June 2025

Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative
Meeting Notes


Date: June 12, 2025
Time: 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Place: Zoom Meeting

Mission Statement: The Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative is a partnership between local, state & federal law enforcement; city & state government; civic & human service organizations; faith based organizations; the business community; education providers; property managers; and residents coming together with a goal to create safe, healthy & economically viable neighborhoods through information sharing, identifying at-risk youth, referrals and community efforts in specific Holyoke neighborhoods.

Welcome and Introduction 1:00pm - 1:05pm

Guest Speakers: 1:05pm - 1:20pm
Meghan Lemay: Alzheimer's Association
Hi, everyone great to see you all. I just wanted to give you some updates, and what's happening in the world of Alzheimer’s and dementia, including some of the new treatments and some other kind of breaking news, which I'll go through in a minute. But yes, to reintroduce myself; my name is Megan Lemay. I'm the Regional Manager at the Alzheimer's Association, here in Western Mass.

I oversee our programs and services for all four counties of Western Mass, and I'll talk a little bit more about what we do but please use us as a resource. We're a nonprofit and we are here to provide free information, education, resources, and services. So Alzheimer's disease is on the rise, the numbers continue to increase. Part of that reason is just because of the aging population. More people are in the age range, where they're at a higher risk for developing Alzheimer's and dementia. That's one of the main reasons that the numbers continue to increase until we can find some kind of prevention treatment or cure for this disease.

So just a really quick background here on the most common question we get, which is, what is the difference between Alzheimer's and dementia? So dementia is just the umbrella term. It's the general term. If you think of the term food, it doesn't describe anything specific. It's just the category. Dementia is the general umbrella term that describes a set of symptoms of cognitive decline changes in the thinking, behavior, and memory loss while Alzheimer's is the specific disease that's causing those symptoms.

None of this is a normal part of aging. Alzheimer's and dementia are a specific process that's occurring in the brain that's different from normal aging. So we definitely encourage people to go and get a diagnosis or to get checked out if they're having any symptoms. We also serve people with all different types of dementia. Not just Alzheimer's disease specifically.

So right now, there's still no single test to determine if a person has Alzheimer's or dementia, however, we do have some breaking news. In the past three weeks ago, the FDA approved the first ever blood test for Alzheimer's disease. So this is a big step forward, and we're hoping that this means that more people will be able to access an earlier and accurate diagnosis. This is exciting because a blood test is much cheaper, quicker to get than some of our other ways of diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, which we are still doing like a spinal tap to get the cerebrospinal fluid to see if the person has the biomarker for Alzheimer's disease, or a pet scan, which is a brain scan which are just a little bit more invasive and expensive ways to get that diagnosis done. Even though this first blood test has been approved for Alzheimer's disease it's still only being used in specialists, so we still recommend that you see a specialist first like a neurologist or a memory disorder clinic.

I just wanted to highlight a couple pieces about treatments. So here you can see the current FDA approved therapies for Alzheimer's disease and these are some of the new treatments such as Lecanemab, as you can see, was approved in 2023, and Donanemab in 2024. And these are the new class of drugs that actually clear out the amyloid plaque associated with Alzheimer's disease. Even though they're really good at clearing out the amyloid plaque associated with Alzheimer's disease. These drugs are not actually that good at improving cognition, but they can improve it. About 30% is what the clinical trials said. They are infusion drugs so you have to go to an infusion center and get the IV drug of Lecanemab or Donanemab to get to access those. They're only for people with early stage Alzheimer's disease, or with mild cognitive impairment.

We also are encouraging ten healthy habits for our brain to lower our risk for developing dementia by doing things that we all know, like, for example, exercising, eating healthy, getting enough sleep, staying active, staying social, you know, socializing as well as keeping your brain active by learning new things. Research is now showing that up to 40% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by targeting these risk factors. So they can really play a significant role in how we can weave this education into educating younger people about how to lower your risk for Alzheimer's and dementia as well.

And then I'll just quickly point to our resources here. So we do The Alzheimer's Association staffs, a 24/7 Helpline. If you know any families who are struggling around Alzheimer's and dementia or any caregivers who are struggling we can provide a lot of great information, support, resources, disease education, and strategies for caregivers on the helpline. You can also call and schedule what we call a care consultation on the helpline as well. Through that you can also get connected to finding out more about clinical trials as well, there's an opportunity to do that. We're always looking for more people to participate in clinical trials and research around Alzheimer's and dementia also for people who don't have Alzheimer's and dementia, but who are healthy volunteers who still want to participate in research. If maybe you're at a higher risk because of family history or other reasons, you might be a good candidate to participate in research and clinical trials, and there could be a lot of benefits there, so feel free to reach out to us with any questions. I'll put my email in there, of course. So reach out to us. I'm also happy to mail out any resources. I'm happy to mail out any educational brochures, or anything you might want for your location with our 24/7 Helpline, or any of our education for caregivers or families who might be caring for someone. We have a lot of virtual education programs coming up too that people can participate in. We have a bunch of free workshops on healthy eating like how to eat healthier when you're out at a restaurant, or how to eat healthier on the go. I will leave it there but thank you all so much for listening.

Agency Overview and Updates 1:20pm - 2:15pm
Damasco Santiago: Tapestry Syringe Access Program Associate
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Damasco Santiago program manager of the Tapestry Syringe Access Program here located in the city of Holyoke. Just a couple updates this week, Saturday, the 14th at 10 am we'll be hosting our monthly community syringe pickup. We encourage as many community members to come out and join us in this cleanup. Besides that, we are a Syringe Access Program and Harm Reduction Center. We provide narcan accessibility to the community and agencies within the city and we provide training, if need be. We're open Monday through Friday, 8 to 4. That's basically all the updates. Have a great afternoon everyone.

Abby Germaine: Business developer for Viability
My name is Abby, and I represent as the business developer for Viability. We are a nonprofit serving folks within Holyoke, Springfield, Chicopee, and even beyond Massachusetts. We offer a network of services and programs that can really help connect individuals, choices, strengths, and goals with skill building, employment opportunities, and as well as community living. We serve thousands of individuals in our many different programs. But my role really is to make connections within the community with agencies and programs to help meet your employment needs. So our job seekers are coming in with a variety of interest skills and experiences. I'd love to learn more about your programs and maybe speak with somebody in HR or somebody that makes hiring decisions for your company, and then what I'll do is bring that information back to my teams that are working with folks that are looking for employment and see what great matches we can make together.

Next, I also just wanted to mention that some of our programs are looking for recruitment opportunities. So if your agency is hosting a resource fair, an open house, or another kind of community event, and you're looking for vendors to table there. Let me know, and we can get a team out to you.

I did put my contact information in the chat if we haven't already met yet I'm looking forward to getting to know you, and if those of you that are already a community partner, I just want to thank you for that. I really appreciate collaborating with you all. Thanks for having me and again reach out anytime. Thank you.

Andrew Batchelor: Mass AGO Associate
Thank you very much. Hi, everyone. I'm Andrew bachelor with the State Attorney General's office. I just wanted to flag two of our more recent guidance that is available on our website. One from February of this year is about DEI employment initiatives. A lot of people have questions about that and how that works in their office. We have some guidance available on our website. We also have from just a few weeks ago, guidance on knowing your rights regarding ice enforcement. A lot of people have questions about that, and we have guidance on our website for that, among many other things.

Andrew Fluitt: Digital Navigator Associate
Hey, everybody! It's nice to see a lot of you again. I've met you at some of these community events in person, and happy to see you all. I'm with revitalize CDC I am the digital navigator. What we do is provide digital navigation and digital literacy skills to the community. We help people learn how to use their devices, medical devices, access medical portals and such. So we're a great resource for people who don't know how to use the computer or aren't comfortable using the computer. We serve individuals who are low income or have Mass Health. So that's all I really have for you today. I can drop a line to our information on our website as well in the chat. Thank you everybody.

Bill Courchesne: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
Hi, everybody! Bill Courchesne, the county sheriff's office. I'm the ward coordinator for HSNI. I'm still looking for a couple of community partners to join me in getting this program off the ground. I do want to plug for Chicopee. A few months ago I was able to start the Chicopee Hub, and it had great training, but a slow turnout for people at the situation table. So if anybody does cross over to Chicopee with their services Sergeant Tom Gaza is a contact, and I put his information in the chat. I’m looking to see if we can get a few more people at the table on that one. But it's going and again, if you're looking to help me get this off the ground, my info is in the chat. Thank you.

Carl Borden: Western Mass Scouting America
Good afternoon. The big announcement with Scouting America is we have moved to Holyoke. We are at 850 High Street, which is right off of 391. Scouting America Western Mass serves all of Western Massachusetts, Chicopee, Springfield, Pittsfield, anything with a field in its name we pretty much serve.
I've been tasked with moving into our career development office to help with establishing career oriented programming for high school age kids and middle school age kids throughout the counties. If any agencies are looking to help kids learn how to have careers when they grow up, talk to me. My contact information is in the chat.

Carla: Women's Money Matters Associate
Hi, I'm Carla. I'm from women's money matters. We are actually looking to expand all of our financial wellness programs to where the need is. We're coming west so we run financial wellness and advocacy programs for women and girls living on low incomes ages 8, until forever. So if you're interested, my emails in the chat, I'd love to connect and find a way. We can work together. Thank you.



Damaris Lopez: Community Health Worker
Hi, Damaris Lopez, I am a community health worker with pediatric physician’s organizations at Boston Children's. I'm stationed out here in the West and I don't have any updates just here for networking and resources.

Dorothy Prieto: Community Action Associate
Hi, everybody! Dorothy Prieto. I'm with Community Action Pioneer Valleys, head start, and early learning programs. All of my contact information is in the chat along with Carla's. She is our enrollment generalist. She can help anybody if they have any questions as far as whether it's daycare, full time or part time. We are currently accepting applications for fall like, I said, for full day and for part day. We also have openings in our head start at home program. So if you guys know anybody who has any experience working with any kiddos that are under the age of 5, or even if it is a pregnant individual, send them our way.

Elizabeth Hamel: Face Coordinator Morgan School
Hi! I'm Miss Hamel. I am the face coordinator here at Morgan Elementary. I'm just here kind of gathering information. But we do have a family fun night coming up. We partner up with Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative. I know Mass Mutual is the Holyoke Public Library. I'm hoping that we can get some volunteers. We need about 25 to 30 volunteers for some of the activities we'll be having. It's going to be at the Jackson court in South Holyoke, South Canal Street. That'll be for June 27th is it 5:30 Ed or is it 5 to 7?

So we'll be having some food, long games, and some craft activities, bounce houses, popcorn. So any help that we can get we'll be gladly appreciating. If you have any questions you can just let me know, and I'll send you my email.

Elizabeth Rogers: Baystate Family Advocacy Center
Hi, everybody! I'm Elizabeth Rogers. I'm the Boca Grant Coordinator and a clinician at the Baystate Family Advocacy Center, where we work with young people who have experienced a trauma. We also work with young people who have experience or at risk for commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, and then we have one program for all ages. It doesn't have to be a young person any age if they've lost somebody to homicide. So Ed has sent around our flyers already for the month, but I just dropped the calendars in the chat again. The workshops that we have we try to do 2 week, are open to anybody in the community. You don't have to be a client of the FAC to come to the community activities here. We also have training available for agencies around trauma, vicarious trauma, commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children and young adults. So if anybody wants those trainings. I think I put my email in the chat. But I'll double check. You can reach out to me, and I can connect you to the people that do the trainings.

Our waiting list is gradually opening so you might want to call or you might want to email me. Then I can try to refer to the person to the waiting list, because I know we're open for internal referrals, I'm internal, so you can always reach out to me. Then we're hoping to ramp up more. We actually hired three new clinicians in the last four to six months, so we'll be able to take more people. So we're really, really excited about that and if you ever want we could present like more of the different programs that people have an interest in hearing about, especially around the trafficking program. We're presenting at HCAT in August.

We also some programs for young children, the sister program of ours. They have child parent psychotherapy. They have mothering from the inside out, which is for moms that have experienced trauma and substance use. There's a pretty good comprehensive round of trauma specific services here in the building now.
Oh, and we service all of Hampden County.

Art Lobdell: Holyoke Rotary Club
Hey there! Art Lobdell, Holyoke Rotary Club. Just wanted to remind everyone that the Holyoke Rotary Club has at the Holyoke Public Library our flags for heroes. We have up 72 American flags. We put them up the week before Memorial Day, and they'll be up through July 9th. The flags have all been dedicated to heroes in the community, whether they are past, who served in the military or currently people who just might be a mentor to someone. It's not a requirement that the folks have served in the military or that they be deceased. So please come by the library and check out our flags for heroes. We also just had our scholarship luncheon. We gave 8 scholarships to Holyoke students, and beyond. We also serve the towns of South Hadley and Granby from the Holyoke Rotary Club. We are next week having our changing of the Guard for the Rotary Club so now is a good time for folks to join. I will not be the president anymore. The new president will be Chastity Miller Kroll of Riverview, counseling. She takes over next Tuesday, and we do have a sendoff for me and a welcome to her next Tuesday night at fame. Thank you.

Elizabeth Veillette: Employment and Training Navigator
Hi, everyone. I am the employment and training navigator for families in our CHD's Emergency Assistance Family Shelter System. No updates.

Emi Aleksanyan: UMass SLHS
Hello, everybody! I'm Emi. I'm the research recruiter and coordinator for UMass Amherst speech, language, hearing sciences. I work with a couple of labs who are all actively recruiting for a variety of different populations. So we're looking for young kids under 10 who speak Spanish, older adults, older adults who speak Spanish, and service workers who would be interested in participating in the study about aphasia. And I've got a couple more such studies going on, and we are also always interested in participating in local events. So if you're interested in any of the studies about the speech and hearing, or if you are interested in collaborating, please let me know. My email is in the chat. Also, I would like to note that all participants do get compensated, and also get a report of how they did on the exams. Thank you so much.

Gerardo Torres: Resident from Holyoke
Good morning, everyone. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Geraldo Torres. I am a resident from Holyoke. I'm a volunteer with Way Finder or resident advocate. I still work in the community. Thank you everyone for being here.

Gina Anselmo: Hampden District Attorney’s Office
Hi, good afternoon, everyone. My name is Gina Anselmo. I'm from the Hampden District Attorney's Office. I work specifically in the community safety and outreach unit CSO. It is essentially the hub for all of the DA's education and prevention programs. So what that looks like a lot of it is presentations available in Hampden County. We spend a lot of time talking about internet safety with students all the way from grade 2 through 12.
We have a stop the swerve program that talks about impaired and distracted driving. For high school students we have a substance use presentation. We talk about healthy relationships and dating violence. I'm just going to share in the chat a CSO program list, so you can see what we have to offer. Everything is free for Hampden County. If you work with young people or in a school, an organization, whatever it may be we have a lot of opportunities in this list. So I'll just share in the chat. So you can see if you have any questions feel free to reach out. Our emails are in that list as well. Thank you.

Jac Essing: DIAL/Self-AmeriCorps
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Jack Essing. I use she/they pronouns, and I'm with the Dial self-AmeriCorps program. The only update that I have is that the Dial Self-AmeriCorps term is coming to an end because of some of the things happening on the larger levels. A lot of AmeriCorps funding is kind of in transition. But I just want to be here to say that the AmeriCorps members have been serving their communities and are committed to doing so. And we, we hope to be able to continue showing up to these types of things, and so glad to be here and to hear what's going on. Thank you.

Jailyn Vega: Program representative for Youth Villages
Hello! My name is Jailyn Vega. I am the program representative for Youth Villages. We have 2 programs at Youth Villages. Our intercept program, which is our intensive in-home program for children and families and then our life set program for young adults looking to develop some independent living skills. We have immediate openings for both programs as well as language capacity for Spanish speaking specialists. We are a DCF contracted service. If anyone has any questions I can put my information in the chat. Thank you.



Kerry Medeiros: Assistant Chief Probation Officer
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Kerry Medeiros. I'm an assistant chief probation officer here in Hampden County Juvenile Court. I'm now in the Holyoke area. So I'm really excited to be part of this. Thank you, Ed, and try to get beyond here for networking, especially to get to know the Holyoke area. I've been in Hampden County for 26 years in Springfield, so now I'm over here for only 2 days of the week. But I do want to try to find out more resources for our youth, juveniles and parents. We have parents on care and protection cases. So I think this is a great opportunity for probation to start getting more involved in the Holyoke area. We're going to be at the Western Mass Youth Conference on Saturday with a table, and we're going to start getting out there, and be more involved in this community. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Krystyna Boisjolie: Community Service Program Associate
Hey, everyone. Good afternoon. Thanks, Ed, for having me, and thanks Megan for that great presentation. So I oversee all of our community service programs from Suffolk County to Central Mass all the way to Western mass through the Berkshires, and we have immediate openings right now for pretty much all of our programs.

We have a detention diversion program in Hampden County so we work with all youth who have some type of contact or have picked up a charge within the juvenile justice system. We have immediate openings there, and we also have a sexual exploitation human trafficking lived experience mentoring program. We have two of them, one in Hampden County and one in Berkshire County, and we also have immediate openings there. Those folks that work in the program have lived and experience themselves, and they help to support young people who are either survivors of human trafficking or sexual exploitation. And then we also have immediate openings in our young adult supported living program. We have two programs there, one in central and one in Western mass. That is all DCF funded though so all the referrals do need to go through department of children and families and/or family networks, and then we review the referrals and interview the young person for the program. But that is essentially scattered site apartments for young adults, 18 to 22 years old, we provide case managers, and we provide life coaches. There's an on call system and essentially help young people transition into young adulthood successfully.

Last, but not least, we are looking at hosting a potential resource fair ourselves, possibly late summer early fall. So, Abby, I will definitely reach out to you. I have your contact information if it makes sense for you to be a part of that. But I did want to share that. So I think that's it, for now, thanks so much, and have a great afternoon.

Lavar Click-Bruce: Springfield Safe Neighborhood Initiative
Good afternoon, everybody I’m Lavar Click-Bruce I’m with the Hampden County Sheriff's Office with the Springfield Safe Neighborhood Initiatives. What we have going on is we're finalizing our Youth Leadership Development Program for middle school in partnership with the Health and Human Services here in the city of Springfield, where we're going to have fourteen youth participate in a six week leadership development program where they can make some money as well $500. But more importantly, they're going to be learning life skills. So we'll have different guest speakers come in. We'll feed them lunch as well. So it's a great program. We have about eleven youth that are registered. Now, we’re looking to get three more to sign up. If you're interested, feel free to shoot me an email, my number is in the chat as well as my email.

Also, Ed and I completed our Duggan spring and summer league last week. We'll be completing our North End league next week. We service and touch over three hundred youth in both of those leagues, and it's not just basketball, but it brings families together. We have the opportunity to have conversations about things of this nature, grabbing resources. And I'm always there passing out information or passing along information. So it's key that we get on these calls and obtain information.

Lastly, I attended a two day training regarding public safety partnership here in the city of Springfield. We're looking to create a blueprint for the city of Springfield, the police department, and also for our residents. More information will be coming about that I'll be looking forward to connecting with some of you, more likely all of you to get your input on how we can push this work forward. Thank you for this time.

Marissa Chiapperino: Registered Dietitian at Holyoke Medical Center
Hi! Everyone I’m Marissa Chiapperino registered Dietitian at the Holyoke Medical Center. Yesterday we kicked off one of two chambers sanctioned farmers markets at Holyoke Medical center. So that will continue through October first on Wednesdays from eleven to two, and we do accept snap and hip benefits. In July we'll be hosting a primarily Spanish speaking three class diabetes series at the Holyoke Flats Community Building from twelve to one thirty and I will be getting flyers to share within the listserv soon. Thank you.

Miguel Arce: Springfield College
I don't have any local announcements. However, I do want to point out that this coming Saturday there will be no King's day of action. It's going to take place in hundreds of cities in Massachusetts, so it shouldn't be hard to find anything. It’s just basically people coming together peacefully for the purposes of expressing some dissatisfaction with the cuts that we're seeing. Thank you for allowing me to speak.

Mike Pratt: Sheriff's Office / HSNI
Hey everybody. I'm Mike Pratt with the Hampden County Sheriff's Office. I work with Eddie and the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative. I love this meeting because I get to see what's out there, and a lot of the youth and families that we work with through our basketball league where we serve 350 to 400 youth and families in Holyoke. My goal is to be the best middleman for them that I can be to refer them to services. So, for example, Abby, from Viability, through this networking I was able to have the papers for the new odyssey house that just opened up in Holyoke. I have the papers that I'm going to give to a youth in our basketball league's mother that I know can benefit from that. So I just appreciate all you guys, and if you have any extra resources for us, I encourage you to go to the Holyoke hub and keep coming to these meetings. I appreciate it a lot. Thank you.

Nia Johnson: Mass Attorney General’s Office
My name is Nia Johnson. I'm the senior community engagement coordinator at the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. My colleague Andy has talked about and put in the chat the DEI and ice guidance’s that our office has released within the past few months. So I'll be putting my contact information in the chat along with those guidance’s that you already received, and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to me, I'd love to connect offline.

Sandy Ward: Volunteer with the Funeral Consumers Alliance
I'm a volunteer with the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts, and we to continue to do presentations and educate outreach about people's rights and options when they're thinking of planning a funeral or having to deal suddenly with it, and how to deal with the funeral industry. We are not connected to the funeral industry. We are just volunteers who are cognizant about some of the issues. We have a website that has a comparative price survey that you could use 24/7 in case you have to look up the costs, and we have tips also for keeping costs lower. Thank you.

Terri Lombardo: HCS Head Start
Hi, everyone Terry Lombardo with HCS head start. No big updates. I did put the information in the chat that we are accepting applications for the new school year. Starting in September, we serve children from six weeks to five, and we have sites in Holyoke, Chicopee, Springfield, and one classroom in Ludlow. And again in the chat is the website as well as my contact info.

Therese Ross: Rick's Place Grief Support
Hi, I'm executive director at Rick's place. We are a grief support organization in Wilbraham. We serve youth ages five to eighteen and their caregivers after the death of someone significant in their life. Our programming in Wilbraham is free for folks. We also provide school-based grief groups for kids. We have professional development for organizations about the impact of grief on youth. And we have community loss response programs that we offer. You can reach us at our website. On Saturday, the 21st we have a big event happening, a fundraising event for Rick's Place at Vanish Valley Brewing Company. This is sponsored by rock 102, and Steve Nagel, thank you.

Timothy Powis: Hampden Superior Probation
Hi there! I’m Timothy Powis from Hampden Superior Probation. Nothing to report from the probation department, but I would highlight the South End summer celebration this Saturday June 14th from noon to four. It should be at the Emerson Wright Park, in the South End of Springfield. If there's rain, it will be at the South End Middle School. Thanks, Ed.

Bill Hadley: First Justice of the Holyoke District Court.
Hi, Ed! Hello, everybody! I'm Bill Hadley. I'm the first justice of the Holyoke District Court. I just will give you a quick update on probably the most important, newer thing we've been doing. We have a Federal grant, and we've been working with Gundara and with UMass. We have recovery coaches here every single day. We've expanded to Chicopee, and they're wonderful people with lived experience. We're closing in on 300 people who have reached out for help from these folks. I just hear good news all the time about better outcomes. We basically try to make sure that anybody that needs help with substance use disorder gets it from arraignment. These recovery coaches are giving them a ride into residential treatment the day they get arraigned. I mean, there are no barriers, no waiting, and we got some wonderful people helping almost 300 people. We have a quarterly meeting of a community advisory committee make sure we're getting input from the community of the best things. The next meeting will be September if anybody wants to be on that committee. It's open to anybody; we get together with roughly 25 or 30 folks, healthcare providers, law enforcement, lawyers. Community college has been part of it as well, job placement, job training to be part of all this again and keep it going forward. But thank you for all you're doing. That's what we're trying to do.

Melany Mendoza: Mentoring Partnership
Hi, everyone. This is Melanie Mendoza from us mentoring partnership. We are a statewide organization that supports mentoring anywhere. An announcement that I have is next week we have a training. We're bringing a work to the region on supporting black and Latino youth. This week we're going to have two days of a training workshop like a good immersion. So it's full days on the 17th and 18th. I'm going to put the link in the chat; it's going to be completely free. We have a few, very few spaces right now open. A lunch will be made available for people. We have over 25 people registered. I’m excited to see more people who might be interested. Thank you.

Jeff Hayden: HCC
I had left a message in the chat earlier about some of the programs. We have a lot of new training programs happening this summer. If we can help in any way please reach out to us. Thank you.

Edward Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
I just have a couple updates. I want to say, the Western Mass Youth Conference is this Saturday. If you know any families that have youth 14 to 21 years old there's still time to register. In fact, youth can show up at nine o'clock on Saturday morning this Saturday at Holyoke High School. I had blasted that email out probably three times in the last couple weeks because it's very important for us to get our youth in Holyoke, 14 to 21 connected to conferences like this that can really focus on leadership and help engage them at a different level. They are giving away about $20,000 in prizes, so there's an incentive for the youth to attend it.

Lastly, I just want to say the back to school event it’s on August 16th from eleven am to three pm. We're going to need approximately 300 volunteers. I am going to be starting by sending out the volunteer link this afternoon just to the agency representatives. We don't want the link to go wide. We don't want all the community residents to sign up to be volunteers. We're really looking as a team building day to try to get all of our volunteers from all the different agencies that we work with over the last couple of years. We've been able to get about 280 to 300. So I think we can reach it.

You can mark your calendars for our pack in the backpack event. So last year we had 73 different agency representatives helping us pack backpacks. We're going to pack them up on July 25th. We're going to pack up 2,500 backpacks, and we're going to be having two shifts. So a 9 to 11 shift and a 10:30 to 1pm shift. But I really think we'll be done at 12noon. I'm just asking you to keep your eyes out for that email as well when I send it out.

I don't want to confuse agency representatives, that volunteer link that I'm going to be sending out it's to volunteer at the event. If your agency is attending the event and you're going to have a resource table, don't click on that volunteer link if you're going to be manning the table because you can't be in two places, you can't be at the Community Service area a volunteer on the inflatables at the same time. So we have a separate registration for agencies that are interested in being part of the community service area at the event. So if some of you are definitely interested in having a table and a tent at that area of the event just send me an email and I'll get you the link for the community service area. But what I'm going to be sending out this afternoon is actually a link for those 300 volunteers that we need. Some will be in the snow cone area, some will be on the inflatable, and some will be in the pony rides, some will be packing out, and handing out backpacks. We have a list on our volunteer registration so you can just look down that list. We do ask you to select three choices because sometimes we get ten people that want to hand out backpacks, but you only need six. So if people have their second and third choices, if an area is full, we can move you to the next area on your wish list.

We may have one more packing event before July 25th which is going to be packing up some clothes. We'll need about 20 people to pack up the clothes; we're going to have clothes that we give away at the event from 0 all the way up to 16 for adult sizes. I just wanted to throw that out there, too. If you see an email from me saying packing clothes for the back to school event that's what that will be and we're going to need about 20 for that. So that's it. You guys have a great rest of the week. Thank you so much again for all you do, and hopefully we see you next week, next month.

CHAT NOTES:

Dorothy Prieto
ERSEA (Enrollment) Coordinator
dprieto@communityaction.u
413-387-1234 Offic
413-834-2564 Cel
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http://goengage.ap
For a referral form (which gives clients priority) Downloadable Referral For
Fax or email completed referrals to hselpenrollment@communityaction.us o
413-387-122
Please call 413-387-125
Or email questions to hselpenrollment@communityaction.u
To set up a presentation virtually or in person for your Staff/Parent groups cal
Carla Zhingre 413-387-1224 or email her at czhingre@communityaction.u

Bill Courchesne
HCSO HSNI Ward 6 Coordinator 413-858-0015 william.courchesne@sdh.state.ma.us

Miguel Arce
Holyoke resident

Andrew Batchelor
Deputy Chief, Western Regional Office
Office of Attorney General Andrea Campbell
(413) 523-7708
andrew.batchelor@mass.gov

Gina Anselmo
Good Afternoon,
Gina.Anselmo@mass.gov
Hampden District Attorney's Office, Community Safety & Outreach

Barbara McCoubrey
Holyoke Peds MHCC. mccoubreyb@holypeds.com

Shannon Burke
Holyoke Pediatrics Medical Home Care Coordinator burkes@holypeds.com

Jac Essing
she/they, jessing@dialself.net, DIAL/SELF AmeriCorps

Charlene Rivera
Mhcc Holyoke Pediatrics riverac@holypeds.com

Krystyna Boisjolie
VP of Community Services RFK Community Alliance. 413-244-3199. kboisjolie@rfkcommunity.org

Ivelisse Lozada
Good afternoon, Ivelisse from Holyoke Housing. I am the HCV/Section 8 Family Self Sufficiency Coordinator.

Carl Borden
W.Mass Scouting America
Carl Borden, Exploring Membership Executive, Scouting America, Western Massachusetts. Offices now in Holyoke. 850 High Street, Holyoke, MA 01040, 413-594-9196 …. carl.borden@scouting.org We have an Grand Opening Open House June 21st 12 Noon - 5:00 pm www.beascout.org www.wmascouting.org

Sicry Garcia
Hi Everyone,
I hope you all are doing well. My name is Sicry Garcia, Outreach and event Coordinator. 413:535-1789 x209

Gerardo Torres
My name is Gerardo Torres I am a volunteer of way finder a RA Resident Advocate I live in Holyoke.

Kerry Medeiros
Good Afternoon, Kerry Medeiros- Assistant Chief Probation Officer for Hampden County Juvenile Court kerrya.medeiros@jud.state.ma.us

Carla Poulos
Women's Money Matters. We are looking to expand our financial wellness programs and advocacy to Western MA. cpoulos@womensmoneymatters.org

Lavar Click-Bruce
Springfield Safe Neighborhood Initiative. E: Lavar.click@sdh.state.ma.us P: 413-858-0485

Elizabeth Veillette
CHD family shelter system, 413.266.9840, eveillette@chd.org

Therese Ross, Rick's Place Grief Support
Executive Director, Rick’s Place. We provide free grief support programming to youth ages 5-18 and their caregivers in western MA and northern CT. tross@ricksplacema.org ricksplacema.org 413-279-2010

Sicry Garcia
I want to share with the community that Our Mobile Market program just started and I want to share this information with your family and friends. Here is the flyer with more information.

Bill Courchesne
Tom Gazda Chicopee Police 413-378-7461 tgazda@chicopeepolice.com Chicopee HUB

Emi Aleksanyan
(UMass SLHS)
Hello everybody, I'm Emi Aleksanyan, the research recruiter for UMass Amherst Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. We have several labs actively recruiting young kids and elder adults for speech and hearing research. Participants are compensated and given a report of their results! If interested in the studies or in collaboration, please email me at ealeksanyan@umass.edu

Sicry Garcia
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out. Sgarcia@nuestras-raices.org
413-535-1789

Terri Lombardo
HCS Head Start is currently enrolling for the 2025-2026 school year. We offer high quality early childhood education and comprehensive services for children 6 weeks to pre-K. Head Start is free to income eligible families. Applications can be completed on our website hcsheadstart.org Please email me with any questions lombardot@headstart.org

Marissa Chiapperino
RD at Holyoke Medical Center and HCC adjunct instructor

Damasco Santiago
Tapestry Syringe Access Program. 306 Race st. Holyoke, Ma. 01040. (413) 315-3732 Ext. 104. dsantiago@tapestryhealth.org. Harm Reduction Services; Narcan Access and training on Overdose Response. Monthly Community Syringe Clean-up. This is being held Saturday June 14th, from 10AM - 12PM. And Every second Saturday of the month. Syringe Hotline: (413) 650-2679. Any Community member can call this number to report a discarded syringe out in the community. We ask that as much info of location of syringe be provided, and we send outreach team to go out and collect the syringes. My apologies, I will have to be stepping off the meeting shortly for an agency meeting I must attend. Blessed afternoon everyone, thanks for everything you do!!

Ivelisse Lozada
Megan can you please provide me with information at my email: ilozada@holyokehousing.org, thank you.

shannon burke
thank you Mega

Meghan Lemay
Alzheimer's Association
mlemay@alz.org
yes I will email you Ivelisse
Alzheimer's Association 24/7 Helpline: 800-272-3900 Staff speak multiple languages.

Abbie Germain
Business Developer for Viability, INC 413-217-0348 agermain@viability.org Contact me anytime. I am looking forward to it

Sandy Ward
volunteer, Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts, providing free info about rights and options for death care in MA. We give presenations, and have an informative website. https://funeralconsumerswmass.org/ fcawmass@gmail.com.

Brenda Evans
Good afternoon!
Ed, I'm driving; no updates.

Andrew Fluitt
https://www.revitalizecdc.com/_files/ugd/0d9e3d_70b0f5edba8b41949a31eadbfe0e9e80.pdf

Elizabeth Rogers
Hi everyone- Elizabeth Rogers,

Ivelisse Lozada
I wanted to share that we have an Open House on Saturday, June 14th at 12 for our South Holyoke Homes that we are building 20 homes that will be available in the Fall, there are 3 - 4 bedrooms homes. For more information, you can click on this link: www.southholyokehomes.org, thank you. No other updates.

Elizabeth Rogers
Baystate Family Advocacy Center. I'll add our June calendars to the chat. Community members are welcome, people do not need to be a client of the FAC to attend our activities.

Elizabeth Rogers
Elizabeth.rogers@baystatehealth.org

Jeff Hayden
Holyoke Community College hcc.edu. - for workforce training - https://www.hcc.edu/courses-and-programs/workforce-development/free-job-training-programs This summer and Fall - New free training programs in Green Energy, Medical Interpreting, Financial Services, Manufacturing 101, Medical Assisting, EMT and more. In addition we provide services for English Language Learners, Re-entry programming for Justice Involved individuals and transition to college and career services for adults.

Gina Anselmo
Gina.Anselmo@mass.gov, Hampden District Attorney's Office

Jailyn Vega
Jailyn Vega, Youth Villages Program Representative. Jailyn.Vega@youthvillages.org

Marissa Chiapperino
Free diabetes 3-class series in July in Spanish at the Holyoke flats Community building. July 9, 16, 23, 12-130 pm. flyers to come

Dorothy Prieto
Sorry, I have to hop off. Ed, Can you send me link for the volunteering on the 27th.

Edward Caisse
Yes

Jac Essing
thank you!



Elizabeth Hamel
(Liz) Family Access and Community Engagement at Morgan Elementary. Elhamel@hps.holyoke.ma.us, 413-534-2083 EXT. 4148

Meghan Lemay, Alzheimer's Association
Thanks for reminding everyone of the No Kings Day demonstrations this Saturday!

Nia Johnson
MA Attorney Generals Office
Nia.johnson2@mass.gov
413-867-1619

Elizabeth Veillette
If you are interested in participating in a local No Kings Day, here's the interactive map:
https://www.nokings.org/#map

Melany Mendoza
https://mmp.massmentors.org/supportingblacklatinegirlsfemmes2025

Ivelisse Lozada
South Holyoke Homes

Melany Mendoza
Melany Mendoza Manager of Community Engagement Mass Mentoring Partnership mmendoza@massmentors.org

Old Business / New Business
Next Meeting July 10th, 1:00pm

Close Meeting 2:15pm


Contact Information:
Edward Caisse
Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
(413) 858-0225
ed.caisse@sdh.state.ma.us
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