyer: R. J. McQuade Jr. 2011 T
Seller: Apple Brook West LLC
Date: 02/16/21

BELCHERTOWN

12 Autumn Lane
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Jean B. Bangoret
Seller: McCullough & Campora Enterprises LLC
Date: 02/08/21

150 Federal St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $259,000
Buyer: Phach T. Thach
Seller: Mark E. Suchecki
Date: 02/09/21

52 Magnolia Lane
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $454,900
Buyer: Robert McGibeny
Seller: JN Duquette & Son Construction Inc.
Date: 02/19/21

57 South Washington St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: Zacharian Johnson
Seller: Jason J. Lafleur
Date: 02/16/21

CHESTERFIELD

108 East St.
Chesterfield, MA 01096
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Elizabeth H. Song
Seller: Andreas A. Gamborg
Date: 02/12/21

EASTHAMPTON

9 Admiral St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $159,790
Buyer: Jarrod A. Wesson
Seller: Laselle, John T., (Estate)
Date: 02/19/21

8 Plain St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Alison Kleppinger
Seller: Leo P. & Carol A. Dube IRT
Date: 02/10/21

62 Pomeroy St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $630,000
Buyer: Garrett J. Wojcicki
Seller: David A. Hardy Contractor
Date: 02/19/21

HADLEY

8 Bayberry Lane
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $750,000
Buyer: Summer Fetterman
Seller: Leonard W. Wierzbicki
Date: 02/12/21

5 Crystal Lane
Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $689,000
Buyer: David J. Gianatasio
Seller: Bercume Construction LLC
Date: 02/12/21

258 River Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $259,900
Buyer: Raquel F. Llera-Stern
Seller: Kevin M. Skelly
Date: 02/12/21

HATFIELD

322 West St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Virginia M. Martell
Seller: Vicki M. Arnould
Date: 02/09/21

HUNTINGTON

39 Basket St.
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Tariq Douglas
Seller: Steven W. Powers
Date: 02/19/21

NORTHAMPTON

Boggy Meadow Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: City of Northampton
Seller: Bruce A. Wilbur
Date: 02/09/21

127 Bridge St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $332,500
Buyer: Amy Campbell
Seller: Budgar, Gerald, (Estate)
Date: 02/09/21

357 East St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $449,900
Buyer: Henri D. Langevin
Seller: Oak Ridge Custom Home Builders
Date: 02/10/21

415 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Scott Family Property LLC
Seller: Monaghan, George M., (Estate)
Date: 02/10/21

87 Hadley St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $249,000
Buyer: Teresa A. Czepiel
Seller: Crossland, Timothy J., (Estate)
Date: 02/10/21

47 McKinley Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $213,000
Buyer: Benjamin R. Craig
Seller: Shane Adams
Date: 02/11/21

244 North Maple St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $420,250
Buyer: Micah A. Winston
Seller: Debra J. Diemand
Date: 02/12/21

117 Olander Dr. #16B
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $363,497
Buyer: Engler LT
Seller: Sunwood Development Corp.
Date: 02/12/21

673 Park Hill Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Caitlin M. Bunning
Seller: Gary F. Ciaschini
Date: 02/12/21

382 Pleasant St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Lisa Cassidy
Seller: Felix J. Grygorcewicz
Date: 02/11/21

386 Pleasant St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $465,000
Buyer: Lisa Cassidy
Seller: Felix J. Grygorcewicz
Date: 02/11/21

87 Pleasant St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Lisa Cassidy
Seller: Felix J. Grygorcewicz
Date: 02/11/21

237 Prospect St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $427,000
Buyer: Congregation Bnai Israel
Seller: City Of Northampton
Date: 02/09/21

50 South St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Nancy Gingras
Seller: Andrew K. Griswold
Date: 02/09/21

Sylvester Road #1
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Christine Ohara
Seller: Judith L. Snyder
Date: 02/12/21

SOUTH HADLEY

12 Grant St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $225,040
Buyer: James T. Ouimet
Seller: Kaali Huang LLC
Date: 02/19/21

17 Red Bridge Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $537,500
Buyer: Carolyn Couture
Seller: Richard F. Cox
Date: 02/16/21

81 Richview Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $248,000
Buyer: Tamika Gagnon
Seller: Elizabeth A. Standen
Date: 02/19/21

54 Westbrook Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $224,000
Buyer: Ethan J. Conklin
Seller: Lynda M. Welch
Date: 02/12/21

164 Woodbridge St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: William J. Selkirk
Seller: Jill Swartwout
Date: 02/18/21

SOUTHAMPTON

250 College Hwy.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: 6 Bears Properties Inc.
Seller: William G. Pfau
Date: 02/18/21

81 Crooked Ledge Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $335,700
Buyer: Deutsche Bank
Seller: Dynelle Longto
Date: 02/19/21

67 High St.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Gary J. Baldwin
Seller: John & Claire Martin RET
Date: 02/12/21

7 Old County Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Joel P. Kupeyan
Seller: Garrett J. Wojcicki
Date: 02/19/21

WARE

114 North St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Merissa Titus-Abate
Seller: James V. Bourcier
Date: 02/19/21

17 Old Belchertown Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Robin L. Foster
Seller: Carl F. Banas
Date: 02/19/21

174 Old Belchertown Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Ryan Rocheford
Seller: Alyn M. Coler-Thayer
Date: 02/17/21

414 Palmer Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $117,000
Buyer: Alex Lanier
Seller: Renee M. Sinclair
Date: 02/12/21

83 Pleasant St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $182,800
Buyer: Miguel A. Carmona
Seller: Francis J. Soffen
Date: 02/08/21

WILLIAMSBURG

17 Main St.
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $409,000
Buyer: John T. Skinner
Seller: Linda K. Salguero LT
Date: 02/16/21

WORTHINGTON

112 Thayer Hill Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $763,000
Buyer: Gabriel D. Unger
Seller: David Hurwith
Date: 02/12/21

Building Permits

By
Building Permits

The following building permits were issued during the month of February 2021. (Filings are limited due to closures or reduced staffing hours at municipal offices due to COVID-19 restrictions).

CHICOPEE

4 Perkins, LLC
165 Front St.
$55,000 — T-Mobile to replace eight antennas and eight remote radio heads, and add one power plant cabinet to existing wireless telecommunications facility on a smokestack

We 77 Champion, LLC
77 Champion Dr.
$200,000 — Wall infills, fire sprinklers, plumbing modifications, HVAC, and electric

LEE

Lee Premium Outlets
17 Premioum Outlets Blvd., Suite 200
$18,461 — Repair loading dock at Tommy Hilfiger Outlet

Montra II, LLC
51 Park St.
$2,475 — Install new wet chemical kitchen fire-suppression system

LENOX

439 Pittsfield Road, LLC
439 Pittsfield Road
$13,050 — Interior demolition at former Essential Day Spa space

Serge Paccaud
71 Church St.
$1,000 — Replace walk-in refrigerator

NORTHAMPTON

William Beetz
26 North King St.
$674,864 — Interior fit-out for marijuana retail dispensary

Cooley Dickinson Hospital Inc.
30 Locust St.
$451,659 — Renovate MRI space

Northampton Holding, LP
180 North King St.
$2,950 — Illuminated wall sign for Subway in Walmart

Sheri Roxo
151 Main St.
$1,200 — Non-illuminated projecting sign for Prism

PALMER

Russell Baker
1702 Park St.
$2,400 — Reface existing sign for Baker’s Self Storage

CVS
1001 Thorndike St.
$3,400 — Install temporary COVID-19 testing kiosk structure

Double R Enterprises
8 First St.
$222,000 — Create gym space and employee lounge, and renovate bathrooms

PITTSFIELD

Allendale Shopping, LLC
5 Cheshire Road
$9,767 — Modify existing fire-sprinkler system coverage

City of Pittsfield
874 North St., Building 8
$59,535 — Roofing

El Gato Grande, LP
455 Dalton Ave.
$2,000 — Demolish walk-in coolers

Fourteen Fifty East Street, LLC
1450 East St.
$5,000 — Re-side half the front façade of building and left side of building

Insight Holdings II, LLC
47 North St.
$4,431 — Replace exit door on lower level

Insight Holdings II, LLC
47 North St.
$3,000 — Install seven emergency lights

Victor Latacela
20 Dalton Ave.
$10,000 — Install fire-alarm system

SPRINGFIELD

99 Guion Street Associates, LLC
99 Guion St.
$83,931 — Install solar panels on roof of North Star Pulp & Paper

276 Bridge, LLC
270 Bridge St.
$2,300 — Remove and replace drywall, remodel office into two booths and one changing room

C & W Breckwood Realty Co.
1060 Wilbraham Road
$35,000 — Remove and replace three antennas and three remote radio units on T-Mobile cell tower

C & W Breckwood Realty Co.
1060 Wilbraham Road
$35,000 — Remove and replace three antennas and three remote radio units on AT&T cell tower

Javier Cintron
128 Cambridge St.
$36,000 — Install 16 solar modules on existing garage roof

Zahid Farooqui
148 Fort Pleasant Ave.
$4,030.85 — Install five replacement windows on mosque

Michele Maruca, Janine Maruca
805 Main St.
$198,500 — Alter interior of Dunkin’ Donuts for store upgrades and modifications

MGM Springfield Redevelopment, LLC
12 MGM Way
$984,000 — Alter casino floor area for new sports betting venue, alter existing bowling/arcade area for a new TAP sports lounge area

Pradip Patel
78 Island Pond Road
$4,000 — Remove and replace siding on Murphy’s Pop Shop

Rehold Springfield, LLC
1522 Boston Road
$7,200 — Remodel cart storage area at Liquors 44 into office

The Republican Co.
1860 Main St.
$10,000 — Install temporary wall for demolition

Springfield Library and Museums Assoc.
220 State St.
$70,699 — Install solar panels on roof of Springfield Museums

Florence Bank to Open Third Hampden County Branch

By
Daily News

CHICOPEE — Florence Bank will open its third Hampden County branch at 705 Memorial Dr. in Chicopee on Monday, March 22, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony is slated for Wednesday, May 5.

“We’re very pleased to be expanding our presence in Hampden County,” said Kevin Day, Florence Bank’s president and CEO. “Our focus is on providing great customer service and helping to reinvigorate the community.”

A small number of bank employees, board members, and corporators will be present for the in-person, socially distanced ribbon cutting, along with Chicopee Mayor John Vieau.

The Chicopee branch has an open floor plan with two teller pods and innovative technology for quick cash handling. The location will also feature a drive-up ATM with SMART technology for easy depositing.

Kimberly Downing will serve as assistant vice president and branch manager for the new location. “Florence Bank is known for providing exceptional customer service, so of course I’m thrilled to be part of the team and represent the Florence Bank brand for people in Chicopee,” she said.

Downing attended Holyoke Community College and has 35 years of banking experience. She will manage the daily operations and growth of the branch. She serves as a committee member for McDonald’s Nature Preserve in Wilbraham.

“We are happy Kimberly chose to join the Florence Bank team,” Day said. “Her extensive banking experience and dedication to customer service will serve the Chicopee community well.”

Other employees who will staff the new location are Diane Afonso, assistant branch manager; Tracy Keefe, customer service representative and senior teller; Kiara Sonoda, teller operations manager; and Karen Willemain, senior teller.

In August 2017, Florence Bank opened its first branch in Hampden County at 1010 Union St. in West Springfield, and in December 2018, the bank opened its second location at 1444 Allen Street in Springfield.

“With the addition of a branch in Chicopee, our third in Hampden County, we can really say we’re here, and we’re going to be part of this community for a long time,” Day said.

Florence Bank has nearly 5,000 customers living in Hampden County, including 750 business customers, and Day said the bank looks forward to deepening its impact in the region and working with neighboring businesses.

Jake’s Barber Shop Celebrates Five Years with Community Contribution

By
Daily News

GREAT BARRINGTON — When Jake Hunker hung out his shingle for Jake’s Barber Shop at 87 Railroad St. in Great Barrington, it was, in many ways, a leap of faith. The shop where he had served customers for several years had closed abruptly, and he had to make a career decision. “I could have rented a chair at another shop,” he said, “but it was time. I was going to focus on the future and open my own shop. Big risk. Big dreams.”

As Jake’s Barber Shop commemorates the start of its fifth year in the community, Hunker is marking the moment by not only thanking his robust client list for giving shape and substance to that dream, but by being supportive of Railroad Street Youth Project, a local organization that encourages focus and commitment for others. RYSP is a Great Barrington not-for-profit organization that encourages community teenagers to meet, learn, talk, and focus on the future.

“For the week of Tuesday, March 30 through Saturday, April 3, we’ll donate $5 from each haircut to RSYP,” he said. “I am proud to support their mission … to support the youth of our community and help them explore their full potential and become equipped to meet the challenging transition to adulthood.”

Appointments for RSYP-benefiting haircuts from Hunker can be made online through booksy.com. Hunker noted that upwards of 80% of his bookings now come in online. Customers can also call (413) 717-4238 for an appointment.

Railroad Street Youth Project is a dynamic nonprofit organization helping young people bring their ideas and inspirations to fruition and discover their place in the world. Its services and programs have evolved to meet the changing needs of local young people. The Youth Operational Board continues to fund youth-inspired projects, run ongoing mentoring and apprenticeship programs, provide sexual-health programming through local schools, offer job training and career counseling, and staff an active drop-in center that provides counseling, mediation, referrals, and advocacy services for young people in need.

Hampden County Bar Assoc. to Offer Free Legal Help Hotline on March 25

By
Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Hampden County Bar Assoc. will hold a Legal Help Hotline on Thursday, March 25 from 3 to 6 pm.

Local and experienced attorneys will be available to provide legal advice on various topics, including divorce and family, bankruptcy, business, employment, landlord/tenant, and real estate. Individuals needing advice should call (413) 732-4648 to speak to a volunteer.

Voting Underway for AEFCU’s Cash Back to the Community Program

By
Daily News

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — American Eagle Financial Credit Union (AEFCU) is continuing its mission of supporting nonprofit organizations and the communities it serves by inviting both its members and the general public to take part in choosing the next round of winners for the credit union’s participatory funding program, Cash Back to the Community.

Entering its second year, AEFCU’s Cash Back to the Community program yielded $86,425 in total donations in 2020, providing assistance to financially strained nonprofits during the historic COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to its growing popularity and success in assisting organizations in need, the credit union announced in early January that the quarterly program would continue through 2021 and once again asked the public to nominate nonprofit and/or 501(c)(3) organizations that fit within the program’s qualifying guidelines for the next round of voting.

“When we kicked off Cash Back to the Community at the start of 2020, no one knew how challenging the coming year would be for nonprofit organizations,” said Dean Marchessault, president and CEO of AEFCU. “Each of our recipients make a difference in our members’ communities every single day, and we’re thrilled that we were able to support these deserving organizations and connect our members and the public to our philanthropic efforts. The response to this program has been overwhelming, and we hope that the amazing amount of participation we’ve experienced thus far continues in this latest round of voting.”

As in 2020, American Eagle’s Cash Back to the Community program will donate a portion of its credit- and debit-card interchange income to three organizations at the end of each quarter’s voting period this year. Funding for the program is generated each time its members use an American Eagle Financial Credit Union credit or debit card. At the end of each quarter, 1% of the total interchange income — the fee paid for credit- and debit-card transactions — will be distributed to the three top qualified nonprofits as voted on by a combination of the credit union’s members and the public.

The voting form and the list of nominated organizations for the latest installment of Cash Back to the Community can be found at americaneagle.org/cashbacktothecommunity. Voting ends on March 28, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter.

BusinessTalk with Vince Jackson, executive director of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce

By
Business Talk Podcast Special Coverage

We are excited to announce that BusinessWest, in partnership with Living Local, has launched a new podcast series, BusinessTalk. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews and discussions with local industry leaders, providing thoughtful perspectives on the Western Massachuetts economy and the many business ventures that keep it running during these challenging times.

Episode 56: March 15, 2021

George O’Brien talks with Vince Jackson, executive director of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce

Vincent Jackson

BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien talks with Vince Jackson, executive director of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce. The two have a lively discussion about the deep toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on Paradise City, and how that community’s strong, eclectic business community has responded with determination, imagination, and perseverance. The two also discuss how the pandemic has challenged all chambers, including his, while also changing their roles to some extent and making them even more vital to area small businesses. It’s must listening, so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

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Unemployment Ticks Down in Massachusetts in January

By
Daily News

BOSTON — The state’s total unemployment rate for January was down 0.6 percentage points at 7.8%, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) preliminary job estimates indicate Massachusetts gained 35,500 jobs in January. This follows last month’s revised loss of 8,700 jobs. Over the month, the private sector added 26,300 jobs as gains occurred across all sectors, led by education and health services and professional, scientific, and business services.

From January 2020 to January 2021, BLS estimates Massachusetts lost 334,200 jobs. Losses occurred in each of the private sectors with the exception of mining and logging, with the largest-percentage losses in leisure and hospitality, with 32.8% of jobs lost; other services, with 18.7% of jobs lost; and education and health services, with 8.7% of jobs lost.

The January unemployment rate was 1.5 percentage points higher than the national rate of 6.3% reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The labor force increased by 3,600 from 3,753,100 in December, as 23,300 more residents were employed and 19,700 fewer residents were unemployed over the month.

Over the year, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was up by five percentage points.

The state’s labor-force participation rate — the total number of residents 16 or older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks — remained unchanged at 66.5%. Compared to January 2020, the labor force participation rate is down one-tenth of a percentage point.

Annual year-end revisions show the unemployment rates were lower than the previously published estimates for May 2020 through September 2020. After the revisions, the highest unemployment rate during the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in April 2020 at 16.4%, which was 1.3 percentage points lower than the previously published highest rate of 17.7% in June 2020.

Serve Food to Open Shared Kitchen to Aspiring Restaurateurs

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Serve Food, a new business in Holyoke, will host its grand opening on Tuesday, March 16 at 2 p.m. at its 112 High St. location.

Serve Food, a shared-use kitchen, is a certified commercial kitchen in which individuals or businesses prepare value-added food products and meals using a monthly membership. Because expenses are shared, the costs are significantly lower than if an entrepreneur started a kitchen on his or her own.

“We’re excited to bring this concept to Western Massachusetts,” said Matt Lillibridge, chef founder of Serve Food. “This gives aspiring restauranteurs, pastry chefs, food trucks, and product developers a turnkey chance to start their food business without the burden of a large overhead. All utilities, maintenance expenses, equipment repairs, sanitation, and cleaning supplies are included in the membership fees, allowing our members to focus on their product.”

According to a survey from restaurantowner.com, a 2,000-square- restaurant may cost $175,000 and still generate 0% profit. In order to be profitable, the median cost was $375,500 to build a profitable (5.5%) operation. With membership in the Serve Food kitchen, members can get access to a kitchen almost immediately at little to no risk or extra expense.

Members of Serve Food don’t only get a kitchen, they get a community, Lillibridge added. They’ll have an opportunity to learn and collaborate with other local chefs and food makers. Serve Food’s website, servema.com, also plans to sell members’ products on its website.

MCLA Division of Graduate and Continuing Education to Hold Information Session

By
Daily News

NORTH ADAMS — The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) Division of Graduate and Continuing Education will present a virtual information session on Tuesday, March 23 at 4 p.m. for community members interested in learning about MCLA’s graduate and continuing-education programs, including bachelor’s-degree completion, master of business administration, master of education, teacher-licensure programs, and the MCLA Leadership Academy.

Community members seeking to advance their educational credentials by attaining a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or educator license to become a teacher, principal, or superintendent are encouraged to attend. This information session is free and open to the public, and representatives from each program will answer questions related to academics, the application process, education timelines, and more.

Visit mcla.edu/infosession to register. E-mail [email protected] or call (413) 662-5575 for more information.

Bradley International Airport to Launch Non-stop Service to Miami with JetBlue

By
Daily News

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) announced the debut of new, non-stop service from Bradley International Airport (BDL) to Miami International Airport (MIA) on JetBlue.

“Connecting customers in the Northeast and South Florida has been a hallmark of JetBlue’s success for more than 20 years, and offering our award-winning service and low fares between Hartford and Miami means we can attract new customers and grow in both regions,” said Scott Laurence, head of revenue and planning for JetBlue.”

JetBlue recently commenced new, non-stop service from Bradley to Cancun, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

“We welcome JetBlue’s expansion at Bradley International Airport and the addition of new, non-stop service to Miami. This new route, which follows JetBlue’s other recent route launches, is a significant vote of confidence in our airport and the market we serve,” CAA Executive Director Kevin Dillon said. “We appreciate JetBlue’s continued investment in our region, and are confident that our strengthened partnership will provide major benefits for our travelers.”

The new, daily service to Miami will commence on June 24 and will operate year-round. Flights depart Bradley at 9:25 a.m. and land in Miami at 12:30 p.m. Return flights take off from Miami at 1:15 p.m. and land at Bradley at 4:10 p.m.

STCC Named Fourth-best Community College in U.S.

By
Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) was ranked as the fourth-best community college in the nation and second-best in Massachusetts, according to Academic Influence, a college ranking system.

Academic Influence consists of academics and data scientists who use artificial-intelligence technology to analyze publicly available data and measure the impact of work produced by the world’s top academic influencers. On March 4, the website released its first-ever ranking of the 50 best community colleges in America. STCC is one of six Massachusetts community colleges listed in the top 20.

“We’re honored and delighted to be ranked as one of the best community colleges in Massachusetts and the nation,” STCC President John Cook said. “I applaud our talented faculty and staff for their dedication and commitment to STCC and going the extra mile to help our students succeed. Many of our faculty bring real-world technical experience into the labs and classrooms. Their expertise, combined with their caring approach to working with students, makes STCC truly shine as a wonderful and unique institution.”

STCC, the Commonwealth’s only technical community college, offers comprehensive workforce and technical education in fields that include manufacturing; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); healthcare; business; human services; and the liberal arts. The college is federally designated as a Hispanic-serving institution, with more than 30% of students identifying at Latinx.

Academic Influence considered 839 community colleges in the U.S. that were fully accredited, enrolled at least 1,000 students, and provided primarily two-year associate-degree programs along with certificate credentials in most cases.

“Our approach highlights community colleges that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size,” according to a description on the Academic Influence website. “If you are serious about finding the best community colleges for an associate’s degree or professional certification, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.”

HCC Ranked Among Best Community Colleges in U.S.

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) ranks among the best community colleges in the U.S. for 2021, according to Academic Influence, a technology-driven education-evaluation group. HCC was listed 20th out of 839 community colleges nationwide.

In particular, HCC was noted for the strength of its academic programs in criminal justice, nursing, computer science, business, education, and engineering.

“In rankings on other sites, students typically see only the largest community colleges. We believe we take a smarter and more comprehensive approach,” said Jed Macosko, academic director of Academic Influence and professor of physics at Wake Forest University.

Criteria for the schools in this ranking include a minimum of 1,000 enrolled students, full accreditation, and exclusively two-year (or associate) degree programs.

“We look at how influential the school’s faculty is and then factor in the student-body size. We call this metric ‘concentrated influence,’” Macosko said. “Those community colleges with a strong faculty but comparatively fewer students, schools that might otherwise get lost in the shadows of their larger competitors, now have an opportunity to shine. Because students often choose to attend a school nearby, this kind of illumination provides a truer view of how influential their neighborhood community college may actually be, regardless of its size.”

Bradley International Airport Launches Non-stop Service to Nashville

By
Daily News

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) announced the launch of Southwest Airlines flights from Bradley International Airport to Nashville International Airport (BNA) in Tennessee.

“We are excited to launch Southwest Airlines’ non-stop service to Nashville from Bradley International Airport,” said Kevin Dillon, executive director of the CAA. “Nashville is a popular destination that also offers key connectivity to major destinations across Southwest’s West Coast network. The launch of this service significantly enhances our non-stop offering for our travelers, and, with its introduction, we are pleased to strengthen our long-standing partnership with Southwest Airlines.”

Flights are available for booking at www.southwest.com. Southwest Airlines has been operating at Bradley International Airport for more than 20 years.

Country Bank Partners with Seven Local Banks on Virtual Credit for Life Program

By
Daily News

WARE — Country Bank announced it has partnered with seven other local banks to transform the Credit for Life program from an on-site event to a virtual event. Credit for Life, a popular financial-literacy program, has been offered for more than a decade within many Massachusetts public schools.

With most, if not all, schools adopting a virtual learning model for students, Credit for Life organizers connected last summer to explore a virtual experience in 2021. As part of the virtual transformation, organizers enlisted FitMoney.org, a nonprofit financial-literacy organization, to serve as the key fiscal agent, and Stackpole & Partners of Newburyport for the design and implementation of an interactive website. Contributing partners are Country Bank, Institution for Savings, Cape Cod 5, Bay Coast Bank, HarborOne Bank, the Savings Bank, Rockland Trust, and Westfield Bank.

During the half-day, online Credit for Life Fair, students will assume the role of a 25-year-old adult and be asked to make financial decisions on how to spend their money.

“The Credit for Life Fair is one of the most important and impactful events we offer every year,” said Jodie Gerulaitis, vice president of Community Relations at Country Bank. “We are honored to be able to partner with other local banks to make the fair a reality again for students. The interactive website is a tool that educators and others can use in the current learning environment. Teachers are being asked to do so much right now, this is just one small way we can offer our support.”

Development of the website is in the final stages; the group is hopeful that the site will be ready for use by high schools toward the end of March. In addition, the partnership group is also in the process of establishing a 501(c)(3) that will allow for the ability to raise funds and plan for future school financial-literacy initiatives similar to creditforlife.org.

Elms College to Host Inaugural Distinguished Lecture in Ethics on March 24

By
Daily News

CHICOPEE — The St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture (CERC) at Elms College will hold its inaugural Distinguished Lecture in Ethics on Wednesday, March 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. Due to COVID-19 protocols, this event will be held virtually via Zoom.

The highlight of the event will be the keynote speech by the Rev. James Keenan, vice provost for Global Engagement, Canisius professor of theology, and director of the Jesuit Institute at Boston College.

The title of Keenan’s lecture is “Finding God in the Twin Pandemics: Theological Reflections on the Role of the University in the Age of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter.”

“The inaugural Distinguished Lecture in Ethics will examine the role that colleges and universities play in healing the various infections — viral and social alike — affecting the health and dignity of the communities they serve,” said Peter DePergola II, executive director of the CERC and Shaughness Family chair for the Study of the Humanities at Elms.

The St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture was launched in October 2020 to increase engagement and discourse on the most pressing and complex questions related to ethics, religion, and culture in today’s society, and to lead the regional community in thoughtful, engaging dialogue.

“Since its founding in 1928 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, Elms College has served as a scholastic clearinghouse that unites individuals together in the common pursuit of addressing fundamental ethical, religious, and cultural issues related to identity, responsibility, and meaning,” DePergola said.

A Jesuit priest since 1982, Keenan received a licentiate and a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He has edited or written 25 books and published more than 400 essays, articles, and reviews. Currently, he is writing another book, A Brief History of Catholic Ethics.

This free event is open to the public. Visit www.elms.edu/events/cerc-lecture to register. A Zoom link will be sent to all participants prior to the lecture.

Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity Partners with Union Tradeswomen

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Daily News

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The Habitat for Humanity Women Build Week event, sponsored by Lowe’s, is an opportunity to spread the positive and powerful message of “women helping women” and facilitate in building stronger and safer communities.

During the weeklong event, which began March 8, women from all walks of life and skill levels have come together to work on a job site. Under the guidance of construction professionals, the group learns new skills and/or adds to their repertoire.

At Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity (GSHFH), the event has been a staple for several years teaming up with Lowe’s. This year, GSHFH has partnered with Western Mass. Tradeswomen to empower and encourage women volunteers to become involved on the build site.

“This is an awesome opportunity to showcase the skills of women and prove gender shouldn’t dictate capability,” said Brandice O’Brien, Marketing and Communications manager at GSHFH. “Whether the women on these build sites are construction workers or volunteers, they are simply ‘women helping women.’ The house they are working on is for a single mother.”

Western Mass. Tradeswomen is a network of female construction workers in Western Mass., Northern Conn., and Worcester. The majority of the women are in unions. They meet regularly to support one another, build their labor movement, and promote union construction careers for girls and women. The group began several years ago on the construction site of what is now MGM Springfield, where, because of a project labor agreement, workforce-diversity goals were consistently met by contractors.

“It has been a joy to get to work on a project with my sisters this week. We are skilled professionals, we love what we do, and it has been really fun to get to share that together,” said Amy Calandrella of Western Mass. Tradeswomen, who organized the tradeswomen volunteers for this year’s Women Build Week. She is a journeyman operating engineer with International Union of Operating Engineers Local 98 and serves on the board of the Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation.

During Women Build 2021, GSHFH construction crew and volunteers are working on a two-story, four-bedroom house in Springfield for single mother Ana and her children. Volunteers help with inside finish work, painting, installing cabinets and countertops, building the front-porch rails, and putting in the walkway.

GSHFH is a housing ministry dedicated to strengthening communities by empowering low-income families to change their lives and the lives of future generations through homeownership and home-repair opportunities. This is accomplished by working in partnership with diverse people, from all walks of life, to build and repair simple, decent, affordable housing. Habitat’s mission to provide homeownership opportunities to low-income families is unique as it requires partner families to work alongside the community that is reaching out to help them. GSHFH has helped roughly 100 local families realize their dream of homeownership over the last 33 years.

HCC, Happier Valley Comedy to Offer ‘Establishing Resilience: Building Happiness’

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Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) is partnering with Pam Victor, president and founder of Happier Valley Comedy, to offer “Establishing Resilience: Building Happiness,” a Zoom workshop on Saturday, April 10 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The cost of the class is $99. To register, visit hcc.edu/happiness.

Victor, a comedian and improv facilitator who prefers the title ‘head of happiness,’ will lead participants on an experiential exploration of happiness and resilience building to enhance their joy and ease at work and home. She will share stress-relieving exercises and techniques to help people bring more well-being, laughter, gratitude, and play into their daily lives.

“Finding more joy in 2021 is a priority for me,” said Michele Cabral, HCC’s executive director of Business, Corporate and Professional Development. “As a participant in Pam’s 30-day ‘Happiness Experiment,’ I can tell you without doubt that this class is for everyone. In this single session, participants will get an introduction into the full program, while Pam shares many useful tips and resources to help people get an uplifting start to the new year.”

Happier Valley Comedy, based in Hadley, is the region’s first and only comedy theater and training program.

Therapeutic Equestrian Center to Host Virtual Film Festival

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Daily News

HOLYOKE — The Therapeutic Equestrian Center (TEC), located in Holyoke, is hosting a virtual fundraising event featuring the 2021 Winnie Film Festival Tour. This film fest will feature exclusive, world-premiere short documentary films that celebrate the healing powers of the horse.

Attendees will enjoy two hours of inspiring and heartwarming films anytime from 5 p.m. on Friday, April 9 until 10 p.m. on Sunday, April 11. A fee of $25 is requested to register, and participants will be provided a link to stream to any smart device, such as phones, tablets, and TVs. Binge in one sitting, or stretch the viewing out over the entire weekend — the choice is yours. To register for this virtual event, visit tecriders.org. Gary Rome Hyundai is the exclusive event sponsor.

TEC has been closed during the pandemic but hopes to open later this year. Proceeds from this event will help feed and care for its stable of horses and provide necessary materials needed for a safe reopening.

The Therapeutic Equestrian Center empowers children and adults with physical, emotional, and developmental needs to live their best lives. Through a range of individually designed, equine-assisted programs, lessons, and recreational activities, TEV enhances the bodies, minds, and spirits of riders, creating a stronger, more compassionate and inclusive community in which every member is encouraged and able to thrive.

Jordan Hart Named Executive Director of Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce

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Daily News

HOLYOKE — The Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce has named Jordan Hart its new executive director.

“Jordan brings a longtime commitment to Holyoke and to the chamber to her new position,” said Harry Montalvo of bankESB, the chamber’s board chair. “We are looking forward to her leadership in mapping out new strategies to work with our members as we emerge from the challenges of the past year.”

Hart will replace Andréa Marion in the role. Marion recently announced her departure to pursue other opportunities.

“It is such an honor to serve our membership as their new executive director,” Hart said. “I have gotten to know many of our members and business leaders in our community since I started at the chamber in 2013, and I look forward to bringing vibrancy and presence to our membership through new programming and collaborations as we emerge from the limitations imposed by the pandemic. And, of course, I’ll be excited to start seeing our members in person again soon.”

Hart has served in a variety of roles in the past eight years at the chamber, most recently as program coordinator. She is a board member at Enchanted Circle Theater and was a leader of the “Have a Ball in Holyoke” public art effort through Leadership Holyoke. She holds an associate degree from Holyoke Community College and is currently taking courses at Greenfield Community College.

Among the top priorities for the 131-year-old chamber moving forward are re-establishing a solid suite of programming and seminars to support local businesses in their success, continuing to serve as a cheerleader for economic development and job growth in the city, and working with leaders throughout the area to bolster civic pride and quality of life in Holyoke and surrounding communities.

Key to Hart’s responsibilities will be collaborating closely with partners throughout the region, including leaders at City Hall.

“It’s great to see Jordan Hart take the reins of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce at this critical time,” said Aaron Vega, director of the Office of Planning and Economic Development. “Jordan has been actively involved in every aspect of the chamber’s work for over seven years. I know Jordan is passionate about our city, supporting current business and attracting new businesses here. As director at the Office of Planning and Economic Development, I look forward to working with Jordan in her new role.”

State Awards $3.2 Million to Prepare Prime Sites for Revitalization

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Daily News

BOSTON — The Baker-Polito administration announced $3,184,000 in funding for 10 projects in the fifth annual round of Site Readiness Program awards. These awards provide resources to help municipalities, private-sector businesses, and nonprofit economic-development entities overcome obstacles to developing otherwise prime sites for large-scale industrial and commercial use.

The funding will finance pre-development work including feasibility studies, master planning, environmental work, strategic land acquisition, and site improvements, increasing the development potential of nearly 900 acres across the Commonwealth.

“Our administration is committed to helping communities achieve their economic-development goals, and we will continue to work with the public and private sectors to ensure Massachusetts remains a great place to do business,” Gov. Charlie Baker said. “The Site Readiness Program addresses both goals by helping local partners advance key sites to shovel-ready status, and we look forward to these awards supporting projects that create jobs and revenue in their communities.”

Four of the projects are based in Western Mass., including:

• The Belchertown Economic Development and Industrial Corp. will use $804,000 in Site Readiness funds for the abatement and demolition of the disused power plant at Carriage Grove. When cleared, the one-acre site will become a development pad or a parking area to support the development of an adjacent 15-acre industrial district.

• The town of Palmer will use $280,000 in Site Readiness funds to design the replacement of the Church Street Bridge over the Ware River. The bridge provides direct access to the village of Thorndike and is critical to the redevelopment of the Thorndike Energy Mill Complex.

• The Pittsfield Economic Development Authority will use $880,000 in Site Readiness funds to complete the design, environmental permitting, and bid-ready documents for the construction of an internal site roadway, utilities, and stormwater facilities for this 16.5-acre parcel known as Site 9. The funds will be used for engineering and design services as well as crushing existing pavement on the site, which is expected to accommodate 282,000 square feet of industrial uses and open space.

• The town of Southwick will use $105,000 in Site Readiness funds to evaluate the feasibility of extending a road connection between existing industrial areas along Hudson Drive and Sam West Road, thereby creating new development sites for industrial uses. The funds will also be used to study the potential extension of municipal sewer service to the area.

Monson Savings Bank to Host Five Free Community Shred Days

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Daily News

MONSON — Monson Savings Bank announced it will host five of its popular, free Community Shred Days in 2021, and all are welcome. The events, one Shred Day taking place at each branch location, have been scheduled to begin on March 27, with the last on Aug. 7.

As in past years, Monson Savings Bank is partnering with PROSHRED of Wilbraham for this series of events welcoming the public to discard their documents in a safe and secure manner. This is a perfect opportunity to dispose of unwanted documents such as tax returns, bank or credit-card statements, bills, or medical records. Pre-packaged refreshments and giveaways will be available while supplies last. Health and safety protocols will be carefully followed. All visitors are asked to practice social distancing and will be required to wear a mask.

Monson Savings Bank’s free Community Shred Days will take place on the following dates and locations, all from 9 a.m. to noon:

• March 27, 15 Somers Road, Hampden;

• May 22, 136 West St., Ware;

• June 5, 100 Post Office Park, Wilbraham;

• June 26, 61 North Main St., East Longmeadow; and

• Aug. 7, 146 Main St., Monson.

“The protection of personal information and data is extremely important to us here at Monson Savings Bank, and we are happy to have partnered with PROSHRED to provide this complimentary opportunity to not only our customers, but to all community members,” said Dan Moriarty, president and CEO. “All are welcome to visit Monson Savings Bank and the PROSHRED trucks during the scheduled events, to bring their materials they would like to discard of securely.”

Wistariahurst to Host ‘Spring Things with Patti Steinman’ on March 24

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Daily News

HOLYOKE — On Wednesday, March 24 at 2 p.m., Wistariahurst will present “Spring Things with Patti Steinman,” a live, virtual program on Zoom. This program is open to all members of the public, but has been especially designed to address the needs of area seniors, many of whom continue to be socially isolated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is free to attend, but spaces are limited, and pre-registration is required.

Spring is a time for new growth, new migrants, and beauty all around. Participants will take a virtual tour of spring in New England by looking at wildflowers, birds, salamanders, and more with Patti Steinman of Mass Audubon.

Steinman is the education coordinator of Mass Audubon’s Connecticut River Valley Sanctuaries, based in Easthampton. She has worked in the environmental-education field for more than 30 years, developing, teaching, and overseeing adult programs, day camps, nature preschools, and special events.

The Alvarium Foundation is funding this program, which is also supported through a Community Development Block Grant to address, prevent, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is administered through the Holyoke Office of Community Development and has been planned in consultation with the Holyoke Council on Aging.

To register for “Spring Things with Patti Steinman,” visit www.wistariahurst.org or e-mail Eileen Maginnis at the Holyoke Council on Aging at [email protected]. To share an idea for a topic to be considered for a future Wistariahurst session, contact [email protected].

Massachusetts DUA Announces Additional Anti-fraud Identification Measures

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Daily News

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) announced it has implemented new security measures to speed up identity verification and protect claimant accounts. These measures also address the continued surge of fraudulent claim attempts.

The Department has contracted with the security vendor ID.me, a federally certified identity-verification provider that specializes in digital identity protection. ID.me will implement solutions designed to reduce wait times on identity verification issues for unemployment claimants.

This new mobile-friendly method of identity verification will help protect the integrity of the system and allow DUA to make payments more quickly to legitimate claimants. ID.me is being implemented for the traditional Unemployment Insurance (UI) program. The identity verification process for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which provides financial assistance to groups like the self-employed, is not undergoing any changes at this time.

The initial group of claimants who will benefit from the introduction of ID.me are those who are currently waiting for identity-verification issues to be adjudicated. ID.me will be added for new claimants in the coming weeks.

For all claimants clearing the ID.me process, a notice of approval will be issued from UI Online, and, if otherwise eligible, payments to the claimant will commence within several days.

DUA is also implementing additional multi-factor authentication (MFA) measures within the UI Online system to help reduce the risk of fraud and cybersecurity attacks. MFA is an authentication method that requires the user to provide an additional form of verification to gain access to a system. Generally, this is a code sent to the claimant’s cell phone or e-mail that the claimant must then enter to access UI Online. MFA is one aspect of a strong identity and access-management policy that strengthens access to these critical systems and reduces the likelihood of cybersecurity attacks.

UMass Amherst to Present Virtual Symposium on ‘Computing for the Common Good’

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Daily News

AMHERST — The UMass Amherst College of Information and Computer Sciences will present an all-virtual symposium on “Computing for the Common Good” on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 16-17, from noon to 5 p.m.

The symposium will feature keynotes, research talks, and interactive discussions on applying computing and data science to society’s big problems. Attendees will learn about the ways UMass researchers are applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computing at scale to serve the common good.

Click here to register via Zoom.