Page 7 - BusinessWest August 3, 2020

Paul Belsito says his primary goal is to build on the foundation created by the Davis Foundation with initiatives such as Educare Springfield, a unique early- education facility that opened its doors last
fall.
he served as president of the Hanover Insurance Group Foundation in Worcester and assistant vice president for Community Relations.
And he intends to draw on all that experience in a role that involves everything from commu- nity outreach to regional problem solving, but mostly comes down to what Belsito calls “impact philanthropy.”
“A lot of my work has been grounded in community work,” he said, using that phrase
to describe many of his career stops. “Getting involved and influencing has always been part of my DNA, and it’s generational in many ways — my family was very involved in the community in Worcester.”
the same issues; Mary is a household name in the early-education space throughout the Com- monwealth, and her name is often brought up as someone to model in her guidance on how to pull these programs together.”
Coming to Springfield from Worcester, Bel- sito said there are many similarities between the state’s second- and third-largest cities (with
“
done in literacy and specifically early education is well-known throughout the Commonwealth.
The work that Davis has
”
This devotion to community work, as well as an opportunity to continue and build on Davis Foundation initiatives in literacy, early-childhood education, improving the Springfield Public Schools, and other endeavors, drew him to the Davis Foundation, created by George Davis, founder of American Saw & Manufacturing,
and his wife Irene, and the opportunity to suc- ceed Walachy, whose work he has admired from Worcester.
“The work that Davis has done in literacy and specifically early education is well-known throughout the Commonwealth,” he noted.
“I had known them from that lens of an active member in a peer community trying to work on
Worcester being the former), and common chal- lenges. These include everything from education to economic development and job creation. But they are different and unique communities with their own “personalities,” as he called them.
“Worcester and Springfield are not the same, although they do have similar traits,” he noted. “It’s my job to listen and maybe take some of my experiences from Worcester and share those with folks in Springfield. Maybe one in 20 will catch and improve the lives of children and families.”
Meanwhile, recent events have brought other priorities to the fore, including the plight of the region’s nonprofits, many of which have been severely impacted by the pandemic from the standpoints of revenue and sustainability, and the broad issue of racial justice, which the foun- dation has helped address through creation of
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FEATURE
AUGUST 3, 2020 7
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