Page 10 - BusinessWest June 12, 2023

EDITORIAL >>
Building on an Asset
In retrospect, it makes perfect sense — to the point that it should have happened 33 years ago, or more.
We’re talking about Hooplandia, the 3-on-3 basketball tour-
nament taking place at the Big E fairgrounds and the Basketball Hall of Fame on June 23-25.
The 33 years is a reference to Hoopfest, a 3-on-3 tournament in Spokane, Wash. that has grown over those three-plus decades to encompass about 7,000 teams per year, a staggering figure. It’s a success story worth praise, even though some local leaders don’t love that Spokane refers to itself as Hooptown USA.
Because Springfield is the real Hooptown, right?
No one here is truly mad at Spokane for that, though. Instead, the organizers of Hooplandia are grateful that Hoopfest inspired the 413’s very own tournament, one they feel will only grow each year, maybe to the same level as Washington’s event (see story on page 40).
“Some of our earliest registrations were from far away,” said Gene Cassidy, president and CEO of the Eastern States Exposi- tion. “We’ve got a couple from New Jersey and Maryland ... and we’ve got a lot of Connecticut players; Connecticut obviously is a big basketball state. So it’s starting with a pretty broad footprint already, and I expect that to grow as well.”
It’s an example of taking an obvious regional asset — that being the birthplace of basketball and home of its Hall of Fame — and investing in that asset in a new way, while take advan- tage of another existing asset, the space afforded by the Big E fairgrounds.
If all goes as planned, that investment will bring immediate economic dividends (think hotels, restaurants, and other tourist
OPINION >>
attractions), and may multiply those dividends in future years, as the tournament expands its reach not only through the Northeast, but across the entire U.S., drawing even more people to Western Mass., who might just want to explore more of what the region has to offer during their multi-day stay.
It wasn’t too many years ago that the Springfield Museums leveraged the city’s fame as the birthplace of Ted Geisel into the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum and accompanying sculp- ture garden, which have been key to attracting hundreds of thou- sands of visitors to the Museums from all 50 states and more than 30 countries.
In fact, so much tourism in Western Mass. springs from what already existed, whether it’s the homes of Emily Dickinson in Amherst and Edith Wharton in Lenox being turned into popular museums, or the historical structures in Deerfield and Sturbridge giving rise to living-history experiences, or the region’s abundant natural resources offering robust opportunities for skiing, white- water rafting and paddling, rail-trail bicycling, ziplining, and so much more.
“Tourism in general has come back in varying ways,” said John Doleva, president and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “What we’re finding is that people want to get out. They want to do stuff.”
Well, Western Mass. is home to endless cultural, historical, and recreational ‘stuff.’ That’s one of its greatest assets. What Hooplandia proves — and hopefully keeps proving with exponen- tial growth in the future — is that there’s always room for another great idea. BW
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A Reimbursement Mystery
BY DAWN FORBES DISTEFANO
The Bermuda Triangle. Yawning. Dark matter. Pyramid align- ment. These are just a few of the many unexplained myster- ies that have perplexed experts for centuries.
Here in Western Mass., early-education and care providers have our very own unsolved mystery: how is it that our region, which is among the poorest in the Commonwealth, receives a fraction of what our peers in other parts of the state receive to provide programs and services to our highest-need populations, even when the costs are relatively the same?
According to the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), Hamp- den County has the highest SVI rate in the entire Common- wealth. Oddly enough, we have sustained the lowest subsidy rate for decades.
For example, providers who care for income-eligible toddlers in Boston are reimbursed at a rate of $85.90 per day. That same level of care in Springfield receives a reimbursement of $61.16.
At the root of the mystery is the system upon which the rates are set. For years, we have relied on a flawed market-rate study that does not account for regional nuances that impact the actual cost of care in our region, causing huge disparities from one region to another.
But that is not where the mystery lies. The real enigma is, how have we allowed this to go on for so long, even after realizing the indisputable flaws in our system? This is the question we have been asking for years.
Let me say, I truly believe we are heading in the direction of adjusting our reimbursement system in a way that will bet- ter reflect the needs of all children and families. Our current administration is aware and ready to implement change. Last
fall, we witnessed for the first time the collection and dissemina- tion of regional data on the true cost of providing care. For some regions, this exposed a staggering difference between today’s rate and a more accurate account of expenses.
However, there remains a great deal of work to do, even though our most recent rate increases reflected an approximate 10% increase. While I’m grateful for the additional funding, it is not enough, and it’s far from equitable. Some regions would stand to earn a rate that exceeds the current estimated cost of providing care and early learning, while Square One and providers through- out Western Mass. fall short, yet again.
Our most recent rate changes maintain the same inequitable rate structure, with our region still receiving the lowest rate in the Commonwealth and only 88% of true cost. Other regions would exceed the estimated cost of care by more than 130%. How can we continue to ignore the cries for help in the most vulnerable area of our state?
The solution is not complicated. We need a rate increase that allows for higher investment in our state’s most vulnerable areas. Standard percentage increases without sufficient additional investment in your most vulnerable regions is the definition of inequitable. The regions with children with the highest needs
for food, early learning, and high-quality mental health supports should receive a rate that, at minimum, meets the estimated cost of care.
Mystery solved. BW
Dawn Forbes DiStefano is president and CEO of Square One.
10 JUNE 12, 2023
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