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Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts (JA) and Moriarty & Primack teamed up to bring JA’s Economics for Success program to all the eighth-graders at M. Marcus Kiley Middle School in Springfield in June. “To be able to teach students how to budget their income, and what getting an education after your high-school diploma can mean for your income, is a valuable lesson for everyone,” said Dahimeli Mercado, Moriarty & Primack staff accountant. Mark Laurenzano, guidance counselor at Kiley Middle School, added that “the students are eager to learn more about JA and business. Many of our students have participated in JA job-shadow experience. They are excited to work with the JA volunteers in the classroom today and learn about creating a budget.” Pictured, from left, are Moriarty & Primack’s Christopher Walker, Rebecca Connolly, Phillip Giguere, Jessica Putnam, Dahimeli Mercado, Jonathan Normand, Isaiah Odunlami, Roger Conklin, and Puja Karki.

Berkshire Bank representatives recently visited the Center for Human Development’s (CHD) Disability Resources program to present a donation of $2,500. The bank’s gift supports CHD’s efforts to provide barrier-free recreational and competitive adaptive sports opportunities, as well as social gatherings and educational events for youth and adults with disabilities. Pictured, from left, are Luke Kettles, senior vice president of Commercial Lending for the Pioneer Valley, Berkshire Bank; Jennifer Bogin, vice president, Developmental Services, CHD; Rachel Keyworth, director, Disability Resources, CHD; Jim Goodwin, president and CEO, CHD; and Tim Hussey, assistant vice president of Commercial Lending, Berkshire Bank.

Springfield College Professor of Management and U.S. Fulbright grant recipient Robert Fiore recently traveled to China to collaborate with faculty and students at Hong Kong Baptist University in the academic area of entrepreneurship. Fiore assisted in the development of research and curriculum in China’s new initiative mandating the development of entrepreneurial courses to be offered at all universities. “The collaboration was exciting because it allowed us to exchange ideas on modes of entrepreneurial company formulation specifically dedicated to elevate geographically focused poverty and enhance economic growth within low-income regions by the use of micro-financing and village-based cooperative entrepreneurship,” said Fiore. As part of the program, Fiore presented biographical material of notable entrepreneurs to highlight their use in teaching and fostering entrepreneurship among students by analysis of the successful entrepreneur’s attitudes and behavior. He discussed lean entrepreneurial start-up procedures and methods as taught in the U.S., the U.S. perspective on crowd-funding financing sources, and legal issues of intellectual-property development.