Company Notebook

STCC Receives State Grants for Nursing, Tech Career Pathways

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) was recently awarded state grants to enhance a nursing partnership with Westfield State University and to start a STEM Tech Career Academy for high-school students at West Springfield High School and Veritas Prep Charter School. The Workforce Skills Cabinet — an alignment of state executive offices — awarded STCC a two-year, $600,000 Nursing Pathways Grant. The state funding will help STCC and Westfield State further develop synergies and clarify student pathways for their respective programs. Nursing students can obtain their associate degree in nursing from STCC and continue virtually, or on the STCC campus, as they pursue their bachelor’s degree from Westfield State. As a result of the grant, STCC students will see a reduction in time and cost to achieve their BSN from Westfield State. The Workforce Skills Cabinet also awarded a three-year, $1 million grant to start a STEM Tech Career Academy. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The $5 million announced in December for five new STEM Tech Career Academies across the state included one that partners STCC with West Springfield High School and Veritas Prep Charter School. The STEM Tech Career Academy focuses on healthcare, environmental and life sciences, and business and finance. The partnership will leverage existing innovation pathways and includes Baystate Eye Care Group, Each Moment We’re Alive, Walgreens, and Springfield Thunderbirds Hockey Club as industry partners. The STEM Tech Career Academy grant will help expand early college programs specifically for STEM courses and will help students explore STEM career pathways. STCC offers an innovation-pathway program for West Springfield High School students in their junior year. STCC’s work with Veritas includes students as early as ninth grade with the possibility of earning 60 college credits. The STEM Tech Career Academy will provide work-based learning opportunities with paid internships and capstone projects to students, said Pamela Westmoreland, director of Early College Initiatives at STCC. The goal is to increase the number of students who earn associate degrees or certificates.

 

Greenfield Company Rebrands, Expands as NE-XT Technologies

GREENFIELD — Valley Steel Stamp (VSS) was founded in 1971 by William Capshaw with two employees who made steel marking tools for local industries, particularly hand-tool companies. This week, the company, led by his son, Steve Capshaw, announced the launch of its new name, NE-XT Technologies, and a new website designed to define the contemporary capabilities of its team of more than 200 skilled engineers and machinists. Although the company has rebranded, it continues to focus on the precision machining of complex, close-tolerance components and assemblies for aerospace, defense, and other industrial applications. The rebrand goes much deeper than a new name, logo, and website. NE-XT was acquired by Jefferson River Capital in 2022, which allowed it to expand in terms of capabilities and its leadership team. That year, Richard Havighorst joined the team as chief financial officer and Katie Szelewicki as vice president of Human Resources.

 

 

Bay Path Nets $1 Million for Student Success Center

LONGMEADOW — U.S. Rep. Richard Neal joined Bay Path University President Sandra Doran to announce a $1 million earmark to launch a Student Success Center at the university. The allocation was made possible through Congressionally Direct Spending (CDS) from the Department of Education. Neal included funding for this project in the FY 2023 spending bill that was signed into law on Dec. 29, 2022. Funding will be used to complete the work to launch a new Student Success Center that will deliver holistic, coordinated, wraparound academic, financial, and career-development support services that are easily accessible 24/7, both online and on campus. The center will accommodate the needs of Bay Path’s diverse student populations, integrating its services into a student’s academic program through systematic communications and touchpoints throughout the undergraduate experience.

 

Big Y Donates Almost $44,000 to Local Breast-cancer Groups

SPRINGFIELD — (March 2, 2023) In order to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer, all Big Y supermarkets donated proceeds from their October initiative, “Partners of Hope,” to 32 breast-cancer support groups throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut. This program reflects the partnership, commitment, and support of breast-cancer awareness and research that are so vital for many. Recipients in Western Mass. include Protect Our Breasts (Amherst), Holyoke Medical Center Women’s Center (Holyoke), the Pink Way (Ludlow), Survivor Journeys (Longmeadow), Cancer Connection (Northampton), Cooley Dickinson Hospital Women’s Health Care (Northampton), Berkshire Medical Center Women’s Imaging Center (Pittsfield), Baystate Health Foundation, Rays of Hope (Springfield), and Mercy Medical Center, Center for Breast Health (Springfield). Since 2007, Big Y has raised more than $2 million to support local breast-cancer initiatives.

 

Streetlight Financial Foundation Partners with Friends of Children

FLORENCE — Streetlight Financial Foundation announced that Friends of Children Inc. has been chosen as the recipient of its fundraising efforts for 2023. The foundation was created in 2022 from financial-services company Streetlight Financial. Founding partners Aaron Smith and Mark Vaclavicek recognized a need for a philanthropic effort that provides a positive financial impact to one cause or organization each year. Friends of Children, a Northampton-based 501(c)(3) dedicated to improving the lives of children and young adults impacted by foster care or juvenile-justice involvement, is the first recipient of the foundation’s annual fundraising initiative.

 

MDRT Foundation Awards $2,000 Grant to Girl Scouts

HOLYOKE — The MDRT Foundation has awarded a $2,000 grant to Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts (GSCWM) in support of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and further its mission to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.The Million Dollar Round Table Foundation gives to charitable organizations worldwide, demonstrating the generosity, service, and impact of MDRT members. This year, the MDRT Foundation will award more than $1.6 million in MDRT member-endorsed grants to more than 300 charitable organizations worldwide. Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts was nominated for the MDRT grant by Amy Jamrog, CEO of the Jamrog Group and GSCWM board member. The Girl Scout Leadership Experience is a collection of engaging, challenging, and fun activities for girls to develop a strong sense of self, display positive values, seek challenges, learn from setbacks, form and maintain healthy relationships, and learn to identify and solve problems in their community.

 

LiftTruck Parts & Service Announces 35th Anniversary

WEST SPRINGFIELD — LiftTruck Parts & Service Inc., a local, family-owned business with locations in West Springfield and Brockton, announced its 35th business anniversary. For 35 years, LiftTruck has been a family-owned business providing cost-effective forklift sales, rentals, parts, and service to the Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Connecticut, and Rhode Island areas. The company offers a wide range of brands for sale, including BYD, Clark, Doosan, Heli Americas, and Komatsu, and is now also selling the new BYD lithium ion phosphate battery-powered forklift. The BYD lithium iron phosphate battery LiFePO4 has proven to be extremely safe, never losing structural integrity nor exploding. LiftTruck Parts & Service also offers both short- and long-term electric, LP, and gas forklift rentals with planned maintenance to keep customers’ business running smoothly. Its various service plans help clients monitor maintenance costs, hours of usage, equipment condition, and other factors that can affect forklift trucks’ on-the-job performance. LifeTruck provides service on all makes of forklifts, golf cars, pallet jacks, reach trucks, and stackers. LiftTruck is outfitted to manage all its clients’ material-handling equipment needs and meet clients’ service needs in a cost-effective manner.

 

BetMGM Supports Problem Gambling Awareness Month

SPRINGFIELD — BetMGM announced a new pledge to prominently feature responsible-gaming messages in its marketing and advertising campaigns beginning March 1, in alignment with the start of Problem Gambling Awareness Month. As part of the pledge, responsible-gaming messaging will be featured within BetMGM’s mobile app and within BetMGM advertisements ranging from billboard marketing to television, print, and radio ads across the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, responsible-gaming messages and banners will be incorporated into BetMGM’s digital and social platforms, as well as on property signage within physical BetMGM sportsbooks. Along that line, MGM Resorts, MGM Northfield Park, and BetMGM were well represented as sponsors at the 20th Ohio Problem Gambling Conference, held in Columbus last week. The event brought together leading gaming operators, researchers, and treatment professionals in an effort to generate problem-gambling awareness and education while discussing the impact of legalized sports betting in the state.