Page 44 - BusinessWest January 23, 2023

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Notebook
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Statewide, adult education services will expand to new programs not currently funded and provide 5,000 total seats for adult basic education students and more than 16,000 for adult English learners. The Workforce Development Center at STCC pro- vides free adult education through the Springfield Adult Learning Center. The community can take classes to further their education by obtaining a high-school equivalency certificate, which includes preparing for a GED or HiSET exam; developing computer, email, or internet skills; learning English as a second language; or enrolling as a student at STCC after earning a high-school equivalency cer- tificate. STCC will receive funding for fiscal 2024, which starts July 1, 2023.
Westfield State Receives $1 Million in Community Project Funding
WESTFIELD — Westfield State University was included in community project funds secured by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal. Of the $20,367,800 included in the final 2023 appropriations government-fund- ing package for the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts, $1 million will go toward support- ing Westfield State University’s training capacity for nursing and health science students and provid- ing a space for healthcare practitioners from both academia and practice sectors to explore, design, and prototype solutions to current healthcare gaps. Funding will be used to expand and enhance West- field State’s simulation spaces, including the devel- opment of a new ‘Easy Street’ simulation space that will allow healthcare students to apply concepts of home-based and community care in their learning.
Franklin-Hampshire CASA
Receives $31,000 Grant
NORTHAMPTON — Franklin-Hampshire CASA has been awarded a $31,000 needs-based grant from the National Court Appointed Special Advocate/ Guardian Ad Litem Assoc. for Children (CASA/ GAL). Franklin-Hampshire CASA recruits, trains, and supports volunteers who advocate for the best interests of children who have experienced abuse
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or neglect. The national CASA/GAL needs-based grants are designed to help sustain the capacity of local programs to recruit, screen, train, supervise, and retain CASA/GAL volunteers while maintain- ing quality advocacy and supporting initiatives
to increase the number of children served. The $31,000 grant will enable Franklin-Hampshire CASA to focus on sustaining service to qualifying chil- dren in Franklin and Hampshire counties. Friends of Children was formed as a nonprofit child-advocate organization in 1990 to address the needs of high- risk children who are not readily supported by systems designed to protect them and encourage their full participation in society. Friends of Children has provided child-advocacy services to more than 15,000 children, 99% of whom are low-income.
STCC Receives $75,000 State Grant to Help Close Achievement Gaps
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) received a $75,000 state grant to increase the faculty’s core equity competencies and knowledge about racial equity, social justice, and structures that have an impact on student success. The Massachusetts Higher Education Innovation Fund grant from the Massachusetts Department
of Higher Education will support professional development for 20 faculty members. The goal of the project is to help underserved and underrep- resented students — especially students of color
— succeed along their academic journey, from applying to STCC to graduation. With the funding in hand, STCC plans to recruit faculty who will join a core coaching group known as Equity Leaders & Guides who will train in equity-minded practices. At the conclusion of their work, they will share their discoveries with STCC colleagues. The faculty will work together to discover new teaching techniques and will attend workshop training with the Col- laborative for Educational Services in Northampton. In addition, they will engage in a virtual book club, among other tasks. STCC, which has a technical focus in all its programs, is designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution. About 30% of the student body are Latino, Latina, or Latinx.
Symphony Orchestra) performing. This is the sec- ond year of this partnership. Guy McLain, execu- tive director of the Westfield Athenaeum, will offer a pre-performance talk at 6 p.m., which is free to ticket holders. The Westfield Athenaeum series opens with MOSSO and Friends on Feb. 23. Violin- ist Beth Welty, horn player Sarah Sutherland, and pianist Elizabeth Skavish will perform horn trios of Frédéric Duvernoy, Trygve Madsen, and Johannes Brahms. Welty, chair of MOSSO, is acting principal second violin of MOSSO and the Springfield Sym- phony Orchestra (SSO). Sutherland, MOSSO and SSO horn player, is also MOSSO’s finance director. The series continues on Thursday, March 23 with a performance by the Vermont-based Champlain
HCC Grant to Expand Outreach
to Formerly Incarcerated
HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) has been awarded an $81,605 Bridges to College grant from the Massachusetts Department of High- er Education to expand community outreach to adult learners who have been previously incarcer- ated. Specifically, the money goes to Western Mass CORE, an HCC program that works in partnership with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
to facilitate pathways to education for incarcer- ated and formerly incarcerated individuals. CORE stands for community, opportunity, resources, and education. The program was founded in 2019 by two HCC professors, Nicole Hendricks (criminal justice) and Mary Orisich (economics). The Bridges to College grant will allow Western Mass CORE to expand office hours, advising services, and infor- mation sessions at the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department’s AISS facility, located in the WW John- son Life Center on State Street in Springfield. AISS stands for Al Inclusive Support Services (formerly After Incarceration Support Services). The grant
will also support the hiring of a new community- navigator position to lead this outreach work. This is Western Mass CORE’s third Bridges to College grant as project lead. The grant also will provide funding for Western Mass CORE to host a series of community events, including a monthly children’s story hour at the Holyoke Public Library for parents who have been previously incarcerated and their children, and community coffee hours at the HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute on Race Street. In the meantime, Western Mass CORE will continue its work inside the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow and the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chi- copee. This spring, at the Ludlow jail, Hendricks will teach a criminology course, while Orisich will lead an economics class. HCC theater professor Patricia Sandoval will teach a fundamentals of acting class at the women’s jail.
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Agenda
featuring two signature drinks. Other events include a chili tasting hosted by Big Bear Used Books and Café, WinterFest After Dark with live music at Aban- doned Building Brewery, 1 Man Party trivia at New City Brewery, and bingo at Abandoned Building Brewery. To view the full list of activities, visit www. nashawannuckpond.org/winterfest.html.
MOSSO Concert Series at Westfield Athenaeum
Feb. 23, March 23, April 20: The Westfield Athe- naeum will present a three-concert chamber-music series with MOSSO (Musicians of the Springfield
Trio, which includes MOSSO and SSO principal cello Emily Taubl. The Champlain Trio will perform “Brilliant Colors,” a program that features music by Tchaikovsky, Erik Neilsen (“Trio No. 2” written for the ensemble), Jennifer Higdon, Amy Beach, and Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite.” The series concludes on Thursday, April 20 with MOSSO and SSO horn play- er Robert Hoyle’s quintet, the Connecticut-based Harmonia V. The quintet will celebrate April in Paris with an all-French program, featuring pieces by Barthe, Fauré, Ravel, Poulenc, Debussy, Pierné, and Lefebvre. Tickets for the concerts, $25 per person, must be purchased in advance at the Westfield Ath- enaeum during business hours, or online at www. westath.org.
44 JANUARY 23, 2023
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