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New DNA Director Prioritizes Collaboration

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Forbes Library in downtown Northampton will soon feature a small outdoor stage, as seen in this rendering from HAI Architecture.
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Forbes Library in downtown Northampton will soon feature a small outdoor stage, as seen in this rendering from HAI Architecture.

Forbes Library in downtown Northampton will soon feature a small outdoor stage, as seen in this rendering from HAI Architecture.

Andrea Monson came to her new role as executive director of the Northampton Downtown Assoc. (DNA) in a roundabout way, but found it to be an intriguing fit during an uncertain time for the city and its downtown, which will soon undergo a major — and not universally loved — redevelopment project.

After spending five and a half years at MassDevelopment as its Tranformative Development Initiative fellow for Chicopee, she then moved into the position of creative content officer for a few years; prior to that, she had been in marketing research at companies like Aetna and CVS. She’s also co-owner of Monson Roastery and founded the Urban Food Brood collaborative in Springfield.

“I found out about the Main Street redevelopment project from a friend of mine who lives in Northampton and was connected to a lot of folks there, and said they could really use a fellow to get through the project,” she said, adding that she wound up volunteering with Pardon Our Progress (POP), an entity created to streamline communication and mitigate obstacles around the Main Street redevelopment project, dubbed Picture Main Street by municipal leaders.

Then, when Jillian Duclos, the previous executive director of DNA, stepped down, Monson applied and won the job earlier this year. She explained that a major DNA focus is downtown advocacy, and it has been active in communicating project updates to businesses there.

“The bulk of construction is happening in 2027,” she said. “There will be some preliminary construction in the fall of 2026, but the city is very mindful of the retail experience of Northampton for the holiday season, so no construction then.”

Monson recognizes business owners are a divided camp on the project, and said the city has been trying to level up the way it communicates regarding the issue, while the DNA works directly with business owners, keeping them informed.

“We’re always thinking about how construction will affect traffic, incentives for foot traffic, creative ways to get around the work on Main Street. We don’t want anything to catch us by surprise.”

“We launched a survey to get all the businesses to share their experiences and feelings. A lot of them they’re frustrated because there hasn’t always been clear communication in the past, though we’re actively trying to remedy that,” she explained, adding that businesses emerging from the difficult pandemic years feel stressed on multiple fronts today, worried about tariffs, recession talk, and what they see as a major Main Street upheaval that could keep foot traffic away.

“They’re looking at the project as the end of the world, but that’s not the case,” Monson went on. “A lot of redevelopment projects end up increasing foot traffic; they end up being really profitable when they’re finished. And with POP, and my job at DNA, we’re listening to business owners and acting on their concerns, looking for grant funding and other funding to support them through the project. We’re also launching an RFP for marketing, to market Northampton in general and market the downtown, and keep them in the loop with everything that’s happening, scheduling changes, all of that.”

Judy Herrell, owner of Herrell’s Ice Cream, is one of several business owners who have taken the city to task over its downtown plans for a number of reasons, including an increase in traffic, concerns over bike safety, and a lack of public meetings on the project.

“I’ve talked to a few people that wanted to open businesses Northampton but didn’t for lack of being assured they would be fine during Picture Main Street. They’re worried that, for three years, Main Street will will be torn up, even though the city says it’ll be done in sequences and not tear up the whole street at once,” Herrell told BusinessWest. “That’s still a lot of stress on businesses in the city.”

 

Meeting of the Minds

Monson said the city is working with Emily Innes from Innes Associates, which specializes in municipal planning, on a grant-funded consultancy.

“She’s seen cities through a lot of these projects, and they’ve told us that we’re ahead of the game just by POP existing. We’re always thinking about how construction will affect traffic, incentives for foot traffic, creative ways to get around the work on Main Street. We don’t want anything to catch us by surprise.”

Monson is also in the process of bringing Jeff Speck to the city for a public talk. A noted city planner who wrote Walkable City: How Downtown Saves America, One Step at a Time, he will tailor his presentation to Picture Main Street and why it’s important, she said, adding that she’s also trying to put together a panel of mayors who have seen these types of projects through in their own cities.

But for locals looking for activities beyond road construction talk, there’s plenty to look forward to in town, including the return of the Taste of Northampton, now as a two-day event on Sept. 13-14.

“I love seeing all the businesses rally around these ideas. They’re all putting in their time and energy to create these collaborations. What I love about Northampton is how businesses help each other thrive.”

“It was a lot of work and a lot of money for just one day,” Monson noted, explaining the expansion to a two-day affair. “Again, this is being led by the restaurants; a lot of food and beverage establishments downtown are co-creating this with us. They know what’s best for them. They’ve been part of the Taste of Northampton for many years, and they’re excited to bring it back.”

The following month, Mischa Roy, owner of Spill the Tea Sis, is spearheading, alongside Isaac Weiner, co-owner of Familiars Coffee & Tea, a month-long October event called the Great Northampton Haunt, which celebrates the city’s haunted history.

“You know, we have as many hauntings here as anywhere else. We had witch trials before Salem. We just don’t brag about it,” Monson said. “So we’re trying to lean into it. They have plans to have something going on every single day in October, which coincides with a dip in retail business. So it’s strategic and intentional.

“I love seeing all the businesses rally around these ideas. They’re all putting in their time and energy to create these collaborations,” she added. “What I love about Northampton is how businesses help each other thrive.”

Meanwhile, a project to construct an outdoor performance stage beside Forbes Library promises to be another activation point for the downtown. HAI Architecture, based in Northampton, designed the accessible, open-air, covered stage to support a wide variety of programs, including concerts, children’s programming, and outdoor movies.

Northampton at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1883
Population: 29,571
Area: 35.8 square miles
County: Hampshire
Residential tax rate: $13.93
Commercial tax rate: $13.93
Median Household Income: $56,999
Median Family Income: $80,179
Type of government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Cooley Dickinson Hospital; ServiceNet Inc.; Smith College; L-3 KEO
* Latest information available

The Northampton Jazz Fest also returns to downtown — at numerous venues, as usual — on Sept. 26-27, headlined by New York Voices, a world-renowned vocal jazz quartet.

And speaking of music, the Iron Horse Music Hall recently celebrated one year since its much-anticipated reopening following a major renovation on Center Street, while other venues in town, from the Academy of Music to the Parlor Room to Bombyx, continue to thrive. But Monson said the still-shuttered Calvin Theater in the heart of downtown remains troublesome.

“When music venues are shut down, that’s big. That’s a big piece of what makes Northampton vibrant. If the Calvin doesn’t come back, that’s going keep Northampton from growing.”

 

Strength in Numbers

Northampton’s success is personal to Monson, who visited the city plenty during her youth and lived there during her college years. “I always felt it’s home. I want to come back and retire in Northampton. So I need it to stay vibrant, selfishly.”

To accomplish that vibrancy, she said, collaboration is key — between businesses, organizations like the chamber and the DNA, and even agencies across the region and state. So is a continued focus on the needs of businesses in a downtown that, aside from CVS, is comprised exclusively of small, local enterprises.

“How can we elevate Northampton? How can we address issues and creatively bring more traffic, more events, more people, so that people want to come back, stay over, go shopping?” Monson asked. “I get to work with some incredibly talented people, which benefits me in my understanding and learning about local economic development. And I think the DNA has been working really hard to build better relationships in Northampton.”

Cities that are struggling, she said, tend to have people working in silos that don’t collaborate with each other, and that’s the opposite of her vision for Paradise City, including that still-controversial reconstruction of Main Street.

“As Northampton forges on with this project, what I see is the potential of so many people working together and collaborating, and that’s ultimately going to be the great success of Northampton.”

Report Details Insurance Trends, Offers Advice to Homeowners

By Contributor
Insurance

Rates on the Rise

By Rate Insurance

In 2024, personal insurance pricing continued to rise due to a complex mix of escalating claims, extreme weather events, and ongoing coverage restrictions in select markets. The insurance market remained challenging, as carriers navigated the unprecedented impacts of climate change, technological advancements, and evolving risk profiles. Moreover, record-breaking economic losses from hurricanes, wildfires, and freeze events, have driven significant premium increases, particularly in high-risk geographic regions.

The 2024 home insurance market continued to experience sharp premium increases. Internal policyholder data comparing January through August 2024 to the same period in 2023 showed a national average annual premium rise to $2,072, a significant 20% increase from $1,723 in 2023.

Over the past six years, premiums have increased by 78%, placing persistent financial strain on homeowners. While the personal lines industry’s year-over-year improvement in underwriting losses was an important development, homeowners insurance carriers are still operating at a loss. Pricing is expected to stay high and continue to increase until profitability is restored.

“While the personal lines industry’s year-over-year improvement in underwriting losses was an important development, homeowners insurance carriers are still operating at a loss. Pricing is expected to stay high and continue to increase until profitability is restored.”

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2025, the trends that have shaped the insurance market will continue to challenge homeowners and carriers alike. As an insurance customer navigating the market, it is increasingly important to have a solid understanding of the ever-evolving insurance landscape, and proactive, detailed approaches are crucial. Here are 10 strategies to help customers avoid high premiums and at the same time get sufficient coverage.

 

Engage with Trusted Agents

Customers need to stay in touch with their insurance agents to stay updated on changes that could affect their policies. Agents can help identify gaps in coverage, explain new risks, and offer advice on options or discounts that might fit their situation. This ongoing communication ensures customers are prepared and adequately protected as circumstances and insurance requirements change.

 

Review and Update Insurance Policies Regularly

Customers should review their insurance policies at least once a year to ensure adequate coverage. This includes assessing and updating coverage limits and deductibles to reflect any home improvements, renovations, or changes in property value, reducing the risk of being underinsured.

 

Consider Higher Deductibles

By raising deductibles, customers accept more out-of-pocket expenses after a claim, which usually leads to a lower premium. This method is significantly safer than letting coverage lapse or lowering coverage limits.

 

Understand Flood Insurance Needs

Standard homeowner policies do not cover flood-related damage, leaving property owners vulnerable to significant repair and replacement costs. Flooding can result from various sources, including heavy rainfall, storm surges, overflowing rivers, and rapid snowmelt, and these risks are not limited to officially designated flood zones.

FEMA reports that approximately 25% of flood claims come from properties outside high-risk flood areas. This additional coverage is especially vital as weather patterns shift and urban development alters existing drainage systems, increasing flood risks in previously unaffected areas. Policies should be evaluated based on both current risks and potential future developments.

 

Consider Adding Coverage for Water Damage

Water damage is one of the most common causes of homeowner insurance claims, making it essential for customers to evaluate whether they have sufficient coverage. In addition to flood policies, homeowners should consider adding endorsements for increased protection against sewer backups and drain-related issues or raising coverage limits for water-related risks, particularly in areas prone to flooding or homes with aging plumbing systems.

Including service line coverage is also recommended to protect against costly repairs to underground water, sewer, or utility lines. Meanwhile, basic preventive measures can help reduce the risk of water damage year-round. Homeowners should consider installing sump pumps to manage water buildup, using smart water detection systems to catch leaks early, and insulating pipes to prevent freezing in colder months.

 

Stay Informed About Coverage Changes

Homeowners should stay informed about changes to insurance coverage, particularly for key home components like roofing, siding, and foundations. Policies may introduce stricter conditions, higher deductibles, or exclusions for older features. Regular policy reviews and proactively upgrading aging components can help maintain adequate protection.

By staying updated, homeowners can address these changes by replacing outdated components or adding endorsements to their policies, ensuring they have adequate coverage and avoiding unexpected expenses.

 

Plan for Natural Disasters

Customers in areas prone to natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, high winds, or hailstorms can protect their homes by investing in strategic improvements. For example, installing impact-resistant roofing and siding, reinforced garage doors, and protective systems like hurricane glass and shutters can reduce vulnerability to storms.

For regions at risk of wildfires, creating defensible space by clearing flammable vegetation, using fire-resistant building materials, and sealing gaps around roofs or vents can help protect homes. Installing hail-resistant shingles, anchoring outdoor structures, trimming weak or overhanging tree branches, and securing outdoor property reduces the risk of damage from hail, high winds, or heavy rains during storm seasons.

Homeowners should also review their policy to fully understand coverage for specific hazards like hurricanes, tornadoes, or hail. Since policy limits and exclusions can vary widely by location and insurance carrier, it is essential for customers to stay informed about their policy details.

 

Explore New Carrier Options

The evolving insurance market regularly introduces new carriers and competitive options. By comparing quotes from multiple providers, customers can evaluate premiums, deductibles, and coverage levels. Some carriers may offer unique discounts for bundling policies, maintaining claim-free histories, or having specific home upgrades like security systems or weather-resistant materials. Regularly exploring these options can help ensure customers get the best possible value for their coverage.

 

Understand the Implications of Non-renewal

Non-renewal notices can happen due to factors like increased risk, geographic hazards, or property-related issues such as an aging roof or poor maintenance. Insurance carriers may also issue non-renewals due to changes in underwriting guidelines and service area limitations. Understanding these factors and taking proactive steps to prevent risks can reduce the likelihood of a policy non-renewal. If a non-renewal does occur, shopping for new coverage promptly is critical to avoid gaps in protection.

 

Prepare for Increased Premiums

With the insurance market facing ongoing challenges, premiums are likely to continue increasing in the coming years. Customers should incorporate premium increases into their annual budgets to avoid financial strain and explore cost-reduction methods. Additionally, homeowners should work closely with their agent or provider to identify the factors driving premium increases and uncover potential savings.

By taking a proactive approach, customers can better manage rising costs while ensuring they maintain the coverage they need.

Ayanna Crawford’s Life Is About Elevating Others

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Ayanna Crawford says she wants to be a servant who encourages everyone.
Women in Businesss

More Than Words

Ayanna Crawford is a public speaker who has helped many people, especially young women, find their own voice.

Ayanna Crawford is a public speaker who has helped many people, especially young women, find their own voice.

 

For the past three years, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra has presented its Fearless Women Awards to area women who embody bravery, advocacy, passion, perseverance, and authenticity.

Ayanna Crawford certainly represents all five qualities, which explains why the SSO included her among its class of 2025. But she also finds the honor humbling, recalling a recent conversation with SSO President and CEO Paul Lambert.

“He said, ‘oh my gosh, we’re so honored to honor you because you just do so much great work.’ And I’m thinking, ‘but I do what everybody else does, right? We just help and serve the community.’

“To be recognized like that was a little overwhelming because I’m not looking for the recognition,” she went on. “I just want to do a good job. I want to be a servant for the people I want to help. I want to be positive. I want to encourage everybody, no matter your walk of life, your religious background, your economic status, whatever. I want to help all of our people, you know?”

Many folks in Western Mass. certainly do know, because Crawford has been serving and helping in many ways for decades. And on June 19, she will take the stage at the MassMutual Center as co-emcee, along with White Lion Brewing Co. owner Ray Berry, of BusinessWest’s 19th annual 40 Under Forty gala.

Her career journey began in education — she taught for two decades in the Springfield Public Schools and as an adjunct professor at Springfield Technical Community College — and she is now both president of AC Consulting and Media Services, which helps nonprofits and other organizations with public relations, press releases, social media management, and marketing; and chief of staff to state Rep. Orlando Ramos, a role she assumed in 2020.

She also created a public speaking program about 10 years ago called Take the Mic, which helps young people in the region grow their confidence and self-esteem while becoming comfortable addressing large groups of people. Meanwhile, she’s an in-demand speaker herself on a wide range of topics, including race, women’s issues, and parenthood.

In short, Crawford has been speaking, teaching, and inspiring for a long time — and has no plans to slow down now.

 

Speaking Up

Crawford didn’t initially pursue an education degree at Westfield State University; she originally studied broadcast journalism, but found she didn’t like the camera and editing work. So she switched majors and found a different way to be a presenter: in the classroom.

“I’ve taught creative writing for middle school, and I’ve taught reading and language arts for elementary school. Those are the two areas I focused in on through my career, which was really awesome because I saw the fundamentals of reading and writing with my younger students and was able to be more creative with my older students,” she recalled.

During that time, she volunteered quite a bit in the community — a passion that has continued until today — and was gratified when students saw her in that setting.

“They were like, ‘Miss Crawford’s not just a teacher, she’s also part of our community. We see her at the grocery store, we see her at the mall, we see her at community events.’ So that was also an opportunity to connect more with my students.

“I want to be positive. I want to encourage everybody, no matter your walk of life, your religious background, your economic status, whatever.”

“And they knew that I wanted to see them successful, so whatever things that I could do to support them, with their families, with themselves, I was always there to help them,” she went on. And that philosophy became the basis of Take the Mic.

Ayanna Crawford says she wants to be a servant who encourages everyone.

Ayanna Crawford says she wants to be a servant who encourages everyone.

“When I was teaching elementary, I found that my children would do their presentations, and they would be really shy. They would cry; they wouldn’t want to do them. So I said, ‘well, what can I do to help?’ And I asked my principal, ‘can I just do a mini-lesson around public speaking?’”

The principal agreed, and the session went well, but Crawford thought she needed more time with them, so she received permission to create an afterschool program. When the middle schoolers caught wind of that, they wanted to join as well. And she knew she had something. So she took her initiative into the community.

Backed by a cadre of interns and volunteers, she has partnered with community colleges, especially STCC, creating a curriculum within its College for Kids summer program, and also conducted programs in the Springfield Public Schools and an afterschool program at the East Springfield branch of Springfield City Library. In all, the program serves young people from ages 6 to 18.

“Now some of the parents were saying, ‘oh, I need to take a public speaking class. You know, I want to do that too.’ We can’t do the full program with the adults, but we do a workshop around public speaking,” she noted, adding that all this work with Take the Mic is especially gratifying in that it can truly impact people’s lives in the long term.

“About 75% of the world’s population is afraid of public speaking. Even myself, growing up, I was afraid to as well. But there are strategies, techniques, resources, so many different things that you can use. I’ve done a lot of training myself to make sure that I’m on the cutting edge of the nuances of public speaking and making sure that not only the students have what they need, but the adults, too.

“We have had graduates come back to tell us, ‘I had a college interview, and I was more prepared than I thought I was because I took your course,’” she went on. “We’ve had youth come back to us to talk about their job interviews, saying, ‘I was more prepared than I thought I was for the job interview.’ So I think it does work, and it does help, and we do see impact.”

 

Making Connections

Crawford’s work with AC Consulting and Media Services also emerged from her time in education. He recalled her principal noticing she was doing a lot of community work, so she became the go-to person for connecting the school with community leaders, elected officials, and the media as well.

“I used some of that early groundwork to create my firm, where people ask me today, ‘hey, could you help us with this press release?’ ‘Could you help us getting the media to attend our event?’ ‘Can you help us with a flyer?’ ‘Can you help us with a little bit of marketing?’” she explained.

“I’ve helped nonprofits and small businesses that are up and coming; I’ve worked with folks with marketing and branding stuff, folks that want to get more exposure on TV and radio, helped them with their talking points, helped them put their press release together.”

Her foray into politics, culminating with her current role as chief of staff to Ramos (one of this year’s Alumni Achievement Award finalists; see story on page 19) began with her volunteer service on school PTOs, neighborhood councils, and, eventually, political campaigns. She later became chair of the Democratic City Committee for Springfield’s Ward 8, worked on Ramos’ campaign for the State House, and then joined him in that work, much of which she’s personally passionate about.

Take the Mic has helped young people develop self-esteem and empowerment through speaking skills.

Take the Mic has helped young people develop self-esteem and empowerment through speaking skills.

“Anything around education and our teachers, he always leans on me for that. I’m also very very concerned and passionate about our environment and anything that has to do with safety for our children,” she explained. “So it’s been a pretty positive experience being in that role and being a part of initiatives that can help people and change people’s lives.”

Crawford noted that many people in her role came from law or politics, but she joined Ramos from a background in education and community service, and that’s valuable.

“I’m just like everyone else that calls our office looking for support or assistance. I can say to them, ‘I get you, I understand,’ because we all can fall into situations where we need someone to help us. People call, and sometimes they’re ashamed, and I say, ‘there’s no reason to be ashamed. Everyone needs help once in a while.’ So I assure people, and I give them the confidence that they need.

“My whole premise, I think, is all about elevation, positivity, and helping those that are in need,” she added. “Whether it’s an individual or an organization, if I can help fill a need, then I want to be able to do that.”

As for her community work — she is currently on the boards of Parent Villages, American Service Alliance, and Behavioral Health Network, among other volunteer roles — Crawford said she learned about service from her mother.

“She was a nurse for many, many years, and she was always about helping and health and wellness for our community. I saw the work that she was doing, and I wanted to be authentically me, and asked, ‘what can I contribute to the community?’”

Crawford has been answering that question in many ways — fearlessly and impactfully — ever since.

Americans Want Early Diagnosis, Treatment to Slow Alzheimer’s Disease

By Contributor
Healthcare News

Brain Matters

 

As the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease tops 7 million for the first time, nearly four in five Americans would want to know if they had Alzheimer’s disease before it impacted their lives. They also want treatment, even if it comes with risks, as long as it slows the progression of the disease. These are among the insights uncovered in the 2025 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report recently released by the Alzheimer’s Assoc.

The nationwide survey of more than 1,700 Americans aged 45 and older examined awareness and attitudes about Alzheimer’s disease, early detection and diagnosis, tests used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s, and treatments that can slow progression of the disease.

“Our survey finds that people want to know if they have Alzheimer’s, and they want to know before it impacts their daily life. They want a simple test so they can access care earlier, including treatments that can slow the progression of the disease,” said Elizabeth Edgerly, senior director of Community Programs and Services for the Alzheimer’s Assoc. “Their interest in early diagnosis and treatment highlights how important it is that we keep advancing toward diagnostic testing that is simple to administer and widely available. We also heard loud and clear that Americans want disease-modifying treatments that can make a real difference after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.”

The survey found that:

• 79% of Americans would want to know if they had Alzheimer’s disease before having symptoms, or before symptoms interfere with daily activities.

• 91% said they would want to take a simple test — such as a blood biomarker test — if it were available, although very few are familiar with these tests. Access to early treatment and care is the main reason cited for wanting a simple test.

• 80% said they would ask to be tested rather than wait for their doctor to suggest testing.

• 92% would probably or definitely want to take a medication that could slow the progression of the disease following an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

• 58% said they would accept moderate to very high levels of risk with taking medication to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in the early stages.

• If diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, 83% would be willing to participate in a clinical trial for treatment to help slow or cure the disease.

• 48% cited the ability to participate in clinical trials as a reason for wanting Alzheimer’s testing.

• 81% believe that new treatments to stop the progression of Alzheimer’s will emerge in the next decade.

• 66% believe that new treatments to prevent the disease will be available soon.

• 44% worry that insurance will not cover future care and treatment following testing.

• 41% are concerned about test accuracy.

Other concerns include the cost of testing and losing confidence in abilities or not being allowed to do certain activities (such as driving).

“As someone who has benefited from early diagnosis and treatment, I encourage others who are worried about their cognition to be proactive in addressing their concerns,” said Darlene Bradley, a member of the Alzheimer’s Assoc. early-stage advisory group. “The survey underscores what many of us living with Alzheimer’s believe — we want every opportunity to fight this disease and live the best life we can for as long as we can. I am living proof that there is life after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.”

 

Concerning Trends

Additionally, the 2025 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report found that the prevalence and cost of Alzheimer’s disease are rising. Among the findings:

• 7.2 million people aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Total annual costs of caring for people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias (excluding unpaid care) is projected to be $384 billion in 2025.

• Nearly 12 million family members and friends provide 19.2 billion hours of unpaid care, valued at an additional $413 billion.

• Deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease more than doubled between 2000 and 2022.

“Our survey makes it clear — most Americans want to take action if they experience cognitive problems,” Edgerly said. “With the rising prevalence of Alzheimer’s, it’s more important than ever that researchers, clinicians, health systems, public health officials, and other stakeholders work together to ensure all Americans have access to timely and appropriate Alzheimer’s diagnosis, care, and treatment.”

The report highlights several key efforts needed to improve early detection, diagnosis, and treatment in the current environment, including:

• Supporting research to validate and advance biomarker testing so it can be used widely in clinical settings to detect and diagnose Alzheimer’s disease at the earliest stages.

• Creating clinical practice guidelines to keep pace with rapidly evolving science. The Alzheimer’s Assoc. is preparing guidelines on blood-based biomarker tests (anticipated in 2025), cognitive assessment tools (also anticipated in 2025), and clinical implementation of staging criteria and treatment (anticipated in 2026).

• Improving physician-patient conversations about testing, diagnosis, and treatment so patients and their caregivers better understand the meaning of test results and the risks and benefits of new treatments. Physicians should have access to training to deliver information in a way that is easy for patients to understand.

• Addressing ethical concerns of early detection by making sure patients understand that tests only measure potential risk and that a formal diagnosis involves cognitive testing and other assessments, including the health professional’s clinical judgment. Counseling patients in advance and making sure that test results are shared by a physician who provides context can help avoid misinterpretation or undue emotional distress.

• Advocating for laws and policies that require insurance coverage of tests, which will speed up diagnosis and provide faster access to treatments that slow disease progression and support better care planning.

• Fostering public health efforts to educate healthcare providers and the public about the latest research and best practices for risk reduction, diagnosis, treatment, and safe, high-quality care.

Full text of the Alzheimer’s Assoc. 2025 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report, including the accompanying special report, “American Perspectives on Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease in the Era of Treatment,” can be viewed at alz.org/facts.

A Picture of Progress Is Taking Shape on Worthington Street

By
Raipher Pellegrino stands near the huge curved window on the second floor of the property at 280-302 Worthington St., known as the Underwood Building.
Features Special Coverage

Filling in the Canvas

Raipher Pellegrino stands near the huge curved window on the second floor of the property at 280-302 Worthington St., known as the Underwood Building.

Raipher Pellegrino stands near the huge curved window on the second floor of the property at 280-302 Worthington St., known as the Underwood Building.

 

Raipher Pellegrino paused at the huge, curved second-floor window facing the corner of Worthington and Dwight streets.

“How’s that for a view?” he asked rhetorically, noting that it’s been quite some time since anyone — other than those he’s had out for tours — has looked out that window, some recent history he intends to change.

Indeed, he envisions a Pilates studio, a gym, or something similar on the second-floor space at 280-302 Worthington St., a property known as the Underwood Building, which has been vacant or mostly vacant for more than decade. And that space is just part of a much larger canvas that Pellegrino, the noted personal injury lawyer and real estate developer, working in partnership with his brother, Joseph, and the city of Springfield, is intent on filling in.

While doing so, he’s writing the intriguing next chapter in the history of what has been called (and is still called, even though it hasn’t lived up to the title) Springfield’s ‘entertainment district.’

This is the Worthington Street corridor, specifically the blocks just west of Dwight Street. It has been growing increasingly quiet over the past decade or so as restaurants, clubs, other businesses, and even a nonprofit (Suit Up Springfield) have shuttered or moved. The closing of Dewey’s Jazz Lounge last month was just the latest blow for the area.

It was with the intent of reinvigorating that corridor that Pellegrino and his brother acquired the three buildings east of Duryea Way at auction in 2021. With support from the city in the form of a $2.5 million grant and infrastructure improvements, Pellegrino is filling in his canvas.

Some of the spaces have been filled, like Petra Hookah Lounge, which features Mediterranean food and reopened last fall in extensively renovated space. Others are nearing completion, such as the new restaurant called Mamou, to be owned and operated by the chef at the former Chef Wayne’s Big Mamou, set to open this summer. And still others, including three more restaurants, a music venue to host between 250 and 400 people, and other businesses, like that projected Pilates studio, are still weeks or months away. Meanwhile, several residential units have been renovated, and more will be added to the mix.

“I think it’s vitally important to bring this area back — it raises the quality of living for those living downtown, and it provides places for people to go and eat. That was my desire with this, and it’s a much more difficult project than I think anyone envisioned, but I think we’re starting to see it evolve, and we’re seeing a lot of momentum.”

“The pieces are coming into place,” said Pellegrino, who envisions five restaurants in all, most with doors opening out onto Worthington Street and outdoor dining, in addition to a club and other businesses that will support one another and bring people — and energy — back to the Worthington Street corridor.

“I think it’s vitally important to bring this area back — it raises the quality of living for those living downtown, and it provides places for people to go and eat,” he said. “That was my desire with this, and it’s a much more difficult project than I think anyone envisioned, but I think we’re starting to see it evolve, and we’re seeing a lot of momentum.”

Tim Sheehan, Springfield’s chief Economic Development officer, agreed, noting that the city has invested more than $3.2 million in the entertainment corridor for everything from outdoor dining facilities to small-business assistance to interior buildout for commercial tenants.

This ground-floor space in the Underwood Building is being renovated for use as a music venue, what Raipher Pellegrino describes as an “Iron Horse-like” facility.

This ground-floor space in the Underwood Building is being renovated for use as a music venue, what Raipher Pellegrino describes as an “Iron Horse-like” facility.

“The city’s investment continues in the corridor, and with what’s coming forward, people will see a lot of different options relative to dining in the dining district,” he said, adding that the goal is to bring both new businesses and a degree of long-term stability to a region that has not seen much of the latter.

Indeed, Brian Connors, deputy Development officer for the city, used understatement when he said the entertainment district has had “ebbs and flows.”

By that, he meant some good times, but also controversy with several late-night/early-morning incidents, and, from a business perspective, a high degree of turnover when it comes to restaurants and other businesses, problems compounded by the natural-gas explosion a block away in 2012.

For this issue, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look behind the plywood and brown paper over the doors and windows along that stretch of Worthington and into the future of the city’s entertainment district.

 

Work in Progress

It was raining intermittently as BusinessWest took its visit to the properties being redeveloped along that block on Worthington Street. The showers quickened the pace of the walks between the buildings, but they could hardly dampen the enthusiasm Pellegrino brought to his work as erstwhile tour guide, something he’s been doing often.

“This is a labor of love,” he said of the project, which is now approaching roughly $6 million in cost and represents perhaps the most extensive undertaking in a growing portfolio of real estate projects in Pellegrino’s portfolio.

That list includes the property at 265 State St. in Springfield — the large home later populated by commercial tenants but vacant in the ’90s and then restored by Pellegrino as a home to his offices — and its adjoining carriage house.

But it also includes a diverse mix of other properties, from charter schools in Springfield and Lowell, where Pellegrino went to college as an undergrad, to Springfield Country Club, which he acquired in partnership with the Hannoush brothers; from the property at 401 Liberty St. in Springfield, a former wire-manufacturing complex, now home to Behavioral Health Network, to the former Lunt Silversmith property in Greenfield, now home to a substance abuse center and mental health offices.

“The tenancy that we have needs to be established tenancy. In terms of going into the restaurant business as a startup business, it’s very, very difficult, and if the business model isn’t spot on, you have a tendency to have what we’ve had — businesses come in, businesses go out, businesses come in.”

Often, the projects involve properties that are historic in nature that require considerable renovations and modernization. Such is the case with the Worthington Street properties, which comprise a new challenge and a tremendous opportunity to reshape and reinvigorate the entertainment district, said Pellegrino, who started his tour at Petra Hookah Lounge, which opened its doors last fall, with the intent of showing what will be happening at the other properties along the street.

The block-long string of properties includes three buildings: 250-270 Worthington St., 272-280 Worthington, and 280-302 Worthington. The first two were built in the 1880s, and the third dates to the early 1930s.

Moving west to east, the properties were in progressively worse condition, he told BusinessWest, adding that 250-270 Worthington, most recently home to Jackalope Restaurant and now Petra (next door), was in decent shape, although both the residential units and restaurant spaces needed upgrades, including new HVAC systems. The property at 272-280, formerly home to several different restaurants, was in worse shape, he said, while 280-302 was “horrendous … uninhabitable.”

Efforts to make it habitable are among the many going on concurrently along that block, a project that came, as Pellegrino noted, with plenty of challenges — everything from renovating historic but badly deteriorated structures to securing established tenants — which became clear as he walked and talked about each of the buildings and the progress being made.

“With historic buildings like these, including one that hadn’t been occupied in 15 years, there are a lot of challenges,” he said, listing everything from floors one could see through to roofs that needed replacing to staircases that no longer meet code and need to be replaced. “This is a project that you can only figure out as you do it; we’ve systematically started at one end, 250-270 Worthington Street, and are working our way to the other.”

Starting with 250-270, he said Petra is now an established tenant, and there will be a new restaurant moving into the former Jackalope space by August or September. He declined to say what the entity will be but noted that it is an already established Springfield restaurant.

Raipher Pellegrino projects that five new restaurants, a music venue, other businesses, and new residential units will take shape along Worthington Street, reinvigorating the city’s entertainment district.

Raipher Pellegrino projects that five new restaurants, a music venue, other businesses, and new residential units will take shape along Worthington Street, reinvigorating the city’s entertainment district.

At 272-280, another new restaurant, Mamou, is expected to open later this month, and another new restaurant, a “bar-like” establishment with light fare, will be opening in the fall, he went on, adding that 280-302 Worthington will have a music venue, a breakfast/lunch restaurant, and other commercial spaces, six units in all, with tenants yet to be identified.

The music venue he’s envisioning will not compete with but rather complement existing venues such as the MassMutual Center, Symphony Hall, and the former CityStage, now being renovated into an arts center for youth, and be an “Iron Horse-like” venue, he said, a reference to the Northampton landmark that reopened last spring.

“The concept is to offer people live entertainment, but also support the restaurants,” Pellegrino said. “If you have an act and sell 250 to 400 tickets, people will want to eat before that.”

 

Building Momentum

As he stopped at that massive, curved window in the second-floor space above what will be the music venue, Pellegrino pointed to all the parking in the surrounding area, one of the many keys to the success of this project and the entertainment district overall.

Others include everything from improving the perception of public safety to creating stability with the business mix, as well as that supportive element that he mentioned.

Indeed, as the canvas gets filled in, the entertainment district will have a core of new restaurants and businesses, as well as some established eateries — Theodores’ and Del Rey Taqueria on Worthington Street, Osteria on Bridge Street, the nearby Student Prince, and other restaurants and taverns that will support one another, said Pellegrino, adding that the critical mass in his block of buildings should become a draw.

“All of the tenants understand the synergy — there’s discussion about that, and they work well with one another,” he noted. “The idea is that maybe someone can have dinner in one place tonight and have a drink in your place the next night; it feeds off one another. The more people we pull down into the region, the better the restaurants will do. The idea is to create the entertainment district, and the more the merrier.”

Sheehan agreed, noting there are several other keys to the success of this iteration, if you will, of the entertainment district.

These include everything from bringing experienced restaurateurs with proven concepts into the area to infrastructure upgrades.

“The tenancy that we have needs to be established tenancy,” he noted. “In terms of going into the restaurant business as a startup business, it’s very, very difficult, and if the business model isn’t spot on, you have a tendency to have what we’ve had — businesses come in, businesses go out, businesses come in.

“Our objective is to get more stabilized entrepreneurs into the spaces, and I do believe the tenancy that [Pellegrino] is putting forward reflects that stability,” he went on, adding that infrastructure improvements continue in the area, including additional upgrades, including more uplighting and plantings, to Stearns Square, capitalizing on work previously undertaken at that landmark.

Overall, the city has made a large commitment — in funding but also other forms of support — to the stability and growth of the entertainment district, said Connors, noting that public sector support, in the form of loans and grants for initiatives like outdoor dining, interior renovations, and relocation costs, are critical at a time when banks are often reluctant to lend for restaurant and brewery initiatives.

Pellegrino agreed, adding that the investments being made in the three properties along that block of Worthington Street and the individual spaces for restaurants and other businesses are another factor in the success quotient.

“These are major facelifts … these are beautiful, state-of-the-art restaurants. They’re coming into beautifully renovated spaces,” he told BusinessWest. “There’s no guarantee that any restaurant is going to succeed, but this gives them the best opportunity to succeed.

“Everyone has to do their part,” he went on. “The restaurateur has to put out good food and atmosphere; we collectively, with the city, have to provide a safe atmosphere and parking, so it’s inviting, and people feel comfortable coming downtown.”

Whether this picture will come together as Pellegrino and city officials anticipate remains to be seen. But there is great anticipation about what’s behind all that plywood and brown paper.

It’s the next big chapter in the life and times of Springfield’s entertainment district.

HUB International Continues to Grow Strategically

By
HUB International New England President Timm Marini
Insurance Special Coverage

Smart Policy

HUB International New England President Timm Marini

HUB International New England President Timm Marini

HUB International New England may be the largest insurance broker in those six states, President Timm Marini said, but that’s a point of pride that goes only so far.

That’s because there’s a difference between largest and best, and the latter is what the company strives for each day, and with each acquisition it makes.

And there have been plenty of those.

“We bought six agencies last year. We focused down in Connecticut a lot. You’ll see a couple more coming soon,” he said, adding that each acquisition has to make sense for both parties. “We bought two agencies down there, one in Fairfield County and one in the Putnam area — both smaller operations, but thirsting to partner with the backroom services that we offer, risk control, loss management, claims, financial services. We just do so many different things now.”

HUB International is no stranger to growth. The company was around 500 employees strong when FieldEddy, one of Massachusetts’ larger agencies, joined the organization in 2014; today, it boasts 19,000 across the U.S.

“A lot of it has been through acquisition, a lot of it through talent acquisition,” Marini said. “We’ve been out there acquiring really good people in their space where they operate — marketing, claims. I don’t know how many attorneys we have working for us in non-attorney jobs, but we’ve got highly educated people transacting and helping our customers.”

As for the smaller firms that join the fold, “they get expertise that they otherwise couldn’t necessarily afford on their own,” he said, noting that was essentially the draw for FieldEddy 11 years ago. “They get shared resources that are available to help make sales happen, make retention happen, and make the customer experience better. Just different minds, different thought processes.”

“We want to have a lot of conversations about how to help our customers and prospective customers survive through the maze of confusion. It’s dizzying the amount of change that goes on every day.”

HUB’s services run the gamut from business insurance and employee benefits to personal insurance and retirement services, with a wide range of specialties within each.

“We’ve refocused on small business, which Western Massachusetts has a ton of,” Marini said. “We’re focusing on some automation in there, some quick quotes, but also day-to-day service, partnering with our carriers to provide top-notch service to those customers. It’s our lifeblood. Small business is a backbone of the United States, and especially in Western Mass., Maine, Vermont, everywhere we are.”

On the middle-market business front, rates have receded a bit after a long stretch in the other direction. “It’s been three to four years of just delivering bad news, but you’re starting to see little to no increase, so that’s nice. Some of it is just loss-driven; if the customer had losses, then they’re getting increases.”

Since its entrance into the Western Mass. market in 2014 through acquisition of FieldEddy Insurance, HUB International has significantly grown its presence through both geographic and organic expansion.

Since its entrance into the Western Mass. market in 2014 through acquisition of FieldEddy Insurance, HUB International has significantly grown its presence through both geographic and organic expansion.

Meanwhile, HUB’s investment services represent one of its fastest-growing businesses; HUB has paired locally with Epstein Financial Services on that front. And these are important times for investors to have someone to consult with, he added, so they understand what’s happening in an uncertain market.

“There’s a ton of confusion, and it’s tough to keep track of all this,” Marini said. “With small business, middle market, employee benefits, and financial services, those four businesses, nobody can know everything. So it’s nice to have a peer group of experts to recommend to our customers so that they can deal with quality people.

“It’s funny, because if you think about what’s going on in the economy, it’s done nothing but really push people to talk to their advisors. And that’s kind of what we want to do, right?” he went on. “We want to have conversations, whether it’s about insurance or investment or risk services. We want to have a lot of conversations about how to help our customers and prospective customers survive through the maze of confusion. It’s dizzying the amount of change that goes on every day.”

That said, “seek your counsel; seek the advice of your experts,” he advised. “Don’t read your investment statement and get all upset and whatnot. Have a conversation. There may be some things moving around that you don’t know.

“I try not to look at my statements and things of that nature,” he added. “Of course, as you get older, you start to look at it. But at the same time, I don’t want to panic.”

 

Help … in Many Forms

Marini emphasized that the broad reach of expertise at HUB gives clients exposure to team members that can help them and have experience in their particular business or situation.

“We see the exposures, and we see the opportunities for improvement that could help their efficiency and effectiveness. And if you’re helping a business with efficiency and effectiveness, then you’re saving them time and money.”

“We see the exposures, and we see the opportunities for improvement that could help their efficiency and effectiveness. And if you’re helping a business with efficiency and effectiveness, then you’re saving them time and money.”

For example, “coming out of COVID really affected a lot of our manufacturing businesses. We heard a lot about the slowdown of supply and things coming in slower. That created a heck of a budgetary concern for some of those customers. But the only solution wasn’t to do more — because people were slow with reinvesting — but to do it more efficiently and more effectively over a shorter period of time. Better quality control, quality checking. That’s what we try to build, business solution relationships.”

The company employs high-tech methods to determine risk scores, he added. “We have data folks that can put in a mathematical equation using industry standards and data to predict loss. Not necessarily storms or things like that, but how much a machine can run before it breaks down, before it has a problem. It’s amazing the analytics we now see in our business.”

At the same time, he doesn’t want to lose the human touch of the company and especially a workplace culture that prioritizes work-life balance and employee appreciation.

“We want to make sure our employees feel the culture — that this is a pretty good place to work, and it’s a pretty good place to do business with. I never say the best because we’re still striving.”

Marini says HUB International has long maintained relationships of another kind as well — with the nonprofits and community organizations it supports with money, time, energy, and expertise.

Timm Marini, seen here with staff members during an employee-appreciation day at HUB, says the agency emphasizes a healthy workplace culture.

Timm Marini, seen here with staff members during an employee-appreciation day at HUB, says the agency emphasizes a healthy workplace culture.

HUB was recognized on the Military Times 2024 Best for Vets employers list for its efforts to hire veterans, and the company is working with Epstein Financial on a campaign to prevent veteran suicide.

Meanwhile, the company’s philanthropic and volunteerism arm continues to invest in its communities in myriad ways.

“It’s amazing how many different things that we invest in,” Marini said. “Our carrier partners invest along with us. Sometimes they’ll give us dollars to match, or, if we invest a certain amount, then they’ll double it or sometimes triple it. It’s nice to see that, especially in a time of need right now. I can’t tell you how many social service nonprofits, schools, educational institutions, and Boys & Girls Clubs we help.”

Meanwhile, employees are encouraged to volunteer for schools, nonprofits, and other community groups, often during their work hours if they need to.

“I still remain on about six boards, and they’re near and dear to my heart,” he noted. “Every time I think about walking away, I see the level of leadership on those boards is less and less, and doesn’t even meet quorum sometimes; it’s like, I can’t leave now. Some of them I’ve been on 20, 25 years. I’ve learned so much from doing it.”

 

Expansive Efforts

Marini has said HUB undergoes a due-diligence process before making an offer to acquire a smaller firm, one that involves three questions. Is it a good fit? Are they bringing something to the party to make HUB better? And can it grow? Meanwhile, for the agencies that come aboard, being part of a large, national company is a healthy balance between local autonomy and broader resources.

“We like to say we no longer have to grow just to grow, just to be big. We’re never going to get to the largest,” he told BusinessWest. “We’re around $5.7 billion dollars of revenue, and that affords us some scale in the marketplace so that we can invest in talent and we can grow, but hopefully just not to be big. We don’t want to just be big; we want to be best.”

It’s a message he hopes resonates with those 19,000 employees, who hopefully, as he noted earlier, feel the culture and do what they need to do to maintain a healthy work-life balance, and that means taking time off.

“I always promise, when people take their vacation, ‘don’t worry about your vacation. Your work will be there when you get back. We will take care of what the customer needs.’ And we allow them to enjoy their time.

“I often say, we’re not brain surgeons; we don’t save lives,” Marini added. “But we make lives better.”

At American Dream Landscape Design, Entrepreneurship Comes Naturally

By
Owners Abigail (left) and Rachel Begley
Special Coverage Women in Businesss

Sisters at Work

Owners Abigail (left) and Rachel Begley

Owners Abigail (left) and Rachel Begley

 

The name says it all. The word ‘dream’ in particular.

It’s the culmination of a dream of two sisters, who grew up on a tree farm, to co-found a business centered on a passion for nature they both share.

Now, just a year after launching American Dream Landscape Design from her home in East Longmeadow, Rachel Begley said she and her sister, Abigail, have built a steady pipeline of projects, largely through word of mouth.

“We definitely have a passion when it comes to outdoor work, but we both had separate life paths. Abby moved out west. She was involved in commercial agriculture and other growing operations, kind of off the grid,” Begley said. “My life path was that I always had an interest in gardening, but I had other jobs throughout the years and raised my family for the past few years.”

But last April, the sisters started talking about a business plan.

“I said, ‘I have this idea. I would love to start a woman-owned landscape business. I have no idea how I’m going to do it, or if there’s even a need, but I just noticed there’s no women out there doing this,’” Begley continued. “And Abby adored the idea. She really encouraged it. And it kind of brought us back together.”

While walking BusinessWest around the property she and her husband, Hayden Smith, own, Begley pointed out flower beds, both complete and under development, that will serve as models to show potential clients.

“We work with flowers, mostly — my specialty is sustainable, native flowers — and we do a lot of the softscaping,” she explained, noting that they also put in trees and bushes. “So that means a lot of the vegetation — we’re adding in the plant features and the garden art, but we don’t do the earth-moving type of landscaping.”

At one recent job in Ludlow, they planted three trees and are going back to install an orchard with some fruiting trees and more flowering trees. A typical job begins by sitting down, hearing what the client’s goals are, and mapping out a plan.

“We’re helping save time and effort in the garden, but also we’re helping out with their property values. We’re improving their property, and we’re also making people happier. It’s nice being welcomed home with a beautiful, fresh flowerbed.”

“I listen to what their interests are, favorite flowers, and from there, I’ll just take off; I’ll start researching and drafting things. I usually go back one or two times before we start breaking ground. That way, we’re all on the same page.”

As for who drives the conversation, it’s a healthy mix, Begley added. “A lot of times, people have a good knowledge of different plants, but a lot of times, I am bringing in fresh ideas.”

 

From the Ground Up

On her website, Begley described the origins of American Dream as simply years of playing in the dirt with her sister and dreaming up beautiful outdoor spaces.

“Growing up on a farm, we’ve always been deeply connected to the land, learning the value of nature and sustainability. Over the years, Abby built her expertise in horticulture while I honed my skills in design, and together, we created a company that’s rooted in family values and environmental care,” she explained.

Rachel Begley says planting beds like this one serve as models for clients.

Rachel Begley says planting beds like this one serve as models for clients.

“From the very beginning,” she added, “we’ve been fortunate to meet so many inspiring people — fellow entrepreneurs, clients, coaches, and mentors — who have offered invaluable advice and support. Every step of this journey has been shaped by their wisdom and encouragement.”

Part of that process was going through an entrepreneurial program at EforAll Holyoke, followed by a few months of just ramping up working out the details of the business. American Dream didn’t tackle many projects that first year, “but then we got a good amount of customers asking us to start their projects this spring. And as soon as May started, we hit the ground running, and every week since, we’ve had jobs.”

She credits much of that early success to word of mouth, noting there are plenty of property owners who want yardscapes filled with flowers and plants, but may not know how to go about it, or simply don’t want to put in the work.

“We’re helping save time and effort in the garden, but also we’re helping out with their property values. We’re improving their property, and we’re also making people happier. It’s nice being welcomed home with a beautiful, fresh flowerbed.”

Besides growing their own plants, American Dream sources plants from a number of local growers, from Stony Hill Farm in Wilbraham to Garden’s Dream and Tarnow Nursery in Enfield, Conn. — relationships that essentially form an ecosystem of connected outdoor-focused businesses.

“As we all know, small business is the backbone of the economy. So, yes, I am a big promoter of small businesses,” Begley said. “Both my parents are entrepreneurs, so I’ve learned from them.”

Meanwhile, this growing business — no pun intended — is an opportunity to train other young people in gardening and landscaping. Ethan Andrews, one of two people who work in the business with the Begley sisters, has enjoyed his time there since coming on earlier this spring.

Rachel Begley says it’s gratifying to support other small businesses, like the nurseries from which she sources flowers and plants.

Rachel Begley says it’s gratifying to support other small businesses, like the nurseries from which she sources flowers and plants.

“It’s a very friendly, inclusive environment, we have a good time on the jobs, and it’s not very intense at work — it’s not super tiring,” he said. “And it’s good to see the work you can do, and you definitely help out people, make them happier, and make a nice, bright place for them to come home to.”

 

Garden Path

The team at American Dream see plenty of growth potential — and the opportunity to hire more employees — as they build their name and book of business. And while almost all their jobs so far have been residential, Begley sees potential on the commercial side; their first job this spring was at an industrial park outside Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn.

“So I guess a goal for the business in the future is more collaborations with business owners or real estate professionals,” she said, noting that the days it takes to complete a project vary. “It depends on how big it is — that industrial park, we were able to accomplish in a week, and I did hire a couple of people to help out, so we had a team of six going. But it’s usually within two or three days that we can complete the job.”

Rachel Begley with Ethan Andrews, a new hire at American Dream in 2025.

Rachel Begley with Ethan Andrews, a new hire at American Dream in 2025.

Begley will have to wait a while to see if her own children want to work in the business — her daughter, Emerson, is just 4, and her son, Arthur, is almost 2 — but she enjoys having them nearby as she tends to her display gardens at home. “They help out with a little backyard biology once in a while,” she joked.

They might eventually feel like Andrews does. “What I enjoy most is that my office is in the great outdoors, and that every project is different,” he said. “You know, the goal of the project changes so often, and just tackling the problems and finding solutions is the best part.”

Begley agreed, adding, “there have been a lot of surprises. But it’s very, very gratifying. I think that this was the right path for me to take. I just wish I took it sooner; that’s the only regret. This is honestly my calling.”

Workforce Shortages Hamper Healthcare Sector

By
Healthcare News Special Coverage

Critical Gaps

 

When Beverly Fein surveys the nursing landscape at Holyoke Medical Center, she sees both positives and challenges, and the difference is generational. Take new nursing graduates, for example; the hospital hired more than 25 of them last year.

“Many of them do their clinicals here. They have a good foundation working for us. They like the environment. So we’ve been lucky — we’ve been able to attract them,” said Fein, senior vice president and chief Human Resources officer for Valley Health Systems, which includes HMC.

“And many others were student nurse techs with us, which means they come on earlier during their schooling, while they’re still juniors or seniors, and we hire them as techs, and that creates a pipeline for nurses,” she added. “Many have come through that pipeline, which is a good thing.”

But finding experienced nurses? That’s been much tougher — and it’s a common lament across the healthcare industry.

“The biggest gaps are in nursing, especially when it comes to RNs and LPNs. The shortage is huge. So how does that impact bedside care at hospitals and long-term care facilities? They’re feeling the shortage.”

“We’re always looking for experienced nurses,” Fein said. “We have had a number of different open house events over the year, and we’ve been able to hire experienced nurses. We have a weekly Walk-In Wednesday, and we’ve been able to hire some experienced nurses just walking in, getting interviews on the spot, offers on the spot. That’s been a tactic we’ve been using in addition to some strong advertising on our intranet, as well as all the social media platforms.”

Nicole Polite, CEO of the MH Group in East Longmeadow, a staffing and recruiting firm with a robust healthcare niche, understands the industry challenges as well.

Beverly Fein says Holyoke Medical Center has hired dozens of new graduate nurses recently, but experienced nurses are harder to come by.

Beverly Fein says Holyoke Medical Center has hired dozens of new graduate nurses recently, but experienced nurses are harder to come by.

“The biggest gaps are in nursing, especially when it comes to RNs and LPNs. The shortage is huge,” she said. “So how does that impact bedside care at hospitals and long-term care facilities? They’re feeling the shortage.”

As are other settings. “Home health and hospice are definitely feeling it. Even outpatient and ambulatory centers are feeling it. Then, there’s a dire need for nurse practitioners and physician assistants in primary and urgent care. Believe it or not, we’re even struggling with telemedicine, especially in rural areas and underserved areas.”

The list goes on. Polite cited workforce gaps locally in behavioral health — psychiatrists, licensed social workers, and licensed professional counselors are in high demand — as well as physician specialties including cardiology and oncology (again, especially in rural and underserved areas). As for home health aides, she said the industry is exploding with the continued aging of the Baby Boom generation.

Michele Anstett, president and director of Visiting Angels West Springfield, promoted two CNAs into recruiting positions to bolster the home care agency’s efforts to maintain a workforce that keeps up with demand.

“They use their own personal stories and experiences with Visiting Angels to sell how much they love working here,” she said, adding that aides and nurses with plenty of options are prioritizing workplace culture as much as pay. “Now what is important is telling our story, and whether they like the way the work environment sounds.”

Karen Rousseau, dean of the School of Health Sciences at American International College, sees the workforce crunch from a different perspective — and a positive one for graduates.

She noted that nursing enrollment has been impacted a bit by free community college in Massachusetts, but it’s still strong, and there’s plenty of interest in AIC’s graduate nursing programs, with nursing recognized by many young people as a secure career choice, given the current state of the workforce.

“It’s a pretty strong job market in the region. The labor statistics show growth in PT and OT, and there continues to be a nursing shortage,” she noted. “Our graduates having no trouble finding positions. I’m hearing that current students seeking employment are being selective in what they choose.”

 

Glass Half Full

Anstett said recruiting has become more challenging in home care for a number of reasons.

“I’m a person who always thinks positively. I don’t try to dwell on, ‘gee we can’t get people.’ I try to think, ‘how can we get people?’ We do tend to use some different tactics, and it’s much different than before, when it was just putting an ad in the paper, and people would answer it. Now you have to get on social media, get on all these job sites, and you have to word it in a way that the algorithms won’t put it down at the bottom and no one will ever see it.”

Karen Rousseau

Karen Rousseau

“Our graduates having no trouble finding positions. I’m hearing that current students seeking employment are being selective in what they choose.”

One annoying aspect of the current market is … well, the ability of some applicants to be dismissive of the process, or even rude.

“A lot of times, we do have people that respond to the ads and seem interested, but then, when we set up an interview, they’re no-shows. One reason is they never intended to have a job, or applying for a job might have been a requirement to receive some kind of aid.

“It’s a different kind of mindset, and I don’t think it’s generational,” Anstett went on. “I definitely think it’s a society thing. We’ve had people of all ages do this ghosting thing. They come for orientation, and then they’re nowhere to be found. And it’s hard for us because it’s quite a process. We have to do background checks and reference checks and check their skill level, everything. It’s a dollar investment, and it’s heartbreaking when they get all the way through and you schedule them, and then they don’t show up.”

She said Visiting Angels continues to bring in quality caregivers, but the process is tougher, as she may wind up hiring two for every 10 interviews — and even then, their work-hour preferences might change between the interview and the hire.

As for retention, Anstett said it’s a mindset.

Nicole Polite says employers need to understand that potential young hires demand different a culture than in the past.

Nicole Polite says employers need to understand that potential young hires demand different a culture than in the past.

“I really believe a good work environment is the key. It’s creating a family culture at work, which is also very respectful of their family. If they need to get to something for their son or daughter, we do our best because we’re all moms and dads. My belief that no one in Visiting Angels is any better or more important than the other person. We’re all very important to the whole team, and I think that resonates.”

Another thing employers need to be mindful of today is burnout, Polite said, as many nurses and other healthcare workers are feeling it, and often feeling it intensely.

That’s one reason many nurses and doctors who are placed through the MH Group work in a contract capacity.

“Being a contract employee helps them to have work-life balance; they get to select when they want to work. The new term is Uber nursing, the ability to sign up for work when they want, like an Uber driver, which allows them more balance and to alleviate burnout.”

While the model is great for workers who desire it, it can actually benefit organizations as well, as the agency pays for benefits and malpractice insurance. Meanwhile, both sides get to test the waters before perhaps committing to something longer-term, Polite explained. “They find out, do they want to stay? What’s the environment like? What’s the culture like?”

 

Michele Anstett

Michele Anstett

“We’ve had people of all ages do this ghosting thing. They come for orientation, and then they’re nowhere to be found.”

She added that a nationwide shortage of nursing professors — who also sometimes feel burnt out — is taking its toll on the workforce as well, with many aspiring nurses being turned away from programs for lack of capacity.

 

Meeting the Needs

Speaking of higher education, colleges and universities with health programs are also looking at shifting needs in healthcare when planning new programs. For example, this fall, AIC will introduce a master of population and community health degree to meet a growing need for professionals who can mobilize community resources to address factors that affect people’s health and well-being.

“We feel there’s a need for public health in the community,” Rousseau said. “We had a master’s of public health, but we’re phasing that out. There hasn’t been a large demand for that, and UMass has a very large program. But a master’s in population and community health practice was driven out of the way we see the needs of employers in the region, and what will help them.”

Rousseau noted that there are many different types of roles in healthcare besides nursing, OT, and PT, noting another AIC program, its exercise science track. “It’s strength and conditioning, but you also use exercise as medicine to help people heal. You can perform all kinds of roles with that degree as well. Healthcare is a big industry. It’s not just the things you think of right off the bat.”

To meet its own workforce needs, Holyoke Medical Center has been innovative beyond just the Walk-In Wednesdays for nurses. Open houses for phlebotomists, another in-demand career, have been successful, Fein said, and the hospital has used temp agencies for roles like medical assistants and medical lab techs to test out their fit.

“We’ve recently been happy with the response to our open house events. It’s nice to have leadership from these areas present and for them to make offers on the spot if we feel there’s a great fit after the tour. If we have good dialogue and they have some experience and we feel good about them, we can bring them on pretty quickly. We’re trying to remove some of the hurdles and roadblocks, basically, and streamline the process.”

At the same time, Fein emphasized the importance of benefits to retention efforts, from a health package to a robust tuition reimbursement program that can funnel $7,000 to $8,000 annually toward a degree and help employees move into the positions they aspire to.

“I think a lot of new employees are very focused on work-life balance as well,” she said, noting that HMC has made some changes to vacation policies with that in mind. “That work-life piece is definitely significant with them. They’re speaking about it a lot.”

Polite hears the conversations, too.

“There will be a shift in the newer generation in terms of the healthcare workplace,” she told BusinessWest. “They’re in demand, and their demands are different; they have a different need for flexibility. So everyone needs to come to the table and come up with a better way to staff those medical positions, and it will need to include flexibility for employees.”

Filling in the gaps will take years, Polite she. “And the big fix is going to have to come from the government. There has to be some incentives for the younger generation coming in from their college years, giving them funding if they enter that field.”

It’s just one of many possible solutions to boosting the workforce, decreasing rampant burnout, and, most importantly, making sure patient needs are met.

North Star Technology Leadership Demystifies IT for Clients

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Michael Weber says he eases anxiety around AI while giving businesses real tools and strategies to use it.
Features

A Whole New World

 

Michael Weber says he eases anxiety around AI while giving businesses real tools and strategies to use it.

Michael Weber says he eases anxiety around AI while giving businesses real tools and strategies to use it.

 

After 20 years building a successful commercial printing business, Michael Weber stopped the presses and took a step into his future — both his own and that of the changing role of business IT.

The printing story begins around 2004, when Weber and his wife, Lindsey, who were living in Boston at the time, had the opportunity to buy Minuteman Press in Enfield, Conn. So they moved to this region and began to grow that business, eventually expanding it to two more locations in Springfield and Brattleboro, Vt., with numerous employees at all three sites.

When Weber received an offer to sell the company in late 2023, he was intrigued.

“The business had changed a lot over 20 years, and I thought it was an interesting opportunity and an interesting time to do something new. So that’s what we did,” he told BusinessWest. “We accepted the offer and took some time off. We traveled with the kids and tried to enjoy life the best we could for a little while — knowing that I needed to get back to work at some point.”

Before his two decades in the printing world, Weber earned a degree in management information systems at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and built a career as a middleware engineer, and had kept his finger on the pulse of IT since. His idea for a second career was to become a fractional chief technology officer (CTO), someone who offers technology leadership and expertise to client companies on a contract basis.

That’s how his current enterprise, North Star Technology Leadership, was born.

“I have a unique skill set in the sense that I understand technology, but I also understand business. So I can talk to business owners about their technology in a way that’s very different than most technology people can,” he explained. “Most technology people are so focused on the bits and the bytes and those kinds of things, but the business people just want the technology to work right. As somebody who’s been on both sides, I feel like I can bring that to the table more clearly than so many other technology companies.”

He chose the name of his firm purposefully. “I wanted to make it clear that I’m not competing with those other technology companies, those managed service providers that come in to fix your computer. I don’t want to do that. I could fix your computer if that’s what I needed to do, but I’m trying to provide leadership and an understanding of technology.

“I have a unique skill set in the sense that I understand technology, but I also understand business. So I can talk to business owners about their technology in a way that’s very different than most technology people can.”

“I felt like part of doing that meant I had to be sitting next to the CEO of the company and not across the table, and the only way I can do that is if I don’t sell anything other than myself,” he went on. “So I don’t sell any products, and I don’t accept commissions. I’m not competing with that MSP who’s already selling hardware and software to the client.”

But the needs Weber does meet are significant, particularly for companies that don’t have a CTO. North Star’s services fall into a few broad buckets, including technology leadership and management; technology roadmap and alignment with business objectives; technology staff and vendor management; and risk, security, and compliance management.

One example of a specific service is a technology stack review. “That’s just understanding what do they have, and is it working, or is it not working? Often, they’ve been doing a process for 15 or 20 years because that’s how they’ve always done it, and nobody’s ever looked at it and said, ‘this is not the efficient way to do it.’

“One of my clients was doing a payroll export from their payroll software into Microsoft Excel and then manipulating that data file for about two hours every payroll period to get it into a format they needed. I was able to automate that task and turn it into, like, 25 seconds. That’s a huge savings,” he explained. “That’s not uncommon, and it’s not his fault that he didn’t know how to make those changes because he’s not a technology person.”

 

Mindset Shift

One major focus with clients lately — and for the foreseeable future — is the role of artificial intelligence in myriad businesses and industries.

“The biggest concern seems to be understanding the data policy and what is happening with their data. You have employees who are scared of AI as a concept. You have a lot of business owners who don’t understand it, but want to understand it, and they don’t know who to turn to. So I’m providing that level of knowledge and guidance for them,” Weber explained.

“In terms of using AI, the easy ways are using it to rewrite your email to make it more clear and concise, or using it to build your PowerPoint presentation deck that you need to pass off to a client, or using it for data analytics. All those things are really low-hanging fruit, and we can show their staff how to actually engage and use these things in a productive manner that doesn’t have gigantic bills behind it, and is just there to make their day easier and more efficient.”

“You have employees who are scared of AI as a concept. You have a lot of business owners who don’t understand it, but want to understand it, and they don’t know who to turn to. So I’m providing that level of knowledge and guidance for them.”

After he conducts presentations on current uses of AI in the workplace, he noted, “they’re understanding it better, and they’re saying, ‘oh that’s not so scary,’ or ‘yes I can do that better.’ Because it is an amazing technology, and it’s a whole mindset shift in how you’re using it because it’s not just a Google search window. There’s so much more to it and so much more feedback it can provide to you — if you understand the right questions to ask and how to use it.”

Whatever the issue, Weber says he has found a niche in a landscape where many mid-sized businesses — he typically works with firms between $5 million and $50 million in annual revenue, in a wide range of sectors — don’t have this expertise in-house.

“It has to be companies that are interested in growth because you’re not going to bring in somebody as a fractional CTO if you’re just kind of plodding along and doing OK. You’re interested in growing your company, and now you’re looking for those efficiencies to make everything work better. That’s the space I’m filling.”

Since opening North Star last September, Weber has seen a steady influx of clients. He noted that the field isn’t as competitive as one might think.

“There are a lot of fractional CFOs,” he said, referring to the financial side of a business. “Companies will go, ‘accounting is important, and I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, and I need a guy.’ So they bring in a person to fill that role. So a fractional CFO is a very common thing.

“A fractional CTO is very uncommon,” he went on. “I don’t think I’ve met another one in this area. Again, I think I’m unique by bringing the technology and the business sense together, which creates a unique situation.”

 

Change Agent

Weber also appreciates that he’s able to lessen anxiety — for both business owners and employees — around the changing face of IT, and especially AI.

“Obviously, people get scared whenever there’s change, and that is understandable,” he said, while noting that today’s students may be preparing for high-tech jobs that don’t exist yet, while other careers will fade away. “People need to be aware of both those sides. I mean, if I was a young person today and I was graduating high school or college, I would want to know what’s not going to exist and what is still going to exist in a period of years.

“I was doing an AI presentation the other day, and a woman was talking, and she has a son who’s in high school, and he wants to be a plumber. His job is safe for now. That’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” he noted. “For somebody like him, AI is just an asset because it can help answer questions and provide guidance, but the actual work of a plumber is still going to be done by a human. It’s not being replaced by AI anytime soon.”

For many other jobs and industries, the outlook is less certain, but Weber is optimistic that he can steer clients toward growth and opportunity as they grapple with all the coming changes.

“I owned a small business for a long time, with employees and multiple locations. And now I have the opportunity to help businesses in different manner,” he said. “I’m having a lot of fun, and my clients seem to be really enjoying engaging with me and having this conversation. So it’s working out really well.”

At the end of the day, Weber added, he loves helping and teaching people, demystifying the role of IT, and seeing the impact he can make on a growing pool of clients.

“It’s like I was saying before — I’m kind of a unicorn in the sense that I can talk about technology in a way that regular people understand. And that is rare. You find a lot of really smart IT people that you wouldn’t want to have a coffee with because you couldn’t understand them. And you find a lot of amazing business people that don’t know anything about their technology, but they need to. So I can bridge that gap for them, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Ted Hebert Reflects on 50 Years of Teddy Bear Pools & Spas

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Ted Hebert says his story has been one of being knocked down and always getting back up.
Features

Deep Dive

Ted Hebert says his story has been one of being knocked down and always getting back up.

Ted Hebert says his story has been one of being knocked down and always getting back up.

 

As Teddy Bear Pools & Spas marks its 50th anniversary this year, it’s safe to say most in the business community have read — in this publication and others over the years — Ted Hebert’s story of humble beginnings, perseverance through severe challenges, and current status as not only one of the region’s venerable business owners, but a strong supporter of area nonprofits.

But ask him what the milestone means, and he says, “I don’t see the significance of 50 years.”

That’s not because he lacks gratitude or perspective on his career — he certainly has both — but for him, when he thinks about the work itself, he’s actually been doing it for closer to 60 years, starting as a gofer at a pool store at age 14.

“That developed over about three years. I started to become a pool installer. The above-ground pool would be dropped off at someone’s house, and my late friend Kenny and I would go and build a pool. Back then, we used to hand-dig the above-ground pool. We used to wheelbarrow the dirt into the backyard. We’d even do two pools a day. We’d work from maybe 6, 7 in the morning to 8, 9, 10 at night. I remember working on pools in the dark.”

His own work is, obviously, much less physically strenuous now, but those early years gave Hebert an appreciation for his employees that he’s quick to express.

“I guess I don’t realize the reality of 50 years because I don’t have a job. This isn’t work for me. I mean it sincerely. My employees are my extended family,” he said, noting that some have been with him for decades, and some are second-generation team members.

“Many times, people will say to me, ‘I can’t wait to retire.’ But I do not work — I love what I do. I’m not here for the money. Teddy Bear Pools is my home away from home. I get enough free time, but in May and June, I try to be here almost seven days a week because I want to see my customers.

“I’ve achieved every goal that I could ever think of. I’ve achieved fantasies. I’ve been on top of the mountain. But I’ve also been on the very bottom, with betrayal by close friends, people that I trusted, people in my wedding party. I’ve had a lot of really low points in my life.”

“I built someone’s pool 30, 40, 50 years ago, and now their kids are coming in,” he added. “I call every customer that buys an above ground-pool, a spa, or even a liner, and I call to thank them personally.”

That gratitude extends to his own journey, which has seen both highs and lows (more on that later), but has also been marked by hard work, dogged persistence, and faith.

“I’m a survivor,” he said. “I think, being in business, you need to be a survivor. A lot of people can’t. It’s a challenge, but if you’re up to the challenge, it’s going to be very exciting.”

 

Into the Deep End

Hebert has told the story of how he wanted to become a doctor, but didn’t have the money for medical school, so he eventually started his own pool company from the carport of his parents’ home. Although the original name he chose for his business was Custom Pools by Ted, his mother suggested he use his childhood nickname of ‘Teddy Bear,’ a play on the French pronunciation of Ted Hebert.

By 1976, Teddy Bear had grown enough to allow Hebert to rent a former car-wash bay on Memorial Drive in Chicopee and turn it into a storefront. When the property was foreclosed upon three years later, he purchased a run-down former car dealership in a dilapidated building on East Street in Chicopee, which remains his address today.

The East Street store wasn’t always surrounded by display pools, as this photo from around 1980 shows.

The East Street store wasn’t always surrounded by display pools, as this photo from around 1980 shows.

In the early years, the business grew steadily, but he suffered two major setbacks during the 1980s in the form of employee betrayal and mismanagement. The first event occurred in 1986 when an audit undercovered $1.2 million of money and goods not accounted for, and the second took place while he was on his honeymoon in 1987. When he returned, he found an additional $200,000 of money and goods missing.

“I’ve been embezzled twice, but I never went bankrupt,” he recalled. “I went back to church, and I prayed to God to help me through this. I worked seven days a week, living at home with my mom. I was like 35. It took me a few years, but I paid off everybody.”

Those times have instilled in him an appreciation for the success that followed.

“I’ve achieved every goal that I could ever think of. I’ve achieved fantasies. I’ve been on top of the mountain. But I’ve also been on the very bottom, with betrayal by close friends, people that I trusted, people in my wedding party. I’ve had a lot of really low points in my life.”

And with that appreciation of his journey, Hebert was even more determined to redirect his own success back on his community. In 2022, he was honored by BusinessWest as a Difference Maker, for his many years of giving back to the community, not just by writing checks to nonprofits (though he does a lot of that), but by sitting on boards and volunteering at fundraising events.

He and his wife, Barbara — who, it should be noted, is an equal partner in all this community service — give time and money to many different types of organizations, but have a special place in their hearts for animal welfare. For example, as a longtime supporter of Second Chance Animal Services (whose CEO, Sheryl Blancato, was also named a Difference Maker this year), Teddy Bear hosts two rabies and parvo vaccination clinics each year for the nonprofit, helping hundreds of pet owners access free or very low-cost services.

Barbara Hebert said some of their civic work hits close to home, as with their support of Camp Words Unspoken, a program for kids who stutter — an issue Ted overcame in his youth, and that Barbara still sometimes struggles with.

“We’re not saying that you have to do as much as us, but if everybody gave a little bit, it would make the world a better place.”

“Between the company and our personal ability, it’s nice to just give back,” she said. “We’re not saying that you have to do as much as us, but if everybody gave a little bit, it would make the world a better place. There are people we know that don’t take the time. They say they’re too busy. We are too, but we make time.”

Ted said his mother, who grew up humbly in the Great Depression, instilled in him a love for identifying needs and meeting them.

“It feels great to give. Whether it be money or time. I can’t explain it. I just love giving to people. So we have the opportunity to sponsor teams, sponsor golf tournaments, be involved in local charities, award scholarships for different programs.”

In recent years, the couple established Ted and Barbara Hebert Charitable Ventures, a 501(c)(3) entity, through which they also give to charity.

“We want to give away our money to help others — furry friends and people young and old — while we’re alive,” Ted said. “It’s not like we have millions of dollars, but we have more money than the average person. So we’re very blessed and very humbled to give some of that money away while we’re alive. We love it.”

 

A Story Worth Telling

Hebert has also done plenty of motivational speaking over the years — again, quite the accomplishment for someone who once fought a stutter — though he likes to use the term ‘inspirational speaking’ instead.

“I cannot motivate you. In my opinion, motivation is from within,” he said. “But I want to inspire you. If I can inspire you, that motivation may come awake. When I used to do speaking, people would say, ‘you’re an inspirational speaker. You inspired me to do things.’

“And that’s my goal in life: to inspire people to do better for all people, all living creatures, to make this a better world — starting with your family, then in your community, your country, and the world. Because time is infinite. I don’t know when it started or when it’s going to end. My life on this earth is a speck of time. And I’m hoping to make it a better place. Because I will die, and I hope I have more pluses than minuses.”

Teddy Bear Pools & Spas has certainly experienced more of the former, despite challenges ranging from the aforementioned employee betrayals to a number of economic downturns that tend to dampen the sales outlook for luxury items, including pools.

“If you’re going to be in business, you’d better have thick skin, you’ve got to have perseverance, and you’ve got to plan ahead,” Hebert said. “I’ve always put money away for rainy days in the business.

“But I’ve been very blessed and lucky,” he added. “It’s like a boxer getting knocked down. I won a lot of championships. But I’ve been knocked down many times, and instead of quitting or throwing in the towel, I got back up.”

These days, he still shows up in the ring — er, the store — most days, simply because he enjoys running this business that has defined his life, and he enjoys helping customers and supporting employees.

“I’m only as good as my employees; they’re your greatest asset or your greatest liability,” he said. “I know it sounds common, but I try to treat people like I want to be treated. And I’ve been blessed.”

Lessons from Our First Year Owning a Car Wash

By Contributor
Clean Queen Car Wash owners Nicole and Rich Sherwood.
Autos

Progress Report

By Nicole Sherwood and Rich Sherwood

Clean Queen Car Wash owners Nicole and Rich Sherwood.

Clean Queen Car Wash owners Nicole and Rich Sherwood.

When we took over Clean Queen Car Wash in Holyoke a year ago, we knew we were in for an adventure. We had the skills — Rich, with his deep experience in automotive repair, and me, with my background in customer success and business operations. But no amount of preparation fully equips you for the real experience of running a business together as a couple.

Reflecting on our first year, we’ve seen incredible growth, faced unexpected challenges, and learned more than we could have imagined. Here are five things we did well — and five things we wish we had done better.

 

Five Things We Did Well

Customer Experience First. From day one, we prioritized a high-quality wash and detailing service. We listened to customer feedback and made adjustments to improve efficiency and satisfaction. The result? A growing base of loyal customers. We also introduced additional services, like family pricing and express interior detailing, to create long-term value and repeat business.

Investing in the Right Equipment. We quickly realized that outdated or poorly maintained equipment leads to inefficiencies and downtime. Investing in high-quality tools, staying on top of repairs, and proactively maintaining the machinery have minimized disruptions. A single breakdown can cost us hundreds in lost revenue, so preventive maintenance has been a key factor in keeping things running smoothly.

“A single breakdown can cost us hundreds in lost revenue, so preventive maintenance has been a key factor in keeping things running smoothly.”

Marketing and Social Media Presence. We made a strong push on social media with promotions, giveaways, and engaging content. This helped us gain traction in the community and bring in new customers, especially through targeted Facebook ads and seasonal campaigns. Our fall-themed ads and winter promotions helped drive membership sales and increase awareness of the dangers of salt buildup on vehicles.

Building Community Relationships. Hosting fundraisers, supporting local organizations, and engaging with the community has strengthened our brand and built goodwill. One of our proudest moments was raising $500 for Holyoke Youth Football. We’ve also worked with local businesses for cross-promotions, helping expand our reach while supporting others in the area.

Learning Every Aspect of the Business. Rich made it his mission to understand the ins and outs of the car wash. From mechanical repairs to customer service, knowing every aspect has allowed us to be hands-on owners and troubleshoot problems quickly. I focused on streamlining operations, improving customer retention strategies, and refining our service offerings. This hands-on approach has allowed us to stay lean and maximize profitability.

 

Five Things We Wish We Did Better

Work-life Balance. Running a business as a couple means work follows you home. We often found ourselves discussing operations at dinner or on weekends, which led to burnout at times. Setting clear work-life boundaries earlier — such as designated ‘no-business’ hours — would have helped us recharge and avoid unnecessary stress.

Financial Planning for Unexpected Costs. While we had a budget, unexpected repairs and maintenance issues caught us off guard. For example, when a major piece of equipment broke down unexpectedly, we had to scramble to cover the repair costs. A larger emergency fund from the start would have reduced financial stress and allowed us to handle surprises more smoothly.

Hiring and Delegation. We took on too much ourselves in the beginning. Trying to manage every detail left us stretched thin. Learning to delegate and trust employees sooner would have helped us focus on growth rather than just daily operations. We now understand the importance of hiring the right people and providing clear training to ensure the business runs smoothly without us having to be there 24/7.

“We took on too much ourselves in the beginning. Trying to manage every detail left us stretched thin. Learning to delegate and trust employees sooner would have helped us focus on growth rather than just daily operations.”

Better Systems for Membership and Promotions. Our unlimited membership program is a great value, but in the early months, we struggled with managing renewals, tracking customer accounts, and efficiently promoting it. Implementing a more robust system from the start would have saved us headaches and provided a better experience for our customers.

Clearer Communication as Business Partners. Running a business together is different from a personal relationship. We had to learn to separate emotions from business decisions and communicate more effectively about expectations and responsibilities. Early on, miscommunications sometimes led to frustration, but over time, we developed a clearer structure for dividing tasks and making decisions together.

 

Looking Ahead

Our first year was full of lessons, and while we’ve made mistakes, we’ve also built something we’re incredibly proud of. We’ve increased our customer base, established a strong local presence, and created a business that continues to grow. As we move into our second year, we’re focusing on scaling, refining our processes, and continuing to provide top-notch service to our customers in Holyoke and beyond.

To fellow entrepreneurs — especially couples diving into business together — our advice is simple: plan for the unexpected, communicate openly, and celebrate the wins (big and small) along the way.

Here’s to another year of growth, learning, and cleaner cars!

 

Nicole and Rich Sherwood are the owners of Clean Queen Car Wash in Holyoke.

Steps to Building an Effective Relationship in the Workplace

By Contributor
Workforce Development

Mindfulness and Mentorship

By Chelsea Russell and Mia McDonald

 

Chelsea Russell

Chelsea Russell

Mia McDonald

Mia McDonald

Mentorship is essential in every career to help foster personal and professional growth among employees. These relationships are instrumental in developing the culture of your business by improving performance, increasing productivity, and encouraging continued learning.

Thoughtfully and strategically pairing individuals together to build a strong and successful connection is a win all around. For both parties to obtain the most benefit out of the mentor-mentee relationship, there are four main mental-health and mindfulness practices that can be utilized: visualization, goal setting, reflection, and gratitude.

 

Visualization

The first key in building a strong mentor-mentee relationship is visualization. This mindfulness technique is a practice that, even when informally used, can ensure that the mentor and mentee are on the same page when it comes to what they are each looking to get out of the collaboration. The mentor and mentee must come to the table with their own intrinsic motivation and determination to succeed.

Visualization can help each person regularly see their end outcome and plan out the processes that will help them get to their desired outcome. This practice can also be used to manage stress and everyday obstacles by reminding everyone that every step and obstacle is another day closer to the future and their vision.

 

“Establishing and setting goals creates purpose and provides a baseline for an ongoing, supportive relationship, with measurable benchmarks to continually gauge progress.”

 

Goal Setting

While visualization builds confidence and encourages forward thinking about what the future could hold, goal setting takes the next step by making those visions tangible. Mentors can offer invaluable help and guidance in setting and measuring short and long-term goals; therefore, this should be a collaborative process. Establishing and setting goals creates purpose and provides a baseline for an ongoing, supportive relationship, with measurable benchmarks to continually gauge progress.

Mentorship is about sharing and building on experiences to help define and refine meaningful objectives. Therefore, a best practice to build accountability in the mentorship would be to set up monthly check-ins to measure goal progression.

Goals can be fluid, as life happens and sometimes gets in the way of targets. However, having a mentor champion your goals with you can help determine where goals can be adjusted or what additional resources may be beneficial. Throughout the mentorship, always remember to celebrate the accomplishments and benchmarks along the way, no matter how big or small.

 

Reflection

An important part of goal setting and personal growth is reflecting on the outcome and the journey. The mentor and mentee should have open communication and provide regular feedback in a timely manner. When goals are completed, the mentor and mentee should reflect on what went well or what could have gone better, and then determine areas for growth.

During the mentorship, each person should reflect on their own progress individually and then discuss what they can do to improve or how they can provide better support for each other. Regular evaluation throughout the span of the relationship will create the most value.

 

Gratitude

Gratitude is something we all take for granted. As important as it is to continue looking for ways to improve, it is equally, if not more, important to slow down and practice regular gratitude — for each other and for the process. Being able to appreciate all the positive aspects and milestones of navigating the workforce and life will create more joy and improve overall well-being.

Expressing gratitude can be as simple as writing down what you are thankful for or telling a co-worker you are thankful for their guidance and support. This practice enhances the trust, mutual respect, and open communication that guides these meaningful relationships between the mentor and mentee.

When there is a sense of appreciation for each other and the process of mentorship, each person will grow, learn, and collaborate more effectively. Every challenge encountered is a building block toward the end goal and vision, so remember to be grateful for the learning opportunities provided and the continued growth.

 

Bottom Line

Achieving any success in the workplace is a measure of time, effort, and dedication. Success cannot be achieved alone; it is dependent on the help and support of others. Embracing the uncomfortable to push for new challenges and embracing ways to incorporate individuality will make any mentor-mentee relationship the most successful.

 

Chelsea Russell is a senior manager, and Mia McDonald a senior associate, at the Holyoke-based accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.

 

Franklin County Chamber to Lead Downtown Revitalization Project

By
Commercial Real Estate

Designs on Growth

The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce & Regional Tourism Council recently announced that it has been awarded the contract to spearhead the Rural Downtown Redevelopment Project, an initiative aimed at revitalizing the downtowns of Northfield, Turners Falls, and Shelburne Falls/Buckland.

The project, administered by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) and funded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development, aims to bolster economic growth and develop a sustainable regional model for rural downtown management. 

The year-long pilot project builds upon a 2023-24 study conducted by the BSC Group, which identified the need for enhanced coordination and administrative capacity to support rural downtowns. The Rural Downtown District Project aims to strengthen economic growth and improve collaboration between business owners, municipal leaders, and community stakeholders to boost local economies and improve overall downtown vibrancy, and pilot a regional downtown coordination model that, if successful, may be replicated throughout Franklin County and other rural areas. 

Project organizers say the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, serving as the county’s only regional chamber and state-designated regional tourism council, is well-positioned to lead the effort. With more than a century of experience supporting local businesses, promoting economic development, and marketing Franklin County locally and regionally, the chamber looks to improve collaboration and leverage existing resources to maximize the pilot’s success. 

“This project is an exciting opportunity to plug in additional administrative capacity to enhance regional collaboration and downtown vibrancy and test a replicable regional model for economic growth.”

“After a robust planning process, we are excited about the opportunity to work with the chamber on this pilot phase of the Rural Downtown Redevelopment Project,” said Ted Harvey, senior economic development planner at FRCOG. “At its core, this project is about building capacity and supporting our communities to grow their local economies sustainably. Given the chamber’s strong local partnerships and its success as a regional dot connector, the chamber is well-positioned to bring this program to life in the three downtown districts.” 

Harvey explained that each of the three pilot communities prioritized enhanced coordination in their local rapid recovery plans, making them ideal starter locations to pilot this new approach. 

He said the Franklin County Chamber will collaborate closely with the Franklin County Community Development Corp. (FCCDC), FRCOG, municipal officials, and local leaders to launch the pilot. A key part of the project will include hiring a downtown district coordinator to convene working groups in each community. These downtown working groups (DWGs) — comprised of business owners, residents, nonprofit leaders, arts and culture representatives, property owners, and town officials — will identify two or three priority projects in each district, help guide the downtown district coordinator, and inform long-term planning. 

“This project is an exciting opportunity to plug in additional administrative capacity to enhance regional collaboration and downtown vibrancy and test a replicable regional model for economic growth,” said Jessye Deane, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce & Regional Tourism Council. “This is a great, low-risk opportunity to pilot a regional coordination model and give our downtowns a measurable boost.”

Deane said the downtown district coordinator’s work will be guided by input from local stakeholders to ensure that projects reflect each community’s unique vision and needs. The DWGs will also help determine how to best leverage available resources and identify new opportunities for funding downtown projects. 

“The Franklin County CDC is excited to work with the chamber and FRCOG on this project. We work one-on-one with many businesses in the area to strengthen their business plans and work with them on marketing, operations, and finances. We provide capital when appropriate,” said John Waite, executive director of the FCCDC. “We also know that each individual business is stronger when the other neighboring businesses are stronger. This project will help businesses and vested stakeholders work together and use their various strengths to make each downtown greater than the sum of its parts.”

Fast Pace of Change Clouds Projections for Auto Industry

By
Autos Special Coverage

Too Many Moving Parts

 

‘Fascinating.’

That’s the first word Ben Sullivan, chief operating officer at Balise Motor Sales, used to describe the current landscape for the auto industry, and especially dealers, as tariffs of some kind, involving some countries and some products, loom over the sector.

He would use many others, especially ‘uncertainty’ and ‘volatility,’ terms that explain why, by and large, the large Balise stable of dealerships across Western Mass., Connecticut, and Cape Cod isn’t really doing much of anything at this point in response to what’s happening and is conducting what could be described business as usual.

That includes refraining from use of ‘beat the tariffs prices’ advertisements and similar messages that many others have deployed — although they’ve been discussed.

“We just didn’t think we had enough clarity to do that,” Sullivan said, hitting on just how much uncertainty exists today. “If we’re going to say something to our customers, we have to make sure that we’re on solid ground. We absolutely stayed away from creating any kind of frenzy around these things because we just don’t know if it’s true or not.”

But while it’s business as usual in some respects, dealers are certainly doing more business than usual for this time of year.

“Consumers are getting smart when it comes to how to manipulate the market and take advantage of the best opportunity and time to upgrade their vehicle and learning how to really maximize their equity.”

Indeed, while Sullivan said sales in March and April were up 24% over that same period a year ago, Carla Cosenzi, president of TommyCar Auto Group, which has five dealerships in Hampshire County, put the number at more than 30% across all brands, with Hyundai and Volkswagen leading the way.

“We’ve seen a surge in consumer urgency — they’re trying to get ahead of the potential tariffs,” she said. “And, right now, incentives are still good — there are a lot of low APRs available for consumers across the board — and their trade values are worth more than now than they were a month ago or two months ago. That combination is driving a sense of urgency.”

Other impacts include:

• An increase in leasing, as consumers in need of a new car survey the situation and see that option as a way to get a decent price and buy themselves some time until there is more clarity on what will happen long-term, or at least longer-term;

• With uncertainty about new cars, marked growth in demand for used cars, with prices holding generally steady, at least for now, said Cosenzi, adding that this demand translates into those higher trade-in values she mentioned; and

• A similar increase in demand for service contracts as consumers read and hear about how the prices of parts might be soaring as well due to tariffs.

“Consumers are getting smart when it comes to how to manipulate the market and take advantage of the best opportunity and time to upgrade their vehicle and learning how to really maximize their equity,” said Cosenzi as she surveyed the landscape and what’s she’s seeing from her front-row seat regarding all of the above.

Ben Sullivan says there are too many variables and unknowns to say with any kind of certainty what the short and long term look like for auto dealers.

Ben Sullivan says there are too many variables and unknowns to say with any kind of certainty what the short and long term look like for auto dealers.

As for what comes next … well, that’s where uncertainty takes over, especially with headlines changing seemingly every week, or even every day, on the levels of tariffs, possible exemptions, new deals with countries — such as the 90-day truce recently struck with China — and possibly individual manufacturers, and more.

“Nobody’s making major adjustments — the manufacturers are not making wild swings in what they’re doing because the landscape is changing almost by the day,” said Sullivan, who drew a parallel to the recent run on iPhones, a surge that quickly abated when it was announced that there would be exemptions on those products, but then picked up again when it was announced that the chips inside them would not be exempt.

“Overall, I don’t believe the tariff news will end up being as bad as we fear or as good as we hope,” said Sullivan as he summed things up, adding that it is simply too soon to know what will happen in the months and years to come.

Cosenzi agreed, noting that, beyond prices, inventory will be something to watch. Availability will likely become more limited, she said, adding that the great unknowns are when and to what degree this will happen.

“It’s too soon to really know, and it depends on the brand, but we’re starting to see that slowdown with brands like Volvo and VW,” she noted, adding that she doesn’t know if these cars are still in Europe or at the dock waiting for the smoke to clear. “It’s really complicated right now, and it’s very gray, so it’s hard for us to give consumers a clear picture.”

‘Fascinating.’ ‘Complicated.’ ‘Volatile.’ ‘Gray.’ These are the adjectives that describe the current state of the auto sales market, and it appears they will prevail for some time.

 

Driving Forces

March and April are traditionally not big months in the auto industry, said those we spoke with. They’re not bad months, necessarily, but they’re not like February (the real start of the sales season), end of year, or even some summer months, when there are usually deals to be had.

But this year was, of course, different.

With the coming of President Trump’s Liberation Day and news reports of car prices rising several thousand dollars as a result of traiffs, consumers took the initiative and found not only locked-in prices, but some incentives as well, said Cosenzi, adding that demand has been steady across the board, brand-wise, with small to mid-sized SUVs still dominating sales. Overall, the trend continues even as the rhetoric on tariffs continues to soften.

“When you back it up and look into an industry like ours with a truly global supply chain, it is nearly impossible right now to determine all of the impacts.”

Some of these buyers needed a new car, she said, but most were trying to beat the clock when it comes to expected price hikes and reduced availability.

“They may not necessarily be in the market for a new car, but they’re saying, ‘I might as well take advantage of the market conditions and upgrade sooner rather than later,” she explained, adding that this surge speaks to still-high levels of confidence in the economy.

Meanwhile, some manufacturers are price-protecting until the end of May and June in some cases, which provides even more incentive to buy now.

“If someone is in the market for a new car or coming up to be in the market, this is the perfect time to purchase,” said Cosenzi, adding that, while no one has a crystal ball and can say what the landscape will look like in six months or even six weeks, it is unlikely that it will look as good as it does now for consumers.

So, for now, it is still business as usual, and more of it. The overriding question is for how long. And no one really knows.

There are too many variables, especially when it comes to the impact on the thousands of parts that go into a vehicle, how many times these parts cross boundaries, and, thus, how many times they may be subject to a tariff.

“When you back it up and look into an industry like ours with a truly global supply chain, it is nearly impossible right now to determine all of the impacts,” Sullivan said. “A car might be assembled in Alabama, but there are parts from all over the world. And some of those things start as a small part, get put into an assembly, they cross the country border, get into the next stage of development … some of these assemblies might cross a country border seven times. So, if the tariffs become stackable, it would be devastating to consumers.”

Which explains the surge in new-car and used-car buying in March and April, but also the increases in leasing and service contracts as consumers digest the news and look to beat some worst-case scenarios with regard to both pricing and availability.

“With the tariffs, inventories will start to tighten, and consumers want to get ahead of that,” Cosenzi said. “They don’t want to be in a situation like the one they were in with COVID, where if they wanted a car, they really had to sacrifice what they were looking for in terms of color or trim.”

Carla Cosenzi says March and April were much busier than normal amid tariff and inventory concerns, and that trend is continuing.

Carla Cosenzi says March and April were much busier than normal amid tariff and inventory concerns, and that trend is continuing.

While this is certainly a good time to buy, and many consumers are, Sullivan said Balise has been reluctant to encourage consumers to buy now because of the high levels of uncertainty and the pace at which the landscape is changing.

“Most industry analysts say the average car price could go up by between $4,000 and $15,000 if all this comes to pass,” he noted. “There will certainly be some cost increase, but I don’t think it will be as severe as people fear at this point. But there is so much that is not known.”

Dealers are already seeing swings in consumer activity, he went on, adding that, while April was a very strong month for Balise, by late April, as the headlines started to reflect a softening of tone on tariffs, the pace of sales eased accordingly.

He drew some parallels to the early months of COVID, when news of shortages of paper towels and toilet paper sent consumers into stores for what amounted to panic buying.

It’s not quite like that with auto sales, but there was a similar knee-jerk reaction, Sullivan said, adding that the frenzy, if it can be called that, is already abating.

 

Bottom Line

Returning to his analogy with iPhones, Sullivan said it provides some appropriate context for any conjecture on what might happen next in his industry.

“You go to bed one night assuming that your iPhone is going to cost $2,000, and the next morning, it’s still going to be $800 to $900 for the top-end models that it was the day before,” he said, adding that the same is likely — not definite, but likely — to be the case with all those mid-sized SUVs on the market today.

But no one really knows.

So dealers have to be ready, willing, and able to adjust on the fly and absorb whatever comes at them, Cosenzi said, adding that, over the past several years, they’ve had plenty of practice at pivoting.

“This is a really challenging industry anyway, so dealers have to be resilient to be able to be in this business,” she explained. “We know how to pivot quickly and adjust to whatever the customers’ needs and demands are, and that’s what we’re doing in these unsettled times.”

That’s what’s needed when there are so many moving parts, literally and figuratively.

Collaborative for Educational Services Emphasizes Lifelong Learning

By
Executive Director Todd Gazda
Special Coverage Workforce Development

Focus on the Future

Executive Director Todd Gazda

Executive Director Todd Gazda

“Everyone is a learner.”

Those are the words used on marketing materials for the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES), one of 24 such collaboratives in Massachusetts and arguably the most robust when it comes to programming.

“We’re kind of different than the other 23,” Executive Director Todd Gazda told BusinessWest. “The other 23 collaboratives really focus on special education and direct services to students — autism programs or behavior programs or programs for students with developmental delays, situations where their regular public school district doesn’t have the capacity to effectively meet their needs and they are looking an out-of-district placement.

“What happens is the districts get together and form a collaborative to pool resources and work in a manner that supports maximizing resources,” he explained. “One school district may be too small to apply for a grant, but if the collaborative pulls together three or four or five districts, then they can help coordinate what happens.”

CES does some of that too, and also runs two programs that provide direct services to students: HEC Academy, a special education school in Northampton, and Mount Tom Academy on the Holyoke Community College campus, which serves non-traditional students who, for whatever reason, are having difficulty succeeding in a regular public school setting and need more personalized instruction and support.

“We’ve seen incredible success for the students who attend both of those programs,” Gazda noted.

That said, he added, the Collaborative for Educational Services is much broader than that. For one thing, it runs statewide programs; as one example, for the past 15 years, it has provided all educational programming for the Department of Youth Services (DYS).

“So, for every youth lock-up in the state of Massachusetts, we run the schools. We hire the teachers, we do the curriculum, and it’s just like a regular public school setting.”

CES also provides special education in institutional settings, from DYS to Department of Mental Health programs to county houses of correction. Other statewide services include the Massachusetts Migrant Education Program, which connects migrant youth and their families with services and supports, and the Special Education Surrogate Parent Program, which connects special-education advocates with students whose parents, for whatever reason, aren’t in the picture.

“One of the areas that we’ve really gotten into recently is AI — how do we support districts as they seek to kind of adapt to AI and its use in schools and its use in instruction, and how do we effectively utilize it to support learning in the classroom?”

CES also does a lot of consulting and professional-development work statewide for teachers, schools, and districts, running the gamut from curriculum development to strategic planning.

“One of the areas that we’ve really gotten into recently is AI — how do we support districts as they seek to kind of adapt to AI and its use in schools and its use in instruction, and how do we effectively utilize it to support learning in the classroom?” Gazda explained. “That’s been a big area of growth for us.

“We’ve also done quite a bit of work helping districts navigate difficult conversations. There may be an incident in a school district that creates an emotionally charged atmosphere; we’ll go in and facilitate listening sessions and focus groups and pull people together to help bridge those differences so that people can have thoughtful conversations about their differences. We’ve been doing that work across the Commonwealth as well.”

CES also has an Early Childhood division that serves students “from cradle to career,” Gazda said — from pre-K education all the way up through internship programs to help link them to careers.

“Early Childhood, again, works statewide with school districts, helping them build more robust preschool programs and provide good services to their preschool students,” he explained, adding that other CES programs deal in community wellness, local food policy, and substance-abuse awareness and prevention.

 

Career Goals

One particularly robust element of the collaborative’s services is its workforce development programs.

“We partner with school districts, and they plan and implement a variety of workforce and career development programs for students — skills trainings, career development, helping students create and refine résumés, interviewing skills,” Gazda said. “These are all things we work on with our member districts to help students so, as they look to go into the workforce or prepare for a career, they have this skill set.”

One of those initiatives has been a paid STEM internship program, helping students prepare for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. Since 2018, the program has placed 265 students in good-paying internships across 28 Western Mass. school districts.

“These are high-school kids who literally get paid to do work in businesses. It’s a leg up for the kids, but it’s also a leg up for local businesses, particularly those in the STEM fields, because it gives them an opportunity to train these students and generate a future workforce for them. It’s a win for everybody.”

While providing support for students in its local districts, as all such collaboratives do, CES also runs statewide programs.

While providing support for students in its local districts, as all such collaboratives do, CES also runs statewide programs.

Placements, typically for between 100 and 270 hours, are typically done over the summer when students have more time and opportunity. The fields include biomedical engineering, molecular biology, biotechnology, biochemistry, polymer science, neuroscience, oncology, nursing, and other fields within the STEM realm.

“They have paid stipends at the state minimum hourly wage or higher,” Gazda noted. “And they get training and support in researching, communicating, interview preparation, cover letter and résumé writing, and internship performance reviews. They gain professional and scientific experience, and they gain references to support college applications and job applications.”

The STEM program has grown from serving 30 students in 2018 to 69 last year, and 98% of participants complete their internships. Those results aren’t a matter of luck, Gazda said.

“There’s a lot of work that goes into matching the student with the employer in the correct field to get that kind of a completion rate. So it’s a good fit,” he noted, adding that, since 2018, the program has served 28 school districts in Western Mass., with 60 employers hosting student interns.

Funding has come from a variety of sources, but the biggest and longest supporter is the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), which supports internships of up to 270 hours.

“We can coordinate with MLSC to pay for 19 placements at UMass Amherst,” he said. “In 2024, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education’s STEM-focused internship program funded 47 internships and a portion of our director’s salary. Community partners supported three internships, and a private donor in Hadley supported three internships. And we were able to secure private donor funding to support 41 students this summer with paid internships.”

Finding the finances to support this work is always a challenge, Gazda said.

“The problem is uncertainty at the federal level, which is leading to changes in state funding priorities,” he noted. “The Executive Office of Education is no longer offering funding under the STEM internship program, and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is reducing its support for student stipends as well. So this is where we find ourselves — in kind of a state of flux, funding-wise.”

CES, founded in 1974 and now the largest collaborative in Massachusetts by membership, geographic size, and revenue — around $39 million last year — gets funding from grants, contracts, and fees for service. But much of its money filters through the state or federal government in some way, meaning it’s vulnerable to the spending cuts happening in Washington`.

“If we run short, I can’t go back to a town and say, ‘we need more money.’ It just doesn’t work that way. We’ve got to earn and raise and generate revenue to support all of the different programming that we do to support our districts,” Gazda said.

“These are high-school kids who literally get paid to do work in businesses. It’s a leg up for the kids, but it’s also a leg up for local businesses, particularly those in the STEM fields, because it gives them an opportunity to train these students and generate a future workforce for them. It’s a win for everybody.”

“Typically, when you have a lot of grant-funded programs, there’s always a certain amount of trepidation about when that grant is going to end. Will you get another one? Will it be extended? And now, that’s kind of heightened by that additional question regarding anything directly from the federal government: are they going to cut it off with no warning?”

He certainly hopes not, noting that the internship programs have no real downside, for either the students or the businesses.

“The employer business partners who host school STEM interns enjoy the re-energizing benefits of mentorship and the additional support to complete certain projects. Employers are given a seat at the table in creating a pipeline of future researchers and workers,” he told BusinessWest. “Having an educated workforce is critical for our business community to thrive, and this is one vehicle whereby we can help make it happen.”

 

Revenue Questions

Gazda was superintendent of schools in Ludlow for nine years and has been working for 24 years in public education. Before that, he was an attorney, doing corporate litigation in New York City.

“I just came to the realization that wasn’t the job I wanted or the life I wanted to live. So I moved back home to Western Mass. and became an eighth-grade history teacher,” he recalled. “It was a little scary making that switch, but I’ve never regretted it once.”

The Ludlow district belongs to the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, the only other collaborative in Western Mass. It primarily runs special education programs, as well as a vocational school. “So it’s a slightly different type of collaborative and more in line with the other collaboratives across the state.”

At CES, Gazda has broadened his focus, applying lessons from the classroom and public school administration to an agency that is doing impactful work across a much wider playing field.

“It is a lot, and trying to keep all those moving parts going, particularly in this fiscal environment, has created challenges for the organization,” he noted, adding that the financial challenges aren’t new. “The pandemic really shook things up, and we’re seeing the results of uncertain finances in districts across the state where they’re being forced to adjust to declining student populations, less revenues, and increased expenses. So there’s a ripple effect that creates the system that we have to work within.”

Still, he remains optimistic, and focused on the work. “We continue to monitor the situation in order to be ready to respond to whatever happens to come next.”

In other words, keep on learning, always with an eye on the future.

USA Ninja Challenge Eyes Expansion into Western Mass.

By
Commercial Real Estate Special Coverage

Warrior Mentality

Richard Knight says USA Ninja Challenge not only develops core strength, agility, and flexibility, but offers a positive, supportive environment to get in shape.

 

Richard Knight said the idea for a business that now boasts dozens of franchises across the U.S. — and will soon come to Western Mass. — has its roots in a video found on the internet.

Twelve years ago, he recalled, he was sitting at a luncheon with his friend, Dale Grant, who owned a gymnastics studio in Concord, N.H. with his wife.

“A friend sent a video to him of a child going over homemade obstacles, and we were sitting there saying, ‘that’s just like the TV show American Ninja Warrior,’” Knight recalled.

The child’s enthusiasm was infectious — and the show, which poses a series of challenges along a grueling obstacle course, was peaking in popularity around that time.

At the same time, Grant was lamenting the fact that boys were dropping out of gymnastics — it was becoming harder to keep them engaged as they got older — and he and Knight began talking about opening a different kind of gym. Knight had sold a business in 2008 and was looking for a different opportunity, and in 2015, the pair launched the first USA Ninja Challenge facility in Manchester, N.H.

“The kids see it as variety, working on cool new obstacles. What they’re doing is working different muscle groups — but don’t tell the kids that. They’re having a great time doing something different every week.”

“It’s an interesting model,” said Knight, a New Hampshire native and now the company’s CEO. “We took the basics of our backgrounds from gymnastics and CrossFit and built a curriculum for training children. It’s a different lesson plan every week. The kids see it as variety, working on cool new obstacles. What they’re doing is working different muscle groups — but don’t tell the kids that. They’re having a great time doing something different every week. The variety makes it exciting for them.”

Seven years ago, after a second site opened in Concord, USA Ninja Challenge opened its first franchised location in South Windsor, Conn. Since then, the company has opened — or is in the process of opening — about 50 such locations across the U.S., including three now operating in Massachusetts: in Andover, Marlborough, and, most recently, Norton.

And now Knight and Grant have Western Mass. on their radar. They have researched communities including Northampton, Holyoke, Southampton, and others, and are looking to open up to five locations in and around the Pioneer Valley, with the first expected to open during the first half of 2026.

“All our gyms are doing great in the Massachusetts market, and we’re looking to expand our footprint,” Knight said, before talking about why the company’s franchise model is attractive. “We’ve been able to get 60% of our gym owners to go cash-flow positive in the first month. That’s huge when you start a business — to get to that break-even point. That’s the first hurdle for any business owner. After that, you’re adding kids every month to the program.”

He said USA Ninja Challenge looks for locations within a short driving distance from at least 15,000 to 20,000 people, a quality the Valley has in spades. The sites will ideally have between 3,500 and 8,000 square feet of space.

“It takes about six months to find the right location. We’re looking for light industrial space, flex space — we don’t need retail, similar to a gymnastics studio. That’s what we’re targeting,” he explained. “Once we find a location and sign a lease, it’s 13 weeks to open. It’s highly automated, highly structured, from that point.”

With ambitious plans taking shape, Knight talked with BusinessWest for this issue’s focus on commercial real estate about what USA Ninja Challenge does for kids — and what it can bring to this region.

 

Fit and Focused

Open to boys and girls aged 2 to 17, USA Ninja Challenge is a year-round obstacle-course training program that combines basic skill sets from gymnastics, climbing, cross training, and track and field. The program features six levels to master with a wide variety of progressions, drills, and challenges, including rings, balance obstacles, tumbling surfaces, cargo nets, traverse walls, slack lines, ropes, ladders, and warped walls.

Ninjas that demonstrate their mastery of skills advance to the next level of training, and each participant progresses according to their own ability. Essentially, Knight said, the program aims to build children’s self-esteem, confidence, and sense of accomplishment, one obstacle at a time.

“When I put my stepson in the program, he was probably 20 to 30 pounds overweight and didn’t like school sports, and six months later, he was doing 10 good push-ups and holding a plank. At the end of the year, he was doing 100. Now he’s 21 years old, and he’s a fit young man.

“Traditional sports never worked for him. He didn’t like football, soccer, or basketball. Ninja gives kids of all abilities the chance to be challenged and get in shape, and we can also take top athletes and elevate them even further,” he went on. “The program helps develop core strength, agility, and flexibility for kids. You develop the upper body as well. It really helps in other sports because, if you have a strong core, that helps you with everything you do in life.”

Kids can enroll in memberships for one, two, or three visits a week, and those classes are supplemented with events like birthday parties, camps, and competitions, he added.

“What sets us apart from other franchises is a focus on families and community give-back,” Knight went on. “People we attract as owners are people that want to work with children and develop long-term relationships with families. It’s about helping kids get fit and feeling good about themselves, and putting kids and families first.”

He called the sport a “positive positive,” then explained what that means.

“We’ve been able to get 60% of our gym owners to go cash-flow positive in the first month. That’s huge when you start a business — to get to that break-even point. That’s the first hurdle for any business owner. After that, you’re adding kids every month to the program.”

“Say you go to a basketball game. People in the stands are booing kids, booing players, booing referees, and they’re cheering their own kids as well. In ninja, when we have a competitive event, you cheer for every athlete. There’s no booing. There’s no ‘oh, ref, you’re terrible.’ There’s none of that. The kids get exposed to an environment that’s all about themselves in a very positive environment.

“From a sports standpoint, that is huge with our kids,” he added. “There’s a lot going on in society today, and here, children can be in a very positive environment and feel good about themselves and grow. And that’s very good for us as parents, too.”

As for the community element, franchises have become involved, through fundraisers and other activities, with organizations like school PTAs and PTOs, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, 4-H, the American Cancer Society, Best Buddies, and many more.

“It’s really part of our nature to do those things on a regular basis,” Knight said. “So people who tend to be owners really like the family aspect of it, working with children, and the local give-back. That’s what’s unique about our business model, unlike a fast-food restaurant where you can make good money, but may not make the same kinds of relationships.”

 

Olympic Dreams

The latest development that has Knight and Grant excited is the elevation of obstacle course racing to the Summer Olympics, starting in 2028 in Los Angeles.

Specifically, it’s now part of the pentathlon, replacing equestrian show jumping. A few years ago, the International Olympic Committee evaluated a whopping 62 proposals to replace that event before deciding on a ninja-style obstacle course. The other four pentathlon events remain swimming, fencing, pistol shooting, and running.

Knight and Grant both believe this development will further legitimize the sport, providing both opportunities for kids to get fit — particularly those who don’t enjoy traditional youth sports — while boosting the profile of USA Ninja Challenge. Knight expects the number of franchises to reach around 90 within a year.

USA Ninja Challenge is looking to open up to five locations in Western Mass., starting in 2026.

USA Ninja Challenge is looking to open up to five locations in Western Mass., starting in 2026.

“We have a partnership with U.S. Olympics,” he told BusinessWest. “We run competitions for our kids, and top athletes get to train with Olympic coaches in the summer. We’re the only one that has a program like that because we have a curriculum that’s all about progression training for kids.”

“People we attract as owners are people that want to work with children and develop long-term relationships with families.”

The company has also been involved with the Junior Olympics program, offering ideas to help create a pathway for kids to compete for the Olympics in this sport. And it is growing worldwide. The Ultimate Ninja Athlete Assoc. saw about 10,000 kids from 23 countries at its championship in Anaheim, Calif. last year — a tenfold increase from 2023.

And when the Olympics added the sport to its pentathlon, 160 countries immediately signed on — the biggest adoption of any sport introduced to the Olympics, Knight said.

He’s equally excited about the potential of this growing youth activity to get kids active and in shape, a particular concern in this era of copious screen time. An article on the USA Ninja Challenge website touts several studies linking youth fitness to better performance at school as well.

In short, he said, the benefits are manifold, and for Western Mass., they will also include that community element he spoke of, as well as job creation.

“We need people to work with kids and provide kids with a positive, safe environment to develop,” he told BusinessWest, adding that there will be a need for coaches, managers, and other positions at the new gyms when they start to open up in this region next year. “It’s remarkable the positive impact this can have on the community.”

Great Barrington Is a True Destination

By
The Daniel Arts Center is one of many individual pieces on the Bard College of Simon’s Rock campus that have caught the attention of developers.
Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

 

The Daniel Arts Center is one of many individual pieces on the Bard College of Simon’s Rock campus that have caught the attention of developers.

The Daniel Arts Center is one of many individual pieces on the Bard College of Simon’s Rock campus that have caught the attention of developers.

John Weinstein said the phones started ringing seemingly within hours after the news broke last November.

This was the official announcement that Bard College at Simon’s Rock, an institution in Great Barrington for 60 years, would be closing its campus there and relocating programs to Bard College’s main campus in New York for the start of fall classes.

The phone calls were — and are (they’re still coming at a good clip) — from those interested in acquiring and developing all or a piece of the 280-acre campus, with a wide range of specific intentions, including housing.

“The inquiries have ranged from totality to the very granular,” said Weinstein, the school’s vice president and provost, meaning everything from the entire campus to individual buildings to specific pieces of equipment.

Interest in those pieces picked up in intensity with passage of an overlay zone at the recent town meeting, one that will permit many different uses beyond education, said Weinstein, adding that some uses — cannabis facilities and an amusement park, for example — are still not allowed.

The fate of the Bard campus and the prospect of losing such a large contributor to the Great Barrington economy are at the top of a long list of storylines involving this picturesque Southern Berkshires community and its mostly tourism-driven business community.

“The inquiries have ranged from totality to the very granular.”

“This will have an impact on the town in multiple ways,” said Betsy Andrus, executive director of the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, based in Great Barrington. “We won’t have the influx of students coming into the town for shopping and eating, and you also have teachers and staff, an athletic center, and the Daniel Arts Center; it’s certainly a loss for this area.”

A loss that is in many ways balanced by anticipation about what might come next.

As for other storylines, they include everything from new ownership for several downtown properties — and reshaping of those properties for retail and office use (including a new home for the chamber) as well as residential units — to lingering housing concerns, especially a shortage of affordable, or ‘workforce,’ units, putting a burden on both business owners and their employees.

“This whole area needs more workforce housing; our employees can find places to live, but often at a fairly substantial commute,” said Janis Martinson, executive director of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. “It’s a real challenge; people are coming a long way to get to work because they don’t have a choice.”

Janis Martinson says the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will open a second facility later this year, one of many efforts to connect the community to the arts.

Janis Martinson says the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will open a second facility later this year, one of many efforts to connect the community to the arts.

On another note (pun intended), this is shaping up to be a big year for the Mahaiwe, built in 1905, which has a full slate of performances on tap — from classic movies like Casablanca, shown on Valentine’s Day, and Sabrina, which aired May 23, to a Brian Cox tribute to opera, comedy, and a wide variety of musical performances — and is set to open an accessory venue in the town’s former fire station.

“A group of businesspeople have restored the firehouse, and they’re leasing us a portion of the first floor,” said Martinson, adding that the building is roughly the same age as the Mahaiwe. “We’re using that as an intimate, flexible performance venue and a concession space.”

The Mahaiwe is one of many key contribitors to a vibrant downtown that has made a near-complete recovery from COVID and extensive infrastructure work in the central business district, said Martinson, adding that, while Great Barrington once had slow times of the year — most of September, for example — it is now vibrant year-round.

“I think the town has grown a little younger,” she said. “And while there used to be some times when it would be pretty sleepy, it’s not like that anymore; this is a 12-month-a-year busy town.”

Andrus agreed, noting that the investments made in several downtown properties will bring more people, and more vibrancy, to the area, with some new businesses and several existing ones with new mailing addresses.

“I think the town has grown a little younger. And while there used to be some times when it would be pretty sleepy, it’s not like that anymore; this is a 12-month-a-year busy town.”

“Change is always a positive thing,” she said, noting that several existing businesses have or will find new and better spots. Meanwhile, new housing units equate to more people living in the central business district — and more opportunities for some workers to shorten their commute.

For this latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Great Barrington and the many developing stories in this destination community.

 

A Loss — and an Opportunity

Weinstein said the decision to close Bard College’s Great Barrington campus and relocate its various programs — early college and some high-school offerings — came down to numbers.

Getting more specific, he said it was the number of students that would make sustaining that campus feasible. That number is at least 450 and preferably much higher, he noted, adding that the school hasn’t been able to reach that threshold, and with current demographic shifts — specifically fewer high-school-age people — it wasn’t going to get there anytime soon.

So the decision was made to move the school and its programs to the main Bard campus, where economies of scale will make this operation much more sustainable, said Weinstein, adding quickly that, while this move represents a loss for the community, the campus as a whole and its individual parts present a unique development opportunity.

And the zoning overlay district certainly helps in this redevelopment, said Weinstein and others we spoke with, noting that it will permit operation of an athletic center and performing-arts center — those are just two examples — without a school being attached.

“Those most interested in the future of the property did that shift,” said Weinstein, noting that the redevelopment of the campus will afford the town an opportunity to address some of its pressing needs and challenges, a list that certainly includes housing.

Great Barrington at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1761
Population: 7,172
Area: 45.8 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $13.79
Commercial Tax Rate: $13.79
Median Household Income: $95,490
Median Family Income: $103,135
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Fairview Hospital; Iredale Mineral Cosmetics; Prairie Whale
* Latest information available

Andrus agreed, noting, as Martinson did, that businesses and their employees are impacted by the current lack of affordable housing.

Many of these businesses are in the broad tourism, hospitality, and retail sectors, said Andrus, noting that Great Barrington draws visitors from nearby New York, other communities within the Berkshires, and well beyond. Meanwhile, its population increases threefold in the summer, from 7,000 to 21,000, as snowbirds and those with second homes in the area return.

“With that influx of people, even going to the grocery store can be chaotic,” she noted, adding that the town’s character changes as its population swells, especially the central business district.

Residents and visitors alike enjoy a very walkable downtown that features attractions like the Mahaiwe, a diverse lineup of restaurants, and unique arts-related programs such as Berkshire Busk — organized street entertainment (everything from singers and flamenco dancers to poets and aerialists) that runs on Railroad Street and other parts of the downtown on Friday and Saturday nights from early July to Labor Day.

There have been some changes within this downtown, and more are on the way, as some aging properties have changed hands, said Andrus, adding that this list includes the so-called Mahaiwe Block, the Marble Block, and other properties.

“All these buildings have changed hands to younger, probably more energetic people,” she said, adding that these landmarks are being renovated and, in some cases, reimagined, with mixes of retail, office, and much-needed housing.

The chamber’s new home at 343 Main St., across from Town Hall, is a good example. The property there, acquired and redeveloped by the Alander Group, will house the chamber’s offices as well as an enlarged visitors’ center, as well as other retail, 15 apartments, and a wine bar, said Andrus, noting that, prior to its move, the chamber was in two locations, a small visitors’ booth in front of CVS and a business office on Railroad Street, a situation that was less than ideal.

“It was like working in a cave — it was hard to find; it wasn’t easily accessible,” she said of the Railroad Street location. “Now, we’ve combined the business office and visitors center, and it’s a real improvement.”

The Alander Group also owns the Mahaiwe Block, which houses the performing arts center, she said, adding that it also features retail and housing units.

Meanwhile, at the Marble Block on Main Street, the former Gorham & Norton grocery store, a fixture for generations, is being remade into Robbie’s Community Market, said Andrus, adding that the property will soon feature several apartments as well. As for the market, it will be a collective, including a coffee bar, pizza oven, sandwich shop, and more, combining the past — this was a soda counter decades ago — with the present.

 

Taking Center Stage

These investments, as well as the new or relocated businesses and residents they bring to the area, will create more vibrancy in the downtown, said Andrus, adding that, overall, the downtown continues to thrive and build on its status as a destination.

Martinson agreed. She took the reins as executive director of the Mahaiwe in January 2020, just two months before COVID arrived and essentially shut down its scheduled season.

But the facility survived that challenge by getting creative, she recalled, adding that one of first initiatives that year was to partner with Bard College at Simon’s Rock to create a drive-in movie theater in one of its parking lots.

“They had a parking lot outside their performing arts center that happened to be tiered down a hillside, so we could have all the cars facing in one direction and put the screen at the bottom of the hill,” she recalled, adding that the schedule included a few of the Star Wars movies, American Graffiti, The Princess Bride, and other family stalwarts.

“That’s how we got through summer,” she went on, adding that the Mahaiwe partnered with other performing arts nonprofits in the area to record concerts from its stage in efforts that were more about the arts than revenues. “We managed to stay in touch with our community throughout the pandemic, and that’s really the point — to bring people together, and bring them together around the performing arts.”

This creative spirit continues today, she said, adding that the facility hosted more than 125 individual events last year and will grow that number this year, especially with the opening of the new space in the renovated former fire station.

“We’ll be able to do much more intimate performances there — things that are a little more niche and involving emerging artists and more local artists,” Martinson told BusinessWest. “And we’ll be able to rent that space out to local performing arts organizations.

“We’re really excited about that coming online,” she went on, adding that there have been some ‘sneak previews,’ with a planned opening for later in the year, probably the fall.

The auxiliary theater is part of a broader five-year strategic plan now in year two, said Martinson, adding that, in simple terms, the plan calls for bringing more performing arts than it already brings to its main stage and “reaching further into our community.”

That community includes Great Barrington residents, but also visitors from a wide radius, she said, adding that this town is a true destination, one that has made its way all the way back from the dark days of COVID.

And one that is looking to turn the loss of Bard College at Simon’s Rock into new opportunities.

Project Will Restore WMA Chapel, Make It a Gathering Place

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The historic chapel, seen above in an archival photo, will be restored to its former glory and given a new role as a dining facility, as seen in the architect’s rendering below.
Education

Turning Back the Clock

 

The historic chapel, seen above in an archival photo, will be restored to its former glory and given a new role as a dining facility, as seen in the architect’s rendering below.

The historic chapel, seen above in an archival photo, will be restored to its former glory and given a new role as a dining facility, as seen in the architect’s rendering below.

architect’s rendering

Brian Easler calls it “an inflection point … a seismic shift in the academy’s upward trajectory.”

He was referring to a $20 million project to create a new kitchen and servery at Wilbraham & Monson Academy (WMA) and convert its historic chapel into a dining commons.

Those phrases ‘inflection point’ and ‘seismic shift’ refer to several aspects of this project and cover a lot of ground. Indeed, they reference everything from the magnitude of the upgrade in dining facilities — from fairly nondescript quarters to the fully restored chapel, with its vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows, what students are calling the ‘Harry Potter dining hall’ — to the way this project will shift still more of the activity at WMA to the east side of Main Street, thus reducing traffic crossing the busy street.

“This will move the center of the campus from the west side of Main Street to the east side,” said Easler. “And that will generate a 70% reduction in student Main Street crossings, which is just one big impact.”

Meanwhile ‘inflection point’ also refers to the way this project galvanized the WMA community and especially its alumni base, from which the vast majority of the funds for the project were raised.

“This was not one of those fund-raising efforts where you put the ask out to everyone in the community … 7,000 alumni and everyone chips in,” Easler explained. “This was a handful of donors already close to the school, already close to me.

“We went out to them with personal appeals from the school to see if they were interested in the project,” he went on. “We were fortunate in that they were all interested in the project, and they were almost all able to help us with it; that’s how we were able to make it happen relatively quicky.”

“This space will serve as a unifying gathering place for our community. The dining commons will become the heart and soul of our campus, and a central part of the student experience.”

Elaborating, he said there were two lead gifts — from donors he was not ready to name — that generated much-needed momentum for the initiative, one for $7 million, the other for $5 million. “Several other people picked up on that momentum, and that enabled us to get to $20 million.”

Groundbreaking ceremonies were staged on April 25. Work is slated to commence soon, and the plan is to have the facility ready for the start of the 2026-27 school year.

Easler said the initiative represents the next phase in the school’s master plan for its campus, one with several components, including the construction of a new athenaeum, completed in 2020, which is connected to the chapel and will be connected to the new kitchen and server area, with the current dining hall to be converted to a state-of-the-art large-capacity theater and performance and meeting space.

The past and present will come together — literally, and in powerful ways, said Easler, noting that the rough-hewn brownstone exterior chapel will become the servery’s interior wall.

“During the day, the skylights will illuminate the servery with natural light,” said Easler, “highlighting the beauty of the original brownstone exterior and creating a stunning backdrop for a modern country-kitchen style.”

But while the project has many aspects to it, in many respects, the chapel is the primary focus. Completed in 1870, it has been used sparingly in recent years — for school meetings once a week, said Easler. It’s transformation into a dining hall will make it a much larger part of the school’s identity and its daily activity.

“This space will serve as a unifying gathering place for our community,” said Easler. “The dining commons will become the heart and soul of our campus, and a central part of the student experience.”

And the project will turn back the clock and restore the chapel to its original elegance and architectural allure.

“We have photos of the chapel when it was first constructed; it was magnificent on the inside, with exposed beams and stained-glass dormers,” said Easler. All of that is still up there, but it was covered with sheet rock somewhere along the line, probably to minimize the cubic yards that had to be cooled or heated. We have other ways to mitigate that now, so we’ll be opening it back up to its original beauty, and it will be a stunning dining room.”

Dave Fontaine Jr., CEO with Fontaine Bros., the general contractor for the project, as well as the athenaeum, agreed, noting that this project falls into several categories, everything from new construction to what would be considered historic renovation.

“It’s a very cool project,” he told BusinessWest. “There’s a lot of history in the chapel, it’s a really cool building, and I think this will be a gem of a project when it’s completed.”

— George O’Brien

Link to Libraries Creates Fund to Honor Steve, Sue Kaplan

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Steve and Sue Kaplan, left, with Laurie Flynn, executive director of Link to Libraries, and John Doleva, president and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame, a strong supporter of the agency.
Education

Recognizing a Legacy of Giving Back

Steve and Sue Kaplan, left, with Laurie Flynn, executive director of Link to Libraries, and John Doleva, president and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame, a strong supporter of the agency.

Steve and Sue Kaplan, left, with Laurie Flynn, executive director of Link to Libraries, and John Doleva, president and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame, a strong supporter of the agency.

 

As she talked about Steve Kaplan and his many contributions to the nonprofit Link to Libraries, Laurie Flynn, the agency’s executive director, didn’t start with his service on the board, his lengthy stint as treasurer, or even his role as quiet, behind-the-scenes co-founder with his wife, Susan Jaye Kaplan.

No, she started by talking about the manner in which Kaplan, who passed away in January after a lengthy battle with brain cancer, adopted, for lack of a better word, the Kensington International School in Springfield — because, in many ways, that says even more about him.

“He started off as a volunteer reader,” she recalled, noting that the nonprofit helps place such readers in schools across the region to help encourage young people to read. “And he turned it into so much more; it became near and dear to him. He tutored there, he did all kinds of things, and he did it without asking for a spotlight … he just quietly gave and gave and gave.

“He always joked that he was “Mr. Susan Jaye Kaplan,” Flynn went on. “But he was a force in his own right; it was just different energy.”

It was that above-and-beyond approach at the Kensington School, and the varying forms of energy displayed by both Kaplans that helped inspire Flynn to create a legacy fund in both their names to help continue and even expand LTL’s service to the young people in the region.

Susan Jaye Kaplan, as most now know, co-founded not only LTL but also the nonprofit GoFIT. She was honored for her work with BusinessWest’s Difference Maker award in 2009.

“When Steve passed in January, I thought it was an important time to honor his work and Sue’s work, and their work as a couple in Western Mass.”

“When Steve passed in January, I thought it was an important time to honor his work and Sue’s work, and their work as a couple in Western Mass.,” she told BusinessWest. “They’ve done so much, not just for Link to Libraries, but we’re a huge piece of their legacy. It seemed to me that … when you look at the two of them, and how much they gave, not just through the schools, but through community partnerships, it seems like a great opportunity, a great way to honor their legacy, to have something that is permanently part of Link to Libraries, that is dedicated to doing more than we’re doing now.”

Elaborating, Flynn said the Stephen Kaplan & Susan Jaye Kaplan Community Legacy Fund, which was formally announced at LTL’s biennial fund-raising ball at the Basketball Hall of Fame, will enable the nonprofit to extend its reach, and impact.

“While most of Link to Libraries’ work is done through underserved elementary schools, we frequently receive requests from other local nonprofits for book donations to support their own work with children and families in need,” she explained. “We do our very best to say ‘yes’ to every book request we get, but we have limited funds, limited ability to do that.

“By creating this fund and having this cache of money set aside to support our community partners, who are serving the same kids and families that we are, that will enable our reach to expand,” she went on, adding that that the legacy fund will be a permanent fixture at LTL.

Flynn said there is no specific goal for the fund, adding that whatever is raised — and she is expecting support from individuals and businesses alike — will enable LTL to support more groups serving children and families, such as the Salvation Army, the Springfield Museums, and countless others.

“Steve’s passing was a terrible loss to our Link to Libraries family, to the Western Massachusetts community, and to all who knew and loved him,” said Flynn. “We hope that this tribute will be a living reminder of Sue and Steve’s tireless work and passion for improving the lives of others.”

For more information on the legacy fund, visit linktolibraries.org.

— George O’Brien

M&T Charitable Foundation Announces $4.9 Million In Grants

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Banking and Financial Services

Broad Impact

The M&T Charitable Foundation, the philanthropic arm of M&T Bank, recently announced $4.9 million in grants to 51 nonprofit organizations across the six New England states, as well as Long Island and Westchester County, N.Y.

The announcement of this third round concludes the company’s Amplify Fund supplemental grant program, a three-year, $25 million commitment to address inequities, with a focus on all low- and moderate-income communities and underserved populations.

First announced in May 2022, the Amplify Fund is a $25 million philanthropic investment as part of the merger between People’s United Bank and M&T Bank. Powered by the M&T Charitable Foundation, the Amplify Fund is a one-time supplemental charitable giving program to provide further support in the legacy People’s United communities.

Dominique Goss

Dominique Goss

“The M&T Charitable Foundation is proud to support the work of nonprofits that are dedicated to advancing equity and creating positive and lasting change. We look forward to seeing the progress of their work and the collective outcomes of our partnerships in the months and years ahead.”

During the first and second rounds of giving through the Amplify Fund, more than $20.1 million was awarded to 173 nonprofit organizations. The grants were awarded through a series of RFPs that focused on environmental initiatives, mission-driven and capacity-building work, community and tenant organizing, and financial empowerment, in addition to collaboratives working together to advance equity.

Grantees in this third and final round of funding include nonprofit organizations that are centered on advancing financial inclusion and spurring economic growth and prosperity, with a particular focus on creating equitable change through homeownership, small-business development and entrepreneurship, career growth, and financial resilience.

“The M&T Charitable Foundation is proud to support the work of nonprofits that are dedicated to advancing equity and creating positive and lasting change,” said Dominique Goss, executive director of the M&T Charitable Foundation. “We look forward to seeing the progress of their work and the collective outcomes of our partnerships in the months and years ahead.”

Throughout the three-year Amplify Fund grant program, the M&T Charitable Foundation awarded $25 million to 224 nonprofit organizations and collaboratives, helping to empower nonprofit organizations to work collaboratively to drive meaningful change and advance equity in the communities served by the program.

“This grant means a lot to our ability to help the families and communities we serve achieve economic self-reliance,” said David Hopkins, CEO of the Urban League of Greater Hartford, which is celebrating 60 years of economic empowerment. “We appreciate the leadership and team at M&T Bank, a 2024 equity partner, for their support of our social enterprise, community engagement, and leadership development, and now this Amplify Fund award will help enrich our financial opportunity program.”

Betsy Biemann, CEO of Coastal Enterprises Inc., added that “we are grateful for the M&T Bank Charitable Foundation’s support of CEI and their commitment to promoting entrepreneurship and a thriving small business community in Maine. This funding from the Amplify Fund will enable us to help more Maine entrepreneurs who are CEI lending and advisory clients to take charge of their finances and build assets through no-cost, confidential financial counseling and coaching, starting them on a solid foundation for starting or growing their business.”

The M&T Charitable Foundation, the philanthropic arm of M&T Bank, is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization founded in 1993 and funded by M&T Bank. The foundation awards nearly $40 million in grants per year to thousands of nonprofit organizations focused on improving quality of life in the areas the bank serves.

AIC Partners with UCP to Expand Assistive Technology Access

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AIC students experiment with the Spill-Not, an assistive technology tool that allows users to carry drinks without spilling.
Healthcare News

Toward Better Quality of Life

AIC students experiment with the Spill-Not, an assistive technology tool that allows users to carry drinks without spilling.

AIC students experiment with the Spill-Not, an assistive technology tool that allows users to carry drinks without spilling.

The American International College (AIC) Division of Occupational Therapy recently partnered with United Cerebral Palsy of Western Massachusetts (UCP) to expand access to assistive technology (AT) for individuals with disabilities. This collaboration has established a new satellite location for UCP’s Assistive Technology Regional Center at AIC, located at 1067 State St. in Springfield.

Previously, individuals in the Springfield area seeking AT services had to travel to Pittsfield, Worcester, or Boston. Now, through this partnership with the college, UCP can better serve the Pioneer Valley by offering local access to assistive devices that enhance daily living, mobility, vision, hearing, and workplace or home modifications.

Similar to a library loan system, individuals can borrow AT equipment at no cost on a short-term basis. The process is simple: browse available devices at MassAbility, visit the AIC lab for a demonstration, and borrow the device for personal use. If a requested device is unavailable, UCP will work to acquire it.

Following the July 2023 lightning-strike fire that devastated AIC’s Health Sciences labs, UCP donated adaptive equipment to support the master of occupational therapy (MSOT) program. These tools — including feeding assistance devices, low-vision aids, and mobility training equipment — are now housed in AIC’s reconstructed MSOT lab, where they train students and assist community members.

“I’ve dreamed of offering this service to the community. It aligns with AIC’s mission of education and outreach.”

Dr. Jennifer Nordstrom, director of AIC’s Center for Accessibility Services and Academic Accommodations (CASAA) and assistant professor of Occupational Therapy, provides assistive technology training to community members during designated hours. When not in public use, the equipment serves as an instructional resource for MSOT students. Through this collaboration, AIC can also offer assistive technology support to CASAA students as needed.

“I’ve dreamed of offering this service to the community,” Nordstrom said. “It aligns with AIC’s mission of education and outreach.”

For AIC’s MSOT students, access to innovative AT enhances their clinical training and practical experience.

To further enrich student learning, Nordstrom developed a dedicated Assistive Technology course at AIC, covering the Assistive Technology Act in Massachusetts, assistive technology and disability, assistive technology levels, how to choose the correct assistive technology, and assistive technology and occupational therapy

“Assistive Technology is always a favorite course,” she said. “With this equipment, our students are better prepared for fieldwork and pro bono clinics, staying up to date with advancements in the field.”

Shelby Cortis, senior director of Assistive Technology for UCP of Western Massachusetts, sees great value in this collaboration. “When I was in OT school, we didn’t have opportunities to train on these devices. Now, AIC students have hands-on access, giving them a strong foundation for their careers.”

During a recent visit to AIC, Cortis and Iris Long, UCP Assistive Technology regional director, demonstrated various types of AT devices to students, including electronic aids for daily living, speech-generating devices, computer access equipment, vision and hearing aids, and recreational aids.

Highlights included Spill-Not, a simple tool that allows users to carry drinks without spilling; a robotic feeding arm, a high-tech plate with a robotic spoon for individuals with limited mobility; and a wheelchair pressure pad, a sensor system that measures pressure points, helping prevent pressure sores and optimizing comfort for wheelchair users.

This interactive experience allowed students to interact with the latest advancements in assistive technology, enhancing both their academic learning and practical skills.

AIC occupational therapy students explore assistive technology devices as part of their training.

AIC occupational therapy students explore assistive technology devices as part of their training.

The next phase of this partnership will focus on public outreach, inviting other institutions to AIC for AT training and demonstrations.

For students like Trent Davenport, a first-year MSOT student, exposure to this technology is inspiring.

“It makes me excited to enter the field,” he said. “I plan to work with geriatric patients, helping them maintain independence through instrumental activities of daily living. Seeing the range of devices available today makes me even more excited about the future of assistive technology.”

Through this collaboration, AIC and UCP are strengthening student education and community support, ensuring that individuals in the Springfield area have greater access to life-changing assistive technology.

Outgoing WNE President Talks About ‘Getting to the Other Side’ of Current Challenges

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Education Special Coverage

School of Thought

Western New England University President Robert Johnson

 

 

“A shift in the market.”

That’s how Robert Johnson, president of Western New England University, chose to describe the current state of higher education, knowing this is a huge understatement.

Indeed, colleges and universities were already under great amounts of stress due to declining enrollments, rising costs, weaker bottom lines, and mounting questions about the cost and value of a college education. And that was before the Trump administration started what the Boston Globe and others are calling a ‘reign of terror,’ pressuring institutions on matters such as DEI policies and efforts to curb antisemitism with threats involving everything from the cancelation of grants to removal of schools’ tax-exempt status.

“It was already a fairly rapid pace of change, and what’s going on at the federal level is merely accelerating the pace of change, creating high levels of anxiety,” said Johnson. “I don’t think higher ed has ever been through this — I’ve been in higher ed 35 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

But, at the end of the day, and in his opinion, this is just … a shift in the market, or another shift, one of many that higher education institutions have faced over the years, decades, or centuries, depending on how long they’ve been around, said Johnson, who referred early and often to the proverbial ‘other side’ of this current shift.

“I don’t want to call it a ‘new normal,’ because I think we’re creating ‘normal,’ and it’s going to be different,” he said. “What that ‘different’ is … who knows? But I think we must remain agile enough to change with the times. My perspective is simple; when it comes right down to it, places like Western New England University — we started as a branch campus for Northeastern University — are at a place where we’ve come through world wars, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights movement, Jim Crow, the dot-com bubble, the Great Recession … and now this. And we’ll figure this out.

“I don’t want to call it a ‘new normal,’ because I think we’re creating ‘normal,’ and it’s going to be different. What that ‘different’ is … who knows? But I think we must remain agile enough to change with the times.”

“Anyone who says they have a crystal ball and understands what it’s going to look like on the other side is fool’s gold,” he went on. “The best that we can do is be agile and try and manage as best we can given the resources that we have to emerge from this. It’s not going to be fun — this is not the golden age of higher education post World War II — it is a shift in the market, and that has to be our view, and there will be winners and losers.”

These were just some of the thoughts from Johnson in a wide-ranging interview with Johnson that turned out to be an exit interview, if you will. Indeed, he announced, just a few days after he talked with BusinessWest, that he will be stepping down from the university in August.

As he talked about the current landscape, he came back repeatedly to his contention that, to survive this latest shift in the market, schools will have to be agile and proactive in response to the factors that created this paradigm. And WNE is doing exactly that, he said, noting that, through several new strategic initiatives, it has improved its position.

Indeed, the school enrolled the largest entering class in its history in the fall of 2024, just two years after it recorded one if its lowest figures in a quarter century, he said. “Three years ago, we had just over 6,700 applications for our entering class. This year, we’re right on the cusp of 13,000 applications.”

This was accomplished, he said, by stressing brand value and return on investment — “including a 94% job-placement rate, starting salaries higher than 52 of the top-100 universities in the country — 36% higher than any of the other schools in this region.

Robert Johnson says that, through aggressive, targeted marketing, WNE entered its largest class ever in 2024, and is on pace to do the same this September.

Robert Johnson says that, through aggressive, targeted marketing, WNE entered its largest class ever in 2024, and is on pace to do the same this September.

“That’s the message that we keep driving home,” he went on. “And it’s showing up in our applications, deposits, campus visits … that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”

Beyond marketing, these increases in applications and enrollment are due to new programs designed to provide a bridge to the workforce, he said, citing the school’s new master’s degree program in Biopharmaceutical Technology, due to launch in September, as just one example.

If current trends continue, the school could exceed 1,050 students, and perhaps more, for the class entering this September, said Johnson, adding that this would be the largest class yet again.

For this issue and its focus on education, BusinessWest talked with Johnson about the current state of higher education and the many factors that will determine how and to what extent schools can ride out this storm.

 

Course of Action

Johnson, who arrived at WNE just as COVID did, noted that the pandemic represented a stern test for all institutions of higher education, one that forced them to rethink what they were doing and how, and make often dramatic changes to carry on and continue their missions.

This latest shift, one marked by demographic changes and governmental changes alike, and where 40% of private schools in New England are under some form of financial distress, is similar in many ways, but also fundamentally different.

“With COVID, there was a predictability to it — you knew that if you did certain things you would get through it,” he said. “Right now, in this environment we’re in right now, there’s no predictability; that’s what creates the high levels of anxiety we’re seeing right now.”

And this brings him back to that notion that schools will “figure this out.” Or not.

‘There’s something about the human spirit that says, ‘no matter what we’re going through, we’ll come out on the other side,’ and oftentimes, it really does come down to sheer determination with a plan of action that has the ability to pivot as you get different information or new information along the way that enables you to move forward.

“The indelible human spirt says that when a group of people work together toward a common goal, and they’re all rowing in the same direction, you can’t find a time in human history where they did not come out on the other side. And that’s going to be the difference — the institutions that can pull together and have that indelible human spirit that says ‘yes, I can.’ It’s possibility thinking and operating from a perspective of assets and not deficits — ‘I’m not going to focus on what I don’t have and therefore what I can’t do, but what I do have and what we can do with that.”

Elaborating, he said WNE’s success with growing its numbers for applications, deposits, and enrollment, comes down to one word — marketing.

“We’ve been really focused on telling our story,” he explained. “Because if families are going to make the investment, they want to know if I can get a job, a good job. It’s about outcomes, outcomes, outcomes.”

This marketing involves traditional vehicles, but especially social media and digital marketing, he said, but it also involves getting students on the campus.

“Getting them on our campus matters; there’s a higher probability of enrolling a student if they’ve been to the campus,” he said, adding that the school succeeds at being welcoming.

“This is place where, no matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you look like, you’re welcome. “It doesn’t matter what your political persuasion may be. And we don’t engage in highly politicized debate that’s happening in the external world; our heads are down, this is where you come to go to school, where you come to get a job — you don’t have all the drama about what’s going on in the world.”

When asked about how schools will emerge on the other side, and the factors that will determine what will look like when they do, Johnson said financial models and roadmaps that will provide long-term sustainability and growth, where revenues align with expenses, are obviously a key. But the bigger factor will the level to which institutions can focus on academic programs that can provide real jobs, “not just education for the sake of education.”

He mentioned examples at WNE including the new Biopharmaceutical Technology degree program, the Center for Advanced Manufacturing, FinTech program, and the recently opened XR/VR Lab, which provides students with hands-on access to cutting-edge virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality technologies.

“With COVID, there was a predictability to it — you knew that if you did certain things you would get through it. Right now, in this environment we’re in right now, there’s no predictability; that’s what creates the high levels of anxiety we’re seeing right now.”

“Those are the kinds of things that will matter moving forward,” he said. “Part of what will make a winner is programs that are relevant, that enable students to get real jobs … that have innovative and entrepreneurial components in place that become creative in nature and allow students to have hands-on experience and take that experience and go out into the world of work.”

“At the end of the day, each institution will have to decide what’s best for them, and position themselves accordingly,” he went on. ‘For many of them, probably most of them, elements of their plan will work, and for some of them, their plans will not work, and it will be to their own demise.”

 

Bottom Line

Johnson stressed that neither he, nor anyone else, really, knows just what ‘different will, indeed, look like.

But in these unprecedented times, when there is, as he said earlier, no predictability, schools must be creative and diligent if they are going to get to the other side.

“One of the outcomes of what we’re seeing now is that you’ll see some of the institutions come out of this and evolve and thrive, and there will be others that will contract and perhaps go out of business,” he continued. “I go back to the Great Depression, when the economy was rough, to say the least — which is what we’re starting to potentially see as an outcome of tariffs and uncertainty in the marketplace — some of the greatest companies in the world were started or evolved during that time. And that’s what we’re going to see on the other side of this with higher education — there will be institutions that will be reborn in a different way that will evolve and thrive in an environment in whatever ‘different’ will look like.”

Financial-literacy Programs Equip Families for Success

By
Country Bank team members help high-school seniors navigate a Credit for Life Fair.
Banking and Financial Services Special Coverage

Generational Impact

Country Bank team members help high-school seniors navigate a Credit for Life Fair.

Country Bank team members help high-school seniors navigate a Credit for Life Fair.

 

Jodie Gerulaitis’s title at Country Bank is first vice president, Community Relations. But before that, she was a Financial Education officer for the institution — a role for which she still has a passion.

“My job was offering financial education to our communities,” she said, noting initiatives like Savings Makes Sense, a partnership forged in the late 1990s with local schools — eventually about 40 of them — in which the bank collected deposits and students could engage in banking activities right at school.

These days, that program has morphed into Money School, a series of financial-literacy resources in public schools that include books, workshops, and five annual Credit for Life fairs that involve about 2,000 seniors from 13 different high schools.

The fair, a Massachusetts-based program that many banks participate in, asks students to role-play a 25-year-old, visiting about a dozen booths and making financial choices based on their career and salary goals.

“Some students get a salary or a credit score they weren’t expecting, and they also learn to understand needs versus wants,” Gerulaitis said, adding that the students also get a dose of reality; at one booth, they might get a bonus at work or an unexpected expense. “Do they want to take vacations? Is that important to them? Do they want to own a pet? These are choices you and I make every day, and we’re bringing it to the students.

“The students who wind up with a low credit score or a low salary and are struggling, they’re going to learn the most,” she added. “They see how difficult it is to get where they want to go. Can they afford a house, or do they need a roommate to split expenses? It’s a really eye-opening experience, and they need to experience this stuff now, so they don’t make bad choices later.”

Two years ago, the United Way of Pioneer Valley started partnering with middle- and high-school students in Springfield and Holyoke to teach basic financial-literacy skills to young adults before they start interacting with finances for real, President and CEO Megan Moynihan said.

Megan Moynihan

Megan Moynihan

“It’s so very important — if you don’t understand how to take care of yourself from a financial perspective, how can you become successful?”

“We want them to create a basis to be financially successful before they go out into the real world,” she noted. “Many of these students may not have access to learning about financial independence through their families. They didn’t learn about the importance of saving and credit and preparing a budget as a child. Some of the students we work with have zero idea going into these classes. The goal is to give them a basis, a skill set to prepare them for the real world.”

The United Way’s financial-literacy programs go well beyond young people; it launched an initiative called Thrive almost a decade ago, which helps individuals across all age groups achieve financial security through education and other resources.

“Personal financial education is huge — it’s a huge gap for so many individuals,” Moynihan said, noting that the partner agencies the United Way funded would refer to Thrive people who needed the service.

“Our partner agencies let us know about individuals who needed support. We would do one-on-one coaching with those individuals, typically follow them for an entire year, helping them with budgeting, helping them set goals for raising their credit score. Many did not even have bank accounts, so we brought in individuals from the banks to set up simple checking accounts, direct deposit, and credit cards to create credit. Others would learn how to fix their credit score, how to consolidate credit, the importance of reducing expenses, and more.”

Around 2020, the United Way switched to a more direct-service model, and now Thrive services are offered to any client of the nonprofit who needs them, typically people who access services from one of the United Way’s service centers in Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke.

“Individuals come in needing help with food insecurity or mental-health support, and we can also help them with personal-finance training; every individual who comes through our doors has access to Thrive financial education,” Moynihan explained. “We also partner with other nonprofits on a classroom-style, six-session financial-education series.”

Serving about 450 people at any given time through its youth programs, human-service agencies, and workplaces, Thrive impacts families in ways that can be generational, she noted.

Jodie Gerulaitis says the financial-literacy skills students develop now will benefit them later, no matter what college or career path they choose.

Jodie Gerulaitis says the financial-literacy skills students develop now will benefit them later, no matter what college or career path they choose.

“It’s so very important — if you don’t understand how to take care of yourself from a financial perspective, how can you become successful?”

For this issue’s focus on banking and finance, BusinessWest talks to several area professionals involved in financial-literacy efforts about those impacts, and the various forms these programs take.

 

Lifetime Financial Journey

Springfield Partners for Community Action is another local organization offering financial-literacy education through a series of different free workshops, from basic financial literacy to first-time homebuying and property management.

“They all consist of a little bit of financial literacy. We dive deep into budgeting, credit, debt management, banking, and investing,” said Gabriel Ortiz, a housing councilor at Springfield Partners, noting that the workshops average around 28 people each. Some are one-session workshops that run six to eight hours, often featuring speakers from the banking and financial-services world, while the first-time homebuyer workshop is a two-part series.

“We have a lot of professionals that have been in that industry for a lot of years, and they give their expert analysis of what the process is and how to get people where they need to go, watching out for predatory lending, things like that.”

Meanwhile, the basic financial-literacy session is a good idea for people looking to establish some credit and start saving for the future, Ortiz added.

“In Springfield, probably one out of four residents live in poverty. Springfield has seen inflation, and potential tariffs will make it harder for households to manage their budgets. As a local financial advisor, we’re trying to give some helpful tips and help people regain control of their finances, stick to a budget, and cope with today’s economic challenges.

“We want to help people transition from poverty to a more equitable future,” he went on. “By establishing generational wealth, buying homes, and establishing some credit, that’s definitely going to help families down the road.”

Having offered financial-literacy programs since 1996, Gerulaitis noted, Country Bank has seen those initiatives take on a life of their own.

“These programs make a difference. Sometimes parents are not in the financial situation they expected themselves to be in, and I’ve found the grown-ups at home sometimes don’t talk to kids about money. Maybe they’re embarrassed about their financial situation.

“So, whether they come from a wealthier background or not — really, all walks of life — these programs empower students to make the decisions themselves. After all, if the parents aren’t having these conversations, who is?”

“In Springfield, probably one out of four residents live in poverty. Springfield has seen inflation, and potential tariffs will make it harder for households to manage their budgets. As a local financial advisor, we’re trying to give some helpful tips and help people regain control of their finances, stick to a budget, and cope with today’s economic challenges.”

Sherleen Crespo, vice president, branch manager, and mortgage specialist at Westfield Bank, who is being honored as one of BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty this spring, said this reality — and the opportunity to start the conversation — is one of the reasons she loves being in banking.

“Sometimes financial literacy starts in the home, but not everyone has access to that,” she said. “Parents try their best, but they may not know as much as they should. And that lack of education affects people.

“Now, schools are very much involved in financial literacy. They invite me in, and that’s something that we didn’t have when I was growing up,” Crespo added. “It’s super important. It’s planting a seed toward breaking these generational cycles. The more we can educate people, the more that they’ll be able to grow.”

Gerulaitis agrees, and has anecdotal evidence to boot.

“I run into students after they’ve been through the programs — at the grocery store or a restaurant — and they say, ‘thank you, thank you. I got my first job, and a lot of what you said makes sense now.’ They put it into practice. That’s why we hit them when they’re seniors. Whether they’re going into the workforce or college, these skills are necessary at all levels. You can see the impact later on.”

And it’s not just high-schoolers; Country Bank targets educational programs throughout the community, from college students to senior centers. She’s even read age-appropriate books about money to preschoolers.

 

Bridging the Gaps

Moynihan said the United Way has a Thrive program that goes into workplaces, helping coach employees on the best ways to navigate financial struggles. In fact, three staffers are certified as financial coaches in the workplace, and they come at their roles from a mentorship perspective.

“We’re not giving you this information and saying, ‘now go figure it out yourselves.’ We’re setting you up with a mentor to walk you through these programs that will support you not just in your financial education, but on everything else that impacts your life.”

Another Thrive coach is a social worker, “so he understands the full scope of the needs of our clients — not just help with financial literacy, but so many other underlying issues that need to be addressed in the classes,” she went on. “We work with individuals to understand and identify the other areas where they need support so they can become financially stable.”

Every individual doesn’t need the same level of support, or the same educational components, she noted; some need close hand holding to get through it, and others just need to learn about different modalities to budget, save, and make good financial decisions.

“You don’t know what you don’t know, but it’s one of those things where it can be very difficult to ask for help. They might be ashamed,” Moynihan said. “So we move at the speed of trust. It can take time to build a relationship with an individual to become comfortable talking about this.”

The United Way is also part of the Bridges to Prosperity program through Springfield WORKS, a state-funded pilot program tasked with overcoming the ‘cliff effect,’ a phenomenon whereby the increased income from securing a job isn’t enough to offset public benefits while unemployed.

“It’s a first-in-the-nation approach that pairs cash payments to employed individuals over a two-year period with financial coaching and workforce training to bridge the gap between being on state assistance and being fully, gainfully employed,” Moynihan said. “So far, it’s working wonderfully.”

At the same time, the need for financial education continues, and Gerulaitis wishes it started at a younger age for everyone. She’s part of a committee that has advocated in Boston for state-mandated financial-literacy education in schools, trying to make Massachusetts the 27th state to mandate that as a graduation requirement.

Meanwhile, she added, Country Bank is doing as much as it can by offering free financial education.

“Even if it’s just one class, these schools love to partner with us. They feel they’re able to offer something to students as a benefit. Not all of them have personal-finance classes,” she said. “So, we’ve done a lot of programs. We want to provide as many free resources as we can to the community and guide them through their financial journey.”

Western Mass Completes Helps Nurses Graduate, Start Careers

By
Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts President and CEO Megan Burke
Healthcare News Special Coverage

Crossing the Finish Line

Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts President and CEO Megan Burke

Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts President and CEO Megan Burke

 

A few years ago, faced with a daunting statistic — that average college graduation rates are 60% at four-year institutions and 25% at two-year institutions — the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts commissioned a study on factors that contribute to higher-education persistence.

From that effort emerged a program called Western Mass Completes, which recently supported 50 nursing and health-sciences students from 10 of the region’s colleges and universities, all of them identified by their schools as possibly being at risk of not finishing their degrees, for a variety of reasons.

The result? Forty-nine of them graduated on time and passed their certification exam, and most have secured employment in their field. The 50th simply missed a class and had to add an extra semester, but is expected to join the list of success stories.

That’s a remarkable result, but what may be even more impressive is the level of financial support involved: just $2,500 per student, to help pay for a range of expenses, from equipment to transportation to exam fees.

“From all these students who potentially were at risk of not completing, to have that much of a completion rate is really important,” said Megan Burke, president and CEO of the Community Foundation. “And because there was a preference for commuter students, these are now qualified nurses who are in our communities and are part of the local workforce. And most of them, as of this past winter, were employed — which isn’t surprising because we know there’s a great need for nurses.”

“It’s important to lift up the fact that there’s regional economic impact — that these folks are gainfully employed, making livable wages, and contributing to their local communities, which are very likely in the three counties that we serve.”

Based on the research of Becky Packard, a Community Foundation trustee and professor of Psychology and Education at Mount Holyoke College, who spearheaded the initial research, Western Mass Completes was developed with the understanding that it’s not enough to help students enter college — the bigger priority, for them and the region, is to see them cross the finish line.

Ten local colleges and universities joined the endeavor — UMass Amherst, Westfield State University, Bay Path University, Springfield College, American International College, Elms College, and Western New England University, as well as Greenfield, Holyoke, and Springfield Technical community colleges.

The research showed that students often need more time and more resources to complete degrees; many are working full-time while in school and taking a reduced course load, while others are balancing school, work, and family responsibilities. Those financial roadblocks create barriers to completion, especially for high-need, first-generation students.

Denise Hurst, vice president for Community Impact and Partnerships at the Community Foundation, noted that Western Mass Completes emerged from a growing focus on access to post-secondary institutions and the emerging realization that the biggest issue isn’t enrollment, but persistence and completion.

“From there, we really started to look at the areas where students were more apt to encounter financial barriers to completion,” she told BusinessWest. “And then the pandemic hit, and we knew there was a shortage in the nursing and allied health-sciences fields.”

Denise Hurst

Denise Hurst says Western Mass Completes has undoubtedly helped change the trajectory of some nursing students’ lives.

So the nonprofit launched a pilot program at four local colleges, providing financial grants to 20 nursing students. When the results came back positive, the program was expanded to 10 institutions and 50 students, some of them not in nursing but in health sciences, as not every school has a nursing program.

“We did that with the same sort of intention — how do we mitigate any financial barriers to completion — providing them with a grant during their time in school so that they could reduce their work hours, use it for food, gas, whatever it was that they needed that could impede their completion,” Hurst explained. “And we followed that up with providing them with a grant toward their NCLEX exam so they could be prepared to go right out into the workforce.”

While the Community Foundation is still working on next steps — determining what lessons can be gleaned from the pilot and how they can be applied to an overall workforce strategy in the region’s healthcare economy — it’s clear that students reaching the finish line is critical not only to their own career success, but to the long-term growth of a key sector.

 

Meeting a Need

Hurst listed a number of factors that Western Mass Completes seeks to address:

• The demand for skilled nurses has been at an all-time high and escalated with COVID-19, yet many aspiring nurses struggle to complete their education due to financial barriers.

• While tuition is a significant cost, smaller, but critical, expenses — like certification exam fees, technology costs, transportation to clinical training, medical equipment, and scrubs — can be the deciding factor between completing a degree or dropping out of an academic program.

• These challenges disproportionately affect students from low-income backgrounds and those without financial safety nets.

• Investing in students not only supports individuals, but strengthens the entire healthcare system by ensuring communities have access to well-trained professionals.

“Even though we might not know what particular niche of nursing they’ll go into,” she noted, “it’s important to lift up the fact that there’s regional economic impact — that these folks are gainfully employed, making livable wages, and contributing to their local communities, which are very likely in the three counties that we serve.”

Burke said it was important that colleges selected students for this assistance who were most in need of it.

A recent graduating nursing class at Holyoke Community College, one of the 10 partnering institutions in the Western Mass Completes program.

A recent graduating nursing class at Holyoke Community College, one of the 10 partnering institutions in the Western Mass Completes program.

“We recognized that the schools know their students really well and know who might be struggling or who might be facing barriers. When there is an application process, you don’t necessarily get the students who most need it; you sometimes get the students who are best able to complete an application.

“A lot of the students were so surprised and almost didn’t even believe it,” she added. “That was one of the challenges that our researchers had to overcome, which was to say, ‘no, no, this is for real. We’re giving you money, and we want you to be successful.’ And one of the things the students noted in the evaluation is that this vote of confidence, that we want you to succeed, was a really valuable component of the program for them.”

The fact that a relatively small grant can make a significant impact on completion rates is important to note, Burke said.

“It’s concerning that you could get three out of four years through nursing school and then potentially leave without a degree, not be able to pay back your student loans, not necessarily have an income to support your family — and $2,500 really made a significant difference in people’s lives,” she told BusinessWest. “It also helps to fill a nursing shortage in our economy.”

 

Strategy Sessions

The next big step, Burke said, will be a strategic planning process. “We really want to get a lot of community input into where can we best add value. So we’ve made it pretty clear that we will not be launching a new phase of Western Mass Completes right away until we can do some more of that learning.

“We do have other ongoing things that we’ll continue to do that contribute to student success, like our scholarship program, our interest-free student loans, and other pieces,” she added.
“But in this particular area of study, we’re waiting to learn what could be most useful.”

Another emerging factor, particularly for the community-college partners, is the success of MassReconnect and MassEducate, the state programs that offer an associate degree free of charge to a wide swath of Massachusetts residents.

“There’s also some input we’d like to get from employers who might be saying, ‘we have this program to try to recruit nurses,’ or maybe there’s a need in the early-education space, the daycare centers, who are struggling to employ. How can we build on the efforts that some of the employers are having?” Burke went on.

She noted that many students who are a good fit for a program like Western Mass Completes are

non-traditional students — typically older students who are returning to their education.

“A significant percentage have children, so they’re parenting, they’re sustaining a family, and they’re doing all these other things while they get their education. These are folks who are trying hard to improve the situation for their entire family. And the fact that we could do that with a couple thousand dollars — it feels so gratifying to know you’re helping a family stabilize itself, benefiting not just the one individual, but everyone else they’re supporting as well.”

Hurst agreed it has been satisfying to see the initial impact of the project, whatever strategies come of it. “To know that you were able to change the financial trajectory of someone’s life, something we know has generational impact, is really exciting.”

In Southwick, There’s Plenty to See, Do, and Eat 

By
Kettlebread Deli is just one of the intriguing business storylines in Southwick.
Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

Kettlebread Deli is just one of the intriguing business storylines in Southwick.

Kettlebread Deli is just one of the intriguing business storylines in Southwick.

  

Ed Grimaldi pointed to the small table for two by the door, under the large-screen television. 

“I was sitting right there,” he recalled. “I had my head in my hands, thinking, ‘what have I done? What have I gotten myself into?’” 

It was April of 2020, a month after COVID-19 officially arrived in the region. Grimaldi had, in keeping with a mandate from the state, shut down Samuel’s, the pub-style restaurant at the Basketball Hall of Fame that he co-owned. And he had already invested, along with partners Melissa Veino and Joe Rondoletto, in a new endeavor on College Highway in Southwick called Kettlebread Deli, that was slated to open in a few weeks. 

Which explains why Grimaldi had his head in his hands. 

“We muddled through, somehow,” he said, noting that Kettlebread — more on that name and that concept later — pushed on through curbside service and was able to establish a beachhead, if you will. Fast-forwarding a little, the new business survived, has expanded to a second location and central bakery in Westfield, and Grimaldi and his partners are exploring franchising opportunities. 

“There’s nothing new about doing things home-made — lots of places do that now; we’re trying to do it in a way that’s duplicatable and scalable,” he said, hitting at the heart of this operation, adding that he believes he has an easily identifiable brand, a name that resonates within the industry, and “food that’s really, really good.” 

Kettlebread is one of many intriguing businesses and storylines in Southwick, a recreational community known for its Congamond Lakes, motocross, including the highly anticipated Southwick National in late June, the Ranch golf course, rail trails, a wide range of outdoor experiences, and more. 

“Our bread is very good because a portion of each batch is folded into the next day’s batch, allowing for an exponentially small portion of every batch that has ever been to be in every other batch.”

It’s also known for its hospitality and food-related businesses, including one that has risen to the ranks of institution. That would be Mrs. Murphy’s Donuts, another College Highway establishment that will soon — as in next year — be celebrating a half century of serving up a wide variety of offerings, including its signature raised, glazed honey dip. 

A family business to the core, Mrs. Murphy’s now has members of three generations working behind the big glass display case, or behind the scenes, said Shane Smith, noting that things really started with her grandparents — and especially her grandmother, Shirley, “the original Mrs. Murphy” — who opened a donut shop in Florida. 

“They taught my dad, Earl Murphy, how to make the donuts,” said Smith, adding that her father and mother, Rose, opened the shop in Southwick in 1976. 

Today, Rose is mostly retired, with Smith assuming more management responsibilities over the years and sharing duties with her husband, Zack, as well as her daughter, Bryce, and her husband, Jeff, and other team members. 

Building on this strong existing base of businesses, while maintaining the community’s rural, recreational character is among the main responsibilities of the community’s government, said Town Manager Nicole Parker, who came to Southwick not quite a year ago after serving in a similar post in the Central Mass. community of Hardwick. 

Shane Smith shows off the display case at Mrs. Murphy’s Donuts, a Southwick institution approaching its 50th birthday.

Shane Smith shows off the display case at Mrs. Murphy’s Donuts, a Southwick institution approaching its 50th birthday.

She was attracted by the town’s many attributes, including that rural quality, and has made it one of her priorities to build on that foundation. 

“As a recreational community, it’s important to have these kinds of opportunities,” she said, adding there have been some additions in that broad category with others in the planning stages, including a spray park at Whalley Park now under construction, a pickleball court at town hall, and perhaps more pickleball at Whalley Park — there’s an item on the town meeting warrant to that effect. 

Meanwhile, the community is in the process of hiring a new town planner, undertaking what Parker called a “major zoning revision” to update bylaws that have not been overhauled for decades, and voting on a proposal for new high-speed internet service through WhipCity Fiber. On the business side, the community’s first cannabis dispensaries will be opening shortly, and a Dollar General will soon join the ranks of the establishments on busy College Highway. 

Overall, said Parker, there is a need to achieve balance — between the businesses needed to serve residents and reduce the tax burden on those who call the town home, and maintaining those qualities that make this community so attractive to residents and visitors alike. 

“On College Highway … there’s a house, a business, a house, a house, a business, a business, a house — there’s no cohesion. Having strategic zones will really help the town grow the way it needs to grow, the way the residents want to see it grow.”

For this the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its lens on Southwick, where there is plenty to do, plenty to see, and plenty to eat. 

 

Doughs and Don’ts 

There’s a treatment on one wall inside Kettlebread that tells the story of this venture, or at least a big part of it. 

It features a dictionary-like definition of the noun Kettlebread — actually, two of them: 

1. ‘Our family’s secret all-natural artisan bread recipe involving a 3-day process, baked daily in round kettle pans, butter-salted crust’; 

2. ‘Suspiciously awesome sandwiches.’ 

The latter is a tagline of sorts for the business. Grimaldi was thinking about using ‘curiously awesome,’ but was reminded that the slogan for Altoids is ‘curiously strong mints,’ and he didn’t want to go there.  

As for the former … well, the bread is what defines this venture — along with what’s put inside it, especially the makings of a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, the most popular item on the menu. Grimaldi talked in generally vague terms about the bread and how it’s made, stressing repeatedly that it is, indeed, a process. 

“All bread has very simple ingredients, it’s just a matter of ratios,” he explained. “Everyone has their own formula; ask 100 people how to make bread, you get 100 recipes. I think our bread is very good because a portion of each batch is folded into the next day’s batch, allowing for an exponentially small portion of every batch that has ever been to be in every other batch.”

Grimaldi was visiting the Midwest several years ago, and became so impressed by a sandwich he had on that trip — a variation of the muffaletta, a New Orleans-style sandwich featuring a round loaf of Sicilian bread — that he became inspired to try to replicate it in the 413. 

“They had a very unique bread, and I tried for years to duplicate their bread, and I came nowhere near it,” he told BusinessWest, adding that he came up with something else, something he believes is even better — Kettlebread. 

As noted earlier, he and small group of partners introduced the concept near the height of the pandemic in a long vacant former karate studio on College Highway. Using mostly curbside service, the new deli and its offerings built a following, and today, the location is thriving, especially at lunch time. 

Southwick at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1770
Population: 9,232
Area: 31.7 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $15.57
Commercial Tax Rate: $15.57
Median Household Income: $52,296
Family Household Income: $64,456
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting; Select Board
Largest Employers: Big Y; Whalley Computer Associates; Southwick Regional School District
*Latest information available

Grimaldi and his partners expanded with a second location in Westfield, which also serves as the bakery. And the long-term plan is to create franchises, said Grimaldi, adding that the first step in that process was to create that central bakery. 

“Franchising is still the ultimate goal, but right now, I want to stabilize my own operation,” he said. “So much has changed over the past couple of years — labor costs, food costs … it’s a more challenging environment in many ways.” 

As for the Southwick deli, Grimaldi said he fell in love with that location early on, noting that it is close to where Routes 10-202 and Route 57 form a ‘T.’ There are several other eateries and gathering spots in that general location including Tucker’s restaurant, the Summer House, the Southwick Inn, another institution, and Mrs. Murphy’s, which also found a way to persevere through the pandemic. 

That was with a drive-through, which remained how business was done until January of 2024, when the front doors were once again opened to a large and thoroughly loyal customer base that includes Southwick residents, of course, but also many from neighboring communities on both sides of the border with Connecticut. 

This customer base is treated to hand-cut donuts (a rarity in this business; most are now cut by machine) as well as pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and coffee. But it’s the donuts that make this an institution. 

They come in dozens of varieties, including many classics, but also several ‘specialty’ offerings including ‘maple bacon,’ ‘thin mint,’ ‘chocolate crème crumble,’ and ‘strawberry shortcake.’ 

When asked what the business has planned for its 50th anniversary, Smith said she hadn’t given that much thought — she and her family are busy enough with the day-to-day — but would in the months to come. 

“We’re just going to keep on doing what we’re doing,” she said, adding that this is one Southwick tradition that will endure. 

 

Work and Play 

Parker told BusinessWest that she wasn’t exactly searching for a new career opportunity when a friend recommended that she take a hard look at Southwick, which was advertising for a successor to long-time chief administrative officer Karl Steinhart. 

“I was like, ‘no, I’m happy here,’” she recalled, adding that her friend was persistent and again encouraged her to apply, noting that the town was bigger than Hardwick and presented more opportunities to grow professionally. She listened, did apply, and eventually triumphed in a lengthy search. 

“It’s been an amazing 10 months,” she said, hinting that it’s not exactly easy to succeed someone who had been in the job for 35 years. 

But the transition has gone smoothly, she said, adding that she was working on the warrant for her first town meeting, set for May 20, when she spoke with BusinessWest.  

Among the priorities she’s established is a revision of zoning bylaws, said Parker, noting that the current bylaws haven’t been overhauled “ever.” 

And this reality has contributed in many ways to the hodge podge that exists on College Highway today, said Parker, noting that the street is a mix of commercial, residential, municipal, and more. 

“On College Highway … there’s a house, a business, a house, a house, a business, a business, a house — there’s no cohesion,” she said. “Having strategic zones will really help the town grow the way it needs to grow, the way the residents want to see it grow.” 

Elaborating, she said planning officials can look at current zoning codes and see essentially whatever they want to see whether it comes to including a proposed use or excluding one, and something far more definitive is needed moving forward. 

And town residents will have a large say in how the bylaws are overhauled. 

“We’ll have a lot of public meetings to let residents let us know what they want to see for their town,” said Parker. “You live in a town because this is where you want to be, and you should make the decisions on how your town should modernize or move forward or really grow; it needs to be the residents who make those decisions, so I’m looking forward to having those meetings so we can gauge what the community wants for a business zone, where they want to see industrial zones, and where they want to see strictly residential zones.” 

Meanwhile, another issue confronting this community, like all others in the region, is housing, said Parker, adding that while few developments in the ‘affordable’ category are in the pipeline, there is a 200-unit condo project slated for Depot Street that has received Planning Board approval. 

As for the cannabis dispensaries, Pioneer Valley Trading and Haven will be opening in storefronts just a few blocks from each other on College Highway. 

“They can’t be within 500 feet each other, but I think they’re maybe 501 feet from each other,” joked Parker, adding that these additions will bring even more variety, and vibrancy to the town’s main business throughfare. 

And they provide even more to do and see in a community where there is already plenty in both categories.

Understand the Ins and Outs of Automobile Insurance

By Contributor
Law

Collision Course

By Mark Tanner, Esq.

 

We help a great many people who have been involved in automobile collisions, including those who have been injured in automobile collisions through no fault of their own. One of the first questions we ask our clients is, “what insurance coverage do you have?” You would be amazed at how many people don’t know or understand their automobile-insurance coverage.

To better understand your coverage, start with your insurance broker. Ask your broker to provide you with your coverage selections page, a document that outlines the types and amounts of insurance coverage you have.

A number of different types of automobile insurance are available. Comprehensive protects your vehicle from damage caused by events other than a collision, such as vandalism and theft. Collision pays for damage to your vehicle when you collide with another car. The amount of coverage you need for these types of insurance depends largely on the value of your car.

Mark Tanner

Mark Tanner

“If you really think about it, the minimum coverage mandated by Massachusetts is probably insufficient to cover a serious auto accident. It would be smart to speak with your broker about increasing this coverage over the minimum.”

Since we’re talking about collisions, let’s discuss some important types of coverage that often come into play after an automobile accident, are highly variable, and can often be increased or decreased depending on your personal situation.

 

Personal-injury Protection (PIP)

PIP coverage pays up to $8,000 of your medical expenses and lost wages you suffered as the result of a collision and is mandatory in Massachusetts policies. You should know that, to reduce policy premiums, some insurers offer an $8,000 ‘PIP deductible,’ which means you have to pay the first $8,000 of PIP coverage out of pocket. This effectively means you have no PIP coverage, since you must pay the $8,000 deductible, and the coverage limit is $8,000. Think long and hard before you agree to this deductible to decrease the cost of your policy.

 

Bodily Injury to Others (BI)

BI coverage insures you against injuries you cause to others. In Massachusetts, the minimum BI limits are $20,000/$40,000, meaning there is $20,000 in coverage per injured person, up to a maximum of $40,000 if more than one person is hurt in the accident. This coverage pays for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and the like. If you really think about it, the minimum coverage mandated by Massachusetts is probably insufficient to cover a serious auto accident. It would be smart to speak with your broker about increasing this coverage over the minimum.

 

Damage to Someone Else’s Property

Property damage is coverage that insures you for damage you cause to another person’s property. In Massachusetts, the mandatory coverage is $5,000. Like BI coverage, it is possible to increase the limits of your property-damage coverage. With the ever-increasing cost of cars, and the real possibility that a serious collision might involve more than one car, a house, or who knows what, you should discuss this coverage with your broker to make sure you have adequate coverage.

 

Under/Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM)

UM coverage often comes into play when we represent people injured in a collision through no fault of their own. UM coverage protects you against injuries, medical bills, lost wages, and the like caused by a driver who is uninsured or underinsured. Like BI, the minimum limits for UM coverage are $20,000/$40,000.

Here’s where it gets tricky. If you and the at-fault driver each have the minimum $20,000/$40,000 coverage, then you effectively have no UM coverage, since the amount of coverage available is determined by subtracting the at-fault driver’s BI coverage from your UM coverage. For example, if the at-fault driver has $20,000/$40,000 BI, and you have $100,000/$300,000 UM, then you have $80,000 per person (or $260,000 per collision if multiple people are injured). You can access your UM coverage once you have received the policy limits of the at-fault driver’s policy.

Given the number of drivers who carry only the mandatory $20,000/$40,000 BI coverage, it would be smart to speak with your broker about increasing this coverage.

 

More Words to the Wise

Make sure your car is garaged at the address shown on your insurance policy. If you have moved, or the car is regularly kept in a different location than is listed on your policy, and you do not tell your insurance company, the insurance company can deny coverage if you are in an accident.

Next, make sure anyone who regularly drives your car is named as an insured on your policy. If you don’t, and they are involved in a collision, your insurer may deny all or a portion of your claims.

Car accidents are never good and always unexpected. Reviewing and adjusting your coverages now can help make sure you are in the best possible position if you are involved in a collision. Your insurance broker can help you determine the types and levels of coverage you need. If you are in a collision, Bacon Wilson can help you navigate this complex process and make sure you receive full and fair compensation for your injuries. If you cause a collision and need help understanding your insurance coverage or need to deal with your insurer, we can help with that as well.

This article is presented for information purposes only, is not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Note that all mandatory coverage limits are increasing effective July 1, 2025.

 

Mark Tanner is a shareholder with the law firm Bacon Wilson, P.C. and chairs the firm’s Litigation department. He is an active member of the Hampden and Hampshire County bar associations as well as a board member for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture Inc., People’s Institute, and Franklin County Community Development Corp. He is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts and New York; (413) 781-0560; [email protected]

Massachusetts Pay Transparency Act Poses New Requirements

By Contributor
Law

Good Advice for Employers

By Trevor Brice, Esq.

 

On July 31, 2024, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed into law “An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency” in an effort to increase equity and transparency in pay in the Commonwealth. The act puts different requirements on Massachusetts employers depending on the size of their organization.

By signing the act into law, Massachusetts joins 19 other state efforts to bring transparency to job applicants and current employees when it comes to pay in their applied-for and current roles. The states that already have such laws in place include Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

While other states have different requirements regarding pay transparency, Massachusetts has its own set of requirements that must be followed, and employers must be aware of these requirements when posting positions during their hiring seasons.

 

Who Must File EEO-1 Reports

As of Feb. 1, 2025, Massachusetts employers with 100 or more employees who are subject to federal filing requirements must submit their most recent EEO-1 reports that were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) through the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Employers having this requirement must submit the EEO-1 reports through an online portal, which started to accept these reports on Feb. 3 in PDF, JPEG, or PNG format.

Trevor Brice

Trevor Brice

“By signing the act into law, Massachusetts joins 19 other state efforts to bring transparency to job applicants and current employees when it comes to pay in their applied-for and current roles.”

The Commonwealth has provided clarification that information on ‘Component 2’ of the EEO-1 form that has not been collected by the federal government since 2018 is not required to be provided. This information would include W-2 income earnings data by race/ethnicity, sex, and job category. By this clarification, the state is mirroring current EEOC requirements as to the EEO-1. However, this information could be required in the future if the EEOC again requires it to be submitted.

 

Who Must Disclose Wage Ranges for Positions

Starting Oct. 29, 2025, the act requires employers with 25 or more employees to disclose wage ranges in job posts to applicants and to current employees upon request. If a current employee requests a wage range for a position, they are protected under the act from being retaliated against due to this request, and employees have an individual right to sue for retaliation.

The penalties for employers that do not disclose pay ranges (or do not submit EEO-1 reports as required above), are a warning for the first offense, a fine of not more than $500 for the second offense, and a fine of not more than $1,000 for the third offense; a fourth and any subsequent offense can be subject to civil citations. Within the first two years (until Oct. 29, 2027), employers are granted a two-business-day grace period to cure a violation before a fine is imposed.

The wage range that must be disclosed for employers meeting the above requirements is the annual salary range or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for the position at the time of the job posting. This wage range does not include an obligation to provide a range as to other forms of compensation than base salary or hourly wages, such as bonuses, commissions, deferred compensation, stock options, or other forms of equity or benefits.

A ‘posting’ is any advertisement or job posting intended to recruit job applicants for a particular or specific employment position, whether directly or indirectly through a third party, such as a recruiter. Employers must provide the same information to an internal employee who is offered a promotion or transferred to a new position with different job responsibilities.

 

Takeaways

The act, while applying only to larger employers, does impose strict penalties for non-compliance and an individual right to sue for employees who feel they have been retaliated against for inquiring into a wage range. To get ahead of the disclosure requirement of the act, employers should be pulling together ranges for salary and hourly pay of all positions.

The act does provide a safe harbor for employers that have undertaken a reasonable analysis of the wages connected with a position in the last three years and either remedied the issues or didn’t identify any issues. As with any analysis, however, an employer’s analysis of pay can become public record, so employers should undertake this effort under the direction of counsel to help maintain privilege and prevent the analysis from being discoverable by the state, federal government, or private litigants.

Employers should also make active efforts to educate their management as to the retaliation provision of the act in order to avoid potential litigation.

 

Trevor Brice is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment-law matters at the Royal Law Firm LLP, a woman-owned, women-managed corporate law firm that is certified as a women’s business enterprise with the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office, the National Assoc. of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

At the Hitchcock Center, Environmental Education Comes Naturally

By
Billy Spitzer and a friend in the visitors center at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst.
Features Special Coverage

A World of Good

Billy Spitzer and a friend in the visitors center at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst.

Billy Spitzer and a friend in the visitors center at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst.

 

It’s called Japanese knotweed.

This is an invasive plant species of plant that, as the name suggests, comes from Asia. It is said to be one of the resilient organisms on Earth and is very difficult to eradicate once it gains a foothold.

“If you cut it down, little bits of it will stick to your mower or your cutter, and when you go to cut something else, you’ve transported it to a new home,” said Bill Spitzer, executive director of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment.

When the center staged an informational program on Japanese knotweed, the room was full of attendees from across the region, with thousands more joining virtually from around the world.

Such programming is one of myriad ways the Amherst-based center carries out a unique mission encapsulated in its tagline, “education for a healthy planet.”

Other ways include field trips for area students, after-school programs, summer camps, and trips to local schools, where students receive lessons in design, engineering, and problem solving.

“We give them these design and engineering challenges to work with, and then, when they come here, they can see how we’ve solved some of those problems at our facility,” said Spitzer, adding that the center is one of only a few dozen ‘certified living buildings’ in the world, and is a classroom unto itself.

“It’s not only about net-zero in terms of energy use, but also water conservation, using non-toxic materials, being rooted in your place and conserving the land around you, and thinking about aesthetics as well as the functional aspects of your building.”

Among other things, the Hitchcock Center achieves net-zero energy through highly efficient building strategies and a 60-kilowatt rooftop solar array; achieves net-zero water through composting toilets (which never fail to fascinate young visitors), rainwater collection storage, treatment for drinking water, and grey-water filtration through a constructed wetland; uses only chemical-free and non-toxic materials; creates landscapes that use native species to promote greater biodiversity; and uses locally sourced, salvaged, recycled, and substantially harvested materials.

The center, funded by fees for its programs, grants, and a number of corporate sponsors, including several area banks, also carries out that mission through studies and programs within the community, such as an environmental-justice project studying the connections between air quality, climate, and health.

The Hitchcock Center provides a number of learning opportunities for young people.

The Hitchcock Center provides a number of learning opportunities for young people.

Funding for that study, a $500,000 grant, was recently terminated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, making the Hitchcock Center one of countless nonprofits to see grants and other forms of funding cut by the Trump administration.

Spitzer said the EPA sent a letter stating that the grant was cut “on the grounds that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities; the objectives of the award are no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities.”

The center will appeal that decision, he said, adding that roughly 400 other grants for projects across the country were terminated for the same stated reason.

“This is money that has been congressionally approved and appropriated, signed into law, and turned into grants and contracts signed between organizations like us and the federal government,” he said, adding that several other grants awarded to the agency are hanging in the balance. “It’s unprecedented to be doing anything like this — to stop all these projects already in motion.”

In the meantime, he said he’s rather proud that the agency is doing work that is in opposition to the priorities of the administration.

“This building, as a living building, is unique in that it’s really designed as a teaching building.”

“This is the kind of work we need to be doing — we need to be educating people about the environment, we need to be educating people who are disproportionately impacted, whether in its cities or in small towns, rural communities … this is the kind of work that a place like the Hitchcock Center should be doing and that the federal government should be supporting,” he said, adding that, while fighting to keep this grant and others that are imperiled, the agency will look for other sources of funding, including the state, foundations, and businesses.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Spitzer about the Hitchcock Center, its evolution over the past 60 years, and the many different ways its mission is carried out.

 

From the Ground Up

Chronicling the history of the Hitchcock Center, Spitzer said it can trace its roots to 1962 and a woman named Ethel Dubois, who brought children to her farm in Leverett to experience more of nature.

Seeking to formalize and perpetuate what she was doing, she created a nonprofit, called the Hitchcock Center, which, for a while, operated out of the trunk of its executive director’s car, said Spitzer, adding that the agency eventually moved to a physical site, an old carriage house owned by the town of Amherst.

A certified living building, the Hitchcock Center is visited by grade-schoolers and college architecture students alike.

A certified living building, the Hitchcock Center is visited by grade-schoolers and college architecture students alike.

By the early 2000s, that building was showing its age, and the agency had also outgrown it, so the center’s director and board commenced a search for a new site and found one on the campus of Hampshire College. The site search coincided with the determination that, if the agency was going to build a new home, it should be a sustainable building.

“They decided to go for creating the highest level of sustainability that you could,” he said, referencing the Living Building Challenge and the fact that only three dozen structures in the world have met that challenge, with a handful in the 413, including the nearby Curran Center at Hampshire College. “It’s not only about net-zero in terms of energy use, but also water conservation, using non-toxic materials, being rooted in your place and conserving the land around you, and thinking about aesthetics as well as the functional aspects of your building.”

Overall, there are seven different domains — energy, water, materials, beauty, health and happiness, place, and equity — in which a building must achieve excellence to achieve Living Building status, Spitzer noted, adding that $7 million was raised through a capital campaign, and the center opened in 2016.

The standards are rigorous. For example, the ‘materials’ domain — focused on creating a materials economy that is local, non-toxic, and ecologically restorative — requires, among other things, that 75% of materials be sourced within 1,000 kilometers of the site. The center achieved this with salvaged insulation from Framingham, white cedar wood from Quebec, PolyWhey wood finish from Hardwick, Vt., and planting-bed soil from Agawam.

“This building, as a living building, is unique in that it’s really designed as a teaching building — all of the aspects of infrastructure and features that make it a Living Building are on display; we interpret them and give tours about them,” he noted, adding that it is visited by grade-schoolers and college architecture students alike.

This and the many other forms of education provided at the center fit nicely into his own career goals, if you will, said Spitzer, who brings a diverse background to his role. Indeed, while earning a PhD in Oceanography from MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he concluded that he was interested in science education as much as he was interested in science.

“Instead of following a research career, I started learning about science education, and made my way to working at the New England Aquarium in Boston,” he said, adding that he worked there for more than 20 years, handing education programs and developing exhibits.

Drawn to the problem of climate change, Spitzer worked with others to develop a training program for educators and communicators in aquariums, zoos, science centers, and museums across the country, efforts that are ongoing.

Billy Spitzer says environmental education is the kind of work organizations should be doing — and the government should be supporting.

Billy Spitzer says environmental education is the kind of work organizations should be doing — and the government should be supporting.

“I realized at some point that I wanted to spend the rest of my career working on climate education,” he told BusinessWest, adding that this realization — coupled with the Hitchcock Center’s work to develop programs consistent with the creation of a Living Building — drew him to the agency when it was searching for a new director.

 

Hands-on Education

He arrived in the late summer of 2021, an intriguing time for the center, which had made its way through the challenging first waves of COVID by essentially moving most of its programming outdoors, a trend that continues today.

And there are many constituencies that find their way to the property, from families to dog walkers to students from dozens of area schools.

“We provide semi-structured and sometimes unstructured outdoor-experience time, giving them a chance to do the things kids are meant to do, but often don’t get the opportunity to do as much as people did years ago,” he explained. “But we have also have kids doing joint projects, like building an igloo and imaginative play using mud and sticks and sand.”

There are lessons to be learned inside and out, said Spitzer, noting that a number of native species are planted on the grounds and tended to by a team of volunteer master gardeners. Meanwhile, the center’s staff works with young people to grow vegetables and herbs that are used in summer camp programs, making pesto, pizza, and more.

“One of the things that we focus on a lot in this building is ‘how can we be inspired by nature to build better things?’” he said. “And that’s something we also do with kids — help them understand how problems are solved in nature and how we can use some of those same principles to solve some of the problems we face.”

As an example, he cited the solar panels on the Hitchcock Center’s roof.

“One of the things this center does is capture sunlight to provide power, in the same way that trees capture sunlight on their leaves, and that’s how they power themselves,” he explained. “We have kids doing experiments with solar panels.”

Meanwhile, the center encourages outside groups to use its spaces, and many do, he said. “This is an inspiring place to work and also an inspiring place to visit, and we find that people want to do workshops here, retreats, meetings — we have groups from most of the Five Colleges come and do things here, other nonprofit groups, and more.”

The center is in the process of working on its next strategic plan, he said, adding that such planning is difficult at any time, but especially these times.

“The idea of a five-year plan doesn’t quite make as much sense as perhaps it used to, but it is really helpful,” he told BusinessWest. “If you’re on a ship, you want to have a destination, you want to have a course, a heading. But you also realize that you’re going to be affected by weather and the seas, and sometimes you have to tack this way and that way.”

This talk of tacking brings Spitzer back to that project funded by the grant cut by the EPA.

He said it’s an example of how the center moves beyond its physical building and the field trips and lectures on Japanese knotweed in efforts to improve quality of life in this region and beyond.

The project was undertaken with several other agencies, including the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, which had initiated a healthy-air network in response to high asthma rates in Springfield, Holyoke, and other area communities.

“We’d been working with them to expand an educational component of this project, which gets communities monitoring air quality, understanding what the problems are, and advocating for solutions,” he explained, adding that this is a three-year project that is about one year in, with 25% of the funding spent.

“It’s hard to imagine how a grant that’s focused on clean air is not consistent with EPA’s priorities,” he said. “And even in a fairly rural place like the Connecticut River Valley, we have air-pollution problems, whether they’re from vehicle emissions or industry or from local brush fires like we had last summer, or more distant sources like the Canadian wildfires.”

The ultimate goal of the project was (and still is) “getting young people involved in understanding the issues around air quality, what we can do to protect ourselves, what we can to improve conditions and make them better, and partnering with people in community organizations up and down the Valley, whether it’s libraries or public health departments or schools, to really get the word out about air quality, why it matters, and how it’s connected to climate and what can we do about it.”

In other words, education for a healthy planet. That work will go on, no matter the fate of this grant.

Tech Foundry Expands Its Footprint, Programs, and Impact

By
Tricia Canavan in Tech Foundry’s new space in downtown Springfield.
Special Coverage Technology

Making IT Happen

Tricia Canavan in Tech Foundry’s new space in downtown Springfield.

Tricia Canavan in Tech Foundry’s new space in downtown Springfield.

As she walked BusinessWest through Tech Foundry’s new space on the fifth floor of 1350 Main St. in downtown Springfield, CEO Tricia Canavan expressed gratitude that the space — the former home of digital-health startup TechSpring — was available when her growing operation needed a new home.

“We never in a million years could have afforded to do this kind of buildout, but it was completely turnkey,” she noted.

But there’s plenty of other progress and momentum she’s excited about.

“We were founded 11 years ago by area employers who saw a need to build a stronger entry-level tech force in Western Mass. and, at the same time, connect low- to moderate-income people — who are underrepresented in tech — to training and support to access jobs in the technology field,” Canavan explained.

“The people who come to Tech Foundry are people with tremendous potential and tremendous assets. But there’s a reason why they’re here.”

And while the IT training program started modestly, it has grown significantly in recent years; in fact, in the fall of 2022, Tech Foundry doubled the number of students it serves, from 25 students per cohort to 50. “We’ve been able to maintain that level of funding since that time, which we’re really grateful for.”

Early in her tenure, Tech Foundry leaders discussed how they could better “professionalize” the way they were doing student coaching and mentoring, she added.

“The people who come to Tech Foundry are people with tremendous potential and tremendous assets. But there’s a reason why they’re here. Maybe the traditional college path didn’t work out for them, or the traditional career path didn’t work out for them. They may be changing careers. They may be returning to the workforce after a period of time away.”

Seeking a social-work element in the program, Tech Foundry recently partnered with EMPath, a Boston-based economic-mobility organization nationally known for its work with people who are seeking to move from poverty into more stable financial situations.

“We were fortunate to receive funding for the entire staff to become certified practitioners of the EMPath model,” Canavan said. “We use a standard system which helps us work in a more standardized way with the students to set goals and troubleshoot, and for us to share information as a team so that we can help people overcome obstacles to their success.”

Students work at these stations in the just-opened second Tech Hub location in Springfield; the first launched in Holyoke 18 months ago.

Students work at these stations in the just-opened second Tech Hub location in Springfield; the first launched in Holyoke 18 months ago.

As part of that process, Tech Foundry hired a coaching manager to tackle professional-development training, as well as some part-time coaches to work with him.

“So, in addition to the technical training that we offer through our 18-week program,” she explained, “we do significant professional-development work with the students — everything from time management to résumés to mock interview practice and networking skills.”

In the past three years, Tech Foundry has grown its staff from four people to 19, while still offering all its programs free of charge, thanks to a robust network of support from foundations, corporations, and other sources.

“I love that quote that ‘talent is universal, but opportunity is not,’” Canavan said. “That’s what drives us. And another quote: ‘vision with action can change the world.’ Those are some framing wisdom for us as we think about further growth.”

 

Hub of Opportunity

Recent growth has taken numerous forms. Working in collaboration with other partners, Tech Foundry launched a program called Tech Hub in downtown Holyoke in the fall of 2023. It offers basic and intermediate digital-literacy training, with an eye on enabling people to access jobs of all kinds, not just specifically in IT.

Those accessing the program have skills gaps ranging from using programs like Word and Excel to understanding the basics of using a mouse and the internet — all skills necessary for jobs in myriad fields. Tech Hub also provides computers free of charge to eligible people, as well as technical support and one-on-one troubleshooting services.

And now Tech Hub has a second location, at the new Tech Foundry location in downtown Springfield, where it can serve even more individuals, thanks to an ARPA grant through the city, as well as other funding sources.

“We knew that there was a need for digital literacy and technical support in the community,” Canavan said, noting that the initial tranche of funding for Tech Hub came through the $50 million allocation the Baker administration made to address digital literacy and digital equity in Massachusetts.

“We’ve done a ton of research, but where the rubber hits the road is the employer community — we need to ensure there are employers eager to work with these young adults, to potentially hire them into their jobs.”

“We had set a goal of serving 100 people a month at Tech Hub Holyoke. And we’ve been blowing those numbers away. I mean, the demand far exceeded our expectations, and last summer, it was so incredibly busy, we actually had to put in an appointment system because the staff was just overwhelmed. We want to serve as many people as we can, but it was standing room only there. So we are really, really pleased with the results at Tech Hub.”

In fact, she added, seven students who started at Tech Hub learned enough skills that they had the foundational knowledge to come to Tech Foundry, and now they’re starting to get jobs.

In addition to offering training and technical support to the community, Canavan noted, Tech Hub also allows Tech Foundry to provide hands-on work experience for students and alumni. “So students, who are in class down the hall, can walk down here if they’re in good standing and get service learning hours working with the team here,” she explained.

“We also have an internship program and a one-year professional digital fellowship, which is a program for Tech Foundry alumni. They’re full-time, paid employees at Tech Foundry,” she went on. “They’re practicing their skills by assisting in class, assisting with repair, assisting with technical support, and over time, they start doing more and more things on their own under the direction of our technical managers. And then, at the end of the year, they have a portfolio of work.”

One intriguing pilot program is a collaboration with the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership to help area high-school graduates who do not have firm post-graduation plans.

Tech Foundry’s most recent cohort of graduates celebrates at a ceremony in January.

Tech Foundry’s most recent cohort of graduates celebrates at a ceremony in January.

“I think one of the good news stories about education in Springfield is that our graduation rate has gone up tremendously in the last 10 years,” Canavan said. “But a statistic that doesn’t get looked at quite so much is the plans of those students after they graduate. These are talented students who have tremendous potential. On average, about 37% of Springfield public high-school students go to college. But a much smaller percentage of those students actually graduate — it tends to hover around 10% to 20%.”

So the question, she noted, is what are their options, and what can be done to help them? The pilot program, called Tech Bridge, will start with a small cohort of students, probably about 15, for the first year to trial proof of concept.

“This is going to be a program that focuses a ton on community building, but we’ll have two separate technical training modules,” she explained. “One will be IT-focused, based upon what we currently do.

“The second one, which will be next spring, we are still developing based upon labor-force needs. We’re looking at low-voltage electrical certification or advanced manufacturing skills. We’re still talking to a wide variety of employers to determine where the needs are. We’ve done a ton of research, but where the rubber hits the road is the employer community — we need to ensure there are employers eager to work with these young adults, to potentially hire them into their jobs.”

Canavan said the hope is that roughly half of Tech Bridge participants go to college — “we’re building significant college readiness into this program” — and half will enter good-paying jobs with certifications they earn through the program.

“We’re really trying to think about how to engage them and how to provide the support so that they can complete another year of supported education and training and go thrive, whatever that means for them,” she added. “Hopefully, the Tech Bridge program will prove the concept, and we can expand on that — because there’s an incredible need for us to do better for our young people that are on a non-traditional path.”

 

Forward Thinkers

Looking forward, Canavan said Tech Foundry is wrapping up its current three-year strategic plan and formulating the next one. To celebrate its 10th anniversary last year, it raised $300,000 for what it calls an innovation fund — money that will be used specifically to fuel growth opportunities.

She said Tech Foundry is also discussing what it would look like to bring its services to other communities. “We love the idea of expanding Tech Hub and Tech Foundry together — bringing those as a joint project to another community here in Massachusetts or Connecticut.”

In short, it’s an organization that thinks big — but with a focus on every individual success story.

“One of my favorite stories is our very first Tech Hub student,” she told BusinessWest. “He came on the day we opened because he saw us on the news, and he completed most, if not all, of our training programs. He had been in a manual job before, had gotten hurt at work, and was no longer able to work in a physically strenuous job. And to his credit, he was like, ‘I have to get back to work; I have to learn a different skill set.’ So he came to us, then he came to Tech Foundry, and he did really well in the program, and now he’s working in a tech job.”

It’s all part of the mission that has powered the organization since its inception 11 years ago — to help people access careers while helping employers succeed as well.

Handling Workplace Investigations in the Right Way Matters

By Contributor
Law Special Coverage

Cooling the Drama

By Tanzi Cannon-Eckerle, Esq.

We all know about workplace investigations, right? At least from TV. Much TV these days is some form of investigation-related drama — Law & Order, Suits, Jack Reacher, and, for you history drama fans, The Law According to Lidia Poët.

And from real life as well, as nearly every organization conducts (or should conduct) investigations from time to time. Heck, technically, trying to find your missing red stapler is a workplace investigation. “Where did I last see it? Where is it supposed to be? Who used it last? Ah — there it is!” Investigation concluded.

Of course, most investigations are not quite that simple. But no matter how serious or trivial the allegation, the approach should be consistent. The scope may change — but the method should not.

 

What Is a Workplace Investigation?

Merriam-Webster defines “investigate” as “to study by close examination and systemic inquiry.” An effective investigation allows a company to identify and analyze workplace issues in an organized way, leading to meaningful, rule-compliant solutions.

In practice, a workplace investigation is a tool — carried out through trained investigators and appropriate policies — that helps an organization stay compliant with laws and industry regulations, maintain a safe and productive workplace, support a healthy company culture, boost employee morale and decrease employee turnover, troubleshoot efficiency and/or productivity issues, maintain a positive company brand, and, importantly, save money.

 

Is an Investigation Really Necessary?

As a labor and employment attorney, I often hear, “do I really need to do an investigation?” Usually, this question arises when the allegation seems minor, the employee has a history of complaints, it is a repeat issue (or the company thinks the issue has been addressed and is moot), the employee is about to quit, or all of the above.

The answer? Yes. Every time.

If there is an incident report, a complaint, or even a hallway conversation that raises concern, it should be addressed. Investigations are necessary for allegations involving harassment, discrimination, or retaliation; misconduct (such as theft or fraud); policy violations or safety concerns; whistleblower complaints; performance issues; and production mishaps.

Once an employer is on notice of a potential issue, the obligation to investigate kicks in — regardless of whether the employee stays or leaves. The company has a duty to maintain a safe, lawful, and equitable workplace.

Tanzi Cannon-Eckerle

Tanzi Cannon-Eckerle

“Beyond litigation risk, investigations signal to employees that the company takes concerns seriously, the workplace is safe and fair, and inappropriate behavior has consequences.”

The Risk of Inaction or Poorly Executed Action

Well, aside from avoiding lawsuits (kidding … but not really), a timely, impartial investigation can help resolve internal issues, prevent escalation, and demonstrate a commitment to a respectful workplace.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), workplace investigations are a crucial tool in addressing and preventing claims of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. In 2024, the EEOC received more than 88,500 claims, while the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) received more than 3,500 claims (with approximately 70% of them moving beyond administrative dismissal in one form or another).

A well-executed investigation can provide a solid defense in legal matters — and even help companies avoid them altogether. Side note: 22% of the MCAD claims are retaliation claims, and 21% are disability-related. These types of issues are more preventable than most, but we can talk about that next time; there is no room in this article for me to stand on my soapbox to discuss those issues.

But beyond litigation risk, investigations signal to employees that the company takes concerns seriously, the workplace is safe and fair, and inappropriate behavior has consequences. All of this contributes to employee engagement — and engaged employees are productive employees. Conversely, failure to act can lead to chaos, disengagement, and liability.

The average cost of a workplace harassment lawsuit? About $75,000 to get to pre-trial settlement, while pre-trial to trial defense costs average $125,000 to $250,000. That does not even include a potential jury award for the plaintiff, reputational damage (64% of consumers have stopped purchasing a brand after hearing news of a company’s poor employee treatment), or regulatory scrutiny. A poorly handled (or non-existent) investigation can make matters worse, opening the company, and sometimes individual managers or executives, to further legal exposure.

So, yes, it is necessary to conduct timely investigations using skilled investigators that utilize a productive investigation process that can later be defended.

 

Who Should Conduct the Investigation?

Good question. The wrong investigator can create a problem all by themselves. Is the person too close to the issue? Do they have a conflict of interest? Have they been trained?

I have recently had several conversations (be still my investigator-geek heart) about who should investigate and whether hiring an outside consultant is always necessary. Some argue, “if I can run the company, I can run an investigation.” Technically? Probably.

But should the owner or a C-suite executive do it? Absolutely not. That is a recipe for accusations of bias, and also, don’t they have better things to do — like, I don’t know, running the company? Others say every investigation should be outsourced. That is a bit extreme, too. You wouldn’t hire a consultant to find your red stapler.

“Though external investigators may be more costly, the cost is likely less than a poorly handled investigation, and external experts likely have no motive for bias.”

The right answer is the classic lawyer fallback: it depends. On the issue. On the people involved. On the scope. Investigating is a learned skill. If your team is trained, and you have a solid policy and process, many internal investigations can be managed in-house.

For higher-risk matters, or for investigations that are broad in scope, bringing in an external, independent expert is often the better move. Though external investigators may be more costly, the cost is likely less than a poorly handled investigation, and external experts likely have no motive for bias. And because of their expertise, which includes being skilled interviewers, they often investigate efficiently, create less workplace disruption, and make better witnesses if a lawsuit were to be filed.

In the words of Reacher, “you do not mess with the special [external] investigators!”

 

What Should a Typical Investigation Involve?

Not all investigations are the same, but there should be a consistent procedure. Depending on the type of issue being investigated and the scope, some procedural steps may not be necessary, but it is best to leave that to the investigator to determine.

Generally, the company should receive and respond to the complaint or allegation; this is usually someone in human resources. At this point, the ‘timeliness’ clock starts ticking, which is important to a defense of a claim.

The initial response to the complaint should briefly state that the concern has been received, and next steps are being taken, ensuring confidentiality (to the extent practicable). Next, the company should take immediate interim action to prevent further harm, if applicable (such as separate employees, administrative leave, or temporary accommodations). It is also a best practice to remind stakeholders about the rules governing retaliation.

Then the company chooses an investigator. Once this is done, the investigator should do a preliminary review of the allegations, do initial fact gathering, and determine the scope of the investigation. At this stage, the investigator should decide whether it is necessary to use an external expert.

Next, the investigator should develop an investigation plan, outlining the objectives, scope, and timeline of the investigation. The investigator then collects evidence, such as gathering relevant documents, records, and witness statements, reasonably ensuring confidentiality and maintaining a chain of custody.

Next, impartial, thorough witness interviews should be conducted using active listening skills and open-ended questions. Then the investigator should analyze the evidence, identifying patterns, inconsistencies, and credibility issues, and draw conclusions based on the findings. Then the investigator must compile a comprehensive report detailing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations for corrective action or remedial measures.

Lastly, the investigator should counsel the company on implementing the recommended actions, and the company should ensure accountability and provide employee support. If a lawyer is used as an external investigator, the lawyer may counsel the company about legal risks and make recommendations.

Best practices include using trained, impartial investigators; avoiding conflicts of interest; maintaining confidentiality and proper documentation; being thorough and prompt; and keeping accurate records and reports that can stand up to scrutiny.

One of the most overlooked areas? Record keeping. Even the best investigation won’t help in court (or with regulators) if there is not adequate documentation. Investigators must maintain accurate and detailed records of the investigation, including notes, documents, and evidence, and must know how to draft accurate investigation reports in a manner that will withstand opposing counsel, agency, or judicial scrutiny.

 

Final Thoughts

Workplace investigations aren’t just for TV dramas; they are essential risk-management tools for every organization. When done right, they protect your business, your people, and your reputation. And if you happen to find your red stapler along the way? Even better.

 

Tanzi Cannon-Eckerle is the principal attorney at General Counsel by Cannon, PLLC, a fractional general-counsel law firm that focuses on labor, employment, and business law. She is also a certified workplace investigator and equity and inclusion officer. For more information about workplace investigations or to seek legal assistance for business matters or labor and employment concerns, schedule a free, 30-minute consultation by emailing [email protected], or visit gcbycannon.com and fill out the contact form.

In Greenfield, Puzzle Pieces Are Coming Together

By
Angela and Isaac Mass, owners of the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, one of many intriguing storylines in the city’s downtown.
Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

Angela and Isaac Mass, owners of the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, one of many intriguing storylines in the city’s downtown.

Angela and Isaac Mass, owners of the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, one of many intriguing storylines in the city’s downtown.

 

Isaac Mass was in law school, looking for a job that would allow him to not only earn a little money but get in some studying for the bar exam as well.

He had experience working at movie theaters and remembered that life in the projection room (these were the days before everything went digital) would provide him what he was looking for.

“Once you started the movie, you had nothing to do for a couple of hours,” he said, adding that he called George Gohl, co-owner of the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, and before long, he had a job. And he wasn’t in it long before he started setting his sights higher when it came to that downtown landmark, opened in 1929.

Indeed, when Gohl and his partner, Bill Goebielle, were facing the high cost of converting to that digital technology, Mass, who by then had set up a law office in downtown Greenfield, came through with financing for that project — a deal that came with an option to acquire the theater should it come up for sale.

Which it did, in 2019.

Fast-forwarding our story a little, Mass and his wife, Angela (both are BusinessWest 40 Under Forty alumni) are now the owners of the theater, the only cinema in Franklin County. The pandemic hit just a few months after they took ownership, and that was a long and difficult storm to ride out. But they’ve done it, their operation is in the black, and they’re looking forward to a big summer, with a new Superman movie and other projected blockbusters.

“What we’re seeing right now is a kind of renaissance — a dynamic fusion of entrepreneurship, creative energy, and community investment that is strengthened by deep collaborations between business and municipal support organizations.”

Greenfield Garden Cinemas is just one of many intriguing storylines in Greenfield — others involve everything from a new Starbucks to some new housing initiatives to the anticipated start of work to reimagine the former Wilson’s department store — and just one reason why many see a surge in energy and optimism in the community.

“What we’re seeing right now is a kind of renaissance — a dynamic fusion of entrepreneurship, creative energy, and community investment that is strengthened by deep collaborations between business and municipal support organizations,” said Jessye Deane, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. “The city’s evolution is not just happening — it’s being shaped intentionally. Greenfield isn’t growing by accident; it’s growing because people believe in it. They’re investing here. They’re creating jobs, art, and experiences that can only happen in a place like this — where rural ingenuity meets downtown opportunity.”

Hannah Rechtschaffen, director of the Greenfield Business Assoc. (GBA), which recently moved into its own space on Main Street, agreed.

“Greenfield is in a lovely moment of revitalization,” she told BusinessWest. “A lot of pieces of the puzzle were here when I got here two years ago; they just needed a push behind the visibility, the story we’re telling, the partnerships we’re building, and getting Greenfield more visibility Valley-wide.”

While there is progress, many challenges remain, especially when it comes to the loss of manufacturing jobs, ongoing struggles to replace them, county-wide population loss, and the housing front, where some new units are in the pipeline (more on that later), but the issue of affordability is causing some concern.

Hannah Rechtschaffen shows off the new Greenfield Business Assoc. space on Main Street.

Hannah Rechtschaffen shows off the new Greenfield Business Assoc. space on Main Street.

“Housing is becoming a particular issue, both in the lack of inventory and the cost,” said Tony Worden, president and CEO of Greenfield Cooperative Bank. “Rents have increased, but even more troubling to me is the cost of single-family homes. Greenfield has always been the affordable alternative here in Western Mass. People who were priced out of other areas — particularly Hampshire County — could find reasonably priced homes here in Greenfield, but that is increasingly becoming a thing of the past.”

For this latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its lens on Greenfield, a community where many pieces of the puzzle are coming together to make an intriguing picture — not unlike the ones shown in the cinemas.

 

Strong Arguments

It’s called the Strongest Towns Contest. This is a nomination-driven competition staged by strongtowns.org, with 16 communities competing in a bracket-style format similar to the recent March Madness.

Greenfield was one of those 16 towns, which are being measured essentially on how they’re faring against the complex problems facing cities and towns today. And it advanced to the Final Four, beating out Manchester, N.H. and then Silverton, Ore. to get there, with voters determining who will advance.

The city eventually lost to Harrisburg, Va., which went on to finals against Marion, Ohio, with the latter prevailing. Greenfield Mayor Ginny Desorgher was disappointed not to advance further, but buoyed by what the strong showing indicated — especially, in her view, unity and a sense of everyone pulling in the same direction when it comes to the city’s opportunities and challenges.

“People are working together,” she said, referring to everything from downtown cleanups and crosswalk-painting efforts to long-term economic-development initiatives. “So many things are citizen-led.”

Deane agreed. “Sometimes, rural communities fall into a scarcity mindset when it comes to economic development, but I’m seeing a fundamental shift in that mindset at the leadership level,” she noted. “We’re building bridges, not silos, which is critical in a county of 70,000 residents with a tax base that’s 75% residential.

“A business like ours relies upon a smart, educated workforce, and this cost of housing is worrying me for the future. Where are our employees going to live? Will there be a pool of qualified workers able to live in this area?”

“There is a palpable sense of alignment now,” she went on, adding that, last year, Greenfield secured a Massachusetts Downtown Initiative grant, which enabled the city, the GBA, the chamber, and the Crossroads Cultural District to explore opportunities for collaborative marketing and capacity building to enhance Greenfield’s regional profile.

Meanwhile, the GBA has initiated a roundtable series, which has effectively opened lines of communication between Greenfield stakeholders and re-engaged business owners and nonprofit leaders as local advocates, said Rechtschaffen, adding that these events have covered a wide range of topics, such as the return of a police substation to downtown.

“We recently started a property owners’ group to bring property owners together and get on the same page with them about new development that they’re looking to do, development that’s coming to Greenfield, best practices, lines of communication … we have a very active property-owners contingent.”

Along with this palpable sense of alignment comes several visible signs of progress, said Deane, noting, as one example, the expansion of Ja’Duke onto Main Street.

The Turners Falls-based provider of childcare services, performing-arts education (singing, dancing, and acting), and even driver education needed to expand, said owner Kim Williams, and chose a 25,000-square-foot space on Main Street in Greenfield, formerly occupied by Greenfield Community College.

Tony Worden says Greenfield has long been an affordable alternative in Western Mass., but times are changing, and it is becoming far less so.

Tony Worden says Greenfield has long been an affordable alternative in Western Mass., but times are changing, and it is becoming far less so.

“We’re excited … we believe this will be a catalyst downtown,” she said, adding that the facility, which will bring people of all ages to downtown Greenfield, is expected to increase vibrancy and stimulate economic growth. “Childcare is such a driver of economic development; if people have childcare, they can enter the workforce. Meanwhile, the arts center and drivers ed will bring more foot traffic, more vibrancy, more arts.”

 

Progress Report

There are other things happening in and around downtown, said Desorgher, including the reimagining of the former Wilson’s department store into a mix of street-level retail and housing on the upper floors, as well as new life for the historic Leavitt-Hovey House, the former home of the Greenfield Public Library.

The landmark, built in 1797 and vacant since the new library next door opened in the summer of 2023, was acquired by Greenfield Savings Bank, whose main office abuts the library, with the intention of housing its residential-lending program and wealth-management offices.

Meanwhile, there are some additional housing initiatives, said Desorgher, including units at the Wilson’s site and another 30 to 40 units at another site on Main Street. Meanwhile, the city is issuing an RFP for redevelopment of the Hope Street parking lot into additional housing.

That RFP has yet to be issued, but several developers have already expressed interest in the project, said Desorgher, adding that this is another indicator of positive energy in town and growing sentiment that Greenfield is a good place to land — for families, small businesses, and, increasingly, regional and national chains.

The arrival of Starbucks at the rotary off the I-91 exit — as well as the Aldi’s discount supermarket chain in that same area — provide more evidence, the mayor said.

“All this is indicative of what the future holds, and I can feel it in the fact that we haven’t even put out an RFP for the Hope Street parking lot for housing, but people have already reached out, indicating they’re interested. That’s a really good sign.”

As for the larger housing picture, she said studies indicate a need for several hundred additional units, and the projects in the pipeline will make only a small dent in overall need. But there is progress, especially downtown, which should provide a boost to existing businesses and also spark additional investment.

Greenfield at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1753
Population: 17,768
Area: 21.9 square miles
County: Franklin
Residential Tax Rate: $19.56
Commercial Tax Rate: $19.56
Median Household Income: $33,110
Median Family Income: $46,412
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield Community College, Sandri
* Latest information available

Still, there is general concern over the way home prices are rising and changing the equation in what has historically been an affordable community.

“My wife and I live in a neighborhood just off the Federal Street corridor — in close proximity to the Greenfield High School and Four Corners Elementary School — that has historically been known for its mid-sized homes and its affordability,” Worden told BusinessWest. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen a handful of homes on our street and adjacent streets sell for amounts that we used to expect from the Northampton and Amherst market.

“A business like ours relies upon a smart, educated workforce, and this cost of housing is worrying me for the future,” he went on. “Where are our employees going to live? Will there be a pool of qualified workers able to live in this area?”

Deane concurred.

“Like many communities across the Commonwealth, our growth is hindered by a shortage of available housing — and this is further exacerbated by aging infrastructure that requires significant investment,” she said. “At the same time, we’re seeing a real uptick in businesses and families looking to relocate here because the quality of life is exceptional, and at a glance, the cost of living is more manageable than in more urban markets. That growing interest is energizing, but we know we can’t grow sustainably unless we also address those foundational needs.”

 

Coming Attractions

As he talked about Greenfield, Bob Provost spoke with more than 75 years of experience. Sort of.

He’s the third-generation co-owner (with his sister, Robyn) of the general-contracting firm Mowry & Schmidt, which is handling the renovations of the Leavitt-Hovey House. He knows firsthand how the city has changed, and he has stories from those who managed the company before him.

“Greenfield was once a manufacturing hub back in the ’40s and ’50s, even up to the ’70s, but most all of those places have closed,” he said, adding that this has changed not only the employment equation, but the jobs mix for his company.

Indeed, Mowry & Schmidt did a good deal of work in many of the former mills — from exterior work to office renovations to millwright work, said Provost, adding that the portfolio has since shifted and now includes residential projects and more work for institutions such as the many banks in town, Greenfield Community College, Baystate Franklin Medical Center, and area private schools.

Overall, the city’s economy has largely shifted from manufacturing to service and the tourism and hospitality sector, with the latter becoming an ever-stronger force, said Deane, noting that Greenfield and Franklin County are growing as a destination, with Greenfield alone generating 6.7 million visits in 2024.

There are specific destinations and attractions, but also popular events such as the upcoming Bee Festival, during which the town celebrates its designation as the place where the beehive was invented, as well as the Green River Festival, a three-day celebration of music.

“Our marketing focus has shifted from generic outreach to specific, interest-driven storytelling — targeting Boomers who want to stay active, Millennials chasing Insta-worthy landscapes, and Gen Z looking for positivity and purpose,” Deane said. “We’ve also partnered with local event coordinators to promote bigger-ticket cultural and sporting events like Franklin County Pride, the Greenfield Winter Carnival, the Greenfield Triathlon, the Franklin County Fairgrounds, and the Green River Festival, with its great lineup of bands, coming in late June.

“Last April, the Franklin County Chamber launched an aggressive digital ad campaign promoting the Green River Festival and virtually introduced the fairgrounds and Greenfield to more than 2 million people,” she went on. “In large part to the success of this campaign, this year’s Green River Festival ticket sales saw a 13% increase over last year, with 25% of ticket buyers attending the festival for the first time.”

At Greenfield Garden Cinemas, Mass said people are going to the movies again — not quite as much as they did pre-pandemic, but the numbers are steady and even improving slightly.

And there is optimism for this summer — one of two busy times for movie theaters, with Christmas being the other — and later this spring as well. Indeed, in addition to a new Superman movie, there’s a live action Lilo & Stitch production, another Jurassic World offering, and a new Avengers movie, said Mass, adding that the cinemas cater mostly to seniors and families, so action movies don’t play particularly well.

But, overall, business is good at the cinemas, and across downtown Greenfield, where the coming attractions are, indeed, quite compelling.

Regional Better Business Bureau Affiliate Hones Its Dual Mission

By
Features

Matters of Trust

Recently, Megan MacBride, director of Marketing and Communications for the Better Business Bureau of Central New England, paid a visit to our BusinessTalk podcast, talking with BusinessWest Editor Joseph Bednar about the role of the BBB. Here are some abridged highlights of that conversation.

 

BusinessWest: Can you give us a basic idea of some of the programs and services of the BBB and how they benefit both business owners and customers?

MacBride: We have the business side, and we have the consumer side. We have a consumer foundation that offers support to consumers. For example, we put on a lot of scam presentations and seminars. It’s really helpful for people who are getting older because there are a lot of elder scams out there. So we’re continuously trying to educate those people.

We also have a complaint service. For example, if you went and bought a hot dog at a hot-dog stand and you were charged $2 and the person behind you was charged $1, and you were mad about that $1, you could call the BBB, and we’ll open up a complaint, whether the business is accredited with us or not, and we’ll be a neutral third party that will bring the unhappy customer and the business together to find a positive resolution that works for both.

Megan MacBride

Megan MacBride

“Don’t let these scammers bully you with threats and rush tactics like, ‘you need to pay now, or otherwise you’re going to get a fine, or you’re going to get arrested.’ The IRS will send you a letter in the mail. It’ll never be a threatening phone call.”

What the business wouldn’t want, whether they’re accredited with us or not, is a bad rating on our website because we document all of this stuff, and we vet all of our businesses before they can become accredited with us. Even if they’re not accredited with us and there are complaints, we’ll still fully investigate it, and we’ll make those complaints public so people are aware of what’s going on.

 

BusinessWest: What does it mean to be a BBB-accredited business?

MacBride: We have to go through your entire business and make sure that you fit our standards of trust. Our BBB standards of trust are to advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor promises, be responsive, safeguard privacy, and embody integrity. We want to have businesses that follow our standards of trust to be accredited.

And there are a lot of benefits. We had about 220 million viewers in 2024 on bbb.org. As an accredited business, you can list your business with us. We also do advertising for businesses, so they can buy ad spots as well. There are tons of other opportunities to work with the BBB beyond just getting the seal.

We’re always here as a resource for anyone on the business or consumer side if they ever need anything. I think it just fosters trust in the community. We all want to do business with good businesses, and we want to avoid scams and frustration. So when we’re all in this together and we have these accreditations to back it up, it makes you feel just a little bit better.

Another part of being a BBB-accredited business is that you have opportunities for e-learning seminars, so you can learn different things about various business topics. It’s an additional resource for lifelong learning. Even as a business owner, you’re still learning every day.

 

BusinessWest: You mentioned consumer scams. What are some examples of scams that are common right now?

MacBride: One that’s been ongoing recently is an EZ Pass scam. I don’t know if you’ve ever received an unsolicited text message claiming to be from an EZ Pass service. They make you follow this weird link, and then, next thing you know, your information is stolen. There have been over 800 reports in our region alone, and I know that other regions have also been targets of this.

I want to continue to remind people, do not respond to that text. It is absolutely fake news. EZ Pass would never send a text to you saying that you have an outstanding balance. It’s important to delete those, and it’s also important not to respond back. That’s a big thing. Even if you’re trying to respond just to say stop or unsubscribe, don’t even do that. Immediately block the number, report it, don’t even engage with it.

Another big scam that’s been going around recently is the wrong-number scam. You’ll get a random text and somebody says, ‘hi, I’m trying to reach so-and-so; this is my new number.’ And you might respond back and say, ‘hey, sorry, I think you might have the wrong number. I am not so-and-so.’ And then the scammer will respond, ‘oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know. How are you today? My name is X. I’d like to start talking to you now.’

And it just gets a little weird, right? So again, don’t respond to these. If you ever get an unsolicited text or phone call, review the number with caution, and if it’s a call, they can always leave a voicemail.

The other one relates to tax season. Everyone’s preparing for that April 15 date, so I’ve been trying to warn people about the IRS impersonation scams, when you receive a phone call from the IRS and they’re demanding money from you. The IRS does not do that, so don’t let these scammers bully you with threats and rush tactics like, ‘you need to pay now, or otherwise you’re going to get a fine, or you’re going to get arrested.’ The IRS will send you a letter in the mail. It’ll never be a threatening phone call.

 

BusinessWest: It would seem to me there is more awareness of scams, but I imagine you’re seeing the complaints at ground level, and there’s probably still a lot of need for education and to keep reinforcing these messages, right?

MacBride: Absolutely. Like I said, we have some of these vulnerable populations, older people, and with the rise of AI and the ability to manipulate photos and videos, it’s so important for us to continue to trying to get get ahead of it, making sure we’re on top of the curve, so we can continue to warn people of these things.

 

BusinessWest: There are a lot of organizations out there that advocate for the business community or for the consumer community. You really do both. How gratifying is it to be involved in that sort of work, to help consumers find what they need and also help businesses succeed?

MacBride: Honestly, it’s great. We are a nonprofit advocacy group for not only businesses, but also consumers, and it feels really good to get all the good businesses to come together and work together. I think our values are important. And I think having resources for consumers is amazing too, because sometimes people don’t know where to turn when things happen. So we want to always be there for both sides of it.

 

Governor’s Executive Order Targets Public Construction Projects

By Contributor
Construction

The Case for Project Labor Agreements

 

Gov. Maura Healey recently signed an executive order requiring that administrators of state-funded construction projects with budgets over $35 million take steps to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery of the jobs — including through the consideration of project labor agreements (PLAs), which have been demonstrated to reduce costs and ensure timely completion.

“There are so many critical construction projects underway all across the state — upgrading our roads and bridges, improving infrastructure for small businesses, and more,” Healey said. “We know that it’s really important that these projects are set up for success. This means ensuring that contractors have a trained and ready workforce to turn to and a plan for meeting deadlines, staying within budget and keeping everyone safe. In many cases, PLAs can help make that happen, while promoting good job opportunities for workers of all backgrounds, including veterans, women, and minorities.”

The order calls for the state to sign a PLA if it is in the best interest of the project, workers, and community. The state analysis will be based on the project’s scope, complexity, proposed schedule, site conditions, and the size and nature of the construction workforce required.

Healey signed the order at the Massachusetts Building Trades Unions’ (MBTU) 106th annual convention at MGM Springfield, surrounded by local construction workers and labor advocates, including workers who were employed as part of the construction of the new Massachusetts Veterans Home in Holyoke.

“This executive order will make a huge impact on the quality of life for current and future workers in the construction industry,” MBTU President Frank Callahan said. “It will contribute to ensuring fair competition for all contractors while creating opportunities for great careers and opportunities for workers. Every worker in the construction industry deserves the opportunity to earn good wages and benefits with safe working conditions that ensure they return to their loved ones each day after work. By signing this executive order, Governor Healey is helping to expand those opportunities for construction workers all across Massachusetts.”

A PLA is a collective bargaining agreement, executed between contractors and labor organizations, that establishes the terms and conditions of employment for all contractors, subcontractors, and craft labor employees performing work on a specific construction project.

Advocates say PLAs help deliver high-quality jobs for a diverse workforce and maintain competitive costs and project timelines. Studies have also found that PLAs do not add costs to construction projects, and in fact lower them. A recent analysis of a similar policy in Illinois found that PLAs increased competition and helped lower costs for taxpayers.

“Project labor agreements have been proven to result in successful construction projects in the public and private sectors, from the new Holyoke Veterans Home to Gillette Stadium and TD Garden,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said. “We’re proud to take this action today that will make sure our agencies are paying close attention to ways in which they can maximize the success of their projects while supporting our incredible, diverse workforce in Massachusetts.”

 

Matters of Compliance

The executive order lays out the process for implementing PLAs on public-works projects to comply with a measure in the state economic-development bill signed by Healey last year, which called for agencies to require a PLA when in the best interests of Massachusetts. The order does not require a PLA for any construction project and allows for union and non-union bids.

“Our administration looks forward to leveraging this as a tool, when applicable, complemented by efforts to build a more diverse pool of apprentices and reduce barriers to attract more women and people of color as we work collaboratively with the industry to grow the workforce,” said Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Lauren Jones, who joined the governor at the order signing at MGM.

Andrew DeAngelo, Executive Director of the Greater Boston Plumbing Contractors Assoc., which represents more than 70 union plumbing businesses in Massachusetts, added that “the contractor community applauds Governor Healey for this executive order. Project labor agreements not only make sense for worker safety and job-site protections, they also make business sense for both the contractor and the end user. By leveling the playing field for those bidding and ensuring an efficient and on-time completion, more subcontractors bid on the work competitively — and the end user gets the best finished product achievable.”

Chrissy Lynch, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, argued that “project labor agreements guarantee good wages and benefits, safe working conditions, and sustained investment in the local economy and workforce.

“These agreements ensure that projects create meaningful opportunities for workers across the board,” she added. “Currently, unions train 80% of all apprentices of color and 88% of all women apprentices in our state, and they have been critical to achieving the Commonwealth’s diversity goals for construction. PLAs also have a proven track record in Massachusetts, where they keep projects moving and costs low. The Massachusetts AFL-CIO applauds this executive order for doing better by workers, the community, and taxpayers across the Commonwealth.”

 

More Statements of Support

Karen Courtney, executive director of the Foundation for Fair Contracting of Massachusetts, called the executive order “a major step forward in ensuring that public projects not only deliver high-quality infrastructure but also uphold the principles of fairness, transparency, and opportunity for workers across Massachusetts. By strengthening oversight and accountability on projects exceeding $35 million, we are reinforcing the state’s commitment to equitable access, ensuring that skilled workers receive fair wages and providing a level playing field for all contractors.”

Ziquelle Smalls, senior organizer with Community Labor United, called the executive order “a monumental step toward an equitable and sustainable future for Massachusetts. Committing to strong project labor agreements across sectors will create family-sustaining careers, advance opportunities for women and communities of color, and build the infrastructure our state urgently needs.”

Cindy Luppi, national field director with Clean Water Action, characterized the executive order as “a pivotal moment for both climate justice and public health. By focusing on sustainable infrastructure, we have the chance to address urgent environmental needs — improving our water system, reducing pollution, and creating green careers that support our communities. It’s essential that, when Massachusetts invests in major projects, we not only tackle climate change, but also safeguard the well-being of those most impacted, ensuring clean, safe environments for future generations.”

Mimi Ramos, executive director of New England Community Project, called the announcement a game-changer for New England communities, especially for those seeking access to green careers and childcare opportunities. “At the New England Community Project, we know that a just transition means creating pathways to family-sustaining careers as well as building more green, affordable, equitable, and accessible housing.”

Finally, Dwaign Tyndal, executive director of Alternatives for Community & Environment, noted that, “for frontline communities across New England, and especially in Massachusetts, the executive order on PLAs for state-funded projects over $35 million presents a pivotal opportunity to create green transit infrastructure that addresses both the climate crisis and long-standing inequities. This investment provides a chance to build transit systems that not only reduce carbon emissions but also ensure that working-class communities have access to reliable, sustainable transportation.”

Girls Inc. of the Valley Shines Light on Youth Mental Health

By Contributor
Healthcare News

Turning the Tide

By Suzanne Parker

 

Mental health is important at every stage of life and is critical for a girl’s success in school. Yet we are currently facing a mental-health crisis among youth.

Based on the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance of 2023, almost 53% of female students in the U.S. experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year, and over 27% seriously considered attempting suicide. This issue persists in Canada as well, where emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial problems affect approximately 1.2 million children, yet fewer than 20% receive appropriate treatment.

Girls Inc. affiliates report that world issues have contributed to trauma and mental-health concerns for girls. ​​These environmental and social factors contribute to deteriorating mental health among girls and can have dangerous consequences.

Suzanne Parker

Suzanne Parker

“Many factors impacts girls’ mental health. While community and family dynamics, specific traumatic experiences, and even our genetics play a role in our mental health, media and schools can have an outsized impact, both positive and negative.”

Many factors impacts girls’ mental health. While community and family dynamics, specific traumatic experiences, and even our genetics play a role in our mental health, media and schools can have an outsized impact, both positive and negative.

 

Role of Media

A recent Pew Research study found that almost half of U.S. teens ages 13-17 use the internet almost constantly, with young girls more likely to spend too much time on social media. Girls particularly face limiting and unrealistic representations of female bodies in the media, which can adversely affect their self-perception, self-worth, and mental health.

Teens’ negative perceptions of their bodies may steer them toward extreme diets or harmful dieting trends. Eating disorders are complex and have a number of social, psychological, and biological causes. Social media is one component of this, as it works to perpetuate the ‘thin ideal,’ especially for young girls.

A researcher at Brown University identified several more risks that social media poses to young girls, including contributing to inadequate amounts of sleep, preventing in-person socialization, exposure to explicitly dangerous content, and even cyberbullying.

On the reverse, moderate use of media that supports users or teaches about well-being or other topics can be a positive resource. Think about how different a comment section full of compliments is!

 

Role of Schools

Schools could play an important role in connecting girls with the services they need if school staff members are trained to recognize the signs of trauma or other mental-health concerns. Oftentimes, girls, especially girls of color, are disciplined for behavior that may be the result of unaddressed trauma or mental-health issues but is not recognized as such.

Additionally, there is a critical shortage of school counselors, and many high-school counselors report being overburdened by huge caseloads, especially at schools where a majority of children are first-generation and low-income students. The American School Counselor Assoc. (ASCA) recommends maintaining at least one school counselor for every 250 students. For the 2023-24 school year, however, ASCA found that the national average ratio in the U.S. is only 376 to 1.

 

Why It Matters

Mental health impacts girls’ and young women’s ability to lead healthy, fulfilling, and meaningful lives. Even though mental-health issues are treatable, girls may not receive the services they need if their schools and communities do not have the necessary resources and the adults in their lives do not know how to identify the need for help.

Girls with unaddressed mental-health problems may get punished or withdraw from classes or activities, thereby losing access to critical development opportunities. Mental illness can also be isolating given the stigma that still surrounds seeking treatment or even admitting one suffers from mental-health issues.

“Even though mental-health issues are treatable, girls may not receive the services they need if their schools and communities do not have the necessary resources and the adults in their lives do not know how to identify the need for help.”

What Policymakers Can Do

Policymakers can improve access to, and quality of, mental-health and wellness support for all youth by:

• Protecting and increasing access to mental-health services, including telehealth;

• Increasing funding for school-based mental health professionals and services, including screening, treatment, and outreach programs;

• Increasing funding for evidence-based suicide awareness and prevention programs, as well as mandating that schools train students in suicide and eating-disorder awareness and prevention;

• Strengthening laws, policies, and funding for programs that promote trauma-informed practices, training, and healing-centered engagement for children and families who may have experienced trauma.

• Ensuring that resources in schools are tailored to students’ specific needs, and ensuring access to more inclusive mental-health and wellness education, as well as linguistically accessible and culturally competent services for youth and parents.

We can also encourage appropriate content from media sources and hold social-media platforms accountable for youth mental-health impacts by ensuring they implement robust youth-protection measures and are held accountable for promoting harmful content to minors, through measures including age verification, usage limits, and AI safety scans for inappropriate or dangerous content.

They can also create industry standards to regulate digital alterations, fund research on social media’s impact on youth, and support the promotion of diverse body representation, while also encouraging collaboration among schools, healthcare providers, and communities to offer comprehensive media-literacy education, mental-health support, and body-positive programs.

 

What We’re Doing at Girls Inc. of the Valley

Girls Inc. Week is celebrated by Girls Inc. affiliates all over the U.S. and Canada. This is a time when we galvanize around topics important to girls.

This year, Girls Inc. Week is happening May 5-9, with the theme “Youth Mental Health: Helping Kids Feel Better,” which was thoughtfully selected by Girls Inc. students. It shines a spotlight on one of the most critical issues facing youth today — mental health — and celebrates the resilience, strength, and proactive spirit of girls.

At Girls Inc. of the Valley, we have a week full of meaningful activities to acknowledge and support their questions and challenges, including our Real Essentials curriculum with a focus on mental health, MADD’s substance-abuse prevention workshop for teens, a fun spa day, and more.

We’ll celebrate the extraordinary achievements of our girls and alumnae, who exemplify what it means to be strong, smart, and bold. Together, we’ll lift up their voices, break down stigmas surrounding mental health, and champion the actions girls are taking to support their peers and communities.

Also, on Thursday, May 8, Girls Inc. is launching its second annual network-wide fundraiser, and Girls Inc. of the Valley is participating to support “Youth Mental Health: Helping Our Kids Feel Better,” right here in the Valley. To learn more about how to participate, visit www.girlsincvalley.org or contact Sasha at [email protected].

 

Suzanne Parker is executive director of Girls Inc. of the Valley.

 

Apprenticeship Programs Fail to Meet Construction Workforce Needs

By
Construction

Problems in the Pipeline

At current rates of participation and completion, federal and state government-registered apprenticeship programs, or GRAPs, are still failing to meet the construction industry’s short- and long-term skilled workforce-development needs, according to an annual Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of recently released U.S. Department of Labor data.

ABC estimates that, in fiscal year 2024, the construction industry’s federal and state GRAPs had about 290,000 apprentice participants and yielded fewer than 40,000 completers.

“Unfortunately, America’s government-registered apprenticeship system isn’t keeping up with construction-industry demand for skilled craft professionals, despite encouraging progress by many stakeholders to create new programs, attract new apprentices, and graduate journeymen and women at the end of a rigorous, four- to five-year apprenticeship program,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC’s vice president of Regulatory, Labor, and State Affairs.

“Despite the growth of nonunion GRAPs,” he added, “this data is further evidence that an all-of-the-above approach to workforce development — in contrast to the Biden administration’s policy that advanced only government-registered apprenticeship programs — is the best way to address the construction industry’s chronic skilled labor shortage.”

ABC recently projected the construction industry workforce shortage to be 439,000 in 2025.

“Unfortunately, America’s government-registered apprenticeship system isn’t keeping up with construction-industry demand for skilled craft professionals, despite encouraging progress by many stakeholders to create new programs, attract new apprentices, and graduate journeymen and women at the end of a rigorous, four- to five-year apprenticeship program.”

U.S. Department of Labor data presents five-year trend lines indicating there has been stronger proportional growth in the number of nonunion GRAPs, apprentice participants, and apprentice completers compared to union-affiliated GRAPs since 2019.

In FY 2024, 84% of the construction industry’s GRAPs were non-union providers. The number of non-union GRAPs has grown by 25% since 2019, compared to a 7% decrease in union-affiliated GRAPs since FY 2019.

Participants in non-union GRAPs increased by 43% from FY 2019 to FY 2024, compared to 11% for union programs. Completers of non-union GRAPs increased by 31% from FY 2019 to FY 2024, compared to 11% for union programs.

However, in FY 2024, 31% of all construction-industry GRAP participants were in non-union programs.

“With construction unions representing a record-low 10.3% of the workforce, the fact that 69% of all apprenticeship program participants are in union programs illustrates why the union lobby pushes for registered apprenticeship requirements on taxpayer-funded construction projects and advocates for federal grant money for GRAPs as a whole,” Brubeck said. “Workforce-development solutions outside of the GRAP paradigm are a threat to union market share.

“ABC champions government-registered apprenticeships as part of a diverse, all-of-the-above solution to workforce-development needs to solve the construction industry’s demand for skilled craft professionals, as well as engineers, estimators, and project managers,” he added. “ABC’s 67 chapters are educating craft, safety, and management professionals using innovative and flexible learning models like just-in-time task training, competency-based progression, and work-based learning, in addition to more than 450 federal and state GRAPs in more than 20 different occupations across America, in order to develop a safe, skilled, and productive workforce. ABC members invested an estimated $1.6 billion in construction-industry workforce development to upskill 1.3 million course attendees in 2023, including hundreds of GRAPs administered independently by ABC member companies.”

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the construction industry had 8.31 million employees as of February 2025 and experienced an unemployment rate between 3.2% and 4.2% during peak construction months in 2024.

According to DOL apprenticeship data, apprentices enrolled in construction-industry GRAPs comprise 35.7% of the 679,105 apprentices enrolled in GRAPs across all industries in FY 2024.

Construction Spending Up, but Hires, Job Openings Slump

By
Construction

Mixed Signals

Construction spending increased 0.7% from January to February, even as contractors kept hiring and job opening rates at low levels, according to an analysis of two new government reports by Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that industry hiring appears to be slowing as demand for most types of construction cools.

“Construction spending rebounded in February, following widespread severe weather that may have slowed projects in January,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist of Associated General Contractors of America. “Investment remains positive compared to a year ago, but the growth rate for all major categories has cooled, while contractors have trimmed hiring and slashed job openings.”

Spending totaled $2.20 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in February. The total was 0.7% higher than the January rate, but only 2.9% above the February 2024 level. Simonson noted that year-over-year growth rates in January (2.7%) and February were the slowest since 2019.

“Investment remains positive compared to a year ago, but the growth rate for all major categories has cooled, while contractors have trimmed hiring and slashed job openings.”

A separate government report showed that the number of workers hired by construction firms in February totaled 354,000, seasonally adjusted, a decline of 20,000, or 5.3%, from a year earlier. The number of job openings on the last day of February totaled 264,000, a drop of 165,000, or 38%, from a year earlier, while the rate of job openings fell to 3.1%, the lowest February rate since 2018. Simonson said these figures show contractors expect to need fewer workers in the near future, a sign that spending may slow further.

Private residential construction climbed 1.3% for the month, led by a 2.0% increase in improvements to owner-occupied homes and a 1.0% rise in single-family homebuilding. Spending rose 2.0% year over year, a slowdown from the 7.9% gain from February 2023 to February 2024.

Private non-residential construction increased 0.4% for the month, with a pickup in nearly every segment. The year-over-year increase totaled 2.5%, down from 9.3% a year earlier.

Public construction edged up 0.2% from January and rose 6.0% from February 2024. A year earlier, public construction jumped 14.0% from the February 2023 total.

Association officials said they were working with Trump administration and Congress to explore ways to reduce regulatory burdens and limit the time it takes to greenlight work on new infrastructure and other economic-development projects. They noted that cutting red tape could help boost activity levels for many types of publicly funded construction projects.

“We are working closely with administration officials to streamline the environmental permitting process and eliminate needless regulatory burdens,” said Jeffrey Shoaf, CEO of Associated General Contractors of America. “There is a way to hold projects to the same high standards of environmental protection without delaying decisions for years at a time.”

Golf Enjoys ‘Stickiness’ in Post-COVID Times

By
John Thomas
Sports & Leisure

Round Numbers

John Thomas

John Thomas says the recently opened Max’s Swing Lounge is off to a solid start, attracting individuals of all ability levels, high-school teams, and corporate outings as well.

 

As he talked about golf in March and how many of the Bay State’s courses were able to open for business for large stretches of that month, Jesse Menachem first lamented that February was an almost total loss.

The fact that he even brought up February was a sign of recent times — for golf and the climate in New England. Indeed, area courses have enjoyed a prolonged run of golf-season-extending weather, with earlier starts, later finishes, and mostly decent weather through the season.

And this run of good weather has perhaps played a small role in the game becoming “more sticky” since enjoying a surge during COVID, when there was little else to do, and becoming “cool again,” said Menachem, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Golf Assoc. (MGA), who acknowledged that he gets paid to promote the game, but is genuinely optimistic about what he’s seen and what he projects for this season and beyond.

“We are again bullish about participation numbers and membership numbers,” he said, adding that all signs point to another solid year. “People are fitting golf into their daily lives and their daily routines in a different way than they did a few decades ago.”

Meanwhile, another aspect of golf’s surge has nothing to do with climate, other than being an antidote for bad weather. Yes, we’re talking about simulators, which continue to grow in popularity, with many private courses now adding such facilities to allow members to keep clubs in their hands 12 months a year — while also providing a boost to the food-and-beverage side of the house.

But there also more such facilities not tied to clubs, such as the recently opened Max’s Swing Lounge at Max’s Tavern at the Basketball Hall of Fame.

John Thomas, general manager of Max’s Tavern, part of the Max Restaurant Group, said the facility, which opened last November in an underutilized banquet room, provides users with opportunities for everything from basic practice to playing iconic courses like Pebble Beach and Cypress Point, and is off to a solid start.

“We’re seeing everyone from toddlers to retired people who are picking up golf for the first time,” he said, adding that the facility features nine bays using Trackman simulation technology. “We see people who play two or three times a week, we see pros, we see people just getting into the game, and people just out to have a good time.”

As for facilities that are dependent on the weather, many area courses were open by the end of March, and some were open before St. Patrick’s Day. That continues a trend that covers the past several years, and it’s a positive development in that it extends the revenue-generating season to weeks, or even months, when overhead is much lower than at other times of the year; Menachem calls this “bonus time.”

Jesse Menachem

Jesse Menachem

“We are again bullish about participation numbers and membership numbers.”

The longer seasons comprise one of many bright spots for the golfing industry that still share space with a host of challenges — from the rising cost of just about everything to ongoing workforce struggles. All these issues, in both categories, are visible at clubs large, small, and even very small, such as Quaboag Country Club in Monson.

Celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, the semi-private club has nine holes, maintains a stable but older-than-normal membership of about 125, and has enjoyed growth in play since COVID, said General Manager Dale Swanson, a 71-year-old who described himself as a jack of all trades.

That’s his way of saying there’s a very small staff at the club, and he does whatever is necessary, including work in the kitchen, the 19th hole, getting carts ready for the season, and the pro shop.

As he does all that, he said a new greenskeeper — evidence that the course is in the best shape it’s been in for this time of year — general optimism about the state of the game, and a milestone anniversary have the club primed for what should a good year.

“We’re optimistic, and we’re already off to a good start,” Swanson said, adding that the course had a soft opening in late March with reduced greens fees. “COVID brought a lot of people into the game, and they’re sticking with it.”

For this issue, BusinessWest looks at the state of the golf business and the outlook for the year ahead.

 

Out of the Rough

As he talked with BusinessWest on March 29, a Saturday that was predicted to be a total washout, Ted Perez Jr., the head pro and co-owner of East Mountain Country Club, was in the pro shop checking in a few groups trying to steal a round before the weather rolled in.

“I think the forecast scared most of them away, but we had a few groups come out,” said Perez, whose course is known across this region — and well beyond — for being open pretty much whenever there is no snow on the ground.

Which means it’s been open almost year-round since the pandemic, said Perez, noting that February was, indeed, a total loss, making 2025 the first year since 2020 when East Mountain will not be open at least a part of all 12 months.

Still, this season officially started earlier than most, he said, noting that the course opened March 8, two or three weeks before most others, getting 2025 off to a decent start, again, at a time when there are minimal expenses to cut into the revenues.

Dale Swanson says Quaboag Country Club, like most courses in the area, has enjoyed early starts and, overall, growth in play since COVID.

Dale Swanson says Quaboag Country Club, like most courses in the area, has enjoyed early starts and, overall, growth in play since COVID.

“My father used to say that golf this early in the year is like finding money on the street,” said Perez, whose dad, Ted Perez Sr., designed and built the course in the early ’60s. “That’s because it costs you almost nothing to be open; you’re not mowing greens, you’re not changing cups, you’re not fertilizing … there’s zero expense other than gas for the carts.”

These early starts — and later finishes, at least the past few years — have certainly played a role in overall business growth at most area courses, said Perez and others we spoke with. But the bigger reason has been the surge in participation prompted by the pandemic, and strong evidence that many of those who took up the game then, or went back to it after leaving for any of several reasons, have stayed with it.

Whether golf is now ‘cool’ — the word Menachem chose — is a matter of debate, there’s no doubting that the game is more popular than it was 10 to 15 years ago, when its cost, lengthy time to play, and other factors were leaving empty lines on tee sheets and private clubs with dramatically lower membership numbers.

“Now, most private clubs have waiting lists for membership,” said Menachem, adding that there are other barometers for measuring the game’s comeback, from consistently higher numbers of rounds logged statewide to a slowing in the number of course closings; from an impressive list of courses open by mid- to late March to strong early signups for the major tournaments staged by the MGA each year, including the Massachusetts Amateur, which this year will played on a local course, GreatHorse in Hampden, and is already sold out.

Swanson agreed, noting that Quaboag has enjoyed limited but steady growth in overall play since the pandemic, a trend he expects will continue in 2025 with the gaining of new members as some courses, such as Leominster Country Club, have closed.

“I just signed up one that was at Leominster, and he said he’s going to bring some of his buddies with him,” said Swanson, adding that, while membership is up slightly, public play has increased as well.

Meanwhile, simulators provide additional opportunities for courses to extend the season and perhaps generate more food and beverage revenue.

“There’s all sorts of different options to outfit indoor space for simulators and keep clubs in people’s hands,” Menachem said, acknowledging that these facilities don’t do as well when the weather improves. Still, they have become a solid addition to the amenities offered by many clubs, and, overall, they have become an intriguing new aspect of the business, with perhaps the most visible example being TGL (Tomorrow’s Golf League), the tech-infused 3-on-3 golf league composed of PGA Tour golfers that drew solid audiences for matches broadcast on ESPN.

Those matches showed how far simulation technology has come and how it will be a big part of the game, said Thomas, noting that Scott Smith, president and CEO of the Max Restaurant Group, became inspired to create the swing lounge in Springfield after seeing a successful, 11-bay facility in Wallingford, Conn.

The chosen site is a banquet facility that had seen declining use since COVID, said Thomas, noting that retrofitting the location for golf simulation and a sports bar began in early 2024.

“When you walk in, it looks like a golf club,” he noted. “And we designed it to be more of a restaurant or golf club than a bar and swing lounge.”

He said the day he spoke with BusinessWest was typical, with Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s golf team coming in for practice that afternoon and a corporate function slated for the evening.

He acknowledged that, once the weather turns nicer and area courses are open, demand for simulators declines. Still, he noted, there is enough business — from corporate outings to players trying to stay sharp — to make this a successful year-round business.

 

Drive Time

Swanson said Quaboag has a few 125th-anniversary celebrations on tap for this year.

There’s a two-day tournament slated for Memorial Day weekend, and another competition set for August that will take participants back in time. Indeed, there were originally six holes when the course opened in 1900, he said, adding that six of the current nine will be chosen for a tournament that will feature the original yardages and some loaned persimmon clubs that will give players a taste of older equipment and keep them from driving the greens with their titanium and composite drivers.

There will likely be some participants in period outfits as well, he noted, adding that, while the club celebrates its past, it will press on with matters of the present and future, which look bright, but, like the game itself, come complete with a full set of challenges and issues that, like the weather, cannot be predicted.

 

Kitchen Concepts Specializes in Rooms for Improvement

By
Owners Ellen and Jim Boyle
Construction Cover Story

Home Team

Owners Ellen and Jim Boyle

Owners Ellen and Jim Boyle

 

Any customer who hires Kitchen Concepts for a home-improvement job is asked to sign a piece of paper. On it is a promise they won’t yell at the contractors.

“Because someone did that one day, and I had had enough,” said Ellen Boyle, who co-owns the business with her husband, Jim Boyle. “I told Jim, ‘we’re making some changes.’ It’s just a simple piece of paper with a general explanation that they have to sign, and it’s made such a huge difference in our work because nobody deserves to be talked to like that, and I don’t want to ever speak to somebody like that. But it also creates this kind of camaraderie.”

It’s also part of a general focus on strong communication, she told BusinessWest.

“If someone decides to move ahead with us, we detail their payment schedule, so there’s never an uncomfortable moment of saying, ‘by the way, I need a check today.’ It’s set up from the beginning. Before we even get started, we explain what their schedule is going to look like, so there’s no question of when we’re starting and what our anticipated finish is going to be.”

And then, of course, there’s that expectation of mutual respect, right up front.

“As we’re walking into someone’s home, everybody that works for us is respectful, but we expect the same thing in return,” Ellen said. “We don’t have anybody above us, so if someone has an issue, we’re the ones that take care of it, but it has to be on a very mature and adult level.”

Jim said clients chuckle a little bit about signing the paper, but they also understand it — and it makes a difference.

“I think sometimes people have this expectation of contractors being gruff and rough and disappointing in nature. But we have done an incredible job over the years without having that kind of demeanor.”

“It just ruins the relationship if people yell at somebody over a knob or coming at 8 o’clock instead of quarter of 8,” he noted. “So we have a conversation for five minutes about all the little things that can happen when you’re in the house. And now, when something happens, this is what we get: ‘Ellen, I know I promised not to yell, but I’m a little upset.’ And they tell you the thing, but they preface it with that, and they don’t yell. And we easily handle whatever problem has come up and kind of move on.”

The consistent growth of Kitchen Concepts over the past quarter-century, much of it driven by word of mouth and customer loyalty, has validated that unusual ‘contract,’ if one could call it that. It’s also an effective icebreaker, Ellen said.

“I think sometimes people have this expectation of contractors being gruff and rough and disappointing in nature. But we have done an incredible job over the years without having that kind of demeanor. It’s not necessary, you know?”

 

From Painting to Kitchens … and More

Before meeting Ellen, Jim started a business called ASAP Painting — by accident, sort of — in 1998.

“I had started kind of cutting grass and doing some other stuff. I left an ad for painting in the paper by mistake, and somebody called me on it. So I painted an exterior house with a buddy of mine. We bought a couple brushes and paint, and that’s how that was born.”

Ellen was an executive secretary at Holyoke Community College when they met, and she eventually began helping with Jim’s business in an administrative role, handling scheduling, estimates, and the like.

“It grew right away,” he said. “It kind of organized us, and it made me able to concentrate on the work itself. And we grew incredibly fast.”

Kitchen Concepts grew out of Jim Boyle learning cabinet installation, and has grown from there.

Kitchen Concepts grew out of Jim Boyle learning cabinet installation, and has grown from there.

They moved to an office in Hadley in 2001. “It was a dilapidated building that we renovated, and we were able to buy work vehicles and improve our equipment and bring on guys; I think we had at least four full painting crews,” Ellen said.

In addition to those interior and exterior paint jobs, they also built about 20 houses during that decade, drawing on Jim’s background in construction; his father was a developer. And they quickly outgrew their space and moved, in 2011, to their current, larger space on Russell Street, which used to house the Hadley Post Office and, later, an insurance company.

But the Great Recession had begun to take a bite out of the home-construction business, so they pivoted to selling cabinets and countertops, and eventually to full kitchen and bath renovations.

“We went out and did some training on how to design,” Ellen said. “And we had to renovate this entire building. We’ve made a lot of changes over the years, and we renovated this whole space to make it the showroom that it is. And maybe seven or eight years ago, we decided to solely concentrate on kitchen and bath remodeling.”

More specifically, they ditched whole-home construction; ASAP Painting is still going strong, as is a third business, called Premier Self Storage, which currently has a facility open in Greenfield and one under development in Southwick.

Their business partnership works for multiple reasons, Jim said. One is that they get along well as co-workers; not every couple does. The other is that they excel at different things. Jim realized early on he was much better at managing work crews and projects in the field, while Ellen, besides her organizational and administrative prowess, was much more at ease talking at length to customers about what they were looking for in a renovation.

“We’ve made a lot of changes over the years, and we renovated this whole space to make it the showroom that it is. And maybe seven or eight years ago, we decided to solely concentrate on kitchen and bath remodeling.”

Jim tells the story of spending two hours with a client early in the kitchen business and becoming frustrated.

“I’m a contractor-type person, so I care about being on budget, making sure the tiles and materials are there, making sure the guys are doing everything like they’re supposed to. I don’t necessarily care about colors and shades and things like that. When I buy cabinets, it takes me five minutes: ‘what are my colors? What’s my shape? OK, that’ll be good. Can you send me the price?’ And I’m done. And I thought that’s what everybody did.

“What we found was that she cares about all that stuff. So now, I have very little to do with scheduling or meeting with the customers. From that day, she started dealing with the clients, and I would get tied up with the guys, making sure they’re on budget, that they’re there on time. And she actually built the company to kind of a powerhouse, where we’re doing 15 to 25 kitchens a year, and maybe 25 to 30 bathrooms a year. It works really well.”

 

Time Management

The Boyles’ operation employs between nine and 15 employees, depending on the season, while the subcontractors that do plumbing, electrical work, and cabinet installation tend to be the same from project to project.

“Many of our people have been with us for a long time,” Jim said. “I have one guy that started with me since day one. Our assistant’s been with us 12 years. Two other guys have been here 17, 18 years. Everybody’s been around for a long time.”

Speaking of a long time, most remodels are completed in three weeks, though some larger, more complex jobs may go four or five. The three-week goal is out of respect for customers, he noted.

“If I build a garage for you at your house, if I take too much time, you could care less. I’m outside every day, and you might come say ‘hi’ to me when you leave for work and when you get back. But if I’m in your kitchen, when you get into a third week and everything’s still going on, it can be difficult for your wife or your partner, and if you get into a fourth week, they don’t want you there anymore; they need their stuff back.”

That consideration was even more acute during the pandemic — a time when home-improvement businesses everywhere reported soaring demand as people stayed home, stopped investing in vacations, and ramped up household projects.

“We were working at least 50, 60 hours a week. There was zero downtime,” Ellen said. “I had my two best years for kitchen consultancy. But yes, there was definitely a learning curve with how to interact with homeowners.

The bathroom and kitchen renovation business surged during the pandemic and has stayed relatively robust.

The bathroom and kitchen renovation business surged during the pandemic and has stayed relatively robust.

“Social distancing was new to everybody. But, again, we had honest conversations with homeowners, like, ‘this is how we will come into your house, this is how we will meet to do an estimate and a design, and this is how we will work to get the job done.’ And things took a little bit longer because we couldn’t really pile a lot of people into someone’s home, but the customers would just come in later in the day after we took off.”

Whatever the circumstance, Ellen said most clients have specific ideas in mind when they enlist Kitchen Concepts for a project.

“There’s a lot of information out there, and what makes us unique is having the construction background — so there’s what you see in a magazine or online, or what you’ve seen on TV, and then there’s the reality of what can be done,” she explained. “If someone has a certain dollar amount that they can spend, that definitely directs us where we need to go to. I never want to show somebody something that is three times the amount of money they’d actually be able to spend. So we do have discussions on what their total budget is going to get them and what we can do.”

How a customer intends to use the property makes a difference as well, she added. “Is someone renovating to sell their house? Are they renovating, but they’re only going to be there for five years? Or are they renovating because this is it — this is where they’re going to be for the rest of their lives?

“There are people who walk in and say, ‘I need a new kitchen, and I have no idea what’s out there.’ But I always encourage people to do all of the hard stuff first,” she went on. “I never want someone to come in here and feel like they have to pick their cabinets and pick their countertops. The hard stuff is understanding what design change would make it more efficient for you, and especially working in someone’s budget.”

Premier Self Storage, including this facility in Greenfield, is a successful side business for the Boyles.

Premier Self Storage, including this facility in Greenfield, is a successful side business for the Boyles.

Because budget is key, Ellen said, no matter the customer.

“One of our countertop companies, Cambria, has beautiful quartz countertops. But a lot of their designs are geared more toward, say, Boston-area homeowners, where it’s a very different demographic, a very different type of budget. Here in the college towns, some of the more expensive materials don’t fit into what their budget is going to be. So we have that conversation very openly with our Cambria reps, that we love these contemporary materials that they offer, and they’re big sellers in one area, but we say, ‘that’s never going to sell here.’

“But those products are out there, and you never know what someone will walk in and say they want,” she added. “Our cabinets are well-priced cabinets, so we have everything from standard SKU models up to full custom cabinetry.”

 

Another New Day

Jim called his partnership with Ellen — in life and in business — a good one, saying his day begins with a morning goodbye kiss, but they often see each other soon after — unless he’s on a job site.

“We’ve been working together since the beginning,” Ellen added. “We take separate cars to and from work, which gives us flexibility if he’s out on the road and I’m here, or vice versa. It’s good. It works.”

Anthony Gulluni Strikes Balance Between Fighting Crime, Building Community

By
Anthony Gulluni
Features

Law and Order

Anthony Gulluni

Anthony Gulluni

The ‘young jokes’ have stopped.

Well … there are fewer of them, anyway.

Indeed, Anthony Gulluni is still the youngest person in the room — by maybe 15 years, by his estimate — when the Massachusetts District Attorneys Assoc. gathers for its monthly meetings and an annual conference to discuss “whatever the crisis of the day is,” such as Rule 14, which puts greater burden on prosecutors and police departments to furnish discovery more quickly.

“It’s no fun; it’s not a good thing,” said Gulluni, 44, Hampden County’s DA, who has been the youngest person in that room for a full decade now, a milestone — there’s a handmade sign in his office congratulating him on that anniversary — that presents a time to pause and reflect on his tenure and what he calls its primary, overarching goal, then and now: “to build a safer community in Hampden County.”

This represents work in progress, noted Gulluni, who told BusinessWest that it’s difficult to quantify just how much safer area cities and towns are a decade after he took office. But he can qualify progress on several levels, everything from the ongoing fight against drugs to efforts to solve cold cases, while also stressing a need to continually improve.

“Ten years provides an opportunity to look back, look forward, and say, ‘what can we do better?’” he said. “And that’s a daily pursuit for this office because the work is so important. We’re serving the public, not unlike other public officials, but we’re working with people who have been victimized, people who have experienced some of the worst things imaginable and things they never expected.”

Overall, building a safer community involves a broad spectrum of programs, initiatives, and simply getting tough on crime and criminals, said Gulluni, adding that efforts at education, prevention, and providing second chances — everything from flag football to 3-on-3 basketball; from Stop the Swerve safe-driving events to the Emerging Adult Court of Hope — and imposing harsh sentences on offenders are not mutually exclusive.

“It’s not ‘lock them up and throw away the key,’ or ‘we want to be progressive and rehabilitate everybody.’ We can combine the two, we can be moderate, and we can be in the middle, and we’ve achieved that.”

“What I’ve tried to do is operate on the principle that we can do progressive things in this law-enforcement space and criminal-justice space,” he noted. “And it doesn’t prevent us from also upholding the law and understanding that there are violent people and repeat offenders who hurt people and need to be incarcerated.

“We can do both things,” he said, adding this has been his goal since he first campaigned for the office. “It’s not ‘lock them up and throw away the key,’ or ‘we want to be progressive and rehabilitate everybody.’ We can combine the two, we can be moderate, and we can be in the middle, and we’ve achieved that.”

Elaborating, he said his office has not “run from the enforcement stuff — taking drugs off the street and locking the person up for as long as possible because this person is killing people.”

Anthony Gulluni speaks at a ceremony marking the five-year anniversary of EACH, the Emerging Adult Court of Hope.

Anthony Gulluni speaks at a ceremony marking the five-year anniversary of EACH, the Emerging Adult Court of Hope.

But it has also broken new ground with programs like the Commonwealth’s only Emerging Adult Court of Hope (EACH) — a name he came up with — which provides second chances to young offenders and brings graduates into careers, not merely entry-level jobs that most often fail to prevent recidivism.

“Each person matters; each person should have hope,” he told BusinessWest, adding that the program is designed to break the cycle whereby young people become repeat offenders essentially because there is no real alternative. EACH was designed to help such individuals earn a viable alternative.

There are many other initiatives as well, involving everything from preventing dating violence to internet safety to FLOS (Future Lawyers of Springfield), which seeks to identify young students who aspire to be lawyers and guide them into a career in the legal system. In short, his first decade has been guided by a desire to be tough on crime and creative with ways to build community.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Gulluni, who has been honored by the magazine as a 40 Under Forty honoree and Alumni Achievement Award winner, about what has been accomplished over the past 10 years, and the hard work that remains.

Coming to Terms

As he talked with BusinessWest on the last day of March, Gulluni was coming off a hard week.

Indeed, he was just a few days away from press conferences announcing charges related to a motor-vehicle accident on an I-91 off-ramp in West Springfield that killed three construction workers, and a hit-and-run incident in Springfield where a motorist struck and killed a pedestrian walking his bike across an intersection.

“This was tragic stuff, but this is what we do — it’s really about public safety, helping people be safe, and helping people make good decisions,” he said, adding that incidents like these help emphasize all aspects of his office’s work, from prosecuting offenders to helping to prevent such tragedies in the future.

“One of the points of frustration over my 10 years, and it’s become more acute and frequent, is the results in court.”

Such press conferences are one of the more visible aspects of a job where far more goes on behind the scenes, in offices spaced across four floors of Tower Square — after Gulluni ordered his staff out of the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse amid growing health concerns — but in many different settings as well.

That move to Tower Square is one of many bold steps taken over the past 10 years, all aimed, in one way or another, at achieving that broad goal of making communities safer.

Others include everything from adding prosecutors (bringing the number from 61 to 90 over the past decade) and staff to bring the Hampden County DA’s office, among the busiest in the state, more in line with others in the Commonwealth, to ‘specializing’ those prosecutors.

“We’ve taken many of our most experienced and most talented prosecutors to work on cases involving children in our special-victims unit, domestic-violence cases, and homicide cases,” he said, adding that this region has led the state in homicides per capita, reflecting the demographics of a region with four gateway cities.

Overall, there have been several important initiatives undertaken over the past decade, said Gulluni, including a focus on cold cases that has brought charges — and, in some cases, resolution — to crimes committed decades ago.

“That was one of my initial focal points and something we talked about during the campaign, something we acted on immediately, and over the past 10 years we’ve had a great deal of success,” he said, citing the recent instance of an arrest involving a double murder on Route 5 in West Springfield 47 years ago.

Elaborating, he said cold cases require time and resources, factors that make it difficult to address them. But he has made such cases a priority.

“It’s all about focus,” he explained. “We’ve tried to, and we have, dedicated people to work on unresolved cases. I created a unit, I have a coordinator, I have an advocate, I have a prosecutor, and I have two, soon to be three, investigators working exclusively on these cases. You can’t throw a 30-year-old case at a prosecutor who has 50 other cases and expect her or him to really dive into that case.”

Court of Opinion

Meanwhile, some initiatives fall more into the category of prevention, community building, promoting healthy lifestyles, and even inspiring young people to join the legal profession.

“We’ve approached our work with a preventive lens — how can we get in front of issues; how can we identify things that metastasize and become worse?” he said, adding that his office devotes considerable time and resources to what it calls its Community Safety and Outreach Program.

Anthony Gulluni speaks with an attendee at the recent Stop the Swerve event at the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Anthony Gulluni speaks at 94.7 WMAS for its Radiothon for Baystate Children’s Hospital.

It includes more than a dozen initiatives, such as Stop the Swerve, a presentation (the latest staged last month) that addresses the dangers of impaired and distracted driving; Hoop Up Springfield, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament; a Youth Advisory Board consisting of student representatives from high schools across the county who identify issues facing youth today and provide recommendations on how best to address them; and a recent addition, a youth flag-football tournament, staged in partnership with Excel Sports Academy of New England.

The first such tournament was staged last June, and it will return this summer, said Gulluni, adding that, in addition to competition on the gridiron, it features several nutrition and wellness sessions.

Then there’s FLOS. Undertaken in partnership with Western New England University School of Law, it’s designed to inspire young people to enter the legal profession and bring more diversity to the legal community.

“Diversity is important, for our office and for the bar here in Hampden County,” he told BusinessWest. “We thought about how we can encourage and support young people, especially young people of color, to go down the road toward law school and become lawyers.”

As for the Emerging Adult Court of Hope, it is perhaps the most unique and ambitious initiative of Gulluni’s tenure.

Designed for those between ages 18 and 24, it gives individuals a chance to turn an arrest into a positive step forward, he said, adding that participants are carefully screened and, if chosen, assigned a team that includes a judge, service providers, assistant DAs, probation officers, case managers, and case coordinators.

“They come to the court, and it’s entirely different than any other court session anywhere,” he said, noting that the judge, probation department, and ROCA provide resources to make sure participants get needed support.

“Because a lot of these young people started their lives off in a very disadvantaged position — they started their lives off with horrible examples around them, no support, poor parenting, traumatic situations — and they set them adrift, it set them on a bad path.

“Look at the parole hearings … just over the past six months or year, the Parole Board is letting everybody out. There’s a pendulum that swings back and forth, and the pendulum is swinging, and has swung, a little too far, in my view, in the wrong direction.”

“And this is an opportunity for them to accept a hand up, not a handout,” he continued. “It’s not a slap on the wrist, and it’s not a gift; it’s an opportunity to change their lives with their own hard work and their own commitment to themselves.

“I talk to these young people extensively, and on the front end, I’m saying, ‘this court is about you. It’s about giving you an opportunity, but you have to work for it; it comes with a lot of small failures, ups and downs,’” he went on, adding that there have been seven graduates of the program, and another 15 individuals are working their way through it.

Full Sentences

While creating and expanding progressive initiatives in the broad realm of education, prevention, and rehabilitation, Gulluni said he and his staff have also been focused on the other half of that equation he mentioned earlier — upholding the law and punishing those who break it.

And as the discussion entered this area, he didn’t attempt to hide his dissatisfaction with current trends and patterns when it comes to how judges and parole officers are carrying out their work.

“One of the points of frustration over my 10 years, and it’s become more acute and frequent, is the results in court,” he said. “There’s been two or three rounds of criminal-justice reform over my tenure going back to [former Gov.] Deval Patrick early on and recently, over the past few years. The Supreme Judicial Court and other courts have continued to orient toward ‘how is the system wrong, and how can we provide more opportunities for defendants?’

“You look at the parole system, you look at medical parole … systemically, there’s a movement toward defendants’ rights, and that’s extraordinarily important; don’t get me wrong,” he went on. “The system operates rightly on the axiom that it’s better to let 100 guilty men go free than imprison one innocent man — that is the essence of our system, and that’s how it should be.

“But our sentencing practices across our courts, how we’re treating violent offenses, how we’re treating serious drug-trafficking and drug-dealing cases that have poisoned our communities and killed thousands of people through addiction, how we’re treating those who commit crimes against children, domestic-violence abusers, the worst of the worst, has really changed, even in the spectrum I’ve had over the past 10 years.”

The result, he went on, is that violent offenders and repeat offenders are not being held to account.

“That’s a point of great of frustration. Look at the parole hearings … just over the past six months or year, the Parole Board is letting everybody out,” he said, adding that he can’t pinpoint why, but conjectures that it could be everything from overall philosophy to appointments to the board. “There’s a pendulum that swings back and forth, and the pendulum is swinging, and has swung, a little too far, in my view, in the wrong direction.”

Elaborating, he said there are some cases in which those in his office will agree that someone should be granted parole. “But for most of these cases, we’re saying, ‘this person killed someone, took someone away from his or her family, and the sentence is a life sentence, and that’s what it should be.”

Work to help that pendulum swing back the other way is one of many focal points for Gulluni and his team. With this issue and others, it is difficult to measure success, he said, but added that he’s seeing progress on several fronts — and more momentum in the many efforts to build a safer community in Hampden County.

Youth Mental Health Roadmap Sets Course for Healthier Teens

By
Healthcare News Special Coverage

Critical Connections

 

 

It’s called Beat the Odds.

That’s the name of a youth group that meets across three community centers in Springfield: New North Community Center, South End Community Center, and Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services.

It was conceived a few years ago as a safe space for teenagers to express their thoughts or feelings without feeling judged or dismissed, and to reduce the stigma around mental health for youth and families and promote the importance of a prioritizing a healthy mental state.

“We’re able to provide a space for over 60 kids to be able to come together on a weekly basis and talk about topics of mental health that are prevalent in their lives, and also around problem-gambling awareness and how that’s showing up in their lives,” said Tiffany Rufino, senior manager of the Youth Mental Health Coalition, a program of the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (PHIWM).

“We also partner with Behavioral Health Network, and we have therapeutic mentors who come to each of the meetings. They’re another leader in that space, and they do one-on-ones with the youth, including goal planning. Whether that’s around mental health or their academics, or just different skills that they want to learn throughout life, we make sure they’re checking in with them on their goals and providing a safe space for having private conversations. And it’s been really great so far.”

Beat the Odds — as noted, a partnership with other area health organizations — is just one way the Public Health Institute has been working to tackle some of the most pressing issues among area young people.

In fact, in late 2023, it began developing its Youth Mental Health Roadmap for Western Massachusetts, which focuses on five distinct themes: destigmatizing and normalizing mental health, conversations around it, and seeking help; boosting social connection for teens who have become isolated and lonely; developing social and emotional learning to support mental health, overall well-being, and productivity in school and society; social media, recognizing its potential as a tool for connection and social support but also the ways it can be harmful; and connecting mental-health promotion and prevention strategies with clinical care when necessary.

These themes were developed with the input of youth health surveys in Springfield Public Schools, as well as input from Beat the Odds participants themselves, said Kathleen Szegda, director of Community Research and Evaluation at the Public Health Institute.

KATHLEEN SZEGDA

KATHLEEN SZEGDA

“With the shutdowns and the prevention measures, I think it was hard. And one of the studies that we cited deals with the impacts of social isolation in students and young people.”

“These are the areas we’re focusing on for prevention and promotion, and we’re trying to better understand how can we support young people in these areas in the schools and community organizations,” she told BusinessWest.

PHIWM can also use the data to advocate for more resources for Western Mass., as well as policy changes at the state level.

“We’ve had young people at the table as part of the advisory group, along with different organizations who are doing prevention work focused on youth mental health and substance-use prevention, and people working in school districts,” Szegda explained.

“So it will have both the data from young people in schools about youth mental health, and also, on the same site, prevention and promotion strategies and examples of how some of these are taking place in Western Mass., because there’s so much good work going on, and we can learn from each other.”

Take, for example, social isolation, one of the Roadmap’s five focal points, and an issue certainly exacerbated by the pandemic.

“With the shutdowns and the prevention measures, I think it was hard. And one of the studies that we cited deals with the impacts of social isolation in students and young people,” Szegda explained. “Studies have shown that the effects can last as long as nine years later. So, if you look at it developmentally, as kids are developing, they are feeling these impacts for a long time.

“When I was looking at the data — and it’s both for Springfield Public Schools from the youth survey, and also data from our colleagues up in Franklin County, which is a more rural area — even before the pandemic, we saw a rise in ‘depressive symptoms,’ where they report being so sad or hopeless, they stop engaging in their usual activities. During the pandemic, it was particularly escalated. And now it’s gone down a little and is kind of plateauing, or even going down a little. But we’ll have to see how that continues, both here and in Franklin County.”

 

Multi-generational Approach

Szegda said it’s critical that young people themselves have been involved in this process, not just through surveys, but at the strategy table with adults.

“It’s important. It takes an intentional effort to be able to do that, to have everyone in the same space.”

That’s the same philosophy behind Beat the Odds (BTO), which elevates the voices and concerns of area teenagers, but connects with their parents as well.

“We are engaging parents and guardians more, recognizing that we’re educating youth, but then they’re going back home to their parents and guardians, and we want to make sure they also have some awareness around what their youth are learning,” Rufino said, adding that the young participants are also building skills beyond emotional learning.

“We have subgroups. We have a group that’s focusing on content creation and communications and learning about public speaking. We have a group that’s learning how to become facilitators so they can deliver workshops to their peers. We also have an event-planning group; we’re working with a couple of other youth organizations in the community to put together youth mental-health events. And then we have our data-to-action group, which is working on learning more about the youth health survey, how to interpret data and the stories it tells, and things like that. So there’s a lot going on.”

TIFFANY RUFINO

TIFFANY RUFINO

“We’ve definitely seen youth being more open to talking about their mental health, which helps to destigmatize it so much.”

As a youth-led organization, Beat the Odds also connects with other youth organizations and community nonprofits. Earlier this month, the Hampden County CHIP and nonprofit organization Breaking Oppression put together Voices for Change: A Youth Summit for Peace at the Basketball Hall of Fame. And BTO youth will also be facilitating a problem-gambling workshop with middle-schoolers across Springfield, Holyoke, and other communities — a priority for the group, which receives some funding through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Office of Problem Gambling Services.

“With the boom of online gambling, and with us now getting programs and actual trainings and workshops together, it’s taken some time to build those tools up, but now we’re ready to start educating our youth about how problems show up and parenting guardians so they know how to look for it too,” Rufino said.

Beat the Odds has been helpful not only for the young group members, but as a learning experience for the adults who are involved in various ways.

“Because we have such a welcoming space, I can truly say they open up to our program coordinators. They share a lot about what they’re going through,” said Rufino, who was named to BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty class of 2024 for her impactful work with the Youth Mental Health Coalition.

“We’re also seeing, more and more, that the young people are requesting one-on-ones with the therapeutic mentors because they just have things they want to share with them, or they’re going through different things at school or at home that they want to talk through. So they’re using the resources that we’re putting forth, and they are vocal and open to talking about challenges that they’re facing.”

“They are also really excited about sharing information with the community,” Rufino added. “Through different tabling events, they have been super excited to be able to deliver training to their peers. So, really, the awareness and advocacy is what they’re excited about. And that’s good to see.”

 

Tearing Down the Walls

In fact, many of those working in the mental-health realm, especially youth mental health, have been heartened by a lessened stigma around these issues compared to one or two decades ago.

“We’ve definitely seen youth being more open to talking about their mental health, which helps to destigmatize it so much,” Rufino said. “And as the Youth Mental Health Coalition, we recognize that it’s been a multi-generational stigma, which is why we’re focusing on parents and guardians now.

“We’re doing a two-generational approach — educating youth and encouraging them to be self-advocates and recognize their feelings and what they mean and how to cope and help themselves and others, but then also doing the same with parents and guardians and educating them also about some of the things that their youth are learning.”

One of the coalition’s recent projects was called “I Am More Than My Mood.” That public-awareness campaign, seen on billboards, buses, and digital ads in 2023, aimed to destigmatize the subject of mental health and empower young people to talk about it — and, hopefully, take steps toward self-care.

“I think it is getting better, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Szegda said. “We have a lot of resources and programs that folks can join, but now we need the promotion piece, with the Roadmap and really making sure that youth and families know about the programs that are accessible to them — and getting youth to sign up and meeting them where they’re at, so we can continue to see them getting involved and finding meaningful things in their lives.”

The Youth Mental Health Coalition meets the third Thursday of every month from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. over Zoom. The public is welcome to these conversations about what youth and adults are experiencing around mental health and what resources are available. Email Rufino at [email protected] to receive a link.