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The Many Ways to Make a Difference

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Opinion

Editorial

 

When BuinessWest approached Mike Suzor, assistant to the president at Springfield Technical Community College, to talk about Denis Gagnon Sr., he replied dryly, “who’s he … what’s he done?”

He was being facetious, of course. He’s known Gagnon since the two were roaming the halls, along with about 3,000 other students, at Cathedral high School in the late ’60s. And the ‘what’s he done’ line … well, that was an attempt at misdirection; what he was really saying was, ‘what hasn’t he done?’

In a way, though, Suzor was helping BusinessWest make a point. Many people don’t know Gagnon or what he’s done beyond revolutionize the electric hand-dryer business (and that’s a significant accomplishment in its own right). But they should know, and, more importantly, they need to know.

And that’s why BusinessWest launched the Difference Makers program back in 2009, to tell some of the stories that people need to know, or, to steal Paul Harvey’s famous line, tell them the rest of the story, the part that maybe they didn’t know.

And that’s what we’ve done with Gagnon and the rest of the year’s honorees, HERE.

People know, for example, that the region’s community colleges open their doors to anyone who has a high-school diploma or GED. It’s called open admission. What people might not know is just how this doorway has changed the lives of tens of thousands of people in this region. Also, they may not know the absolutely pivotal role community colleges are playing in the ongoing efforts to close a stubborn skills gap impacting every sector and virtually every business in the region through targeted programs and a hard focus on the specific needs of area businesses.

Many people do know the story of the merry-go-round that sits in the center of Holyoke in Heritage State Park and how it arrived there. But most probably don’t know the many ways individuals and the community as a whole came together to make it happen. Likewise, they probably don’t know or understand that the passion that drove this initiative nearly 30 years ago still exists today, and is quite necessary to keep the ‘happiness machine,’ as it’s known colloquially, spinning for this generation and those to follow.

As mentioned earlier, most know of Gagnon’s XLERATOR and its ability to dry their hands much faster than other products on the market. They probably don’t know about his multi-layered commitment to organizations ranging from the Boy Scouts to Link to Libraries, and how his work within the community has become an inspiration to all those who know him.

As for Junior Achievement, most people know it has programs that enable high-school students to learn about business by running a business. They know, because they were probably involved with such a company, whether they went to high school in 1948, 1978, or 2008.

What they probably don’t know is that JA has expanded its programming to include lessons in everything from how and why people pay taxes (taught to second-graders) to how a zoning board functions (a matter for fifth-graders to assess), all in the name of improving financial literacy across the region.

Finally, people probably know that Joan Kagan famously led her agency, Square One, in recovery efforts following both the June 2011 tornado and the November 2012 natural-gas blast. What they may not know is that she has spent her career developing and refining programs for families and children and continues to lobby tirelessly on behalf of these constituencies.

Difference Makers was launched because sometimes people don’t know about some of the more important stories involving community service in our region, or they don’t know the whole story.

They should know, and this year’s class presents five very poignant reasons why.

Rethinking a Minimum-wage Boost

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Opinion

Opinion

By Christopher Geehern

Three-quarters of Massachusetts employers would face increases in their compensation costs if state lawmakers pass a $15 per hour minimum wage, according to two recent surveys by Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM). And those compensation increases would be enough to force some companies to postpone hiring or consider leaving the Commonwealth altogether.

Both the monthly survey question attached to the AIM Business Confidence Index in December and the annual AIM HR Practices Survey, also taken in December, found that 13% of companies employed people at the former $10 per hour state minimum wage, while another 24% employed people at between $10 and $15 per hour and would have to raise those wages if the minimum moved to $15.

Thirty-four percent employed people at slightly more than $15 and would have to increase pay for some of those employees to deal with wage compression. Thirty-seven percent of companies said they pay much more than $15 per hour and will not be affected by a minimum-wage increase. The Massachusetts minimum wage rose by $1 to $11 per hour on Jan. 1, the final step in a three-year increase.

“While we are empathetic with the challenges facing lower-wage staff, it is also the case that we will employ fewer hourly employees at higher minimum wages. Each dollar increase costs our company $1.5 million per year,” wrote one employer on the Business Confidence Survey.

Another noted, “this would be too much for the small-business community to absorb. You’ll lose many small businesses.”

AIM believes that raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, while emotionally appealing and politically expedient, is an ineffective way to address income inequality. Raising the minimum wage, in fact, represents a fundamental distraction from addressing the real economic impediments that prevent all Massachusetts citizens from sharing in the state’s prosperity. These are the same impediments, ironically, that contribute to the persistent skills shortage that threatens innovation and economic growth in Massachusetts.

Workers are ultimately compensated according to the skills, education, work ethic, and value they bring to the enterprise.

Minimum-wage increases impose an arbitrary standard of value on entry-level jobs, disproportionately burdening small businesses while creating no long-term improvement in living standards for people at the lower end of the wage scale. The issue in an economy with a staggering 3.3% unemployment rate is not how to raise the wage but instead how to raise the economic value of each employee.

Consider a sandwich shop in Cambridge serving food to employees of companies such as Google, Biogen, or Novartis that have made Massachusetts a global center for information technology, biosciences, research, and development.

Given the degree to which those highly paid professionals are bidding up housing and other prices in Massachusetts, increasing the minimum wage for the restaurant workers represents a dead-end and pyrrhic victory that keeps them outside the economic mainstream.

The task instead should be to pave the way for those restaurant employees to cross the street and join the high-value economy, which will once and for all allow them to support their families and achieve financial stability.

How does that happen? Start by improving the ability of our educational system to teach all students, reducing the long waiting lists for vocational schools, making community colleges accountable for graduating students with the skills needed in the marketplace, creating more high-tech software-coding academies, and promoting other efficient structures to provide people with the skills to succeed in the areas of fastest economic growth.

Those tasks are far more complex than raising the minimum wage but ultimately more effective. The alternative is not attractive.

Christopher Geehern is executive vice president of Marketing & Communication at Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

Continuing a Legacy of Entrepreneurship

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Opinion

Editorial

Milton Bradley. Horace Smith. Daniel Wesson. Curtis and Prestley Blake. Paul and Gerry D’Amour. Everett Barney. Theodor Geisel. Paul Kozub?

OK, maybe it’s too soon to place the founder of V-One Vodka in the same paragraph as the founders of Friendly Ice Cream, Dr. Seuss, the inventor of the clip-on ice skate, iconic gunmakers, and some of the other entrepreneurs who have shaped the local landscape.

But, then again, maybe not. While Kozub doesn’t have anything from his company on display at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History (the unofficial litmus test for being one of the region’s truly historic entrepreneurs), he shares many traits with those (and that’s everyone else listed above) who do.

These include a thirst for risk taking, a fervent imagination, a large dose of determination, and a willingness to confront — and tackle — the innumerable and constant challenges standing in the way of a successful business.

For these reasons, Kozub has been named BusinessWest’s Top Entrepreneur for 2016 (see story, page 20). Those others mentioned above came decades, if not a century and a half, before the award was established in 1996 (the D’Amours started Big Y too early to be recognized, but successive generations were honored just last year for their efforts to grow and diversify the corporation), but Kozub is in the right place at the right time.

Not to simply win our award, but to capitalize on the growing popularity of what he called ‘craft vodkas,’ a phrase that certainly sums up V-One.

The Top Entrepreneur award honors those who possess entrepreneurial spirit, but, more specifically, those who have been able to harness it effectively and fashion a success story.

V-One is already what most people would consider a success — a brand that is now available in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and, yes, some airports in Europe, and hundreds of specific locations, generating a few million dollars in sales annually.

But Kozub wants to make it more of a success, naturally, by taking the brand national, a move that will require capital, patience, determination, and above all else, a solid battle plan and the tools necessary to carry it out.

For putting that plan together, and for leaving no stone unturned, as he put it, in preparation for this national launch, Kozub has been recognized as the Top Entrepreneur for 2016.

He’s in good company, as the chart on page 28 reveals. Indeed, in addition to the D’Amour family, previous winners include Peter Rosskothen, who co-founded the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House; Jeb Balise, president of Balise Motor Sales; Timm Van Epps, president and CEO of Sandri LLC; Holyoke Gas & Electric; Bob Bolduc, founder and CEO of Pride; former STCC President Andrew Scibelli; and many others.

And we hope Kozub creates more company for the years to come.

Indeed, as we’ve said on many occasions, there are many effective economic-development strategies for this region, and one of them is to encourage entrepreneurship and mentor those who choose that route.

While most think of economic development as filling industrial parks and attracting large employers such as CRRC and MGM, this is only one component of a larger strategy, and a small one, given the immense competition for such major employers today and the geographic disadvantages hindering this region.

Spurring entrepreneurship and mentoring small-business owners is a strategy that requires considerable time and patience; there is no instant gratification here. But it often yields lasting results, and it can put a region — as in the cases of Silicon Valley and the city of Cambridge — on the map.

Encouraging more would-be entrepreneurs to join Smith, Wesson, Bradley, Geisel, Barney, and, yes, Kozub is one of the reasons we launched the Top Entrepreneur award 20 years ago.

The larger reason was to recognize those who are taking risks, building companies, and creating jobs. And we look forward to adding more names to an already-impressive list of winners.

2016 Was Many Things, but Not Surreal

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Opinion

Editorial

Surreal.

In case you missed it — and that would have been hard to do, although the news broke over the holidays — this was Merriam-Webster’s ‘word of the year.’

An intriguing honor, it is bestowed by the Springfield-based company on a word that is simply looked up significantly more frequently by users than the year before, as tracked by the reference-book publisher. “There were multiple occasions on which this word was the one clearly driving people to their dictionary,” said the company.

That’s definitely true: the word was put to use by the media and countless others in reference to everything from terrorist attacks and the scenes they generated to the deaths of icons like the musical artist Prince; from Britain’s exit from the European Union (a.k.a. Brexit), to the attempted coup in Turkey; from the sky-high murder rate in Chicago to that city’s Cubs winning the World Series (OK, that’s another story); from repeated shootings of minorities by police (and shootings of police in retaliation) to Donald Trump’s victory in the November election, alternatively described using the word ‘stunning.’

That term and ‘surreal’ are not technically synonyms, but most people believe they are, so they are used interchangeably. Actually, it seems that, since a lot of people were looking up ‘surreal,’ they must not have known what it means. Good for them. When in doubt, look it up.

Actually, Webster defines surreal as “marked by the intense, irrational reality of a dream,” whatever that means, and offers up synonyms such as ‘unbelievable,’ ‘fantastic,’ ‘bizarre,’ ‘weird,’ ‘odd,’ and even ‘unreal.’

While on some levels we can understand the popular use of ‘surreal,’ considering those synonyms, it was probably not the word that should have been chosen.

‘Upsetting,’ ‘distressing,’ and ‘horrible’ would apply to most, if not all, of the above-mentioned events, depending on your leaning, but they were not, or should not have been, unbelievable given what was happening here and around the world — or not happening, as the case may be.

In that respect, 2016 was quite a bit like another extremely turbulent year in national and world history. That would be 1968, of course.

Those unforgettable 12 months were rocked by, chronologically: North Korea’s capture of the USS Pueblo; the Tet Offensive, which turned the tide of the Vietnam War — at least in the minds of most Americans who watched it unfold on TV; the student strike at Columbia University, which mirrored protests on campuses and in cities around the globe; the assassination of Martin Luther King; the assassination of Bobby Kennedy; two black U.S. athletes raising their fists in protest during the playing of the National Anthem at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City; the riotous Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and the election of Richard Nixon, who, sounding quite a bit like the man voted into office last November, would coin the phrase ‘silent majority’ to describe those who supported his policies, including a decision in late 1969 not to seek a quick end to the war.

The similarities are, well, surreal. Only they’re not.

And it’s safe to say that ‘surreal’ was probably looked up quite a number of times in 1968, and was probably used interchangeably with ‘unreal,’ which was coming into its own by that time.

Only everything that was happening was very real, and reflective of a time of deep divides, personal suffering, and a strong desire for real change. Sound familiar?

As 2017 begins, we can only hope that people won’t be using ‘surreal’ as much, not because they actually understand what it means, but because there won’t be cause to.

Actually, what we hope for is a return to a time when the many things that happened over the course of an utterly forgettable 2016 could truly be called ‘unbelievable.’

Some Things We’d Like to See in 2017

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Opinion

Editorial

As we noted last issue, 2016 was, in many ways, and across the region, a year of progress. The economy didn’t grow by leaps and bounds — although the stock market certainly soared after the election — but that’s been the trend for roughly eight years now.

Overall, there was notable movement of the needle in the right directions — on economic development, entrepreneurship, revitalization of downtown Springfield, progress in efforts to reinvent the so-called Gateway Cities, and much more.

As the new year approaches, our basic hope is for essentially more of all of the above. Here, though, are some more specific thoughts on what we’d like to see:

• Continued movement in response to the aging Baby Boom generation. Everyone is talking about it, which is a good thing, but companies, and the region as a whole, have to move beyond talk. Baby Boomers are retiring in great numbers, and companies are waking up to the fact that, unless they are proactive, they may be facing a huge void in talent.

Much of the focus is on leadership and the higher rungs of a company’s management, but the problem will be felt at all levels. Succession planning is a must, as are steps to train people — in everything from soft skills to ever-advancing technology — so that, when it’s their time to lead, they’re ready.

• More and better efforts to promote the region. This goes well beyond efforts to find a new logo or slogan to somehow replace ‘Pioneer Valley’ and/or ‘Arrive Curious/Leave Inspired,’ which certainly needs replacing. And it goes further than making greater use of Dr. Seuss and his worldwide fame to promote Springfield, as one consultant has recommended. We’re talking about real marketing campaigns — for Springfield and the region, whatever we decide to call it from now on.

With MGM due to open in 18 months or so, the Dr. Seuss museum nearly ready to open its doors, Union Station set for its rebirth, and Springfield primed to put its troubled past behind it, the world needs to know what’s going on here. Yes, this takes money, but the region needs to find some and tell its story with a loud and effective voice.

• More momentum on entrepreneurship. We’ve managed to create quite a bit of it over the past few years, through Valley Venture Mentors, the EDC, other agencies, and the region’s colleges and universities, but the region as a whole needs to keep the pedal to the metal.

As we’ve said countless times, promoting entrepreneurship and mentoring those who choose that course is one of this region’s best economic-development strategies. Large numbers of jobs will not come overnight, and there is certainly a temptation to become frustrated with the pace of progress. But entrepreneurship is a huge part of this region’s business history, and there are many chapters still to write.

• A continued focus on keeping talent here. In some of the more rural areas of this region (such as Stockbridge: see story, page 10), the exodus of young people is reaching what amounts to crisis proportions. Indeed, the average age of the residents of some of the communities in Franklin and Berkshire counties is approaching 60, and this is dangerous territory.

Young people are leaving because there are no jobs — or no jobs that can become careers. With fewer and fewer young people, cities and towns lose vibrancy, tax dollars, and leadership. The problem is less acute in Hampden and Hampshire counties, but it remains a threat.

Elected officials and economic-development leaders have to work together to diversify economies and bring good jobs to some of these towns. If they don’t, they will pay a huge price down the road.

Meeting the Need for Homeless Services

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Opinion

Opinion

By Jane Banks

With the temperatures dropping into single digits, you can’t help but talk about how cold it is. It was again the topic of conversation at a recent meeting with a colleague who recalled, when she was a little girl, her dad coming into the house on very cold days, rubbing his hands together, and saying, “thank goodness for a warm house.”

Sadly, not everyone has a warm house to live in. On nights so cold you don’t even want to step onto the street — let alone live there — it’s comforting to know that the Center for Human Development (CDH) is working 24/7 to help the most vulnerable families in our community access a warm place to live while working to transition them to permanent housing and self-sufficiency.

Today, there are about 525 families, about 2,200 people altogether, who are sheltered and/or housed within our housing system. Families referred to CHD by the state Department of Housing and Community Development typically spend from 30 to 90 days in shelter. During that time, they receive financial-literacy training, employment and skills training, clinical and mental-health services, and help identifying and qualifying for appropriate permanent housing. Our primary goal is to get families into housing where they have privacy and safety — a place that feels like home.

CHD’s Housing Stabilization Program receives state funding to address specific goals as defined by state law. We help ensure that our veterans, mothers with small children, people with disabilities, and others who are struggling don’t find themselves huddled on a street corner. It may surprise you that people in shelter include families displaced by fire, fathers whose jobs vanished in a tough economy, and persons whose disabilities make finding work and accessible housing extremely challenging.

With help from CHD, families are in from the cold, learning to budget and save money, getting job training or going back to school, and getting help navigating the range of supports to get them back on their feet. Once families leave shelter, they can access a state grant that helps them move into their own place, continue job training, get help with tenant rights and responsibilities, apply for fuel assistance, and secure child-care vouchers so they can work — just the things a struggling family might need to be successful.

Ongoing support for a 12-month, home-based period is dictated by state regulation, and during that period CHD helps families stay on the path to self-sufficiency. It’s especially rewarding when families we’ve helped come back to us to say they’re doing well — and how thankful they are that CHD was there when they were struggling.

If you someone you know is homeless, contact the Department of Housing and Community Development, 310 State St., Springfield, or call (413) 858-1300. A conversation with a homeless coordinator can determine eligibility for shelter, financial assistance, and services (including from CHD) to help transition to permanent housing.

We are thankful for our many collaborations, partnerships, and contributions from a caring community which make our work possible. During these frigid days, we are grateful for the opportunity to provide a warm home, for which we and our families can all be thankful.

Jane Banks is program director, Homeless Services, at the Center for Human Development.

Optimism for the Year Ahead

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Opinion

Editorial

Over the years, BusinessWest has worn out the ‘question-mark’ key when writing stories and headlines for its Economic Outlook sections each December.

Any why not? No one really knows what lies ahead, especially when it comes to the economy. And over the past 15-20 years, there have been some times — such as the months after 9/11 and the very darkest days of the Great Recession in the fall of 2008 — when trying to speculate what might come next was all but impossible.

This isn’t exactly one of those times, but it’s close, and all because of history. Actually, two kinds of it.

First, that election about a month or so ago, because it ushered in a presidency seemingly defined by unpredictability and speculation — about what will happen domestically and abroad. And second, the nation’s economic track record.

Indeed, not once in the full history of this country has it gone more than 10 years without a recession. Don’t look now, but that means, sad to say, that we’re just about due for one. And if it comes soon — we’ve had almost nine years of mostly unspectacular growth — we’ll likely be entering it without the two most common methods of fighting one: lowering interest rates (because they’re already at historic lows and just can’t get any lower) and tax cuts (especially if President Trump makes good on his pledge to almost immediately lower them after getting sworn in).

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Sort of.

While it might be time to talk about that recession seemingly certain to come some time in Trump’s first term, the immediate future seems worthy of something else that gets typed often when writing about the year ahead — that phrase ‘cautious optimism.’

That’s especially true of the Western Mass. region, which, while it continues to lag maddeningly well behind most of the rest of the state in terms of growth and prosperity, is, for the most part, riding on an arrow pointed upward. Here are some reasons for the optimism:

• Springfield’s continuing climb. Last issue, we wrote about cranes and their uplifting abilities, no pun intended. It’s not hyperbole. Cranes do generate optimism and, well, more cranes. But it’s not just those machines at the casino site generating positive energy. It’s everything from new vibrancy downtown to the Thunderbirds; from Union Station to subway-car manufacturing. Springfield still has considerable work to do, but it is in what we believe are the early stages of a renaissance, which means there is more progress to come, and it will likely have a strong ripple effect throughout the region.

• Progress in other communities. As we’re written before, the process of reinventing a city — moving from a manufacturing hub to the proverbial ‘something else’ — is slow and often difficult. But many cities in this region, including Holyoke, Easthampton, Pittsfield, and Westfield, are making substantial progress in that regard, becoming centers for entrepreneurship, the arts, small business, tourism, and combinations of all of the above. This progress bodes well for the region, and it should continue in the year ahead.

• Promoting entrepreneurship. One of the most encouraging developments in this region in recent years, as we’ve noted, has been the efforts to not only promote and encourage entrepreneurship, but to create a population of smarter, more resilient entrepreneurs. Springfield has become the hub of this activity, but it’s happening region-wide. And while the landscape won’t change overnight, certainly, a stronger, more diverse economy will result.

• Eds and meds. Or is it meds and eds? While the region continues to diversify its economy, these two stalwarts continue to grow and become ever-more pivotal forces in overall economic development. Healthcare continues to be an ultra-steady source of jobs, and the region’s higher-ed institutions, led by UMass Amherst, are developing new degree programs and initiatives aimed at providing area businesses with their most important asset — qualified talent. These sectors are not only strong, but getting stronger, and the region will benefit accordingly.

While there are still many question marks regarding the economy and which way it will go in the year ahead, there are seemingly fewer of them. And this is a byproduct of the optimism (OK, guarded optimism) that is growing in intensity and bound to generate more progress in the year to come.

Lessons in Common Sense

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Opinion

Editorial

The American flag is once again flying over the campus at Hampshire College. The flap over the removal of the flag, which captured space on the front page of newspapers around the region and across the country, is seemingly yesterday’s news.

Perhaps, but we hope that the furor that erupted over this incident isn’t soon forgotten at this school, which was famous for its protests and alternative policies before the flag controversy, and has, in the minds of many, now become infamous for this philosophy, if it can be called that.

But what happened at Hampshire — where the flag was removed from the flagpole at the center of the campus for several days, during which the Hampshire community discussed and confronted deeply held beliefs about what the flag represents — was not as much another case of outspoken students seeking attention for a cause as it was an incident of historically poor leadership on the part of the school’s president, Jonathan Lash.

Hampshire prides itself on being different — it eschews letter grades in favor of written evaluations, for example, and does not accept SAT scores as part of its admissions process — and for its track record of activism.

Right on the college’s home page, in huge, block letters, just above a directional arrow pointing out how to apply to the school, are the words ‘Disrupt the Status Quo.’ The school has lived by those four words since it first admitted students in 1970, and usually, doing so is OK. But not, in our opinion, with the American flag.

Yes, the flag means different things to different people. It is not, nor will it ever be, a universal symbol of one thing. What the flag means and represents is an extremely individual thing, and it is worth discussing and studying.

But you don’t have to take down the flag — for several days or even a few hours — to do all that.

And that’s why this flag controversy can be categorized as poor leadership, not a case of rebellious students or employees burning the flag or questioning what it represents at a time of great turmoil and introspection concerning this country and its symbols.

Students at campuses across the country have questions about the flag and just what values and principles it represents, and there have probably even been a few other cases of a flag being burned. But none of those actions resulted in the flag being lowered.

At Hampshire, as noted, they do things differently. They disrupt the status quo. It’s quite all right to do that in most instances, but at certain times, common sense must prevail.

And this was one of them. v

Getting to Real

By
Opinion

Editorial

Behold … the Power of Cranes.

Maybe that should have been the title placed on the latest update on economic development initiatives throughout Springfield, hosted last week by the city and the Springfield Regional Chamber.

Instead, they chose ‘Springfield, Rising to New Heights, subtitled ‘The Renaissance is Real,’ which is a serious play on the crane-themed invitation to the event. It features an extremely detailed rendering of the giant crane at the MGM Springfield site, which has become a very famous addition to the city’s skyline.

The crane art and the accompanying subtitle are appropriate when juxtaposed together. Indeed, countless people have said (out loud or to themselves) that they didn’t really believe the MGM project was real until they saw those cranes. (MGM President Mike Mathis would have a ready response in such cases: ‘We always thought it was real.’

In some ways, the same conversational tones can be used for the city itself, although when it comes to a true renaissance, the city will have to do better than the ‘crane test.’

While progress (totaling a whopping $3.307 billion in public and private investments) really does seem genuine on many fronts — from Union Station to the subway-manufacturing plant; from MGM to vast amounts of entrepreneurial energy; from new places for people to live, to new places for them to work and play — one might still have a hard time convincing those in the city, and those looking from the outside, that this is the real thing.

That’s because it’s easy to make people believe it isn’t. As evidence, look no further than the piece that ran in the Boston Globe this month concerning MGM’s casino, the city’s image problem concerning crime, and how the latter might impact the former.

Complete with a close-up shot of razor wire on a building downtown and beginning with what amounts to a recreation of a drive-by shooting just blocks from the MGM site, the story also includes this quote from City Council President Michael Fentin: “We have a perception problem. People don’t want to come into the city; they say “I’m not going into that war zone.”

We’re not sure what he was attempting to do with that quote — maybe draw a line between perception and realty — but all he really did was blur the line and make ‘war zone,’ the one phrase everyone will remember from that piece.

But in a way, he helped make our point. You can’t just say the renaissance is real, you have to prove it. And right now, the city still has some work to do in that regard.

The cranes in the sky will generate some believers, but to generate more of them, the city must continue to move in the right direction on crime and the perception of it. Even if  ‘war zone’ is extreme and represents the view of the minority, public safety remains a real concern.

And while doing that, the city must do more to tell its story — and tell it to people living outside the city limits. The story is good and getting better all the time, and others need to hear it.

Maybe with some additional PR and work to reduce crime, more people will come to the conclusion that this renaissance is, in fact, real.

Kick Open the Door — then Go Forward

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Opinion

Opinion

By Elizabeth Barajas-Román, Valerie Bassett, and Ann Bookman

As directors of organizations working to elevate women’s civic leadership, we salute Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton on the historic and courageous campaign she led as the first woman to run for president of the United States as the nominee of a major political party.

But to come, are the highest stakes our nation has faced since its founding. How do we ensure the door of opportunity not only remains open — but opens wider — for women of color, LGBTQ people, and immigrants, as well as including low-income white and rural residents who feel left behind?

As the results of the recent election show, the majority of our elected officials do not look like the population they represent. In Massachusetts only 25.5% of the total seats on Beacon Hill are occupied by women. Throughout the history of the United States, 1,917 men have been elected to the Senate, whereas only 46 women have held this post; until now, only two of whom were women of color. In the 115th Congress, the overall number of women will remain the same, but nine new women of color, will enter Congress in 2017, three in the Senate and six in the House.

That’s why the work of our organizations is more critical than ever before. The Women’s Fund of Western Mass. fuels progress toward gender equity by funding the most promising solutions, collaborating with results-oriented partners, and by elevating the collective power of local women to take charge, and to lead with purpose. The Women’s Fund of Southeastern Mass. creates pathways for women to economic independence through funding and leading a regional agenda for change, advocacy, and education. The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School has a dual mission:

• To advance the political leadership of women in both the public and nonprofit sectors, with particular focus on women of color; and

• To design and implement public policies that will advance economic security for all women and their families by raising the minimum wage, closing the wage gap, providing caregiving supports, and other critical issues.

Together, we are creating hope, higher expectations, and alliances among diverse women that are essential to helping create the America we believe in.

So where do we go from here?

Prioritize the work of organizations serving women. Organizations like ours have paved the way for significant milestones reached over the past year, including a new equal pay law. We’re also working at a direct service level to increase women’s access to financial literacy or negotiation training, building cross-sector partnerships at the community level that encourage solutions-orientated dialogue often with local businesses, and investing in research that can be used by advocates and policymakers to drive systems-level change. Organizations like ours amplify the power of women to transform their lives, and the lives of the people in their community.

Support policy advocacy efforts and train women to lead the way. Research shows that high-visibility political campaigns by women make girls think differently about their own futures: they begin to imagine they too, could one day lead. The goals for political leadership are broad: More women in elected office, appointed positions, and more women leading nonprofit organizations and grassroots campaigns. While progress on policies that impact women’s lives may be stalled on the federal level in the foreseeable future, we are optimistic about action and change on the state and local level.  In fact, state and local action — coordinated across New England — is now likely to be across the most fruitful avenue for policy change; and

• Invest in cross-racial, cross-class, and cross-gender alliances. Millions of women sit at the center of several overlapping and intersecting social identities – and they suffer the related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination that come with the territory. Investing in the visibility and inclusion of all women is the only way to ensure success. We will go forward truly together or not at all.

We celebrate the wins and learn from the losses. We rest from the recent flurry of campaigning and retool for the campaigns and social change work ahead. Most importantly, we must continue to grow a broad and diverse coalition to fight for equity and economic justice for all. Count us in.

Elizabeth Barajas-Román is CEO of the Women’s Fund of Western Mass.; Valerie Bassett is executive director of the Women’s Fund of Southeastern Mass.; and Ann Bookman is director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, and Clinical Professor, Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs, McCormack Graduate School.

A Time to Listen

By
Opinion

Editorial

It’s over.

The election that most of America couldn’t wait to see end is over. Only it’s not.

The voting is over, and so are the tabulation of votes, the victory speech, and the concession speech. The analysis and finger pointing … well, that will go on for months, probably years.

Also not over, far from over, in fact, is the historic state of divisiveness in this country that led us to last week’s outcome.

This divisiveness, distrust, and outright hostility are difficult to quantify, and even harder to qualify — although a comment made by a voter in West Virginia to a Boston Globe reporter might at least help.

This individual believes, and has no reason whatsoever to doubt, a report (or several reports, as the case may be) on the Internet about how the Hillary Clinton team had put in an order for several hundred guillotines, presumably to be used to take out supporters of the Second Amendment and other conservative planks after she was elected into office.

That’s where we’re at right now, and it’s a very scary, us-against-them scenario that yielded all manner of wild doomsday scenarios if the other side were to triumph in this election.

The nation’s elected leaders stopped listening to people a long time ago, or they listened and didn’t respond, which is the same thing as not really listening. And that’s what seemingly propelled Trump forward.”

And this scenario didn’t vanish or even diminish even as CNN was gauging the probability that Clinton could gain enough votes in Michigan’s Wayne County to stave off a loss in the state and somehow rebuild the ‘blue wall’ — eventually concluding that she couldn’t.

No, it’s still there, and this creates ample anxiety about the months ahead, while fueling real doubt about whether Donald Trump can, indeed, unite Americans, or if Americans have any interest in actually becoming united. Most of them probably don’t.

But they are united in one respect, and this is what has to change going forward. No one — no one — listens anymore, and that’s why we’re here, with one side saying, ‘how could this have happened?’ and the other side saying, ‘how could this not have happened?’

The nation’s elected leaders stopped listening to people a long time ago, or they listened and didn’t respond, which is the same thing as not really listening. And that’s what seemingly propelled Trump forward, enabling him to confound pundits and pollsters alike and offer a firm middle finger to those who said, at myriad stops along the way, ‘he can’t do this.’

Speaking of middle fingers, that’s what a majority of the voters gave to not only the politicians who didn’t listen, but also to the press, which didn’t listen, either, and instead became fixated on telling people who they should vote for and whom they couldn’t possibly vote for.

But this non-listening extended to those supporting both candidates, who began to act, well, like the candidates themselves. They sidestepped issues, talked over one another, called each other names, and fueled enormous distrust in the system as a whole. ‘Your candidate should be in jail.’ ‘Yeah, but your candidate calls women pigs’ — that kind of stuff.

There will be a lot of soul-searching among a host of constituencies in the near future. The Democrats will be doing some (and not just about why they didn’t visit Wisconsin this fall); the Republicans, even in victory, will do their share (that’s what happens when you ride to victory on the coattails of someone you turned your back on), and perhaps even the press will do some and re-examine what it did and didn’t do over the past 18 months.

The voters? Maybe they need to do a little soul-searching as well, and maybe some of that listening that has been missing from the equation for so long.

By doing so, we won’t become actually united — that’s not going to happen — but maybe, just maybe, we can become less divided.

Marijuana: What Now for Employers?

By
Opinion

Opinion

By Tom Jones

 

Massachusetts has a new law permitting the possession and recreational use of marijuana. Voters approved Question 4 on legalization last week by a margin of 53.6% to 46.4%.

And unlike the earned-sick-time law a couple of years ago, this one comes with a short lead-in period — the law takes effect on Dec. 15.

What does the 12-page statute mean for employers?

The law focuses almost exclusively on the regulation and taxation of the sale of recreational marijuana. The measure will actually have little to no direct impact on most employers. There is only a short reference to employment in section 2, which discusses limitations of the law:

“This chapter shall not require an employer to permit or accommodate conduct otherwise allowed by this chapter (i.e. the use of recreational marijuana) in the workplace and shall not affect the authority of employers to enact and enforce workplace policies restricting the consumption of marijuana by employees.”

Employers should keep an eye out for potential court cases related to the new law. Such cases could materially affect the manner in which employers implement the law in the future.”

Companies that addressed their drug-testing and drug-use policies in response to the 2012 medical-marijuana law can prepare for the 2016 law with little more than a quick review. For companies that did not establish policies four years ago, now is the time to do so.

Review your drug/alcohol-free workplace policies to ensure that they cover all forms of drug use, including marijuana. You should also review your drug- and alcohol-testing polices to ensure they cover the topics you want.

You may want to revise your policy to ensure that it covers all aspects of your workplace, including vehicles used for business purposes, off-site duties at customer sites, work-related events and seminars, and company-owned parking lots and garages.

Employers should keep an eye out for potential court cases related to the new law. Such cases could materially affect the manner in which employers implement the law in the future.

There has been only one legal case so far in Massachusetts involving an employee and medical marijuana. In that case, the employee was terminated, then sued, claiming discrimination, and the court ruled in the employer’s favor on all six counts, except privacy.

Associated Industries of Massachusetts is available to answer any questions about the new marijuana law or about reviewing and updating your drug-use related polices. Contact Beth Yohai at [email protected] or (617) 262-1180, ext. 335.

Tom Jones is vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

A Meeting of the Minds

By
Opinion

Editorial

Years ago, the annual business trade show was a big deal.

It was a time to see the latest technology, find out what was new, discover what was trending, make some connections, and let people know your business could provide valuable products or services.

Well, times have changed somewhat — you don’t need us to tell you that — but the business show can still be a big deal, and this year’s edition of the Western Mass. Business Expo  certainly fits that description.

It will enable exhibitors and attendees to see the very latest technology — from robots to virtual reality to drones used in marketing; to find out what’s trending in everything from employment law to motivating Millennials to closing the dreaded skills gap; to make introductions; and to create some of those all-important connections.

And it’s this desire to generate connections that prompted BusinessWest to inject new energy and life into the Springfield Chamber’s annual business-to-business show, give it a new focus, and take it to a much higher level.

Indeed, while there are many networking opportunities on the calendar each year, none approaches the Expo in terms of both the size of the room and the depth of the opportunities.

Getting back to those connections, they are still needed in the business world today, but real, face-to-face connections are fast becoming as ‘old’ as the fax machine.

It seems that people communicate by e-mail and text these days, using the phone when something a little more personal than those options is required. Seeing people and shaking their hand … well, not so much. People rarely even go out to lunch anymore, preferring their desk or the conference-room table and solitude.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

But to do business and understand what’s happening in the business community, people need to get out more. And because there isn’t much time, they need to maximize their opportunities when they do get out. That’s not the official motivation behind the Expo, but it might as well be.

This year, attendees can go back to their offices better informed about:

• Innovation districts and efforts to create them;
• Millennials — what drives them, what motivates them, what keeps them at your company instead of looking for opportunities elsewhere, and much more;
• The skills gap and the many initiatives being undertaken to close it, including ongoing work to inspire young people to pursue STEM careers by conceptualizing, designing, building, and then competing with robots;
• Virtual reality and how to generate and then realize opportunities to seize the tremendous potential of what is being described as disruptive technology;
• Inspiration and perseverance, such as that displayed by a Boston Marathon bombing survivor who found the courage and determination not to let horrible injuries get in the way of her life and her dreams;
• Stories of entrepreneurship talking place across the region, through both a pitch competition and a ‘Where are They Now?’ program created to showcase the progress made by several startups;
• Marketing strategies, why they work, and why they might not; and
• Big Data, the cloud, drones, SEO (search-engine optimization), computer security, and many of the other high-tech developments and trends shaping business today.

Add it all up, and it yields one giant opportunity — to see, be seen, learn, become inspired, and inspire others.

In short, it’s an opportunity not to be missed.

Lawmakers Should Support PUSH Act

By
Opinion

Opinion

By Holly Chaffee

Across Massachusetts, more than 110,000 senior citizens and individuals with disabilities receive healthcare services in their homes from skilled home-healthcare providers. These services help individuals recover from surgery, recuperate following a hospitalization, or manage a chronic health condition that needs frequent monitoring. Thanks to the Medicare home-health benefit, these patients receive timely, safe, and effective healthcare when they need it most and in the location they prefer — their own homes.

Home healthcare is an incredibly convenient delivery model for healthcare, but it is also far more. Skilled home healthcare has become an essential service that doctors depend upon to ensure their patients experience the best possible outcomes. These days, many doctors even require it before they will discharge a patient home from the hospital. It is also a valuable Medicare benefit that has been shown to save millions of dollars annually in reduced hospital readmissions and nursing-home stays.

Unfortunately, the ongoing availability of this trusted care here in Western Mass. and across the state could soon face incredible challenges. A new pilot program from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) threatens home-healthcare reimbursement as it requires a ‘pre-claim review’ before a patient’s care is approved for coverage by Medicare. Under new guidelines aimed at reducing fraudulent claims, care could be delayed while third-party government contractors — who are not healthcare providers and have never met the patient — review paperwork and decide whether or not care is actually ‘medically necessary.’

The program’s initial implementation in Illinois demonstrated that the pre-claim review demonstration is deeply flawed and should be halted before implemented in the other targeted states, including Massachusetts.

Over the years, Porchlight VNA has been fortunate to provide services to thousands of patients in our community. And our providers unequivocally know that care delays and denials like those seen in Illinois spell disaster for many vulnerable homebound patients who depend on us.

The days following an injury or hospitalization are often the most precarious and are when complications are most likely to occur. Without the readily available, medically necessary home care prescribed by a doctor, a patient is far more likely to experience readmission to the hospital. Oftentimes, this is due to unintended side effects from a new medication, an easily treatable infection which progresses to something far more serious, or even a dangerous fall because of decreased mobility. These are the types of poor healthcare outcomes that Porchlight VNA is vigilant about preventing, but that are certainly destined to increase if pre-claim review for care delays our ability to intervene. Helping local patients stay out of the hospital in their best state of health has always been, and will continue to be, our number-one goal at Porchlight VNA.

Therefore, I strongly urge our local and state lawmakers to stand up for those constituents in need of home health and support legislation to delay CMS’ pre-claim-review demonstration. The Pre-Claim Review Undermines Seniors’ Health (PUSH) Act of 2016, sponsored by Massachusetts state Rep. Jim McGovern, would pause the Medicare demonstration for one year to allow Congress, Medicare, and home-health stakeholders to work together to correct the program’s flaws. This would ensure patient care is not delayed and that individual beneficiaries are not unjustly denied coverage when they need it most.

I hope that residents of the Western Mass. — whether they have ever personally benefited from home-healthcare services or not — will urge our lawmakers to sponsor the PUSH Act. The well-being of our community’s home-health patients depends on it.

Holly Chaffee is CEO of Porchlight VNA/Home Care and chairman of the board of directors of the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts.

The Clock Is Ticking

By
Opinion

Editorial

Mike Mathis, president of MGM Springfield, was talking about the company’s recently held ‘career launch.’ Conducted at the MassMutual Center, the event was staged to introduce attendees to possible careers at the company’s casino and, more importantly, how to become qualified to earn one.

While there was a decent crowd, Mathis said the company had to work hard with a number of workforce-development-related agencies to make sure the seats were full. The perception, or misperception, as the case may be, said Mathis, is that two years out (the planned opening for the casino is September 2018) is too far down the road to get serious about jobs now.

That’s a misperception, he said, because that time will go by quickly, and many individuals will need specialized training if they are to be wearing an MGM nametag on opening night. Getting ready will take some time and effort.

In many ways, the same can be said for the region and its business community. And that’s why two years out is certainly not too early to start thinking about all that the casino means — and moving accordingly.

For job seekers, as Mathis noted, that means determining what skills would be needed for a given position, finding out where and how to acquire those skills, and getting the training needed. That might take several months to a year or more.

For companies looking to do business with MGM — and the corporation is obligated to buy some products and services from the 413 area code — that means navigating a fairly complex course that will also take time. Some are already deciding for themselves that becoming an MGM vendor will be too difficult and too much work. That’s probably not the proper attitude. There are opportunities here, and companies should at least explore how to take advantage of them.

For companies that stand to benefit in some way from MGM and its 3,000 employees — and there are myriad businesses that fall in that category, from Realtors to tuxedo-shop owners to caterers to private golf clubs looking for members — the time is now to establish relationships, make their presence known, and position themselves to take full advantage of the opportunities that may await. Meanwhile, for businesses that may be adversely impacted by the casino — and there are many within the broad hospitality realm that certainly fall into this category — it’s time to be thinking about and undertaking a response.

It might come in the form of upgrades and renovations to become more competitive with the shiny casino in the South End. It might also come in the form of new products and services, and it could come in the form of entirely new business ventures aimed at mitigating that aforementioned impact on the bottom line.

In any case, the clock is ticking, and awareness of this reality is a must. In some cases, if not many of them, waiting for the South End skyline to make more dramatic changes will mean waiting too long.

Twenty-three months seems like a very long time, and for some businesses, it is. But for most, it’s not long at all, and those days, weeks, and months will go by very quickly.

That’s why the old saying, “those who fail to plan should plan to fail,” is certainly worth remembering in this case.

Nurturing a Key Part of the Workforce

By
Opinion

Opinion

By John B. Cook and Ramon S. Torrecilha

At a time when the Institute of Medicine is pushing to increase the number of nurses with bachelor’s degrees by 80% nationwide by 2020, Springfield Technical Community College and Westfield State University are taking the lead with a recently announced partnership.

In Western Mass., nursing professionals with the Mass. Action Coalition (MAAC) are implementing the Massachusetts Nursing Workforce Development Plan. Their goal is to increase the percentage of nurses with bachelor degrees in Massachusetts to match the national goal of 80% by 2025.

In early October, after months of planning, our two sister public institutions made official the STCC-Westfield State University RN-to-BSN completion program. This accessible and affordable program will help fill the Massachusetts workforce with highly skilled nursing professionals.

Registered nurses who have obtained an associate’s degree from STCC’s accredited nursing program will then transition to the accredited Westfield State BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) program. Students will be guided by a streamlined, transfer-friendly ‘curriculum map.’ This ensures a student will maximize his or her time in transferable courses.

Aside from the benefit of helping to create a more highly educated workforce, the STCC and Westfield State partnership illustrates a shared commitment to nurturing this segment of the workforce. Not only will the program help to create more highly educated nurses in Massachusetts, it means countless benefits to the thousands of patients and families the future nurses will serve throughout their careers.

According to MAAC, the more than 143,000 nurses licensed in Massachusetts represent the largest segment of healthcare workers.

Graduates of the new STCC-Westfield State completion program will help MAAC as it works to increase the percentage of nurses with bachelor’s degrees. Enrollment in the STCC-Westfield State program begins in spring 2017.

The new program represents the type of program that both institutions seek to establish to fulfill their comparable high-access, low-cost missions. The partnership allows STCC and Westfield State to further put into action their mutual commitment to convenient pathways to accessible, affordable degrees. With a price tag of only $10,500, the RN-to-BSN program is the most cost effective in the area.

Massachusetts state colleges and universities are not necessarily lauded for their transfer-friendly articulation agreements, according to state Department of Higher Education Commissioner Carlos Santiago, who spoke at the Oct. 4 signing event to announce this new public-to-public partnership.

During the ceremony, Santiago also said nursing programs, in particular, are difficult to mesh, given the amount and caliber of requirements for nursing degrees. STCC and Westfield State’s partnership, however, breaks the mold and can serve as a model for other institutions to follow to ensure seamless transitions for nursing students seeking a bachelor of science in nursing degree.

The new partnership stands as the first hybrid RN-to-BSN, public-to-public completion program in Western Mass. Westfield State faculty will teach mostly online courses, but will be on site for select courses. Although taught by Westfield State faculty, the courses will be held on STCC’s campus, offering convenience and a familiar setting to the registered nurses with associate’s degrees from STCC who are eligible.

The program will allow students to transfer up to 90 course credits from STCC to Westfield State. Students will need to complete the last 30 credits for their bachelor’s degree, for a total of 120 credits.

Having both entered our presidencies within the past year, we see this program as the first of many innovative partnerships, as we collaborate to bring accessible and affordable education opportunities to the Western Mass. region.

 

John B. Cook is president of Springfield Technical Community College; he began his new role in August. Ramon S. Torrecilha is president of Westfield State University; he was appointed president in December 2015 and was officially invested earlier this month.

Shining a Spotlight on Manufacturing

By
Opinion

Editorial

For many of the young people now becoming a force within this region’s business community, the area’s manufacturing sector is generally something to be talked about, and heard about, using the past tense.

This is what is required when referencing some of the companies that were the backbone of the region’s economy for decades and a source of countless stories from fathers, but now, mostly grandfathers and great uncles: the Springfield Armory, American Bosch, Uniroyal, Diamond Match, Chapman Valve, Westinghouse, General Electric, and countless others.

Yes, were. Most all of those companies are gone now, and their names come up far more in reference to what’s happening with the land and facilities where they once operated. That’s especially true of the last two companies on that list.

But while the manufacturing sector is certainly much smaller than it once was, it is still an important part of the region’s economy, and one that has considerable growth potential moving forward.

This is one of the points that organizers of the Western Mass. Business Expo will attempt to drive home during its day-long slate of programming (see story on page 13).

Indeed, while attention will be focused on the region’s ongoing efforts to promote entrepreneurship and mentor startups, as well as specific trends and issues facing today’s businesses — from Big Data to social media to using drones in one’s marketing efforts — manufacturing will also be in a bright spotlight.

Specifically, the Expo will focus on the companies currently generating stories within the manufacturing field, but especially on the issues facing this sector, including the huge issues of replacing retiring Baby Boomers and closing an almost-frightening skills gap staring at this industry.

And this is an important focus because, as we said above, this sector has enormous potential (CRRC’s selection of Springfield as the site for its subway-car-assembly plant is direct evidence of this), but only if the region can show it is capable of providing a large, talented, and reliable workforce for decades to come.

For this to happen, young people must not only be made aware that manufacturing is still a viable, attractive career option (many of those aforementioned grandfathers and great uncles have probably advised them otherwise because of what they’ve seen happen in their lifetime), but they must also be properly educated and trained for jobs in this profession.

Expo organizers, who have long made education a primary focus of the day-long event, will accomplish this through a number of initiatives. They include displays and demonstrations involving area technical schools and robotics programs aimed at people of all ages; exhibits featuring agencies and institutions committed to promoting economic development, and, specifically, the region’s manufacturing sector; and seminars on issues ranging from recruiting and retaining top talent to coping with multiple generations in the workplace.

The goal behind all these initiatives is to generate momentum to move many of these initiatives forward, and to drive home the point that the region’s manufacturing sector cannot and should not be relegated to the past tense.

Instead, the discussion should be about the present and especially the future, and how we can make that future as robust as possible given the intense, truly global competition for manufacturing jobs.

If the Expo can accomplish just some of this, then the time and energy spent to deliver the message will be well worth those investments.

The Misconceptions of Obesity

By
Opinion

Opinion

By W. Scott Butsch, MD, MSc, and Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA

For more than a decade, obesity has been recognized as an epidemic condition in the U.S., and the numbers certainly justify the characterization.

Statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that more than 36% of adults have obesity, and a report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation declares that not a single state in the union has an adult obesity rate of less than 20%. While the obesity rate for children is lower, it, too, is alarming: 17% of Americans aged 2-19 years — nearly 13 million children and adolescents — struggle with obesity.

Despite enormous attention and numerous programs to reduce obesity — by federal, state, and local governments, community agencies, businesses, schools, and others — the high numbers persist, putting millions of Americans at risk of some of the leading causes of preventable death, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

The standard means of measuring obesity is the body-mass index (BMI), a formula that estimates a person’s total body fat based on height and weight. Someone with a BMI of 25-30 is considered overweight; a BMI of 30 or more is classified as having obesity. While BMI is a useful tool to estimate health risk, examining obesity and its health risks on an individual basis is more complicated than just determining a single number.

When we’re born, our bodies contain a certain number of fat cells, which is important, because they store fat for energy. Fat cells accumulate in childhood, but when we become adults, our bodies don’t gain additional fat cells; these cells just increase or decrease in size.

That increase or decrease in the size of the fat cells is what leads to weight gain or loss. This is important to understand, because it is the amount of fat in a person’s body that relates to health risks and raises concern among physicians. That’s why prevention in childhood is so critical: if a person is overweight or has obesity as a child, it is likely that overweight and obesity — and the accompanying conditions of poor health — will follow as an adult.

Conventional wisdom has thought of obesity as primarily a lifestyle issue, even a character flaw, with people simply eating too much and not getting enough physical exercise. However, research over the last two decades describes a highly complex system that controls our body weight, with many other factors besides diet and exercise, in addition to our own biology, contributing to obesity.

Also within the past few decades, our environment has changed dramatically, and some of those changes have led to weight gain in individuals predisposed to obesity. A proliferation of fast-food restaurants, exposure to high-calorie foods, and the easy availability of processed foods, reduction in sleep, increased stress in a fast-paced world, and a tendency toward more sedentary lifestyles encouraged by technological advances all have played a role in weight gain.

Diet and exercise are important, but they’re only parts of the puzzle. Consideration of diet, for example, should reflect not just how much we eat, or how we limit portion size, but what we eat. Eating more healthful foods, with an eye on nutritional content, is a much better approach. That’s why it’s important to read and understand the nutrition labels on food. The new nutrition facts label, announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May, should be a step forward in helping consumers make better choices about the foods they purchase.

Other factors can also lead to being overweight or having obesity, such as the quality and quantity of our sleep, and even certain medications, like anti-depressants and medications for high blood pressure, may contribute to weight gain.

For patients with overweight and obesity, it is important to recognize the associated adverse effects on health over a lifetime. It is equally important for those patients to engage in a critical self-assessment, preferably with a physician, on all of the factors that can be linked to weight gain, to see where improvements can be made to help reduce weight.

Dr. W. Scott Butsch and Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford are physicians at the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center and members of the Mass. Medical Society’s Committee on Nutrition and Physical Activity. This article is a public service of the Mass. Medical Society.

A Matter of Generations

By
Opinion

Editorial

“Do you get these Millennials?”

This question, and others like it, are becoming almost cliché in today’s workplaces. You hear them in the elevator, at the chamber After 5s, and basically wherever people who aren’t Millennials gather in significant numbers.

They speak to an emerging issue, or problem, involving today’s businesses. People talk about Millennnials as if they were some kind of 2016 version of the Rubik’s Cube, something to be figured out, only most of us can’t, or don’t want to try.

We just want to ask questions like ‘do you get these Millennials?’

This issue of BusinessWest is a case in point. You will read that word several dozen times, probably, and usually in the context of generalities — about how they like wide-open, collaborative workspaces and hate those cubicles, and are, for the most part, getting a better start on saving for retirement than the generations that preceded them, probably because they have no choice but to do so .

But Lora Wondolowski, executive director of Leadership Pioneer Valley, which counts a number of Millennials among its ranks and will be dominated by them in the years to come (page 6), gets it right when she says “it’s not just about Millennials.”

Yes, they’re a little different, and, like the generations that came before them, they have their distinct personality traits, she says, but the reality is that they are just one of four generations toiling in the workplace (soon there will be five), and far from the biggest — yet.

The real issue facing businesses large and small today isn’t trying to figure out Millennials, but trying to determine how these various generations can figure out each other and work as a team.

It’s a not a small challenge, especially with regard to perhaps the most important consideration in the workplace today — technology. Without generalizing again (OK, guess we have to), Millennnials embrace technology at every level, and Baby Boomers, the oldest of which can still remember the day their father brought home the family’s first TV, are still somewhat tenuous on the subject. And those Gen-Xers, well, they’re somewhere in the middle, probably a lot closer to the Millennials than the Boomers.

It goes beyond technology, obviously, and to such matters as work/life balance — different generations have different perspectives on the matter — and those soft skills, right down to knowing how to actually put that phone away for five minutes, or five seconds (sounds like a Boomer talking there).

Understanding the importance of this generational challenge, if you will, and the fact that the Baby Boomers are retiring in record numbers, BusinessWest will make these issues key focal points of its upcoming Western Mass. Business Expo on Nov. 3 (www.wmbexpo.com).

Programming, still being finalized, will address such matters as the skills gap facing all employers and efforts to close it; bringing the generations together effectively in the same workplace; and initiatives, such as LPV, to identify and mentor the next generation of leaders. And, yes, there just might be a seminar titled “Motivating Millennials,” or something to that effect.

Beyond the Expo, though, generations in the workplace comprise an ongoing issue for business owners and managers, and, really, anyone who works today. And the question shouldn’t be ‘do you get these Millennials?’

Rather, it’s ‘how do we get all the generations to move a business in the desired direction?’

And far more important than the question are the answers.

Recognizing the Impact of Opioid Abuse

By
Opinion

By Jim Goodwin

Used properly, the prescription pain pills known as opioids can be highly effective. They are also highly addictive. Recently, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, M.D., sent a letter to more than 2 million U.S. physicians asking for their help in solving our nation’s opioid-addiction epidemic.

Murthy pointed out that, nearly two decades ago, physicians were encouraged to be more aggressive about treating pain. Many were even taught — incorrectly — that opioids are not addictive when prescribed for legitimate pain. The consequences have been devastating: an epidemic of opioid use that continues to impact communities large and small, rich and poor, around our region and across our nation. No social, racial, gender, age, or demographic group is immune.

According to the surgeon general, opioid prescriptions have increased markedly in the past two decades, and now nearly two million people in America have a prescription opioid-use disorder. This is also contributing to increased use of heroin, which is essentially the same chemically as opioid pain pills, and to the spread of HIV and hepatitis C. Nationally, opioid overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999. Here in Massachusetts, four people die every day from overdose.

The Center for Human Development (CHD) is pleased that the surgeon general recognizes the opioid epidemic as a national health crisis. We hope that leaders everywhere in the health profession, law enforcement, education, and government will join us in fighting the opioid crisis from its foundation:

• We must learn more about pain management and effective treatment options that minimize or remove the risk of addiction;
• We must all acknowledge, as the surgeon general does, that addiction is a chronic illness, not a moral failing; and
• We must work to remove the stigma that too many people attach to addiction so no one feels too ashamed to seek treatment for themselves or loved ones.

Treating addiction as a disease is critical, but the long-term solution is prevention. Considering the costs of addiction — in lives shattered and resources consumed, and to individuals, families, communities, and our economy — serious prevention efforts will pay for themselves, over and over.

For help with opioid treatment or prevention, call CDH at (844) 243-4357.

Jim Goodwin is president and CEO of the Center for Human Development.

Let’s Not Overlook This Honor

By
Opinion

Editorial

Well, it’s a start.

Actually, it’s more significant than that, although it’s still not the kind of honor a city wants.

Springfield recently wound up on yet another of those top-10 lists that have become so popular. This one is a CNBC compilation of overlooked cities where business opportunities are on the rise.

This is certainly a step forward from the kind of lists the city was making its way onto a decade or so ago, like ‘most dangerous cities for crime’ and ‘least desirable places to live,’ or words to that effect. And it means the city’s recent progress in the broad realm of economic development — MGM’s $950 million casino, CRRC MA’s subway-car factory, and a blossoming entrepreneurial ecosystem — is not going unnoticed.

Or is it? It’s not going unnoticed by the researchers at CNBC. But the word ‘overlooked’ means, well, that people are not looking at you, they’re looking past you, or over you, and at someone or something else. And for whatever reason.

A look at some of the other cities on the list reveals part of the problem with being on the ‘10 Most Overlooked’ list.

Boise, Idaho. Most people hearing that name would simply add some punctuation, as in Boise, Idaho?? The same is essentially true of Grand Rapids, Mich. and Greensboro, N.C. — two cities that had really fallen on hard times and were a shell of what they once were — and Fort Myers, Fla., a city known to most as merely the spring home to the Red Sox, although in reality it has much more going for it.

The point of this exercise, or list — we think, because you’re never really sure with these things — is to let the world know that these communities shouldn’t be overlooked. And in that respect, this is indeed a good list to be on.

Still, it will take a lot more than a compilation like this one to enable long-held sentiments about an area, or common perception, if you will, to change. Boise has made great strides in recent years and it has become a very attractive place to live and work, but people still say ‘Boise, Idaho?’

And this is where we make another push for Springfield to become more aggressive in its efforts to tell its story and actively promote its assets. As we’ve noted before, it wouldn’t have been prudent for Springfield to market itself heavily a decade ago because there simply wasn’t much to sell other than promise, which was hard for many people to grasp.

Now, it has plenty to sell, and we don’t mean the casino or the rail-car-assembly plant — although that’s part of it. It can sell the fact that Springfield and this region have the assets to attract employers of that size and nature. And it also has that burgeoning entrepreneurial infrastructure, which makes it an attractive place to start and grow a company.

We know all this locally, and, yes, news tends to travel, but the city still needs to take its marketing and brand-awareness activities to a much higher level. This takes money, but it can certainly be put in the category of money well spent.

Overall, being on this ‘10 Most Overlooked’ cities list is a step forward. It means Springfield is doing something right — actually, many things.

A bigger step forward, we believe, would be for the city not to be on this list, because it’s no longer being overlooked.

That will take some time — perceptions die hard, as we mentioned —  and it will take some aggressive work to make the city’s story known.

Marijuana Edibles Would Harm Children

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Opinion

Opinion

By Nick Bayer

A study recently published in JAMA Pediatrics Journal shows that reports of accidental marijuana poisoning by young children and toddlers has risen by 150% since commercial marijuana was legalized in Colorado in 2014. Half of the child-poisoning cases involved the accidental ingestion of marijuana edible products (including brownies, cookies, and candies) that are being marketed and sold in Colorado.

The Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts urges the marijuana industry to explain why they would specifically authorize these products in Massachusetts under their 2016 ballot proposal (see story, page 36).

The report studied the number of marijuana poison-control cases for children aged 0-9, and showed a 150% increase since 2014. The average stay in the hospital for the children was about 11 hours. Marijuana edibles now account for approximately 50% of marijuana product sales in Colorado since legalization, and that number is growing.

Under the Massachusetts ballot question, written by the marijuana industry, edible pot products would be specifically authorized under the law. Edible products are such an essential part of the Massachusetts ballot question that the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, in a rare ruling, ordered that the ballot question summary be rewritten to include reference to edibles. In Colorado, the marijuana industry has vigorously fought against marketing restrictions once recreational marijuana was legalized.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the pot-edibles market is dangerous for our kids, and a huge part of the profit model for the marijuana industry. The marijuana industry chose to specifically authorize these dangerous edible products under their proposed law. The marijuana industry put their profits over the interests of Massachusetts families, and we believe the edibles issue alone is a reason to reject this ballot question in Massachusetts.

Among the facts about marijuana edibles:

• There is no limit on the potency of edible products in Colorado, nor are limits written into the proposed law in Massachusetts.

• Edible products have been known to have THC levels (the active ingredient in marijuana) reaching as high as 95%. That compares to the THC in current marijuana plants that average 17-18% THC, and marijuana THC levels of 3-4% that existed back in the 1980s.

• Marijuana-infused products such as gummy bears, candy bars, cookies, and ‘cannabis cola’ are often indistinguishable from traditional products and attractive to children.

• Doctors at Children’s Hospital Denver reported that, after legalization, the ER began treating one to two kids a month for accidental marijuana ingestion, mostly in the form of edibles. Prior to legalization, they reported none. For example, in 2014, a two-year old girl from Longmont, Colo. was sent to the hospital after accidentally eating a marijuana cookie she found in front of her apartment building.

The Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts represents a growing coalition of healthcare and community leaders, anti-addiction advocates, educators, business groups, first responders, and families who are opposing this proposed legalization of the commercial marijuana industry in Massachusetts.

Among the groups that have already come out in opposition to this initiative include the Mass. Hospital Assoc., the Mass. Medical Society, the Mass. Municipal Assoc., Associated Industries of Mass., the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals, the Retailers Assoc. of Mass., the Assoc. of School Superintendents, the Assoc. for Behavioral Healthcare, the National Assoc. of Mental Illness (Massachusetts chapter), Mass. Chiefs of Police, the Mass. Sheriffs Assoc., and all Massachusetts district attorneys. v

Nick Bayer is campaign manager of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, which opposes a 2016 ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana for adults.

Cocchi: The Clear Choice for Sheriff

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Opinion

As a general rule, BusinessWest does not routinely endorse candidates for political office like daily newspapers do. We do so when we think a race is so consequential that our voice should be heard.

And that is the case in the upcoming race for Hampden County Sheriff. This is a vitally important contest for the Greater Springfield area, and for many reasons. Chief among them is the fact that this election will decide a new sheriff for the first time in more than four decades. More importantly, though, it will decide who will be given the unenviable task of trying to fill the shoes of the office-holder since 1977 — Michael Ashe.

This past March, BusinessWest presented Sheriff Ashe with its coveted Difference Makers award (he’s the first politician to be so honored) for his work to revolutionize corrections and put the focus on rehabilitating prisoners, not simply warehousing them. These efforts have brightened the fortunes of those prisoners, the business community (many companies are currently employing such individuals), and area cities and towns alike by making their streets safer.

It is imperative that these programs are continued and that the tremendous sense of momentum in the Hampden County correctional system be maintained.

And for that reason, we strongly endorse Nick Cocchi, the deputy chief of security at the Hampden County’s Sheriff’s office and a 23-year veteran of that department in next month’s Democratic primary. He has helped Sheriff Ashe stay on the cutting edge of correctional rehabilitation, and he is by far the best candidate to continue this tradition.

… we strongly endorse Nick Cocchi, the deputy chief of security at the Hampden County’s Sheriff’s office and a 23-year veteran of that department in next month’s Democratic primary. He has helped Sheriff Ashe stay on the cutting edge of correctional rehabilitation, and he is by far the best candidate to continue this tradition.

We endorse Cocchi not only because of his managerial skill set but also because of his competition, especially his opponents in the Democratic primary, who are simply career politicians looking for more power, a fatter paycheck, and a much bigger pension.

This is especially true of former Springfield Mayor Michael J. Albano, currently on the Governor’s Council, an individual who certainly should not be trusted with running a correctional system with an $80 million budget, 1,000 employees, and up to 1,800 inmates.

The last time he was trusted with such responsibility, he sent the City of Springfield into receivership and a deep state of decline that required a decade to fix, not to mention many of his appointees and closest confidants going to prison in the process.

We find it ironic that Albano is demanding — and decrying a lack of — transparency, accountability, and honesty from that sheriff’s department as he campaigns. Sadly, those were qualities sorely absent from his mayoral administration, and the city paid an enormous price for his failed leadership.

The talents most required of the sheriff are those of hiring a competent team and then providing the leadership to manage it. Albano has shown that he is incapable of either.

Meanwhile, Springfield City Councilor Tom Ashe, no relation to the current sheriff, has shown that there’s seemingly no seat he won’t seek — whether he’s qualified for it or not, with the latter usually being the case, especially in this instance.

Ashe also needs to explain the child support and tax levies listed in his campaign account. If he can’t manage his own financial affairs, how can he be trusted to manage our correctional system? If accurate, these tax and child support levies disqualify Tom Ashe from being sheriff because there are or have been inmates serving time for doing exactly that — not paying child support.

As we said, Cocchi is the clear choice for Hampden County sheriff. We cannot leave the public’s safety to an unqualified career politician who will only have their own interests in mind. That’s why Sheriff Michael Ashe has endorsed Cocchi, and we wholeheartedly agree that he is the best person to serve as our next sheriff.

Gun Violence Is a Public-health Crisis

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Opinion

By JAMES S. GESSNER, M.D.

A number of mass shootings this summer, including the one at a night club in Orlando in June that left 49 dead and another 50 injured, have stunned the nation.

Such events are becoming all too common. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, 133 mass shootings in 39 states occurred in the U.S. between January 2009 and July 2015 — almost two per month. Yet, as horrible and shocking as they are, mass shootings — defined by the FBI as any incident in which at least four people are murdered with a gun — account for a small share of firearm homicides.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 33,000 deaths from firearms — about 91 a day on average — occur each year.

The statistics make it abundantly clear: gun violence is a public-health issue. And the physician’s voice — ever so critical on matters of public health — must become stronger.

The Mass. Medical Society (MMS) stance on this issue has been firm and long-standing. Our medical society’s policy on firearms and gun violence is expansive and dates back to 1995. It is guided by “the principles of reducing the number of deaths, disabilities, and injuries attributable to guns; making gun ownership safer; promoting education relative to guns, ammunition, and violence prevention for physicians and other health professionals, as well as for the public; and encouraging research to understand the risk factors related to gun violence and deaths.”

Our actions have matched our policy. Our Committee on Violence Intervention and Prevention, also established in 1995, has provided a number of resources to help reduce violence in many forms, and gun violence has been prominent among the topics.

From testimony on proposed legislation on Beacon Hill to education for patients; from resources for physicians on talking with patients to our most recent Public Health Leadership Forum on Firearm Violence in April, to then-MMS President Dr. Richard Aghababian’s call to action following the school shootings in Newtown in 2012, gun safety and gun violence have been key issues for our society.

It is heartening to see more physician groups lend their strong support to the effort. The American Medical Assoc. (AMA), with long-standing policies on reducing violence from firearms, stated its position at this year’s annual meeting, adopting a policy calling gun violence in the U.S. “a public-health crisis” that requires a comprehensive public-health response and solution. Perhaps most important, the AMA also resolved to lobby Congress to overturn legislation that for 20 years has banned the CDC from conducting research on gun violence.

Our actions have matched our policy. Our Committee on Violence Intervention and Prevention, also established in 1995, has provided a number of resources to help reduce violence in many forms, and gun violence has been prominent among the topics.

A second resolution by the AMA on firearm availability encourages legislation that would enforce a waiting period and background check for all firearm purchases and urges additional legislation to ban the manufacture, sale, or import of lethal and non-lethal guns of non-metallic materials that can not be identified by weapons-detection devices.

In April 2015, seven physician organizations, along with the American Public Health Assoc. and American Bar Assoc., issued a call to action, declaring that “deaths and injuries related to firearms constitute a major public-health problem in the United States.”

I am proud to say that more efforts at our medical society are underway. Our Leadership Forum provided materials for six continuing-medical-education courses on gun violence that launched at the end of June. Among the topics are the role of the clinician, community-based prevention, and evaluating the risk for gun violence in patients. Additionally, we are participating with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in developing materials to enhance the provider-patient relationship regarding firearms.

The shock of Orlando and other recent tragedies may fade over time, but physician efforts to reduce gun violence should not. Attorney General Healey, speaking at our Leadership Forum, highlighted the importance of physician participation in curbing gun violence, saying it will require a “partnership” with physicians. Indeed it will.

Dr. James S. Gessner is president of the Mass. Medical Society.

An Uplifting Opportunity for the Region

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Opinion

Editorial

If one were to start compiling a list of this region’s assets, from the standpoint of economic development, there are some obvious choices for inclusion.

These would be quality of life, cost of living, the skilled workforce, the many institutions of higher learning, the many fine hospitals, great infrastructure, attractive places to live … the list goes on.

And it would have to go for a while before most people would probably get to writing down Bradley International Airport, although it shouldn’t be that way.

Ask anyone who does a lot of travel for their business — and that’s most people — and they’ll tell you that having an international airport that close and that convenient is a huge asset. Indeed, the ability to fly people and cargo in and out of Windsor Locks can be — and has been — a competitive edge for people in many business sectors.

But it’s an edge with limitations — important limitations that move the airport well down most people’s lists of key assets for the business community. Limitations best summed up by that phrase ‘you can’t get there from here,’ or a variation of it.

While you can get to a lot of places from Bradley, you can’t get to many others, or get to them easily, meaning without one or more additional stops along the way. That list includes most all cities in Europe — or it did, anyway.

That’s why the Aer Lingus flights due to start the end of next month are so important — for the airport, the airline, and especially the region as a whole. In short, the flights will make Bradley an asset with fewer limitations and an international airport in virtually every aspect of that word.

Those flights, scheduled to start Sept. 28, will make it possible get there from here, with ‘there’ meaning major cities, including Dublin, London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt, and many others. Travelers won’t be able to get to those places directly from Hartford, but they can get to them much more easily than they could in the past, when they would have to start their journey with a trip to Boston, New York, or New Jersey, or a flight to one of those cities.

Meanwhile, it will be that much easier for people in all those cities, and especially London, Dublin, and other cities in Ireland to get here.

What does all this mean? For starters, it means that people leaving on vacation to Europe could have it much easier than they did. It also means that Europeans looking to vacation in the U.S. might start in Hartford-Springfield, as opposed to somewhere else.

But what it really means is that this region has gained another important edge as it takes part in an extremely competitive contest for businesses and jobs. How big an edge can be debated, but any additional edge will be needed and appreciated.

And the team at Bradley and the Connecticut Aviation Authority have been providing other edges as well in recent months, including non-stop service to the West Coast (LAX), opening a gateway in that direction as well.

These gateways have the potential to move Bradley far up the list of important economic-development assets in this region. More importantly, though, they have the potential to make existing businesses more competitive and potential businesses more willing to give this region a hard look.

In all those respects, these new services, and especially the one to Europe, is a very uplifting development.

What the Pay-equity Law Means for You

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Opinion

Opinion

By Brad MacDougall

The compromise pay-equity bill passed by the Massachusetts Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker will require changes in the way employers do business. The law takes effect July 1, 2018.

The bill bars employers from discriminating based on gender when it comes to wages and other compensation, unless the variation is based upon a mitigating factor like seniority, performance, or skills. Passage of the bill followed weeks of intensive negotiations among House leaders, Attorney General Maura Healey, and the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), which opposed previous versions of the measure that would have limited the ability of employers to attract and retain skilled employees.

Here is a summary of what employers need to know about the measure:

• The law states that “no employer shall discriminate in any way on the basis of gender in the payment of wages, or pay any person in its employ a salary or wage rate less than the rates paid to its employees of a different gender for comparable work.” Wage differentials are permitted, however, based upon a system that rewards seniority with the employer; a merit system; a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, sales, or revenue; the geographic location in which a job is performed; education, training, or experience to the extent such factors are reasonably related to the particular job in question; or travel, if the travel is a regular and necessary condition of the particular job.
• The law provides a three-year affirmative defense from liability to employers who conduct a self-evaluation of their pay practices in good faith and can demonstrate that reasonable progress has been made toward eliminating wage differentials based on gender for comparable work. The self-evaluation may be of the employer’s own design, so long as it is reasonable in detail and scope in light of the size of the employer, or may be consistent with standard templates or forms issued by the attorney general.
• The law affirms the ability of employers to protect the confidential information about employee wages should another employee seek that information.
• Employers are prohibited from asking job candidates about their salary history, although, if a prospective employee has voluntarily disclosed such information, a prospective employer may confirm prior wages or salary or permit a prospective employee to confirm prior wages or salary. Also, a prospective employer may seek or confirm a prospective employee’s wage or salary history after an offer of employment with compensation has been negotiated and made to the prospective employee.

Employers who currently ask about wage history on their job applications will likely have to update those documents. Lawyers who have reviewed the law suggest that companies might create a checkoff that would allow job seekers to acknowledge their willingness to voluntarily provide wage history.

The attorney general will develop regulations for the law that will answer many of the specific questions that employers are bound to have.

AIM continues to believe that the best long-term strategy to achieve pay equity in the workplace is to ensure that both women and men possess the education and skills that allow our enterprises to succeed an in increasingly complex global economy.

Brad MacDougal is vice president of Government Affairs at AIM. This article first appeared on the AIM blog; blog.aimnet.org

An Inspiring Public-private Partnership

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Opinion

Editorial

There are a number of intriguing economic-development projects underway across the Pioneer Valley, but perhaps none more compelling — and for a number of reasons — than the initiative taking shape in a building in downtown Holyoke known as the Cubit.

There, a public-private partnership on several levels has materialized, bringing to reality an endeavor that will create momentum in realms ranging from job creation to the revitalization of Holyoke’s central business district.

The facility being created on the structure’s first and second floors is called the MGM Resorts HCC Center for Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Holyoke. That’s a long name (hopefully a suitable acronym or nickname will emerge), but it is necessary, because it really tells the story — or most of it, anyway.

Indeed, this is a partnership between Holyoke Community College (and therefore the state); the city of Holyoke; MGM Resorts, which is building a $950 million casino in downtown Springfield; and the new owners of the Cubit building, who will create market-rate housing on its upper floors. And it takes a partnership to develop a property like this, which is one of many former mill buildings in the Paper City now looking for new life.

The college needed a new home for its culinary arts program, the owners of the Cubit building were looking for a tenant that would anchor the property for years to come, the city of Holyoke was looking for individuals to invest in their community (and help them in their endeavors), and MGM was looking for help in training individuals for the many kinds of jobs at its casino.

To make a long story short, all the parties seem to have found what they were looking for. Holyoke is contributing $400,000 for this project from the funds it will receive from MGM through neighboring community-impact payments, MGM is donating an additional $100,000 toward the center, the state is contributing $1.75 million, the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration is kicking in $1.55 million, and the HCC Foundation is contributing $500,000.

Together, that adds up to $4.25 million, but more importantly, it adds up to opportunity — for the college, for the city, for MGM, and for the thousands of people who will be trained at the facility over the years.

There will be several winners in this endeavor, especially the city of Holyoke itself. The city has made marked progress in reinventing itself in recent years, but it still has a ways to go. The keys to a full resurgence are obvious, and you’ve heard them many times: in short, the community has to position itself as a place where people want to live, work, and start a business.

The Cubit project will hopefully attract young professionals and empty-nesters and create momentum for more projects of this type. But, as mentioned, it needed that anchor to make the project economically viable.

This is a true public-private partnership, the kind this region will need to revitalize its communities, train a workforce, and bring economic-development opportunities to the area. It should serve as a model of what can be done when diverse groups with different, but intertwined, goals come together for the common good. v

Taking a Step Backward

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Opinion

Opinion

By Brad MacDougall

The Massachusetts Senate took a dramatic step backward recently on non-compete agreements, passing Draconian restrictions that would effectively end of the use of the documents in the Bay State.

The Senate passed by voice vote a measure that would limit non-compete agreements to three months and require employers to pay the full salary of the former employee during the restricted period.

The bill would exempt anyone earning $130,000 or less from non-competes.

The Senate measure stands in marked contrast to a compromise version passed by the House in late June that allows one-year non-competes and not require companies that compensate employees at the time they sign non-competes to pay them again during the restricted period.

Lawmakers will have to reconcile all those differences before the session ends on July 31 if a non-compete bill is to become law.

“Employers support the House bill, period,” said John Regan, executive vice president of Government Affairs at AIM.

“House leaders worked with people on all sides of the issue and came up with a reasonable compromise that protects the rights of both employers and workers,” he said. “The idea that you would now compromise a compromise makes no sense.”

Employers believe selective use of non-competes protects the significant investments that allow their companies to be global leaders in their industries and to create jobs in the commonwealth.  The compromise legislation begins to recognize that Massachusetts employers need flexibility and legal options to protect intellectual property.

AIM continues to maintain that there is no evidence that the use of non-compete agreements harms Massachusetts’ position as a globally recognized leader in innovation. In fact, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings indicate that the well-heeled venture capitalists pushing to limit non-competes use such agreements themselves.

Employers have articulated several provisions that would be required for them to support a bill limiting non-competes:

• Minimum one-year duration;
• A “garden leave” provision that requires the employer to pay 50% of the employees’ prorated salary during the restricted period, or other mutually-agreed upon compensation;
• Maintaining and clarifying the ability of a court to reform or alter non-compete contracts to ensure that both parties are treated fairly;
• Those subject to non-compete agreements would have to be given prior notice of the need to sign the agreement, as well as the opportunity to consult with legal counsel; and
• The non-compete would extend to a second year should an employee unlawfully take property belonging to the employer, as included in the House version.

Hopefully, these provisions will become part of the final measure.

Brad MacDougall is vice president of Government Affairs with Associated Industries of Mass. (A.I.M.)

State Grants Are Money Well-spent

By
Opinion

Editorial

It’s one of those headlines that would probably get lost amid others on the business pages of the newspaper, or even this publication — about mergers, acquisitions, new CEOs, the market’s seemingly endless ups and downs, and even the price of gasoline.

But it shouldn’t.

‘Baker-Polito Administration Awards $8.5 Million in Workforce Training Grants’ doesn’t seem like big news, and to most, it probably isn’t. But in many ways, it’s huge news for this state and the individual companies that make up its diverse, technology-driven, and talent-dependent economy.

In other words, this is money well-spent. Make that very well-spent.

To explain, let’s look beyond the headline.

That $8.5 million, awarded a few weeks ago, will go to dozens of companies of all sizes. Locally, the list includes everything from small technology companies, like Westfield-based EpiCenter, to giant retailers, like Big Y Foods, to mid-sized service providers, like East Longmeadow-based Tiger Press.

These companies may be different in many respects, but they share a few distinct qualities: they’re smart, because they realize the inherent value of training employees in an age when technology continues to advance and new and better methods for doing business emerge, and they look upon training as an investment, not an expense item to be avoided or put off until when the skies are bluer. And they’re resourceful, because they applied for grants made available through the state’s Workforce Training Fund to help make that wise and usually sizable investment in training more palatable and stretch further.

A program of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, the training program provides grants up to $250,000 to companies of any size to pay for workforce training over a two-year period. Grants are awarded to projects that will upgrade workers’ skills, increase productivity, and enhance the competitiveness of Bay State businesses. Grants are matched dollar for dollar by the award recipients.

The grants are used to not only train existing employees, but bring on additional workers and thus fuel additional growth for the participating companies.

At Sound Seal Inc. in Agawam, for example, $168,000 will be awarded to train 59 workers, with an expectation that six jobs will be added by 2018. At Valley Steel Stamp in Greenfield, $123,120 was awarded to train 27 workers, with that same number expected to be added by 2018. At Tapestry Health in Florence, $58,585 was awarded to train 90 workers. Monson Savings Bank was awarded $58,675 to train 167 workers, with two additional jobs expected by 2018. The list goes on.

Beyond the numbers, what’s important to note is what they mean — that hundreds of additional workers will be better-equipped to handle the increasingly challenging jobs of today’s technology-fueled economy, and more businesses, including manufacturers, will be better able to compete with companies around the globe.

As we’ve said on many occasions, the biggest challenge facing area businesses isn’t interest rates or consumer confidence or the price of oil — it’s the skills gap that is pervading each and every sector of the economy, and the ensuing, and ongoing, need for talented workers.

As mentioned at the top, ‘Baker-Polito Administration Awards $8.5 Million in Workforce Training Grants’ is not a grabber when it comes to business-story headlines. But it should be.

It should grab the attention of everyone who does business in the Commonwealth — and wants to do it better.

This is truly money well-spent.

Progress, One Building at a Time

By
Opinion

Editorial

You won’t find it at or anywhere near the top of those oft-cited lists of all the economic-development activity happening in Springfield, a compilation dominated by MGM’s casino, CRRC MA’s subway-car-manufacturing facility, the I-91 reconstruction project, Union Station, and Silverbrook Lofts.

But the recently unveiled $1.8 million purchase and renovation of the historic Merrick Phelps House on Maple Street is significant in its own way — many ways, actually.

The property, once the home to Solymon Merrick, inventor of the monkey wrench, was an eyesore, a blight on the once-proud Maple Street-area neighborhood. No one wanted anything to do with it, and for years it sat there deteriorating, a highly visible symbol of all of the many things wrong with Springfield.

Enter DevelopSpringfield, the nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation created in 2008 to advance development and redevelopment projects, and its energetic president and CEO, Jay Minkarah. Unofficially, the agency’s mission is to generate momentum and progress in the City of Homes through a number of initiatives, one of them being the acquisition and repurposing of properties like the Merrick Phelps House.

And this project has created both.

Beyond restoring one of the proud properties that gives the city its nickname and converting it into business space, this effort is now a highly visible symbol of the many things going right in Springfield — specifically a strong blend of public and private investments that can only succeed in generating more of the same.

Indeed, when residents, business owners, developers, and even state officials see a project like this, they become far more likely to look upon Springfield as a place they want to invest in. They look upon an initiative like this and say, ‘well, if someone can do that, then we can…’

Anyone with an imagination can fill in the blank. And as DevelopSpringfield, other agencies, and private developers undertake more projects like the Merrick Phelps House, more groups and individuals will be inspired to try and do so.

This is the basic formula for redeveloping properties, blocks, streets, neighborhoods, and communities. Progress begets more progress. It’s a simple theory, but it works, as we’ve seen in cities across the country, and locally, in Lowell and even Holyoke.

It is through projects like this that progress spreads beyond the central business district and into surrounding neighborhoods, where people live — and more would choose to live if it were a place they could take pride in.

Springfield, as we all know, is all about neighborhoods, and many of them — in fact, most of them — need to turn to the past tense when putting that word ‘pride’ to use.

When officials and organizations like DevelopSpringfield talk about progress coming one building at a time, it sounds cliché. But it’s not. This is how cities rebuild themselves and restore lost pride — one property, one important project at a time.

Selling Hockey (Again) to the Region

By
Opinion

Editorial

 

When it was announced this past spring that the Springfield Falcons had been sold and the franchise, an affiliate of the National Hockey’s League’s Arizona Coyotes, was being relocated to Tuscon, we opined that city officials should not make securing another team a top economic-development priority.

Not until some kind of solid evidence could be obtained that the city, or this region, whichever you prefer, could or would support hockey at a level that would make a team profitable.

Well, a large group of area business owners went ahead and decided to make another team a priority, and they also decided they had enough evidence to support their notion that bringing the now-former Portland (Maine) Pirates here is a sound investment.

We applaud their efforts, and we sincerely hope they’re right — although we admit that we’re just not sure they are.

There is no debating that hockey has been a part of the fabric of this region for more than 80 years. Just how important a part … well, that can be debated.

Indeed, there have always been strong supporters of the team, whether it was called the Indians, Kings, or, most recently, the Falcons. The problem was, there were never really enough of them.

Crowds were decent on some nights, but only fair at best on most nights, and it’s been that way for some time; this is not a recent phenomenon. The problem was so persistent that many people stopped wondering whether this was or could be a ‘hockey town’ and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t.

Which is why there was some sadness attached to the announcement that the Falcons had been sold, but nothing approaching a large amount of surprise.

There was plenty of that emotion, though, when a large ownership team came together quickly, acquired the Pirates while Portland apparently slept, and moved the team to the City of Homes.

Surprise has been replaced with healthy doses of optimism and energy, commodities possessed by both the new ownership team and its new executive vice president, Nate Costa, a Springfield native and Cathedral High School graduate.

In a lengthy interview with BusinessWest (see story on page 6), Costa talked about an all-out sales blitz, a focus on making connections to the community, and creating (and selling) an experience, not just a hockey game.

Similar words and phrases have been spoken in the offices occupied by the AHL franchise in the MassMutual Center for decades now. This time, we are told, things will be different.

There will be a heightened sense of urgency, a sharp rise in the level of intensity in the sales office, and the benefit of being able to leverage the various assets and abilities of 26 local owners.

It all sounds good, and Costa’s resume — he worked for the AHL, acting as a consultant to the league’s 30 teams — and track record are impressive. And he sites many examples of how franchises have succeeded through strategic initiatives similar to those he has outlined for the new Springfield franchise, the Thunderbirds.

But hockey has been a hard sell in these parts for some time now. Reversing this pattern will require more than optimism and a large ownership group — we’ve had those before, too.

The support of the business community will be essential, and we hope it is forthcoming. If this new venture is to get off the ground and fly (as its namesake would), it will need loud, strong support right out of the gate and a willingness among supporters at all levels to make a long-term commitment, because this won’t happen overnight.

People doubting the prudence of this investment have a right to be skeptical; recent history is certainly on their side.

Still, this venture deserves the community’s support. Hockey can and should be a part of the city’s future.

Maybe, just maybe, this can become a hockey town.

Gun Violence Is a Public-health Crisis

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Opinion

Opinion

By James S. Gessner, M.D.

Yet another mass shooting has stunned the nation, this time in Orlando, Fla., leaving 49 people dead and another 50 injured. The home of Walt Disney World and the destination of thousands of tourists each year is now the site of the largest mass shooting in the history of America, joining such names as Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook, along with more than a hundred other places.

Such events are becoming all too common. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, 133 mass shootings in 39 states occurred in the U.S. between January 2009 and July 2015 — almost two per month. Yet, as horrible and shocking as they are, mass shootings — defined by the FBI as any incident in which at least four people are murdered with a gun — account for a small share of firearm homicides.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 33,000 deaths from firearms — about 91 a day on average — occur each year.

The statistics make it abundantly clear: gun violence is a public-health issue. And the physician’s voice — ever so critical on matters of public health — must become stronger.

The Mass. Medical Society (MMS) stance on this issue has been firm and long-standing. Our medical society’s policy on firearms and gun violence is expansive and dates back to 1995. It is guided by “the principles of reducing the number of deaths, disabilities, and injuries attributable to guns; making gun ownership safer; promoting education relative to guns, ammunition, and violence prevention for physicians and other health professionals, as well as for the public; and encouraging research to understand the risk factors related to gun violence and deaths.”

Our actions have matched our policy. Our Committee on Violence Intervention and Prevention, also established in 1995, has provided a number of resources to help reduce violence in many forms, and gun violence has been prominent among the topics.

From testimony on proposed legislation on Beacon Hill to education for patients; from resources for physicians on talking with patients to our Public Health Leadership Forum on Firearm Violence in April, to then-MMS President Dr. Richard Aghababian’s call to action following the school shootings in Newtown in 2012, gun safety and gun violence have been key issues for our society.

It is heartening to see more physician groups lend their strong support to the effort. The American Medical Assoc. (AMA), with long-standing policies on reducing violence from firearms, stated its position at this year’s annual meeting, adopting a policy calling gun violence in the U.S. “a public health crisis” that requires a comprehensive public-health response and solution. The AMA also resolved to lobby Congress to overturn legislation that for 20 years has banned the CDC from conducting research on gun violence.

A second resolution by the AMA on firearm availability encourages legislation that would enforce a waiting period and background check for all firearm purchases and urges additional legislation to ban the manufacture, sale, or import of lethal and non-lethal guns of non-metallic materials that can not be identified by weapons-detection devices.

More efforts at our medical society are underway. Our Leadership Forum will provide materials for six continuing-medical-education courses on gun violence to launch at the end of June. Among the topics will be the role of the clinician, community-based prevention, and evaluating the risk for gun violence in patients. Additionally, we are participating with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in developing materials to enhance the provider-patient relationship regarding firearms.

The shock of Orlando may fade over time, but physician efforts to reduce gun violence should not. Attorney General Healey, speaking at our Leadership Forum, highlighted the importance of physician participation in curbing gun violence, saying it will require a “partnership” with physicians. Indeed it will.

Dr. James S. Gessner is president of the Mass. Medical Society.

A Chance to Manufacture Progress

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Opinion

Editorial

If nothing else, the recently announced initiative to take Valley Venture Mentors’ accelerator model for helping startup businesses and customize it for existing manufacturing companies wins high marks for originality (see story, page 6).

But we hope — and fully expect — that it will achieve much more than it.

Indeed, we anticipate that it will provide an important spark for this sector — which is steeped in history and part of this region’s DNA — by opening new doors to opportunity and offering greater potential for overall sustainability.

As conceived by the quasi-public agency MassDevelopment, in conjunction with VVM and several other partners, including the National Machine Tooling Assoc., this initiative will attempt to do for small to mid-sized precision manufacturers what the accelerator does for startups: find them dance partners.

Those are the words that VVM co-founder and Executive Director Paul Silva used to sum things up, and while they need to be explained, they are nonetheless quite effective.

In the case of startups, dance partners are angel investors and venture capitalists willing to roll the dice and help entrepreneurs take an idea to the next level. In the case of existing manufacturers, such dance partners are original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for which they can solve problems and fill orders.

With both constituencies, finding people to dance with is difficult. Startups are, as that name indicates, just getting started. They often don’t know where or to whom to turn for help with gaining the critical capital needed to take their concept forward. Meanwhile, small- to mid-sized precision manufacturers have their noses to the proverbial grindstone, both literally and figuratively.

Indeed, they are so involved with the day-to-day challenges of putting out parts for their long-time customers that they are often unable to look up and out toward potential new customers.

VVM’s accelerator program, while still in its relative infancy (its second cohort just completed its three-month tour of duty) has nonetheless been successful in linking startups with both insight and capital. Can it enjoy the same success with manufacturers?

There is general optimism concerning this project, but only time will tell.

Manufacturers that fit the profile described above are so busy that many may not even be able to find the time and energy needed to participate in a project that will help secure them new customers — and a more solid future.

But if VVM can recruit companies for this project, it stands to reason that it can succeed with its broad mission. OEMs need partners, and contrary to popular belief, they may well not know that a company in Springfield, Westfield, or Greenfield has the equipment, know-how, and talent to make a part currently fashioned hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Again, this initiative is bold, potential-laden, and quite imaginative. And it’s one more thing — critically important.

As we’ve said many times, for this region to effectively compete for jobs, it must be strong across many sectors of the economy. Precision manufacturing has long been a pillar of strength, but it is not what it once was.

VVM’s initiative holds vast potential for making this sector an even more vital force in the overall health and well-being of the region’s economy. v

Region Needs More Than a New Slogan

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Opinion

Editorial 2

When the president of the Oklahoma-based ad agency hired to help the region better promote itself introduced himself and his latest assignment last month, he said this exercise was not just about coming up with a new logo and slogan.

We hope he meant that, because these days, it seems to be all about the slogan and the logo, and far less about the message, which is what this region should be focused on.

That’s because it has a good one — this is an attractive, very affordable area in which to live, work, play, start a business, stage a convention or business meeting. The problem is, not enough people know that.

It is recognition of this fact that might have prompted the Western Mass. Economic Development Council to go about hiring a firm to help market (or rebrand) the area. However, we believe that, unfortunately, this initiative has more to do with the fact that no one really likes the current slogan — ‘Arrive Curious, Leave Inspired’ — (and for good reason) and/or they think it’s time to retire the phrase ‘Pioneer Valley’ (words to that effect were actually in the request for proposals).

This is somewhat flawed thinking because, while the region certainly needs to do a better job of promoting itself, a logo is really only a small part of this equation. And while we’re on the subject, this region can’t retire ‘Pioneer Valley,’ simply because it’s part of the landscape now, and there are probably dozens, if not hundreds, of businesses and agencies that have that phrase in their name.

But let’s get back to the slogan part of this discussion. The prevailing opinion these days is that a state or a region has to have a catchy tagline. This attitude persists, even though just about everyone who couldn’t recite this region’s catchphrase (and that’s probably the vast majority) also couldn’t tell you what the magic marketing words (not the nicknames) are for Boston, Providence, Worcester, Hartford, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, or San Francisco.

If slogans are so important, why don’t we know what they are?

They’re perceived to be important because everyone does know New York’s — ‘I Love New York’ — and the one commonly used by Las Vegas — ‘What Happens Here, Stays Here.’ So everyone thinks they need one.

The problem here is that hardly anyone visits Gotham or Sin City because of its branding slogan; they go because there’s plenty to do there. Those cities, and many of the others listed above, like San Antonio and San Francisco, don’t need marketing taglines, although you could make the case that they certainly don’t hurt.

Only, they can.

Indeed, cities, regions, and states are still determined to come up with slogans, searching for the next ‘I Love New York,’ but usually they wind up spending a lot of money and coming out with something that leaves people scratching their heads, for one reason — or many.

Such was the case with Rhode Island’s latest attempt, conceived, ironically, in partnership with Milton Glaser, the celebrated designer of the ‘I Love New York’ logo and tagline. A video used in conjunction with the new slogan — ‘Rhode Island: Cooler & Warmer’ — featured images from Reykjavik, Iceland and the Boston area (later called “editing mistakes” by the marketing firm), causing widespread controversy and negative, often cynical national news coverage that eventually forced the chief marketing officer of Rhode Island Commerce to resign, and the ad agency hired to do the work to return money to the state.

Meanwhile, no one really gets, or likes, ‘Cooler & Warmer,’ which is maybe the bigger reason why the Ocean State’s $4.5 million campaign has been called an unqualified disaster by many state officials.

This region can avoid a similar calamity if it focuses first on getting the message right, and then on spending the capital necessary to make sure that message is heard by all those who should be hearing it, rather than coming up with a cool new logo and slogan.

Doing that alone isn’t going to get the job done.

Time Is Now for Economic Strategy

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Opinion

Editorial

It’s called FutureCity 2026.

It used to be called FutureCity 2025, and, according to some of those who helped put it together, the first number on the title was 2022. That’s how long people have been working to pull together a comprehensive economic strategy for the city of Springfield. And we’re glad they persevered.

Because the city needs one.

This might not have been immediately apparent to those stakeholders assembled at CityStage last week to hear representatives of Newark Grubb Knight Frank, the global corporate-services company hired to create the report, deliver a synopsis. But by the end of the night, it should have been.

Indeed, while those presenting the Readers Digest version of the 300-page report certainly told those in attendance a lot of things they already knew — including the observations that Bradley Airport and I-91 are strategic assets for the city, and public-safety issues and the high cost of energy in Massachusetts are challenges and even liabilities — they also told them many things they probably didn’t know.

These include everything from the opinion of those at the Newark Group that this region should be aggressive in its pursuit of certain industry groups — from food and beverage manufacturers to backroom operations for financial-services companies — to the fact that maybe the biggest thing holding Springfield back right now is a shyness when it comes to loudly announcing its presence and its virtues.

“You can’t be humble,” Robert Hess, executive managing director of consulting for the Newark Group, told those assembled, a group comprised of city and regional economic-development leaders, businesses owners, and individuals interviewed by the plan’s creators during their many visits here.

And the city has been humble for way too long, but mostly for a very good reason, or several of them; it’s pretty easy for a city that a decade ago fell into receivership, has a downtown that, until very recently, hadn’t seen significant new construction in more than 30 years, and has been mostly stagnant since the early ’80s to be humble.

But not anymore. The city has, or soon will have, a $950 million casino, a revitalized century-old train station, an international company building subway cars, growing vibrancy downtown, and a healthy supply of new entrepreneurial energy, and it should no longer be shy about presenting its case to companies and site selectors across the company and around the world.

That’s one of the major recommendations in the report, but there are others, involving everything from sharpening the focus on workforce (or talent) development to downtown revitalization; from supporting and strengthening the small-business infrastructure to breaking down the silos erected by those working in economic development.

Moving forward on these recommendations will take many things, especially time, money, and, perhaps most importantly, commitment, but none of these should be allowed to become an obstacle.

That’s because, while the city has certainly come a long way in the past decade, it still has a long way to go, and instead of simply adding up the dollar figures from the projects in various stages of development and putting them up on a screen, it should be looking forward — and with a solid plan as it does so.

A plan is important because just about every city in the country is looking for the same things these days — vibrancy, young people, industry sectors to attract, and, above all else, jobs.

Most of these cities — although not as many from the Northeast, according to those at the Newark Group — are being very aggressive, proactive, and organized as they pursue all these things.

Springfield must develop these traits as well. And that’s why an economic-development strategy is so important.

Buying Local Matters

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Opinion

Opinion

By Nancy Urbschat

Several weeks ago, I received notification that my agency had not been selected for final consideration for a rebranding project for this region. I knew that all of the area’s agencies had been invited to participate, and therefore I assumed one of my fine competitors would eventually win the business.

Not so. And that is not only disappointing, but also quite puzzling.

The organization heading the project, the Economic Development Council of Western Mass. (EDC), chose Cubit, an agency from Tulsa, Okla. Naturally, the EDC had no obligation to choose a local agency. Or did it?

I don’t think I am alone in believing that an agency that puts the phrases ‘economic development’ and ‘Western Massachusetts’ on its letterhead has, or should have, as the case may be, an obligation to try and keep the branding of the region in the region.

My intention in writing this piece is to drive home the strength of the region’s creative community and implore the EDC and other companies to think about the message the EDC’s action reinforces. And that is, if you want something great, you have to look somewhere else; you won’t find it here. Coincidentally, some of the EDC’s members — including those in healthcare, higher education, and manufacturing, among other sectors — fight this same battle.

Since it was created roughly 20 years ago, the EDC’s mission has been to essentially sell to others this region’s strengths, abilities, and potential. Shouldn’t the EDC make a point of trying to buy locally?

Let’s start with the strength of the region’s creative community. On May 19, the Ad Club of Western Mass. held its Creative Awards show. The region’s creative community submitted its work for judging by two award-winning creatives from New York City. They were impressed with the region’s talent.

The judging was tough but fair. Receiving an award — any award — felt like a significant accomplishment. But we went home feeling satisfied knowing the region’s creative community is alive and well.

On May 20, the EDC’s director, Rick Sullivan, and 50 business leaders met with Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo regarding how to grow the region’s economy and finally put an end to the economic disparity between Boston and the western part of the state. Speaker DeLeo wants the Bay State’s businesses that are searching for products and services to look in Massachusetts first. This is not a new concept. Just take a look at what’s happening in Northeastern Ohio. Major employers in Cleveland are building a robust regional economy, in large part, by doing business regionally.

The EDC has indicated that a local agency will be selected to partner with Cubit. But given the scope of the work outlined in the request for proposal and the announced budget of $80,000, I question just how much of a role the local agency will have.

In the RFP, The EDC mentions Michigan’s “Pure Michigan” campaign as a model. This is a robust, overarching brand for the entire state. The EDC’s objective is limited to branding the region.

To the EDC’s credit, it is thinking big. That said, I don’t believe they had to go outside Western Mass. to hire talented branding resources. Local talent would have brought a little extra: a willingness to go to the mat to make sure this brand gets done right.

After all, this is where we all live and work. As the region goes, so go our businesses. It’s critically important this brand truly captures the region’s essence and its impressive features that go beyond the usual talking points.

There are a number of local firms that could have gotten the job done.

Nancy Urbschat is president of Springfield-based TSM Design.

Accelerating the Pace of Progress

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Opinion

Jas Maggu got it right.

Entrepreneurship is certainly a lonely proposition, said Maggu, who has launched a business called AuthenFOOD, which brings healthy foods to one’s doorstep — one of 36 ventures in Valley Venture Mentors’ (VVM) second accelerator program cohort.

It’s lonely, noted Maggu as she spoke to BusinessWest with some of her fellow accelerator participants (see story, page 6) because, while the entrepreneur may have co-workers to share the duties and friends and family to offer support, the heavy burden of success usually lies with the entrepreneur alone.

It can be daunting and, as Maggu and many others implied, isolating at the same time. And this harsh reality is another reason why VVM, and especially its accelerator program, is such an important factor in the potential growth of this region.

The program doesn’t take away all the loneliness, and it doesn’t turn what is always a roller-coaster ride into something where there are only ‘ups’ and straight track. But it often makes for a better ride, and, for the most part, it more than lives up to its name by accelerating the pace of progress for a company.

Slicing through the comments made by those who spoke with BusinessWest, it is abundantly clear that the accelerator program helps participants better articulate their product or service, identify its potential markets, garner critical support, and gain essential contacts and potential customers. Without these ingredients, a business can’t possibly succeed.

But beyond these gains, participants reaped many other benefits as well, especially the most important thing they’ll need moving forward (and that includes the prize money they might win) — confidence.

Indeed, while it’s difficult to quantify matters, it’s fairly safe to say that those who took part in the first accelerator program ended that experience better able to take on the challenges ahead of them — and the same can be said of the second group.

What does that mean for the region? That there is more hope for growing small businesses that can someday become solid employers in the four western counties. This is important, as we’ve said many times, because organic employment growth will no doubt be a huge part of the success formula moving forward.

We’re not sure how far Maggu can go with AuthenFOOD. Likewise, we’re unsure if the ultra-confident team at AnyCafé will make a huge splash in the coffee industry with a product that will enable people to brew a cup anytime, anywhere. We don’t know if Joe Salvador can, as he claims, disrupt the quickly growing market for gun silencers with products made by his new company, DaVinci Arms. And we don’t know just how successful Lora Fischer-DeWitt will be with her jewelry line, although she’s already off to a really solid start.

What we do know is that they’re better off now than they were four months ago, and they have a better chance of succeeding down the road.

You can never take the loneliness out of entrepreneurship — just ask anyone who has been in business for 20, 30, or 40 years. They’ll tell you that it never really gets easy, and the challenges keep coming at you.

But you can take some of the loneliness out. VVM, with its accelerator program, is doing just that, and these efforts will undoubtedly yield dividends for both the participants and the region as a whole.

A Long-term Challenge for the State

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Opinion

Opinion

By Stephanie Anthony, Keith Nevitt, and Carol Raphael

 

Long-term services and supports (LTSS) enable hundreds of thousands of people of all ages in Massachusetts to live with independence and dignity in their daily lives, participate in their communities, and increase their overall quality of life. MassHealth, the Commonwealth’s Medicaid program, is the largest payer of LTSS, spending $4.5 billion (including federal Medicaid matching funds) on LTSS in 2015, representing nearly one-third of all MassHealth spending and 12% of the state budget. Although the demand for LTSS is projected to skyrocket, few people are aware of the likelihood they will need LTSS in their lifetime, and few viable LTSS financing options exist beyond MassHealth.

The increasing demand for LTSS, rising costs, and building pressure on the workforce, coupled with a care-delivery system that is fragmented and lacks meaningful quality measures, creates an LTSS system in Massachusetts that may be providing suboptimal care while simultaneously creating serious budget pressures on the MassHealth program. Additionally, the fragmented LTSS system is difficult to navigate, and may be increasing avoidable hospitalizations and ER visits and replacing much-needed functional supports with more expensive medical interventions. While Massachusetts is widely recognized as a leader among states in healthcare reform, it is near the middle of the pack on LTSS system transformation.

Massachusetts has a unique opportunity to address these issues and become a bellwether state on LTSS transformation, as state policymakers and stakeholders are coalescing around LTSS reform more than ever before. Not only have stakeholders unanimously identified LTSS reform as one of the top five priorities facing the MassHealth program, but demographic trends predicting increased LTSS demand and spending are also propelling LTSS closer to the center of MassHealth policy debates. State policymakers are incorporating LTSS and LTSS providers into broader discussions about MassHealth payment and care-delivery reform, recognizing the interdependencies among medical care, LTSS, behavioral-health services, and social-support services in promoting health and well-being for some of MassHealth’s most vulnerable members.

To become a leader on LTSS reform, Massachusetts must establish a quality-driven, affordable LTSS purchasing and delivery system strategy. Implementation of the strategy will require a multiyear commitment and should result in a system that is person-centered, integrated, sustainable, accountable, and actionable.

The LTSS system of the future likely can be achieved through various models, but the best vehicle is one in which a single entity or network of entities assumes financial responsibility and performance accountability for coordinating and delivering comprehensive care to LTSS populations and is vigorously monitored by the state.

Regardless of the vehicle, community-based LTSS providers must be at its core, as they have the expertise needed to serve diverse LTSS populations. Such an entity, particularly one paid through a risk-adjusted global or shared savings payment arrangement and accessing Medicare financing for dually eligible populations, will have more flexibility than providers in the current system to creatively address people’s needs in a person-centered and cost-effective manner and to integrate and coordinate physical healthcare, behavioral healthcare, and LTSS.

To successfully design, implement, and oversee this transformation, the Commonwealth must designate a senior health and human services official to be responsible and accountable for the LTSS system. It must also invest in hiring highly skilled contract management and analytic staff in order to vigorously monitor integrated care programs and hold them accountable for providing high-quality, effective, and accessible care.

In addition, the state must monitor the financial performance of contractors, particularly those taking on financial risk and/or reward, to ensure effective stewardship of state and federal resources and instill a level of confidence that public dollars are being spent wisely.v

Stephanie Anthony, Keith Nevitt, and Carol Raphael serve as director, senior analyst, and senior advisor, respectively, for Manatt Health, which was commissioned by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation to study and report on LTSS issues in Massachusetts. For the full report, visit bluecrossfoundation.org.

Class of 2016 Has Its Priorities in Order

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Opinion

Editorial

When the judges chosen by BusinessWest to score the nominations for the 40 Under Forty program (roughly 150 or so annually in recent years) complete their assignment and e-mail those scores back, they will usually send along a few editorial comments as well.

‘That took longer than I thought it would’ is a common refrain, as is ‘I wish some of those nominations were more detailed’ — a strong bit of advice to those thinking about nominating someone they know next year (and nomination forms for 2017 are available at businesswest.com). And there’s usually at least one or two along these lines — ‘that was a lot of fun; thanks for allowing me to be a part of it.’

But invariably, at least one judge will also say something like ‘I feel a little (or a lot) better about this region and its future having read about all those young people and what they’re doing.’

This year was no exception, and with good reason. Like other recent groups, the class of 2016 is not only excelling in the workplace and in the broad theater of community involvement, but in perhaps the most important realm of all — work/life balance.

Indeed, this class does a very good job of reflecting the priorities of the young people now becoming leaders in communities across the four counties of Western Mass., and increasingly, the top priority is family, which is more critical to the future of this region than having been named assistant vice president of a department at their bank or that they’re involved with the local Boys & Girls Club — although those are vitally important as well.

A look at the pictures of our winners this year  reveals what is important to them. Yes, there are images that reflect their day jobs and what they like to do on weekends, but for the most part, it’s family.

And in the words that accompany those photos, family once again takes center stage. Comments offered by Andrew Anderlonis, president of Rediker Software in Hampden, sum things up nicely.

“One of the big reasons I left the Navy was that I wanted to be around to see my child grow and up and be there for him,” he told BusinessWest, referring to 2-year-old Tyler.

There are many similar comments to this effect from young people who make it clear that, while they are ambitious and intend to succeed in their fields while also giving back to the community, home is where their attention lies.

And this is reason enough to feel a little better about this region and its prospects moving forward.

Indeed, at BusinessWest’s annual Difference Makers gala on March 31, Carol Leary, who never minces words and has a way of drilling down and getting to the heart of the matter in question, said that, while she was flattered to be honored as she was, she knows the real difference makers in this world are parents.

Or, to be more specific, parents who take the myriad responsibilities that come with that job at least as seriously as those in their work on the job and in the community.

This class of 40 Under Forty winners seems to have that part down. Thus, we should all feel a little (or a lot) better about the future.

Employers Oppose Marijuana Legalization

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Opinion

 By CHRISTOPHER GEEHERN

Massachusetts employers oppose by a wide margin a pending ballot question that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the Commonwealth.

Sixty-two percent of 180 employers responding to the special question on the March Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) Business Confidence Index survey said they would vote ‘no’ on the pot-legalization referendum due to appear on the Nov. 1 ballot. Thirty-eight percent were in favor.

The proposed ballot law would authorize individuals 21 and over to possess up to one ounce of marijuana outside of their home and up to 10 ounces of marijuana in their residences. It calls for taxes on marijuana sales and creates a Cannabis Control Commission to handle regulation and licensing. If approved, the new law would take effect on December 15.

AIM opposes the question because the legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts would create considerable uncertainty for employers relative to their legal rights and obligations, particularly with workplace drug policies. These employers would operate in an environment in which state law permits private use of marijuana, while federal law, which is often the overriding jurisdiction in employment scenarios, prohibits marijuana use.

“We’re not surprised by the poll results given the concerns being expressed to us by member employers,” said John Regan, AIM’s executive vice president of Government Affairs. “How will an employer respond to a worker operating heavy equipment on a job site under the influence of marijuana? Many jobs, particularly those in safety-sensitive fields like transportation or manufacturing, must adhere to federal regulations that still prohibit the use of any substance that creates impairment.”

Another issue is that many companies receive favorable workers’ compensation insurance rates by declaring themselves to be drug-free workplaces. That status may be substantiated only through drug-testing employees. Even if employees are, on their personal time, using drugs legal in their state, if those drugs are indicated on their drug tests, their workplace would lose those favorable insurance rates.

Recent surveys have indicated an increase in general marijuana use when states approve the legalization of marijuana. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, between 2012 and 2013 (when marijuana was legalized but states had yet to implement a regulatory framework), the percentage of adults who reported using marijuana jumped by more than 20% in Washington and Colorado.

Marijuana legalization is among a handful of November ballot questions with implications for employers. AIM favors a proposal to lift the cap on charter schools and opposes questions that would end the use of Common Core educational standards and impose de-facto government price controls on hospitals. AIM also opposes a proposed constitutional amendment, which could reach the ballot by 2018, that would impose a 4% surtax on income of more than $1 million.

Christopher Geehern is executive vice president of Marketing & Communication at Associated Industries of Massachusetts.