NORTH ADAMS — BFAIR announced it has promoted Leanne Martin to assistant director of Day Habilitation.

Martin began working for BFAIR in 2014 as a direct-care professional at the agency’s Day Habilitation program located in North Adams. In 2020, she was promoted to case manager for the Community Based Day Services (CBDS) program and later to the Day Habilitation program in the same role.

In her new role, Martin is responsible for the everyday operation of the Day Habilitation program, which is designed to support members and their unique needs to increase independence and socialization, helping them participate as active and fully integrated members of their community.

According to Kayla Brown-Wood, director of Day Services, “we are eager for Leanne to use her existing experience with the department to further develop programming and services offered for the individuals we support. I am excited to see Leanne flourish in her new position and look forward to working more closely with her.”

NORTH ADAMS — BFAIR (Berkshire Family & Individual Resources) announced a successful review and continued licensing by the Office of Quality Enhancement (OQE), part of the Commonwealth’s Department of Developmental Services. BFAIR earned positive licensing outcomes, with the eight critical indicators reviewed meeting the standards set forth by the department. These positive outcomes resulted in a two-year licensing and certification for BFAIR’s residential, individual home support, and day and employment services.

“BFAIR’s outcomes on reviews and assessments like these are indicative of the work that we do,” said Ethel Altiery, executive director. “Receiving positive survey outcomes and consistent state licensing results speaks to our commitment to consistency in quality services.”

Rich Weisenflue, CEO, agreed. “I consider OQE’s survey a very important measure of the quality of BFAIR services, and therefore, a two-year license is an outstanding outcome. Every BFAIR member of our team should be extremely proud, as the high quality of our services is directly attributable to the hard work of each one of our employees.”

Since 1994, BFAIR has provided a wide range of services for adults and children with developmental disabilities, acquired brain injury, and autism.

NORTH ADAMS — Berkshire Family & Individual Resources (BFAIR) received a three-year Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) accreditation for its Day Habilitation and Adult Family Care (AFC) services. The accreditation extends through 2025.

During the accreditation process, the CARF surveyors noted that “BFAIR has a solid reputation with funders and referral agencies that express appreciation for this collaborative, transparent, and respectful approach as a community partner providing quality services and supports. BFAIR often leads the way in the state with its approaches.”

Pete Mirante, BFAIR board chair, noted that “our AFC, Day Habilitation staff, case managers, directors, and caregivers are to be congratulated for the outstanding results of the CARF survey.”

Rich Weisenflue, CEO of BFAIR, added that “I am proud of our program staff and leadership team for their commitment and dedication to offering quality, personalized, and community-based services. The accreditation outcome is even more impressive if the past two years and the challenges staff faced every day to protect the health and safety of our clients is taken into consideration.”

NORTH ADAMS — BFAIR partnered with the Boston College School of Social Work on a project with graduate students this spring as part of its “Creating and Sustaining Social Enterprises” course.

This course focuses on important concepts and stages in considering revenue-producing programs in a nonprofit setting to add financial stability. Students are involved in basic data gathering and analysis and organize their conclusions in a business plan for the enterprise effort.

As such, they conducted a brief survey to provide BFAIR with information regarding its service that provides employment for people with disabilities and is beneficial to the environment. BFAIR’s Bottle and Can Redemption Center, located in North Adams, helps the community by providing residents with a way to exchange redeemable bottles and cans for cash while remaining true to its mission.

The culmination of the course resulted in an expansion of BFAIR’s Bottle and Can Redemption Center in the form of a pop-up service working with the North Adams Housing Authority, Berkshire Housing, and the city of North Adams. The pop-up service will give these locations the opportunity to redeem or donate their bottles during certain timeframes during the week at six different locations in North County starting in June.

NORTH ADAMS — BFAIR announced the promotion of Michelle Baity to the position of senior vice president of Human Resources.

Baity joined BFAIR’s senior-management team three years ago and brought with her numerous years of experience in human resources as well as the human-services field. Since joining the team, she has formed a strong Human Resources department that has been invaluable with assisting the agency to manage the enormous challenges it has faced over the past year.

According to Ethel Altiery, BFAIR’s executive director, “Michelle has been with BFAIR for three years, and working closely with her has been a wonderful experience for me. She has brought my level of knowledge and experience in the world of human resources to a new level. I look forward to working with Michelle for many more years to come.”

Baity is directly responsible for crafting employee-benefit offerings and developing an educational-assistance policy to support skill development in pursuit of an organization focused on creating opportunities for advancement.