Page 33 - BusinessWest May 26, 2025

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Foster Care Awareness
In recognition of Foster Care Awareness Month in May, All Our Kids Inc. (AOK) launched a campaign
aimed at raising awareness of the unique challenges faced by foster families and the state of foster care
in Western Mass. As part of those efforts, All Our Kids hosted an open house on May 7. Marianna Litovich
(pictured second from right, with AOK board members) founded the nonprofit and has grown it over the
past decade as an organization dedicated to building community, providing resources, and increasing
public awareness of the foster care system while encouraging active community involvement. (Photo by
Hillary Lynn Photography)
Honoring a
Community Champion
Springfield Partners for Community Action honored Paul Bailey for his
24-year tenure as the organization’s leader on May 3 at the Sheraton
in Springfield. Bailey officially retired on Jan. 31. Under his leadership,
Springfield Partners increased revenue and funding by more than
$4 million, and he oversaw the development and implementation
of many new services. In 2024, Springfield Partners celebrated 60
years of serving more than 7,000 area residents each year through
its various programs, which include home and energy services,
income tax assistance, money management, transportation, veterans’
services, and scholarships.
Nonprofits >>Continued from page 7
than $1 million went out to 35 different organizations
in subcontracts,” she explained. “So when we take a
hit, everyone else kind of takes a hit as well because
we’re seen as a convener and a lot of the funding we
get is collaborative.”
And while shoes have already dropped for many
nonprofits, others are bracing for the possibility that
they might be impacted as well, while hoping they’re
not — while at the same time acknowledging that
hope is not a strategy.
That’s certainly the case at the Food Bank of West-
ern Massachusetts, where the threat of cuts to SNAP
benefits and Medicaid loom large over the agency
and all those food pantries and survival centers that it
supports.
“To the extent that those programs are cut, more
people will turn to their local food pantry, meal site,
and, ultimately, the Food Bank for more food,” said
Morehouse, adding that a 20% cut in SNAP benefits
has been proposed, which, if it becomes reality, would
result in the loss of 19 million meals in Western
Mass.
“That’s more than the Food Bank provides in a
whole year, our entire inventory,” he went on, add-
ing that there are nearly 200,000 people in the four
Business W est counties of Western Mass. that receive SNAP benefits
totaling $35 million a month. “That’s a lot of food,
and it would, at the very least, result in a tremendous
increase in demand for food assistance to make up
for that loss. This would be a devastating blow.”
The same sentiment prevails at HCS Head Start,
where Blais is optimistic that Head Start will remain
in the federal budget, but not complacent given what’s
at stake.
“At a time when the early-education world is
rebounding from COVID and we’ve been so focused
on providing access, this would be a ginormous step
in the wrong direction,” she said, adding that Head
Starts are “making noise” locally and nationally about
how cuts to the agency would impact young people,
families, and businesses still struggling to maintain
workforces. “It’s like that ripple on a pond. Head Start
reaches so many people; it’s not just families and chil-
dren in the classroom.”
In the wake of cuts (and possible cuts), area non-
profit leaders are responding in many different ways
— from hard looks at other sources of funding to edu-
cating the public and elected leaders alike on what’s
at stake with these cuts, to looking at ways to collabo-
rate to provide needed services.
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Hurst told BusinessWest that the Community
Foundation has received calls from nonprofits across
a broad spectrum — including public health, the arts,
environmental justice, and higher education — about
cuts, what they mean, and how their broad impact can
be mitigated.
“We’re doing a lot of deep listening, learning, and
connecting them with resources,” she said. “We’re
connecting them with other organizations so they
can think about resource sharing and partnering
with other organizations that are also trying to figure
out next steps and strategy around culturing some
of these funding losses as well as stabilizing internal
operations.
“We’re there to listen, and thinking about ways to
use that information that we’re gathering to influence
and inform how we move forward,” Hurst went on,
adding that the discussions are far more about strate-
gies for meeting needs than plugging gaps in funding
— because the gaps are too large to plug.
“We’re having donations with donors about the
importance of giving locally and regionally,” she said,
“and how to be more strategic and intentional with
their giving, both in the current and the long term.” BW
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