Page 68 - BusinessWest November 9, 2020
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UMass Donahue Institute Receives
$32.5 Million from Head Start
HADLEY — The UMass Donahue Institute has been awarded a new five-year, $6.5 million per year coop- erative agreement to direct the Head Start National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Opera- tions (NCPMFO), a role it has filled for the past five years under an earlier award. Under the new cooper- ative agreement, the institute will continue to work in collaboration with its partners: Family Health Inter- national 360, Zero to Three, and the UCLA Anderson School of Management. NCPMFO will continue to
applicants studying education or social work. It will be awarded through the Community Foundation’s scholarship program, which awards approximately 1,000 scholarships to 800 students annually. The pro- gram considers academic merit and financial need in its applicant reviews. Walachy earned a master’s degree in social work and, prior to joining the Davis Foundation, served as CEO of the Mental Health Assoc. Walachy was hired in 1997 as the first execu- tive director of the foundation. Under her leadership, the foundation created several signature programs, including Cherish Every Child, the nationally-rec-
residents. The property will be managed by Housing Management Resources, an organization with exten- sive experience managing comparable properties. Built as the Elias Brookings School in 1925, the build- ing was severely damaged in the June 2011 tornado and was closed. This redevelopment aims to con- tribute significantly to the revitalization of the of the Maple Hill, Six Corners, and Old Hill neighborhoods, which were heavily impacted by the tornado. HCDI is working with Davis Square Architects, development consultant Gerry Joseph, Allegrone Construction, Klein-Hornig LLP, and Shatz, Schwartz, and Fentin, P.C.,aswellasmanyotherpartnersonthisproject.
Mercedes-Benz of Springfield Wins Community Service Award
CHICOPEE — The Amherst Area Chamber of Com- merce announced that Mercedes-Benz of Spring- field was chosen as its Community Service Award recipient. This award honors a business, nonprofit,
or individual which has benefited the lives of the Amherst-area community through their work and outreach. The Driven by Community platform offi- cially launched in March, although it has been imple- mented at the dealership since the doors opened three years ago. Since then, Mercedes-Benz of Spring- field has partnered with more than 250 local organi- zations, raised more than $20,000 when COVID-19 impacted local businesses, and hosted numerous fundraising and charity events at the dealership — most recently, a drive-in movie night with proceeds donated to the Urban League of Springfield to sup- port its mission. The virtual A+ Awards Show will be livestreamed from Hadley Farms Meeting House on Thursday, Nov. 12.
Wellfleet Partners with binx health to Keep College Students Safe
SPRINGFIELD — Wellfleet Insurance has teamed up with binx health to offer college clients access to easy at-home/in-dorm sample collection for COVID-19 testing using binx’s enterprise solutions for popula- tion health screening. The ‘binx boxes’ are show-
ing up in dorm rooms of thousands of students on Wellfleet’s college client campuses, offering school officials a quick, easy way to test a campus popula- tion, with oversight and test ordering by on-site uni- versity clinicians. The model amplifies the power and reach of university administration in their efforts to test, track, and trace the COVID-19 infection status among students, faculty, staff, and vendors. Students ‘activate’ binx boxes online, complete sample collec- tion in their dorms or at home, then drop off com- pleted kits at centralized locations for lab processing. Results are rapid, often under 24 hours from sample receipt. Wellfleet, one of the nation’s leading student health-insurance carriers, worked with binx on behalf of client colleges and universities to deliver a first- of-its-kind platform that makes population testing a reality for the nation’s college campuses. The testing platform offers a unique, modular approach enabling tailored rollout and customized deployment based on university population needs. Serving as a ‘digital hub,’ binx enables seamless linking of patients to univer- sity administration via clinician ordering tools, global logistics, at-home/in-dorm sample collection, viral trend analysis and reporting, rapid lab testing, con- tact tracing, and live customer service and support, all offered at an affordable, per-test fee by university. In addition to introducing clients to tailored COVID- 19 testing solutions, Wellfleet has also adapted poli- cies to help members, including helping to ensure student members aren’t saddled with out-of-pocket costs related to COVID-19, and enhanced coverage for telemedicine visits.
Company Notebook
ognized Reading Success by 4th Grade initiative, and the Funder Collaborative for Reading Suc-
cess, as well as the establishment of Spring-
field Business Leaders for Education and the launch of Educare Springfield.
disseminate clear, consistent guidance, materials, and trainings on Office of Head Start priorities for the development and implementation of sound manage- ment systems and strong internal controls in Head Start programs across the country. NCPMFO’s work addresses topics such as risk management, gover- nance, data collection and analysis, budgeting, man- agement of multiple funding sources, and leadership, including the annual Head Start Management Fellows Program conducted at UCLA. NCPMFO’s work reach- es approximately 1,700 grantees of Early Head Start and Head Start programs located in all states, includ- ing those programs serving American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and migrant and seasonal work- ers. NCPMFO is one of four national center coopera- tive agreements recently awarded. The others address early childhood development, teaching, and learning; early childhood health; behavioral health and safety; and parent, family, and community engagement.
Thunderbirds Foundation Donates $15,000 to Rays of Hope
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Thunderbirds President Nathan Costa presented a check for $15,000 to the Baystate Health Foundation for Rays of Hope from proceeds raised by the sale of specialty pink jerseys worn at the 2020 Pink in the Rink night in March. Each year since the team’s inception, the Thunder- birds have held a Pink in the Rink night to benefit Rays of Hope, complete with participation by breast- cancer survivors, pink ice, and pink specialty jerseys. The event has sold out each of the past four seasons, and has become a signature event in the area to
raise awareness. This past season’s event took place on March 7, and was again sold out, with a capacity crowd of 6,793. The Thunderbirds Foundation has contributed more than $80,000 to the Baystate Health Foundation and the Rays of Hope through the pro- ceeds of specialty jersey auctions from the annual Pink in the Rink night.
Davis Family Establishes New Scholarship Fund
in Honor of Mary Walachy
SPRINGFIELD — The Davis family has established the Joseph F. and Helen C. McGovern Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation of Western Mas- sachusetts in honor of the Irene E. & George A Davis Foundation’s recently retired Executive Director
Mary Walachy. Walachy retired in June after serving 23 years as executive director of the family founda- tion, and the fund is named after Walachy’s parents, both strong advocates for education. Walachy’s father, Joseph McGovern, was an entrepreneur who owned and operated Notion Thread, a manufacturing com- pany in West Springfield. Walachy’s mother, Helen, also worked with her husband at the company. The scholarship fund will provide resources for successful
Berkshire Theatre Group Awarded $1 Million Gift
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Theatre Group and Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire announced a gener- ous gift of just over $1 million from the family of the late Mary Anne Gross in honor of her lifetime love of both theatre and the Berkshires. This award also rec- ognizes the tireless efforts of Berkshire Theatre Group in producing the first live Actors’ Equity-approved musical in the U.S. this past summer, following the shutdown of live performing arts due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. The Gross fam-
ily will also award just over $1 million to Pittsfield’s Barrington Stage Company. The Gross family gift will support payroll and basic operating costs for the next six months in order to ensure there are no furloughs or layoffs while the theater continues to raise funds in support of future artistic programming. A portion of the gift is structured as a matching grant to leverage additional donations for 2021. In July, Berkshire The- atre Group’s musical, Godspell, the first musical in the U.S. approved by the Actors’ Equity Assoc. (AEA) during the COVID-19 pandemic, opened a five-week run under a tent outside of the Colonial Theatre. Due to popular demand and critical acclaim, the run was extended for two weeks. The musical ran from Aug.
6 to Sept. 20. Berkshire Theatre Group has just been approved once again by AEA and will present Truman Capote’s Holiday Memories outdoors at its Stock- bridge campus from Nov. 20 to Dec. 20.
Home City Development Wins Funding for Elias Brookings Apartments
SPRINGFIELD — Home City Development Inc. (HCDI), a Springfield-based affordable-housing development organization, was awarded resources from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to adapt and rehabilitate the former Elias Brookings School into 42 affordable rental housing units, to be known as Elias Brookings Apartments. The award includes $1 million in low- income housing tax credits (to generate more than $9 million in equity), $4.4 million of soft debt, and project-based rental vouchers. Other funds for the project include state and federal historic tax credits, city of Springfield HOME and Community Preser- vation Act funds, and construction and permanent loans. MassHousing will provide the permanent first mortgage loan and a subordinate workforce-housing loan. HCDI plans to begin construction in early 2021 and complete the work in 12 months. The project will serve a range of incomes, including extremely low- income households, low-income households, and workforce housing. Select apartments are reserved for clients of the Department of Mental Health, people with disabilities, and homeless households. HCDI will offer a variety of supportive services to all
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