June 2026

Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative
Meeting Notes

Date: June 11, 2026
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.

Guest Speaker:

Edward Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
I sent an email out a couple weeks ago about a get-together. It's going to be on the 25th of June in the morning at 10 o'clock, at the Holyoke Computing Center in Holyoke. So, inside the chat, there's a link to that.

I wanted to talk about that for a few minutes before we actually go around the room and give everybody an opportunity to speak. What that meeting is going to be all about, it's about dealing with emerging adults. I don't know if a lot of you know a lot about what the Emerging Adults program is, but there's been a program going on for several years on emerging adults, and particularly focused on those that have been incarcerated, whether in juvenile lockup or even in adult lockup, and certainly the work that Mike and I do in the community is trying to work with that high-risk population and prevent them from ever being incarcerated.

When we talk about emerging adults, I always include that population, particularly our high school kids. Emerging Adults really focuses on 18 to 25. They're having a conference, on June 25th at 10am. The link is in the chat, but I will be sending that email out again after we get off this meeting.

If you're an agency that actually has resources that can particularly assist an 18 to 25 year old, whether it's employment, mental health services, housing, whatever the resource is; if you can help 18 to 25 years old, you may want to attend this convening.

Initially, we just handpicked some agencies that we felt were working with this population of folks, but we wanted to open it up to this group. I will forward the email out a little wider after I get off this call, so we can give other people an opportunity to actually register for the conference. We have about 80 seats. There will be lunch being served as well at this meeting. It is going to be more focused, and there's going to be a panel of young people that we're going to hear from. They’re going to talk about where systems have failed them, or where they didn't have the support that they needed to be successful.

Even youth might be talking about some resources and some of your agencies that actually did help them and gave them the support they needed when they were going through struggles; whether it was coming out of incarceration and trying to get their life back on track or just young people that went down the wrong roads, whether incarcerated or not, but have been able to get connected and turn their life around.

You're going to be able to hear from young people at this Emerging Adult conference. It's going to be on the 25th, and again, I'll send that email out again as soon as I get off this call.

If you just joined us, usually what we do at our monthly events, I welcome everybody, and then I give an opportunity for an agency to speak for about 15 to 20 minutes, and then we go around the room and we do a round robin. It's important for us to develop relationship with agency representatives that have resources that can get youth and families connected to service, so that's the reason for the networking meeting.

I did a little update since we didn't have an agency speaking for 15 minutes today, and then we're going to go around the room. The way you show up on my screen, and we're going to actually start at the beginning of the alphabet today, so the first one I'm going to call on is Adlyn Colon.

Adlyn Colon: Holyoke Community College
Hi, good afternoon, everybody. I'm Adlyn Colon. I work for Holyoke Community College Adult Education. We offer classes to get your GED or HiSET. There are no classes during the summer. We're going to be back on September.

Alexis Perez: Intern with Bay Path University
I'm an intern with Bay Path University, I'm working with Rafael.

Art Lobdell: Holyoke Rotary Club
Hello there! Today I'm representing the Rotary Club of Holyoke, South Hadley, and Granby. The big thing that is available for you all is that we have our community concert series that will be happening at Heritage Park in the beginning of August. So we're lining up the three bands that we'll have there, and, certainly when we have that all concrete, we'll send out a schedule, and hopefully you all can come and help promote it. It's a free concert night. We have, folks lined up that you can get food and beverage, as well as listen to free music.

Other things that we’re working on right now: We have a junior club at the Dean Tech High School. We just had our year-end celebration with them yesterday. So, again, teaching young people how to give back. They're working on a project to be able to help provide fellow high school students with clothing that is school appropriate. Some students do need help with that, and they're looking at collecting and distributing that as one of their projects. They also did a big food project.

We are sending a Holyoke student abroad for a year abroad. They're actually going over to Belgium. So, again, and we're looking for folks to help us make all of these things possible.

We meet the third Tuesday at the library unless it's a special event. As it turns out, this month is a special event. We're going to be over at Pick's Pub in the evening; because it's the time of year where we change officers, so we'll be installing our new officers and having it a little bit, but folks can join us next Tuesday at 6:00pm at Pick’s, if they want to come on over, so that would be a good thing.

Also, we are looking for a host family still for an inbound student. There is a junior who is coming over from Japan and we are looking for a family to take him on for the school year. Typically, what happens is we line up two or three host families so that they can rotate, you know, after a fashion, so it's not quite the whole school year, or if there are some things, they can just kind of share those duties. So again, Art Lobdell with the Rotary Club, and hopefully some of you will, be interested in the things that we're doing in the community. Thank you.

Austin Bechler: Springfield Rescue Mission
Hey there, Ed. Austin Bechler, Springfield Rescue Mission Workforce Development Coordinator. No new updates, really. We're making more meals, to give out there in Holyoke, and so our, Pastor Tom is, quite busy. Thank you for the invite to that meeting. I'm looking forward to attending that. And, we have our, third annual motorcycle ride is coming up; A fundraiser, we encourage all motorcycle, types to come out, and, vehicles as well, if you're into show vehicles.

So, it'll be from Auburn, Mass. to Ludlow on July 12th, and we do have a rain date, so please get signed up, early. The rain date is a week after. So, one of those two days will be bound to be a good one, and we look forward to seeing you out there.

Brianne Nurse: Westover Job Corps
Hi guys, my name is Breanne Nurse. I'm an outreach and Admissions Counselor for Westover Job Corps here in Chicopee, Mass. Job Corps is a year-round open enrollment, so we're constantly taking in new kids.

We do offer housing for students, if they need to live on campus. Anyone who gets any type of government assistance and or is struggling with any type of homelessness, are automatically eligible for the program. We are a totally complete free program, so we offer GED and, high school diplomas to our students. We also offer training in a multitude of different ranges. We also offer drivers education to our students as well to help them get a license.

Our main goal is making sure our students become employable and independent individuals when they graduate from our school. We do offer job placement as well, when they graduate, completing their trades.

We are always open to coming out into the community, teaching the community about our programs, and just coordinating with different agencies, and seeing how we can benefit each other in our goals.

Dawn Creighton: Liberty Bank
Hello everyone, Dawn Creighton, Community Outreach Officer for Liberty Bank.
First, I need to apologize. Ed, I sent you a flyer, and you were so kind to send it out about my first-time homebuyer workshop that I'm doing with MassHire Springfield. It's a virtual workshop that we're doing. It is hybrid, because we know some people want to do it, they can't quite make it out to MassHire.

The purpose of that first-time homebuyer workshop is truly just to have individuals come and understand where they are. Most of the time, people say, “You know what, I thought I was just getting ready, but hey, I'm two years out”, or “Gee, I'm closer than I thought, I might actually be one year out”, so come learn the tools and the resources. It's absolutely free.
No pressure for Liberty Bank, just really want to make sure everybody understands the tools and resources that are out there. I do a lot of those workshops with my friends from Way finder, so I get their pointers as well.

And for any of you that are entrepreneurs, we have an Academy for small business, if you've been in business for less than 4 years and you have a credit score of 600 or above, and you come to our 5-week, 10-modular virtual training from 6 to 8pm. At the end, you can qualify for a $5,000 credit line, which is really a big deal for individuals that are starting a business.

I'm really proud of the workshops because it's led by people in the community that are industry experts. It's folks from Common Capital, it's folks from MSBDC. These are people that have had their own business, and so they can speak to the voice of experience, as well as people that offer supports.

The other night, I had to do a class because my instructor called in, and I did good. Everybody commented I did a good job, but it really made me realize how lucky we are to have these volunteers doing the training, because I was able to speak to risk management. I knew what it meant, but I lacked the experience of being a business owner to bring it to the table, so the beauty of that program isn't just the fact that you get $5,000 credit line at the end. You’re a widget maker, a gadget maker, you offer really great service, but you don't always know what you don't know in order to run a business, so it's a great It's a great resource for that.

And I offer a whole host of financial wellness programs that I'm happy to offer with any agency, so I'll put my contact information in the chat, and happy to help anybody in any way I can. Have a great day, everyone. Stay cool.

Dr. Marie-Ange Delimon: Tech Foundry
I'd like to introduce you to my teammate, Jessica Cogoli, who's on the call today with me. Tech Foundry is where you learn your tech. We have our Tech Hub program that's always enrolling. I will share the link in the chat, where everybody here can learn something at the Tech Hub, because it's so easy to learn, but also the time allows people to do things in person, remotely, or at times that are convenient. We also have our Tech Launch program, that's the 11-year week, that's in training the IT technicians of the regions.

However, the hotcake that everybody wants to jump in is our TechBridge program that's addressing the 18 to 25 year olds; this is a program made for them. We are targeting gateway cities in Holyoke, Springfield, Chicopee, and Westfield, and they only have to have their high school credentials to be able to be considered for the program.
I'm going to share right now, in the chat, a little bit more information about it, but what you want to know is that not only the program is tuition-free, we offer a learning stipend. Every month, the learners get monthly stipends to support them in the training. After the training, they get four certifications: IT support, audio-visual, low voltage electrical, and all those 4 certifications, and they may get the fifth one. Not everybody passes the fifth one, only if they put the hard work and continue to work hard. All of that is paid by the program.

We also offer them career training, career coaching to support their journey, and we prepare them either for the workforce, if that's what they want to do immediately after the program, or for college, and Tech Foundry offers college credits that go from 3 credits to 15 credits, depending on the college of their choice. And we do FAFSA, we do college visits, really allowing them,- as the program is called bridge-, allowing them to bridge what they learned in high school, whether they finished and they graduated, or they got their HiSET or GED, to really be the next generation of citizens that we're going to be proud of, right?

So, to learn more, we have an info session happening in person next Wednesday at Tech Foundry at 5.30. I put the registration link in the chat. Please, you’re the trusted adult here. Share it with your learners. I took the date of June 25th, Eddie. We're going to try to send somebody to share that message as well. There will be other info sessions and other opportunities to join. We only have 10 slots available in the program that they can grab, so I would encourage people to apply fast because the program is going to fill out quick, so those youth can actually enjoy this amazing program.

Thank you so much for being here today, and congratulations for supporting everybody in the community.

Elizabeth Rogers: BayState Family Advocacy Center
Hi everybody, Elizabeth Rogers from the Bay State Family Advocacy Center. I'm going to try to put two PDFs in the chat, but I'm having a little bit of trouble right now with my connection.

I did want to share that we actually had a homicide bereavement event for Victim Remembrance event in April which was the National Crime Victims' Rights Week, and we had over 65 family members attend. A lot were from Springfield, so I want to try to make sure that we're outreaching to Holyoke. We did have some people outside of Springfield attend, Chicopee. We are going to make this into an annual event, and we worked with other survivor-led agencies.
The sheriff was able to speak, we had the city council president speak, and so it was a really great, time for families to come together in community and really spend that time together. And from that, they shared that they wanted us to re-launch our Homicide bereavement newsletter. So I was trying to drop that info in the chat, but I'll send it to you, Ed, if I can't get the PDF in.

The other thing I just wanted to share, one of our other specialty programs is working with young people who are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking. And with the World Cup, coming in, we don't want to make assumptions, but we know there's an increased risk for sexual exploitation and trafficking, so the FAC made a flyer that has some red flags on it, and not to say that we ever want somebody to intervene. If you're concerned about that, the advice is always to call 911 in a public situation like that, but we have some red flags on the flyer and things to look out for, so I'm going to try to put those two pieces of information in the chat. So, thank you, Ed.

Gabriel Rodriguez: Union Capital
Hi everybody, my name's Gabriel Rodriguez; I'm here with Union Capital, supporting Ed's work with the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative. Our work, through a grant, funded nonprofit is to help incentivize community work.
And that's what we're doing with that at the moment.

Gabriela Alicea: Way Finders
Hello, everybody! So I'm Gabriela Alicea. I am the, Community Engagement Coordinator for Way Finders in Holyoke. A couple of things that I wanted to talk about: Obviously, Way Finders is a housing organization but we do a lot more. We believe that residents are the experts of their own neighborhoods, and our role here in community and engagement is to help amplify their voices, build connections, and open doors.

There are two opportunities with all of our partners. One campaign that is coming up that I want to talk briefly about is our Vote Facts, Not Fear. Our residents have been talking a lot about the uncertainty of the political climate, wanting to get involved civically, reaching out to younger generations to go out and vote, and so we're rolling out Vote Facts, Not Fear at the end of July. We are looking for volunteers; we'll be doing some standouts. We also want to do a couple of community events, so if you guys have any community events where we can table, we will definitely take advantage of that. But it's very important for us to start mobilizing and getting people into voting and making decisions for the city, so that is what we are working on today.

Remember that Chestnut Community Alliance, our resident-led organization, meets every third Thursday of the month from 5:30-7pm at the Way Finders Community Center on 210 Elm Street. Our next meeting is next Thursday, I think it's the 18th, and we will be there. Dinner is provided, so I hope to see you then. Thank you.

Jenneke Reynolds: Holyoke, Chicopee and South Hadley, Health Departments
I am the Shared Service Coordinator for working with the health departments in Holyoke, Chicopee, and South Hadley. We have a state-funded grant to increase the capabilities of the health departments. One of the things that we've done is, paid for a mental health and well-being site that is available to all, people who work or live in Holyoke, Chicopee, or South Hadley.

We're starting to send out updates now, because they have different topics that they focus on every month. This month's topics are PTSD, Pride, men's mental health, and teens' mental health, and there's a lot of assessments that you could do online, too, just to sort of check in and see where you are, and if you need help, and they offer some help on the line on the website, and then also links to local resources to get more help than, is available online.

We also have a shared service nurse who goes around and does blood pressure clinics and, offers other services, including some presentations on topics such as poison prevention and impaired driving and heart disease. So, if you have an audience that you think might benefit or be interested in hearing any of these presentations, or we could just share the PowerPoint presentations with you too. I will drop my email in the chat, and I'd be happy to hear from any of you. Thank you so much.

Cesar Cruz: Latino Scholarship Fund of Western Mass
Hello, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for having me on here, Ed. As a quick, introduction, my name is Cesar Cruz, I'm the Director of Communications for the Latino Scholarship Fund of Western Mass.

I just wanted to quickly announce that tomorrow we'll be having our annual banquet; it’ll be going on from 6pm-10pm. I'll go ahead and attach our, flyer and Zephy link to purchase the tickets on the chat below. It’s just a quick invite on everyone's call. So, everyone's calling all organizations to come and join the banquet. We have 12 scholarship recipients this year that we're looking forward to and congratulate and present the award to them. So, yeah, we would just love to see you guys there, but thank you for having me.

Ben Abbott: Community Legal Aid
Hi, I'm Ben Abbott, I work for Community Legal Aid. We provide, free civil legal assistance for a variety of needs, primarily housing, education, elder law, we do a lot of different things.

I work for the Family Preservation Project, so we work with families that are involved with DCF but have custody of their children to try to help make sure they retain custody and can close their cases. Especially in cases involving neglect, which is most of the cases. Happy to talk about that with anybody interested, I'll put my email in chat.

Jessica Cogoli: Tech Foundry
Hi, I'm with Tech Foundry. I am the new program support specialist here, for Tech Foundry. I'm also an alum, and I think Marie-Ange talked about, the programs that we have here for our community.

Jessica Merrill: Choice Recovery Coaching
Hi, I'm Jess. I am the Community Engagement Coordinator, as well as a recovery coach for Choice Recovery Coaching here in Springfield.

We have a lot of things going on. We do offer recovery coaching at no cost. If somebody is looking for support in curating their path, we walk alongside them and help them do exactly that, build up their recovery capital. We also offer the CCAR trainings, if somebody wanted to apply their lived experience and put it to use in the work field.

We can also be funded via MassAbility. We also have an apprenticeship program where somebody can come in, spend 4 to 6 hours a week here in the office. Their trainings will be covered, and they can start implementing the work for the study that they are about to welcome into their life. We also run group peer support groups. We have partnered with GPS, with the Mass Strong Initiative, and we run Choice Wellness Groups every Monday, 12-1pm, where registration is required, but these groups are confidential, open to everybody.

We are also hosting a community wellness yoga event. This event will take place at Van Horn Park on Armory Street in Springfield. It will be the fourth Sunday of the month from now, so June 28th, all the way through October. These wellness events will run from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. We partnered with Mitra Healing Yoga.
The woman, Angelica Lopez, and she will be hosting together, we will be hosting, but she will be teaching the yoga session, and we will have snacks, waters provided, open to all bodies within bus route. It’s just a place to gather afterwards, so if you are an organization and you want to make connections, you know, feel free to join us at our yoga event. It's open to the whole community.
And yeah, that's what I got. I'll share my contact information in the chat. I hope to see you guys all there, or somewhere!

Kelly Regan: BHN Early Intervention
Hi, I'm Kelly. I'm from BHN Early Intervention, and we are now serving the Holyoke and surrounding town’s area. We have bilingual staff, no waiting list, and what I put in the chat is our rack cards, which have QR codes, one is in English and one is in Spanish, so if you're working with people who have children ages 0 to 3, and you would like them to get a developmental evaluation, or they are having problems with their motor skills, their talking, their behavior, if you're questioning autism, early intervention is a great place to start.

We have historically worked in Springfield, but now, we also are working in Holyoke to all the way out to Palmer and Ware, so the whole sort of area; Chicopee, Holyoke and the surrounding area. So, please feel free to share these. Anyone can refer to early intervention, and we'd love to hear from everybody.

Kerry Medeiros: Hampden County Juvenile Court
Hey everyone thanks for having me. My name's Kerry Medeiros, I'm an Assistant Chief at Hampden County Juvenile Court. I work here in Springfield, I also work in,
Work here in Holyoke, and I also work in Springfield Juvenile Court. I like to come on just to see, because we work with juveniles. I always like to come on this networking meeting, because it's a good opportunity for me to bring back to my probation officers on what resources are available in this area.

So, I really appreciate everyone's time and coming to the meeting, and if anyone ever has any questions, I did put my email in the chat about anything about juvenile probation. You're more than welcome to reach out to me. Thank you so much for having us.

Lynn Wolf: Access Care Partners
Hi everyone, I'm Lynn. I work with Access Care Partners, formerly West Mass Elder Care. We help people get homes, or get care in their homes.
And, for older adults and individuals with disabilities, we're launching a new program coming in early July that is for caregivers of individuals with dementia.
It is a Medicare program, and we'll have information going up on our website very soon.

We're also planning an event for the fall, which is a film screening of the movie Taking Care, which is a Seth Rogan film that documents his and his wife's caretaking journey, helping her mother, who had early onset dementia. We’re seeking sponsors right now, and then we'll have ticketing for the event. It's a limited, limited space, but a great movie. So, everyone is invited.

Maria Rodriguez: Give With Love Corporation
Hi, good afternoon, everyone. I'm Maria Rodriguez with Give With Love Corporation, and starting back up, and just on here to listen in, looking to connect, with others, and thank you for having me.

Miguel Arce: Holyoke Resident
Good afternoon, I'm a resident of Holyoke, I'm not employed by any organization, but I'm always very curious about what's happening in this beautiful city. Thank you, Ed, for now providing this service for, I want to say, 15 years, maybe longer, but started off with South Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative, now you're reaching the whole city. And these meetings are meaningful. You said it's a small meeting. Yeah, by some stretch of the imagination, I've seen where there have been 130 people on these meetings, but 32 people is nothing to sneeze at. You brought a core group of individuals that you're educating.

Also, I might want to remind you that you're going to be a guest speaker when the Lieutenant Governor comes, and maybe you might want to announce that somewhere along the line. Thank you very much for creating this forum for us to share.

Nathalie Vicencio: OneHolyoke
Hi, good afternoon, everyone! This is Nathalie. I am the newly hired Community Engagement Manager at OneHolyoke, CDC. As some of you know, Nairobi has now transitioned to being the Chief Operating Officer at One Holyoke. So, we are going to be working on, and inviting you all to attend, the OneHolyoke CDC Second Annual Building and Sustainable Living Communities event.

This year we're going to center it on innovations in public safety, bringing together community leaders, public safety officials, and community members to explore collaborative approaches to safer, stronger neighborhoods. Breakfast is going to be served, during this symposium. The event will be taking place on June 29th at 9am, at the Wyckoff Country Club, which is located at 233 East Hampton Road in Holyoke.

I did put in the link to our website in the chat, which will bring you to the registration page. We still have 30, I believe 30 community member spots available for people that are not able to currently have the budget to pay to attend this event. So, by selecting community member, it would be a free ticket to attend. And we're also going to be honoring, Ed Case, celebrating his legacy.

We are going to be hosting a speaker which is the Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor, Kim Driscoll. She's going to be our keynote speaker for the event. We're also going to be hearing from the first Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Fitzgerald, and so you're all invited. That's going to be June 29th, so mark your calendars and register.

As always, we're going to have the cleanup event as well on June 27th, meeting at 10am at the community room, located at 43 North Canal Street. We're always looking for volunteers. I did also include the link to that. We also have the bingo on June 26th, Community Bingo from 3 to 5pm, which is also free to attend.
We have the food bank every second and fourth Friday of the month; Which, this month would have been tomorrow, June 12th, and also June 26th from 1 to 2pm at 70 North Bridge Street, and we also have volunteer opportunities for those events. Thank you so much for hosting.

Payton Reyes: Girls Inc.
Hello, I am with Girls Inc. of the Valley. Programming right now at Girls Inc, we are gearing up for summer, so we are hosting summer program from ages starting at 5, and then all the way through 12th grade. Our middle school and high school slots are filling up, but we have lots of spots open, for 5 through 10-year-olds, so if anyone's looking for summer programs, send them our way.

Phylis Gedeon: Girls Inc.
Typically, I am running the in-school programs. So, a lot of our young adults who are coming into our programming come from the three areas in which we service: Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield. And so you will see us in schools like Bellamy, DuPont, Duggan, South End, and so if you have a school, if there's some school partners on here that are interested in us bringing our programming to you, we can, and if you're looking to partner with us for programming, absolutely. But Payton gave you what's going on for the summer, so we look forward to connecting with all of you!

Rafael Santos: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
Good afternoon, my name is Rafael Santos, and I'm here at the Hampden County Sheriff's Office. I work as a transition counselor for high-risk offenders once they finish their time here and transition back to the community. We do the best we can to connect them with resources. I also support the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative Program. But, I want to go back into the actual work that I do here. And I want to talk a little bit about this meeting that we do on a quarterly basis. That was, put together, actually, by Mr. Ed Case many years ago.

What we do in that meeting is we bring in different resources from the community that are able to offer services for the guys who are getting ready to transition out.
And I think that if you have the opportunity- I know that sometimes we talk to our guys, and we want our guys to go to different agencies- but sometimes the anxiety that knowing what to do is challenging for them. So, I may extend you an invitation to come in into those quarterly meetings and bring in the services that you believe that may benefit these men to reconnect with your particular program, so that way they can move on and get as much support as they can.

We hold this meeting on December, March, June, and September of every year, the first and the second Wednesday of the month. Like I said, we bring different resources in, they share their information, and they give them pamphlets. It's only 7 guys that we're presenting at this time.

However, and I mentioned this to Mr. Caisse before he actually left us as retirement, that I would love to present more individuals- more men- maybe 15, 20, and have as many of the resources coming into the compound and offer. Make it like one of those little community events, but instead of doing it outside, do it in the jail.

There are a lot of things that need to be worked out because of security concerns and things like that, but if we go in that direction, and we can demonstrate that we're serious about the work we do and then we're able to connect and succeed at what we're trying to do, which is getting our men's connected to resources.

So what I did was, on the chat, I put my email. You can send me a little email demonstrating, you know, talking about your interests. We'll connect via phone or emails, and try to work something out so you can come in and partner with us, and we'll continue the partnership in moving this program forward.
Thank you for your time.

Robin S: Holyoke Public Library
So, I'm Robin. I'm the librarian at the Holyoke Public Library, and I'm still talking all about summer reading.

Our Summer Reading Kickoff Party is on Thursday, June 25th from 1-5:30pm. We have an ice cream truck coming to hand out ice cream to everybody that registers, a balloon animal twister, a face painter, Drag Story Hour, and an all-ages movie.
So, please tell all of your, clients and people to come on down and register for summer reading. Also, we are inviting community partners to table.
If your organization would like to table in the park during the summer reading kickoff party, please let me know. I put my email in the chat.

Ron Sheffer: Valley Opportunity Council
Hi, my name's Ron Sheffer. I work for Valley Opportunity Council in Chicopee. I work in the Adult Education Department, and I work at MassHire Holyoke on Thursdays, MassHire Springfield on Fridays, and I refer people to ESL, GED, or HiSET classes.

If you know anybody who needs either of those types of classes, have them call the career centers and schedule an appointment with me, and I'd be happy to see them. I'm also putting my email in the chat. If people can't make those times, they can email me. I think that's it. Thank you.

Sandy Ward: Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts
Hi, Ed. Thank you for holding these meetings. I'm a volunteer with the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts, and we are proud to announce that our 2026 price report has just come out. It is on our website.

Every two years, we try to gather all the price lists from the funeral homes in the four counties of Western Massachusetts. It used to be a struggle to get those price lists from the funeral homes. We got 97% of them this time. So, we've got a very complete record. We're thrilled.

We're less thrilled about the huge range, some of the topics that the categories, like, direct or immediate burial. Whereas fairly simple, just picking up the body, taking it to the funeral home, and taking it to the graveside, the charge for that, not including a plot or anything else. That should be fairly comparable from one place to another, but the range goes from $1,795 to $5,795. There's a $4,000 difference in our Western Mass from the companies charging the most to the ones charging the least. And you have no clue about that when you look at the buildings or, you know, talk with them. There are quite a few at each end of the spectrum, and many in the middle, in the $2,000, $3,000, and $4,000. So we recommend the report on our website, which is available 24-7, so you don't need to go and talk to a salesperson at a funeral home. You can do some shopping in comparison and decide which kind of businesses you want to work with. Thanks.

Sheryl Maldonado: Way Finders
Hola, good afternoon. My name is Sheryl Maldonado. I work at Way Finders, as Community Engagement Associate, so I would like to say thank you, Ed, and everybody here, that I get the resources that you are bringing here, so every time I see a resident or somebody that is struggling getting the resources out there, I just call you guys and you make it happen. Thank you for that.

And also, I want to invite all of you- like Gabby- my co-worker, told you guys to come to our meeting, the Chestnut Community Alliance, that's going to be June 18th at 5:30, at 210 Elm Street, so any one of you want to present in the meeting, you just call me or send me an email, and we can make it happen. Thank you everybody. Have a good day.

Mike Pratt: Hampden County Sheriff's Office
Hey everybody, Mike Pratt. I work for the Hampden County Sheriff's Office with Eddie, Rafael, and Bill, mainly running the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative with Eddie. It's a pleasure to be here.

I just want to give a couple updates. We're in the middle of our summer basketball season. We’ve got around 384 kids in that league, which means that we have a bunch of parents that come down, and a lot of times we see a lot of parents that need the resources that you guys have to offer. So you guys are always welcome to come down; Tuesdays, 7th and 8th, Thursdays, High School, Fridays, 3rd-6th grade. That's our big day with the families, and you are welcome to table for any of those nights.

I know that coming up on July 10th, we'll be having a big cook out for the kids, so that usually attracts a lot of community members. I know that we've already got a couple agencies reaching out to us to table it, so you guys are all more than welcome to do that as well. Thank you.



Timothy Powis: Hampden Superior Probation
Timothy Powis here from Hampden Superior Probation, just tuning in to find resources for my probationers, and see what's available in the area. Thank you.

Ashley Stackow: Healthy Air Initiative
I'm Ashley Stackow from Holyoke. I was previously a neighbor to Neighbor, but now I'm a RA for the Healthy Air Initiative.

William Courchesne: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
Hi everybody, Bill Courchesne, Hampden County Sheriff's Office. I'm the Ward 6 Coordinator for the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative. Nothing new right now, but if you're working in my ward and you need some help, I'm always happy to help you guys out.


Rondey Allen: Crosspoint Clinical Services
Hey everybody, good afternoon. Rondey Allen, Crosspoint clinical services. We specialize in, faith-based, mental health services, outpatient mental health services, and, we serve anybody. We also have a wellness division. That's just who we are, and I hope you're well.

Edward Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
I just have a couple updates. So, I know I mentioned it, some of you didn't hear it, because you came on a little later, but in the beginning, I had mentioned about an event that's going to take place on Thursday, June 25th. It's really focused on emerging adults. So, that's adults 18-25. It’s a lot of adults that went down the wrong path and needed to get support, or need to get connected to support. If you're an agency that potentially has resources for an 18-25 year old, I'm going to send that email out one more time this afternoon. I just ask you to consider being there. Again, it's a Thursday, it's going to start at 10am, and lunch is going to be served.

There is also going to be a panel of at least four emerging adults, young people 18-25, so we can hear their perspective, and particularly their perspective on how systems may have failed them, and also how systems may have helped them get from a bad place to a good place. So it should be an interesting meeting, it should be productive, and the goal of it is, moving forward, have more agencies working together to provide that support for this population of our community residents.

Next, I want to mention that tomorrow, MassHire Holyoke is holding the Hot Jobs event down at Heritage Park, so if you know anybody that's looking for employment, that event's going to be from 11am-2pm at Heritage State Park tomorrow.

Mike mentioned the Basketball League. We're going to be packing up the backpacks for the back-to-school event on July 17th. I haven't created the registration form for that. We need about 70 volunteers to help us pack them up. It takes about 3 hours. We typically have people sign up in shifts. We do, like, a 9 to an 11 shift, and then a 10.30 to a 1 shift. So, from 9 to 1, we'll have 2,500 backpacks packed up for the Back-to-School event. So, I'll be sending that email out probably in the next week or so, and I do want to throw another reminder out about the Back to School event. It's actually going to be held on, August 15th. It's going to take about 400 volunteers. We are going to have about 45 agencies in the community service area. So, if that interests you, send me an email, and we'll make sure we reserve you a spot.

Stephanie handles the community service area, Stephanie Garcia from Holyoke Public Schools. So, she and I met yesterday. She will be sending out an email out to a lot of agencies, but if you're an agency that wants to be at the back-to-school event, in that area, just send me an email, and I'll make sure that you get the registration link so you can sign up.

The event that Miguel Arce was talking about was the event that Natalie from OneHolyoke talked about. So, I know there are still some slots. Natalie mentioned there were 30 slots for community residents, so if any of you wanted to go, there are 30 free slots. There was a suggested donation of $50 for that event. But again, the Lieutenant Governor, Kim Driscoll and also the first Assistant District Attorney, Jennifer Fitzgerald will be providing me with an award for the legacy of the work that I've done with the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative. I'm not asking you to come for me, but I'm asking you to support the work that OneHolyoke does, so I'm asking you to consider attending for that, because I really appreciate working with OneHolyoke. They've been a really great partner to the Holyoke Safe Initiative over the years, and that's why we like to support the Keep It Clean campaign.

I know Natalie mentioned they're going to be doing a cleanup on the 27th, but we're also going to be doing a cleanup in South Holyoke on June 24th, just a short cleanup from 1 to 2pm. We're going to hit some specific areas down in South Holyoke, so I haven't sent a registration link out yet on that, but I'll probably send that out, either today or tomorrow. We'll try to get some folks registered. But I'd be happy with, like, 12 people coming out to clean up that area.

So, in closing, I just want to say thank you to all of you individually, from all your agencies, the work you do, and how you're there. Whenever one of us refer a youth and a family to an agency that needs to get connected to support, you guys are always great in terms of getting the youth and families connected, so thank you so much for the work that you guys do on an individual basis, and also on a collective basis. So, have a great rest of the week, have a good weekend, hopefully we'll see you guys soon.

CHAT NOTES:

William Courchesne
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/forms.gle/m6QzYDb9TfFXZQ226__;!!CUhgQOZqV7M!ikL5xmLiYIQneiYQ5KXjng7pgdhlAzyyNdEC9fBWbv4i4LMUbEXLkRSbSpRngnc50knBmJ3kEPSn-RXt-0-prYU7doI8weAP$

Brianne Nurse
Hi all! I am Brianne Nurse, outreach and admissions counselor from Westover Job Corps in Chicopee Mass. We have open enrollment, offer housing for students, are a totally free program, and are always open to supporting and attending community events. Please feel free to reach out to me at 413-652-9608 or shoot me a email at nurse.brianne@jobcorps.org.

jessica merrill
CHOiCE Recovery Coaching
well in that case, please feel free to join CHOiCE Recovery coachings community yoga event, open to all and free to the community Van horn park, 10am June 28th and every 4th sunday through october

Adlyn Colon
HCC Adult Education, GED/HiSET Classes. acolon@hcc.edu 413-552-2927. www.hcc.edu/pafec

Gabriela Alicea
Community Engagement Coordinator for Way Finders in Holyoke. gabriela.alicea@wayfinders.org

Robin Siniaho
Teen Librarian Holyoke Public Library

Art Lobdell
Rotary Club
dg.7890.2728@gmail.com
Summer Concerts
Exchange Students
School Food Assistance through weekend backpacks
Scholarships
Clean up projects
Much more..
Meets 3rd Tuesday usually 12 and the Library this month Picts at 6pm

Sheryl
Community Engagement Associate at Way Finders. contact information 413-386-6898, smaldonado@wayfinders.org. If you have event or program that you wants to share with the community please feel free to send it to me I will be happy to share in my email blast. We will have our Chestnut Community Alliance on June 18th at 210 Elm St Holyoke in the Community Room at 5:30pm We will have a really interesting topic on this meeting. Thank you for the support you give to the community.

Art Lobdell
Rotary Club
Seeking employment in non profit, community networking or small business arthurlobdell@gmail.com



Dr Marie-Ange Delimon
Hello everyone. Dr Marie-Ange Delimon/Tech Foundry. Enrollment is open for our FREE Tech Bridge program for 18 to 25 years old who have their High school credentials and wish to learn IT, Audio Visual, Low Voltage electrical. The program offers a monthly learning stipend, 5 certifications included in the training, career coaching, college prep support and employment support. After the 9 months learners can join the workforce with our support or enter college with the college credits that they get from Tech Foundry. To apply: https://www.thetechfoundry.org/tech-bridge , for more information join our in-person next Wednesday June 17th at 5:30: register here: Workforce development in-person info sessions - May 26th - June 17th - July 9th – Fill out form. We will supporting your future career goals.

Dawn Creighton
DCreighton@Liberty-Bank.com Happy to help with any Financial Wellness opportunities First Tme Home Buyers Workshop, Academey for Small Business as a few examples

Dr Marie-Ange Delimon
TECHFOUNDRY
I have to jump in another meeting but Jessica will stay to learn more about the other amazing resources here in the meeting

Rafael Santos
rafael.santos@sdh.state.ma.us

Jason Perez
AISS also Ward 1 Coordinator happy to be here appreciate your work and dedication. My apologies my microphone is not working.

William Courchesne
William.courchesne@sdh.state.ma.us HCSO/HSNI Ward 6

Elizabeth Rogers
Baystate Family Advocacy Center, Elizabeth.rogers@baystatehealth.org

Jenneke Reynolds
working with the Health Departments of Holyoke, Chicopee and South Hadley -- jreynolds@southhadleyma.gov

kerry Medeiros
( Assistant Chief Probation Officer) of Hampden County Juvenile Court.
Here my email kerrya.medeiros@jud.state.ma.us

Jason Perez
jason.perez-diaz@sdh.state.ma.us work cell # 413-334-9343 here at you disposal thanks



Elizabeth Rogers
This flyer is in Spanish & English RE: CSE/T info, in relation to the upcoming World Cup games.

Cesar Cruz
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/pages-of-our-journey-banquet
Communications@latinoscholarshipwesternma.org

Ben Abbott
Community Legal Aid Family Preservation Project. CLA referrals http://communitylegal.org Email for questions about Family Preservation Project: babbott@cla-ma.org

Kelly Regan
MA OTR/L CEIS
BHN early intervention services ages birth-3 now serving Holyoke and the surrounding towns. Bilingual staff, no waiting list. Please feel free to share these brochures with QR codes for easy referrals, Anyone can refer to early intervention

jessica Merrill
CHOiCE Recovery Coaching
jessm@choicerecoverycoaching.org 413-272-8520 ext. 5 GPS peer support groups Mondays 12-1pm, community wellness event 4th sunday of every month now through October, recovery coaching at no cost, as well as offering CCAR trainings to put lived experience to use in the work field

Elizabeth Rogers
Jess- do you have a flyer about the Sunday yoga?

Maria I Rodriguez
Give With Love Corporation. maria@givewithlovecorp.com www.givewithlovecorp.com. Starting back up and looking to connect with others and grow.

Nathalie Vicencio
Community Engagement Manager at OneHolyoke CDC. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ https://www.oneholyoke.org/ 🌟June 29th Event: Symposium and Community Conversation focusing on public safety and crime prevention through environmental design. Keynote speaker is Lt. Governor. Also will include a recognition of Ed and all the work he has done in Holyoke.
🌟Clean-Up: June 27th, meet at 10am at 43 N Canal St. always looking for volunteers! Link in the chat for people to share/sign up: https://www.oneholyoke.org/community-engagement/keepitclean2k26/
🌟Bingo: June 26th 3-5pm. Free community bingo at 43 N Canal St.
As always, food bank every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month (june 12th and 26th)1-2pm at 70 N Bridge St. Also a volunteer opportunity- volunteers please arrive at 12:30 to help set up.



Brianne Nurse
@Rafael Santos I'd love to connect do you have contact information?

jessica Merrill
CHOiCE Recovery Coaching
can you put your email again robin

Sandy Ward
representing the nonprofit Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts (FCAWM). Our 2026 price report is now on our website: https://funeralconsumerswmass.org/

Ron Sheffer
(VOC Outstationing Coordinator) -- he/him
rsheffer@valleyopp.com, referrals for ESL and High School Equivalency classes

Rafael Santos
rafael.santos@sdh.state.ma.us

Ron Sheffer
(VOC Outstationing Coordinator)
@Brianne Nurse hi, could I get your email?

jessica Merrill
CHOiCE Recovery Coaching
@Robin S.-Holyoke Public Library could you drop your email again please

Nathalie Vicencio
OneHolyoke-Community Engagement Manager
Thank you Sandy! So good to see you!

Rafael Santos
Rafael Santos contact information 413-858-0988

jessica Merrill
CHOiCE Recovery Coaching
@Timothy Powis would be lovely if you wanted to invite them into our peer support groups or even connect those fitting with a recovery coach. feel free to email me jessm@choicerecoverycoaching.org

Nathalie Vicencio
OneHolyoke-Community Engagement Manager
30 slots for community residents (no fee) breakfast will be served

Maria I Rodriguez
I have to excuse myself to attend another meeting. Thank you and have a great day everyone!

Robin S
Holyoke Public Library
Congrats!!!

kerry Medeiros
Congratulations!!!!

Nathalie Vicencio
OneHolyoke-Community Engagement Manager
https://www.oneholyoke.org/ to register for the breakfast symposium