September 2022

Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative
Meeting Notes


Date: September 8, 2022
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

Jill Brevik and Israel Rivera / Families First 1:05pm – 1:20pm
Jill explained Families First is an organization that is focused on parents; parent education and support. Our mission is to bring parents of young children together in their communities, so they can strengthen their knowledge, skills and social support systems. I feel that we do a lot more than this, but this kind of is the core of the work. As we talk about all of our programs, our folks always come back to the parent and that piece of the equation.

We are an organization that has been around a long time, we were founded in the late 80’s in Boston at the Children’s Museum out there. We have gone through lots of transformations over the years and most recently received grant funding to explore expansion in Western Mass. We have now been running in Holyoke and Springfield for almost exactly a year. We launched our first programs in May; one in Holyoke and one in Springfield, and those programs graduated over the summer, I will tell you a little bit more about that.

I’m sure we are preaching to the choir in a lot of ways, but this is about the research behind our work. We have a parenting support curriculum that is rooted in research from lots of institutions, but comes back to these basic concepts that the early childhood years are important for brain development and is this unique opportunity to work with families and have lots of great impact in different ways that will persist throughout the child’s lifespan. We talk a lot about a positive childhood experiences, which is that flip on Aces, thinking about what are the things that research shows if these things happen in early childhood, you see this direct link to positive outcomes later in life. As we just really believe that parents are their children’s first teacher and in the difficult job that their in, which I know as a parent of a four and seven year olds that it’s a really tough job. There are a lot of day to day stressors and struggles, systemic stressors and struggles that when parents can come together, you can’t really go wrong, having parents come together and share their experiences and learn about early childhood development. Izzy will tell you a little bit more about the program itself. We do have this component of it where parents can take on a leadership role, both in the program and then in the community, because we believe that parents are experts on their kids and they are also experts on their community and what they are up against. We have built this component of our model called the Parent Leadership Program that really tries to structure that parents starting to step up and speak up. Jill turned it over to Izzy to speak more about the program.

Izzy: What it Matters. I will go off the slide, so you guys can see what it is and I will then elaborate a little more, why it matters to us and why it matters to Holyoke overall. We are working on building healthy vibrant communities, as well as a lot of our non-profits and community partners that are working in the community. We are working on trying to build up families and local communities here in Holyoke and in Springfield, as well as Chicopee, because we are going to begin programming in Chicopee. The main focus for us is particularly working with the parents; there are a lot of programs throughout Western Mass that service mostly youth and youth under the age of fourteen. Our focus more or less is to help engage parents and build them up and get them to show up for a variety of different events happening in the community, to help support their kids, as well as support themselves as parents in the community, to help foster relationships. One of our main focuses is family engagement; we run a 12-week curriculum that focuses on self-awareness, which is the first session. The focus is on what makes you better, what makes you feel better, if you feel better as a parent and are functioning at the highest level that you can possibly can then you will impact your children in that way. To us, it’s helping parents focus on what can help them succeed or become better within themselves ultimately branch out to the children and youth within the community. People say it takes a village, we are a village in Holyoke, it’s not just one person taking care of a child, it’s a community taking care of a child. I think that’s part of the purpose that Eddie does with the basketball leagues, it’s more people coming together as a conglomerate, working towards a common goal and that’s what we try to pull out of in the programs here at Families First.

Our approach is that we end up getting a parent facilitator, used to be called a parent educator, but we like to use certain terminology that helps people grow together as a community. We usually contract with the parent facilitator, whom of which has training and a background around parenting, usually birth to eight years old parenting. We run two different curriculums; zero to three and zero to eight. Our curriculum is evidence informed, meaning that we have research and our building our research to get to the point where we are actually evidence based, eventually we will get to that point, but you have to build to that point, when you get to that level. What we focus on is trying to build parents through community collaborations as well, that is something that for me that stood out a lot. In Holyoke that is what we do more or less; we have gotten to a point where we are building collaborations on so many different levels. Coming to Holyoke with this program and running this program, I feel like it’s going to be beneficial to the parents here and it will be beneficial to the community overall. We are always trying to engage parents and families in a variety of different ways. This program allows for parents and families to have a group where they come together, share information, learn and sharpen their tools in their toolbox as parents. For example, we are currently recruiting for two programs; one in Holyoke, the ages are from three to eight, it will be run at the children’s museum, through the collaboration, we are able to provide child care and food at the children’s museum, the child care will be the children’s museum. Amazingly, a lot of our populations in the lower wards don’t frequent the museum as much as they should. This is a way for us to collaborate with the museum to be able to get kids into the building, free of charge and at the same time, parents are able to get their free time. Parents are able to get a chance to build with other parents and work on honing their skills and master parenting skills, while their children are able to enjoy the children’s museum down at the space below.

We are also running a program in Springfield in collaboration with Springfield Partners for Community Action, this is a different curriculum; zero to three, birth to three, I share with you guys, even though it’s a Springfield connection, in case you guys have any connections with parents that can possibly utilize the program in Springfield. Izzy showed a picture of their most recently graduation from the end of July. We graduated ten parents from Holyoke and thirteen in Springfield. Holyoke is near and dear to my heart, so it’s always going to be more special; I love everybody, but I’m a Holyoker and it comes out every time. Ironically, a lot of the parents that are in this group were my kids at the boys and girls club, when I used to work at the boys and girls club when I was like fifteen or sixteen years old. What came out of this is that this group of parents became a tighter bond than they were when they first came in. Through the twelve weeks, we had week seven, where there was a session where our parent facilitator couldn’t make it, because they drive out from Boston. We had to cancel the session, but what the group did, upon themselves is organize a community day at Community Field. These parents did it amongst themselves, they did everything, they grilled, they bought the food, they did everything they needed to do. They engaged one another to create an event, to me was awesome, because that is what we do on a regular basis and we are trying to educate families or get families to the point where they feel the power to do these things on their own. They are able to do this on their own, without having to ask someone or needing leadership, so in this program we noticed it, we witnessed it, even in the first few sessions there were a couple parents here, particularly one parent who felt like she has been a parent since she was like eight to nine years old. She had to help raise her younger brothers and sisters, when she was eighteen or nineteen she ended up getting pregnant and having her own kids. Ultimately she shared with us that she was never able to identify herself as a person, because she has always been maintaining or taking care of other people. We had another parent who voluntarily in that moment was like hey listen my finance, who was there can watch your kids and we can go out together, so we can ease that burden and we can grow and understand where you need to be as a parent. To me in that moment it was dumbfounding and was on a level of community engagement that I never witnessed firsthand. I have been working in community engagement for a long time now, but to have one parent volunteer their fiancé as a babysitter to help another parent to get to an understanding of themselves that’s something that is actually unheard of and these are the types of programs that will help us get to the next level with regarding to community engagement and community building. That is my piece in regards to our program, if there is any extra information that anyone needs, feel free to reach out to me or Jill. My phone number and email are in the chat. We are running these programs that are set to launch at the end of September, if you guys know anyone or have anyone in mind that would benefit from these programs, feel free to reach out. I could call them and register them myself if that is the case or need to be.

Carlos Furcal: The Impact Center in Springfield
Good afternoon everyone, I am Carlos, I am one of the peer mentors here at the Impact Center in Springfield. We serve young adults sixteen to twenty-four; actually the ages went up to sixteen to twenty-six. Next week we have the Hispanic Heritage Month Potluck for our young adults. They have to bring a dish and basically the exchanging of cultures, it’s mostly for them. We also have a Halloween party for the young adults planned as well. Looking to collaborate with any programs and have an open line of communication.

Abbie Germain: Western Mass MOMS
High everyone, my name is Abbie. I want to thank Izzy and Jill for that presentation. I actually just grabbed your flyer from the Children’s Museum yesterday, I was there. I’m looking to reach out to you all, thanks for that presentation.

Eddie, I just wanted to thank you for the Back to School Event that was amazing, I was really just honored to be there. All of the volunteers were great helping us out. I represent the Western Mass MOMs, we did have a table there. It was really heartwarming to be part of that, I know it takes a lot of planning, the volunteers, I keep talking about them, they were helping us set up tables, bringing us water, it was certainly a hot day for those of you who were there and if you weren’t, please try to get there next year. The Mom’s Program was proud to have a table there, we handed out over 500 flyers and got a lot of calls from community members interested in the Mom’s Program, thank you, thank you, thank you for that.

For those of you who don’t know the Western Mass Moms provides an opportunity for mothers and other caregivers, certainly living in Holyoke, as well as Chicopee, Springfield and surrounding communities. We offer a chance for them to participate in an 8-week stress management course; it’s an hour and a half once per week. Like the program before, we also have a graduation at the end; we provide childcare, food and snacks, during the class and a lot of other supports as well. I have a lot more than a minutes worth of stuff to say, so I am going to put my contact information in the chat, I would love to connect with anybody, if I have not yet done so and again, thanks for this opportunity.

Adlyn Colon: Holyoke Community College Adult Education
Hi, good afternoon everybody, my name is Adlyn Colon; I am the intake specialist for the Adult Education Program for Holyoke Community College located at PFEC on 206 Maple Street, downtown Holyoke. We offer free hi-set preparation and GED classes and also ESOL classes, for students that want to either learn English or improve the English that they are speaking right now. At PFEC, we also have the CNA Program that you can get a certification to be a CNA in Holyoke or in the state. I am going to put a link in the chat for more information about the programs.

Chief Amy Karangekis: Attorney General’s Office
Good afternoon everyone, just one announcement from the Attorney General’s Office. The rental assistance for families and transition program. There are a couple updates, tenants can now apply for up to $10,000 it was $7,000 per household, to help with rent, utilities, moving or new tenancy costs. The money, as I said, can now be used for moving purposes. So, I sent a flyer around, I think that Ed circulated it, we also have the flyer in multiple languages on our website, I provided that link. Thank you.

Andrea Holden: Valley Opportunity Council
Hello, hi, my names is Andrea Holden and I am really appreciative to be here, this is my first time, I am from the Valley Opportunity Council. The program that I specifically represent is the Senior Companion Program. I did throw that information into the chat, I am shifting some focus this fall to reset and finding volunteers from Holyoke, I really need to focus on that. If people know of folks that are 55 or better, as I like to say and want to serve other seniors in the community. I have referral for seniors in need, that need companionship, maybe some help with transportation, you know they lost their independence, the ultimate goal is to help seniors age at home, age in place. Thank you, referrals would be great.

Corrine Ryan: Community Legal Aid
Hi everyone, Corrine Ryan, I am the managing attorney from Community Legal Aid in Springfield. For those of you who don’t know about CLA, CLA is the sole full service civil aid provider for the low income and elderly residents for the five counties of Central and Western Mass. So for Hampden County that means Springfield, that is our largest office. We also have a satellite office space at the Holyoke Health Center. We handle a full range of legal aid problems for folks including; housing, particularly eviction defense, shelter denial, and also fair housing work. Our family law unit helps folks who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and a full range of probate and family court matters, like custody, visitation, things like that. Our benefits units help access state benefits, administered by the Department of Transitional Assistance and also federal disability benefits administered by the Social Security Administration.

We have a standalone employment unit that consists of helping folks with unemployment denials and also wage and hour and discrimination claims. Our education law unit is one of the newest units that we have that’s quickly growing. The educational unit’s advocates help folks obtain the appropriate education services and placements for their children with special needs. We also keep an eye on language access services to be sure that parents can participate fully with the decisions that are being made by the public school systems. We have also attention on illegal and disproportionate discipline, still making sure that students of color are not illegally or unfairly disciplined or excluded from the classroom. So, just kind of keeping an eye on that school to prison pipeline.

Our subsidiary, Central West Justice Center also helps folks with immigration matters. Aside from that core work, we have special projects that help particularly vulnerable groups of individuals. We have an elder unit that help folks who are above sixty with any issue they are dealing with, but to me, which is crazy, sixty does not feel like an elder. We have veterans unit that helps give legal assistance to veterans and their families not only in housing, but in veteran specific benefits, family law, character of service determinations, things of that nature. Our CORI re-entry units, helps formally incarcerated folks overcome barriers to housing, employment and other opportunities in order to re-integrate into society. We also have, if that’s not enough, a CLAVIC Unit, Civil Legal Aid for Victims of Crime, which helps folks deal with the civil legal offshoots of whatever has happened to them, because they were a victim of a crime, even if the crime was not reported. So, think like domestic abuse, we would help them from whatever civil, legal issues are stemming from that. So, that’s sort of us in a nutshell. I will put our website information in the chat.

Just a heads up on an event that we actually have happening today in Holyoke at 3:30pm at the CDCS Office, I don’t know if anyone knows about this yet. You might remember the drug lab scandal a few years ago where 37,000 drug convictions that were thrown out across the state, because of misconduct at the state laboratory. We can never get back the jail time that people might have served, but if they paid fines or other court fees as a result of this situation that happened, sometimes many hundreds of dollars. The case is settled, the state has settled a class action case that will return those fees to those people. So, this event, I am going to try and figure out how to put it in the chat, I’m not the most tech savvy, so bear with me or I’ll send to Ed at the end of the meeting. It’s happening at the CPCS Office in Holyoke, Kate Murdock the attorney that is in charge of that office will be presenting as well as Luke Ryan, Luke is the attorney that is fighting for this class action. It will be an information session for folks who are victims, in terms of how to get that money. After a year, any money that is not distributed, I think there is like fourteen million dollars will be split among three agencies; one of which is Community Legal Aid. We will use that money to help with our CORI Re-Entry Project. Right now the focus is getting that money back to the folks that need it and deserve it, because they have been wronged by this hard to believe scandal; it’s hard to believe that it’s happened. So that was a lot, feel free to reach out to me I put my email in the chat if you have questions, please feel free to contact me offline after the meeting. Thanks.

Daniel Torres: Fishers of Men New England
Good afternoon everyone, my name is Daniel Torres; I am with Fishers of Men New England. I am really a church help organization. Help them with administrative, programming issues, and all kinds of management issues, including financing, fund raising and all that fun stuff. My goal through this group is to tie in more churches that could be a resource to organizations on this call or vice versa connecting your organizations to the churches. Looking to connect pastors and faith leaders to this group.

Danielle Hartner: Center for Human Development
Hi everyone. I am Danielle from the Center for Human Development, part of the Diversion Shelter Programs. We provide emergency shelter assistance to families. We have a referral process all through DHCD, Department of Housing and Community Development. Elizabeth will talk a little bit later, but we are here to really work together, with everyone in Holyoke to service the families, we have many, many families in Holyoke. We are always looking forward in making connections, my name is in the chat if you have any questions about housing or family shelters, if you know anyone who needs it, thanks so much.

Debbie Gonzalez: Hope for Holyoke
Hi everybody, I’m Debbie from Hope for Holyoke. The big announcement I have is that next Friday is 9/16 is Holyoke Recovery Day, at 12noon we are marching from Heritage State Park to Veteran’s Park, anyone please join us, anyone who supports recovery, your programs, your participants, yourself, your family members, you can carry a sign or just march along. We will be going over to Veteran’s Park for the celebration of Recovery Day for National Recovery month from 1pm to 4pm. At 3:30pm, there will be a flag raising in front of city hall with the recovery month flag as well. Any of those things, you can meet us there, if you want a table there is information, I will put it in the chat. Also, Eddie has the flyers to send out again just to everyone. Just show up any way you can, we would love to have everyone there celebrate recovery month, coming out of our overdose vigil this is a positive, recovery is possible event, the more people that can come the merrier. Thanks a lot.

Denise Kelly-Lachat: Hampden District Attorney’s Office
Juvenile and Holyoke District Court Diversion Specialist, nothing new to report.

Trooper Deshawn Brown: Mass State Police
Good afternoon everyone, my name is Trooper Deshawn Brown, I am a Massachusetts State Trooper and my current role is a community police liaison, I have nothing really new to add, except we are trying to push our free car seat instillation program. We have plenty of car seats to give away to any families in need, particularly in the Chicopee / Springfield area. I know the Holyoke Fire Department has a program already. If anyone has any families, caregivers in the Chicopee / Springfield area, please direct them to me, thank you for your time and have a great day.

Domonica LaValley: New England Farm Workers Council
Hi everybody, I am Domonica LaValley, I am the director of housing and shelter for New England Farm Workers Council. We have an EA shelter there in Holyoke; we are here to get resources and being part of making Holyoke a better place to be. Like everyone else, just working hard to work with our participants to help them be successful and move back into the community.

Emily Skoczylas: Alianza
Hi, I’m Emily Skoczylas, I am the outreach and education coordinator for Alianza formally known as Women’s Shelter Companeras. I just want to high light an upcoming event, we are having an event on Saturday, October 1st from 11am to 1pm, behind 208 Race Street in Holyoke. It is to remember those lives that have been lost to domestic violence; we will be doing a T-shirt project. I will put the registration link in the chat, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Thank you.

Elizabeth Veillette: Center for Human Development
Hi everyone, I am the employment specialist and navigator for the CHD’s diversion shelter and housing division. We operate hotels, family shelters, permanent housing and subsidized apartments for CHD and HUD. My role is specifically to assist families in obtaining the education and employment they need to secure permanent housing and self-sufficiency. We are a closed lip, you can refer families to a shelter, but I am looking for as many supports in the area, we have something like six shelters in Holyoke, at least as many in Springfield, we have people in apartments all over the valley. The more help I get in helping these people, the happier I am. I have met several of you already and I look forward to meeting more of you and thank you.

Erica Letson: Caring Health Center
Hi everyone, I am Erica Letson, I am the project manager of outreach and enrollment at Caring Health Center. Our navigator program helps folks in Springfield and the surrounding area enroll in Mass Health and Snap, as well as we provide navigation for health insurances. We are always looking to participate in outreach events in the area, so if there are any upcoming events that you would like our team to be a part of, feel free to contact me, I can put my email in the chat. Thank you.

Greg Graustien: Recovery Connection Centers
Hi, Greg Graustien business development for Recovery Connection Centers, outpatient for Soboxone, Sublicade, Vivtrol. I want to ask people for help, on our drug taskforce in Springfield, and our office is in 281 Cottage Street, I have sixteen offices in Mass. In Springfield, 48% of the recent overdoses have been Spanish population. I need support, I need help to try and reach that population, and I am trying to reach out to group homes, recovery houses, or any which way possible. If people have ideas for me to try to get people to come in to seek treatment with us, I would really appreciate it. My name and number and email are in the chat. We take all insurances; we can provide the supported, quiet, comfortable environment, safe for people to seek treatment, if you could, please drop me a line, thank you.

Iris Sosa: Boys Scouts of America, Western Mass
Hello everyone, my name is Iris, outreach specialist for the Boys Scouts of America, Western Mass Council. We have different programs and we serve kids from kindergarten all the way until twenty-one. We have Cub
Scouts that is kindergarten to fifth grade, then we have traditional scouting troops, then we have the explorer program that is a program that is more career orientated, and we have venture, which is a more outdoors orientated program. So we are always looking for partnerships with organizations and always looking for leaders, so hopefully we can start a few units active in Holyoke and have something extra for the kids to do and participate in and have fun. Thank you.

Jac Essing: DIAL/SELF AmeriCorps Program
Good afternoon everyone, I am Jac Essing and I am with the Dial/Self AmeriCorp Program. We have twenty-two members serving in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties in non-profits and schools. Seven of those members are with the Restorative Relationship Corp led by Caden Scouto who has been on this call a number of times. Then fifteen of them are serving young people and supporting them in their development and self-advocacy. We are still recruiting for two or three members, so those positions would be in Enlace de Familias in Holyoke, Mohawk Trails in Shelburne Falls, Rise Prep Academy in Springfield, and Montague Catholic Social Ministries in Turners Falls. Members receive a $17,000 dollar stipend, about $6,500 hundred dollars for an education award, and are eligible for insurance, childcare, and EBT. If you are someone or know someone who would be interested in serving 10 months with us and investing in this community, please send me an email and give me a call with their information.

Jeana Burke: Gandara Center
Hello, good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much for having me. This is my first time with the group, the Gandara Center is who I work for and I am new to the company, new to Springfield, and new to the program I am introducing. It is called the Project M, a mentoring peer to peer program and I am the coordinator over that program. I am recruiting for young adult mentors, ages eighteen to thirty, that will pair with our adolescents, ages thirteen to seventeen, that are struggling with substance use, mental health crises, drug use and alcohol, and the whole gamut. They would mentor those adolescents $25 an hour, starting immediately. You spend committed time with them, you are working with them. There is a curriculum that we go by that teaches mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and mentoring coachable humility to help build coping skills, strategies and tips, and pushing them towards recovery. If you know of anyone that would love to help these children, to pass their lived experiences forward and who has gone through some things, please let me know. My information is in the chat as well but I also have flyers and the description of the application as well.

Jennifer Kinsmen: United Way of Pioneer Valley
Hello everybody. I am Jennifer Kinsmen, United way of Pioneer Valley. A couple of announcements, one our trip has moved just around the corner to where we were before. We are now on Exchange Street, right down town. We are open three days a week and most of our clients shifted over with us and we have got some more, but if you know anyone who is hungry in the Chicopee area, anyone in the Pioneer Valley is welcome to visit but especially in Chicopee – there is a lot of need there. We also have our Springfield service center which has a pantry incorporated into it as well. That is in the TD bank building downtown, another food desert with access on Harrison Street. Then the other thing I want to mention is, in two Fridays, on Friday September twenty-third is our day of caring, our annual day of caring. So if any of you people who are associated with non-profits need volunteers and would like to set up something in our volunteer portal to show what you need help with, please just get in touch with me. My information is in the chat and I’ll send you the link so you can post your opportunity and if anybody is interested in volunteering just go to our website - UWPV.org. Sign up for one of the projects to volunteer. Thank you.

Joanna Berube: Way Finders
Hi everyone, my name is Joanna and I work at Way Finders in the rental assistants department. I am the Economic Mobility manager, so what that means is that families who receive a voucher through Way Finders, my programs help them to achieve and sustain self-efficiency. So I am selfishly here to learn everything that is on the community so that I can pass it along to my families so thank you all for sharing. I don’t have much more to offer other than that but thank you all for sharing, this is a really great resource.

Joann Gillman: MSPCC: ElliotCHS
Hi I am Joann Gillman. I am a supervisor at MSPCC, a division of ElliotCHS. Our programs are the in-home therapy with clinician’s at a master’s level. Also the TT&S program, the therapeutic training and support at the bachelor’s level and the TMZ therapeutic mentors and they are high school graduates. We also have an outpatient services program for all ages. We serve children from zero to twenty-two years old with severe crisis level behaviors who are at risk of residential programs. Our services are generally given twice a week for about two hours each time rather than the typical one hour a week outpatient services so our services are very intense. Our goal is assisting in parenting skills and helping children in their homes with their emotional and physical behaviors in their schools, in the community, and we provide services virtually as needed or backyards, porches, and local playgrounds as the weather permits during the winter if possible. We are also looking to recruit for a new supervisor, master’s level clinician, TT&S and TM levels. Our phone number is 413-532-9446 and I’ll put that into the chat and that is for referrals for children either by phone or online at ElliotCHS.Org. Thank you.

John McCarthy: USCIS Citizenship and Immigration Service
Good afternoon everyone. I am John McCarthy; I am a community relations officer for USCIS Citizenship and Immigration Services. I have put my contact information in the chat. I am going to be very brief today. If you are looking for any type of information regarding immigration, eligibility requirements, or how to go about going through the process, please get in touch with me. I have put some information into the chat in regards to news items that are currently on our website and I am not going to go through them specifically while I am on the call but I have left you the website if you wish to take a look. The last thing I’ll mention is that on Monday the 19th of September, we will be putting on USCIS the Boston Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement and the Boston public library will be putting on a program to encourage citizenship for people who are eligible to apply. It is going to cross the gamut as to all of the resources that are available here in Massachusetts through your public library and through USCIS to find out what the resources are and how to get in touch with them. Thank you very much.

Josh Colon: Holyoke Police Department
Hello everyone, Officer Josh Colon from the Holyoke Police Department. I am working out of 208 Ray Street. I have no updates at the moment. Thank you.

Julia Popkin: Community Legal Aid
Hi everyone, I am Julia Popkin. I am a staff attorney at Community Legal Aid but I think Corrine already gave all of our news and updates. Nice to see everyone.

Julio Torres: Mass Fair Housing
My name is Julio Torres and I am with Mass Fair Housing. I have nothing to report except we are still in the search for a new executive director. Our executive director is retiring after many years. I will put some information about that in the chat. Thank you very much.

Karen Blanchard: Michael J. Dias Foundation
Hello everybody, I am Karen Blanchard. I am the executive director for the Michael J. Dias Foundation. We are based in Springfield and we do recovery through recovery homes for men in the Springfield area. Thank you.

Kate Murdock: CPCS
Hello. I just wanted to briefly follow up on what Corrine Ryan had said about the event at our office at 3:30 today. Our office is located in the DTA building right on Front Street in one of those big buildings. We are on the fourth floor, so if you or your clients are free in an hour and a half at 3:30 please feel free to come by. We will have Luke Ryan who did all of that litigation to be able to explain how people can get some of their money back on these convictions. There were thirty-seven thousand of them so it does in fact affect a lot of people. Thanks so much.

Kathy Viens: YMCA Greater Holyoke
Hello, Kathy Viens - YMCA Greater Holyoke. Just very quickly, we are transitioning from all of our summer programs to the fall. Our focus is preschool education, afterschool support for parents and families. We have quiet programs that are starting up and we also do a lot of fitness, health, and wellness. I think the only thing I would make sure people are aware of is that we will always meet people where they can afford as far as becoming a member of the Y. So finances should not be a reason why people don’t reach out to any of the local Y’s and try to engage and get involved in programming. We will be starting up some of our teen programing and doing things in leadership so that’s going on and probably in a couple of months we will be back in the basketball season and working on the basketball program.

Krystyna Boijolie: RFK Community Alliance
Hi Ed, how are you? I am Krystyna Boisjolie with RFK Community Alliance. I don’t have too much today; I am here with Keva and Bianca who are also from RFK Community Alliance. I was excitedly waiting; there are so many J’s I can’t wait. I hope everybody is well and having a good afternoon. The only update we have is that we are hiring. Keva actually runs a program that is working with young adults in their own apartments. It is DCF funded and the program is called Young Adults Supportive Living Program, and she is hiring for a case manager. So I’d love it if we could actually share the posting with you Ed so that can be sent out, that would be super helpful. So she just hired a life couch and is excitedly waiting to hire a case manager at an entry level position to work with the youth in the independent living apartments. If I could share that with you that would be great and folks can take a look at that. There is more information on our website as well in terms of what the expectations are for the position and what is required. That is all we have, I just wanted to share that.

Jeffrey Hayden: Holyoke Community College
Good afternoon everyone. I just wanted to quickly say, that as many of you know, the college is back in session, we began class on Tuesday. I did also want to let you know that there are late start classes through October and early November. So if you have someone who is interested in taking classes that would be helpful. Over 28 percent of our population is Latinx community and we are very proud of the fact that we have become a college of choice for many members of our community. Also there are all kinds of workforce programs as I have said in the past; if you need any kind of connection on that I will put a link in the chat. Thank you.

Laura Soderbaum: Holyoke Housing Authority
Hi everybody, how are you? I got some exciting news; we have the South Holyoke applications up and ready. They are on our website and they are also here if you just wanted to fill it out and hand it in. The deadline is October 21st and the lottery will be December 2nd. I have put the flyers in the chat so you can take a look at those and if you have any questions, you can email me, call me, anything. There is one bedroom, two bedrooms, and three bedrooms. They are beautiful, I can’t wait. Thank you.

Leydiani Frias: River Valley Counseling Center
I am calling in behalf of River Valley Counseling Center. As of now, we have nothing to report so I hope everybody has a good day. Thank you.

Lisa Wray Schechterle: Holyoke Medical Center
Hi everyone, I am Lisa Schechterle. I work in community benefit at Holyoke Medical Center. Community benefit looks to partner with community organizations to access and improve the health needs of the residents we serve. This is done by providing resources, education, and services to address the needs of our community members who are most vulnerable. One of our programs to address food security is through two community dinners we host and serve each month. We bring one out into the community each month where we deliver and distribute 100 meals to an organization. This month we will be at Enlace de Familias, next month at the Salvation Army. Depending on the group’s request, we can also have someone on site to help provide health education such as nutrition or diabetes education, health screening, blood pressure, or anxiety screening. That is done while we are distributing the meals. The second dinner is on site here at the hospital on the last Thursday of each month. So the next onsite dinner is on Thursday September 29th from 3:45 to 4:30 at the main entrance. Right now it is served drive up style so many cars pick up for multiple people. If you are interested in hosting a dinner or if you would like tickets as a save the dates for folks (you don’t need tickets to attend the event) my contact information is in the chat.

Liz Plouffe: City of Easthampton
Hi everybody, good afternoon. I am an independently licensed social worker for the City of Easthampton. I am kind of flying solo here in Western Mass because municipal public health social workers are everywhere in Boston but right now I am the only one out here. So I am always looking to network and connect with other resources. I have individuals and families throughout Easthampton of all ages. Certainly am doing a lot of connecting with area communities so if there are events and things that we can connect on please feel free to reach out. We just did out first international overdose awareness week in Easthampton, which was very well received. I know a lot of other communities did that as well so that was great. So I will put my info in the chat. We are definitely looking to do more events and networking around public health and really anything and everything that is beneficial to kids and families in Western Mass. Thanks.

Maria Chambers: Behavioral Health Network
Hi everyone, my name is Maria Chambers. I am a senior manager at the Behavioral Health Network working in our integration and care management department. I don’t have any updates, I just with you all a happy afternoon.

Yajaira Marquez: Holyoke Chicopee Family and Community Program (CFCE)
Hello everyone. My name is Yajaira and I work with CFCE. I just wanted to say three quick programs that we are running. We have a baby and me that we are doing Tuesdays at the Holyoke public library from 10-11 a.m. in case you guys know any families with small kids who want to join our program. It is free and they can come on in. We have the book buddy programs where we drop off books to your homes and we have a raising a reader program as well where we do the same thing. In case you guys are interested, I will send my information in the chat. Have a great day.

Marissa Chiapperino: Holyoke Medical Center
I am Marissa Chiapperino, registered dietitian in the community navigation program at Holyoke Medical Center with Lisa. Specifically from me we are in the middle of running our free diabetes series at the Holyoke public library right now. Last night we had three participants and it is open to anyone and everyone with diabetes or anyone who cares for someone with diabetes. So feel free to use the flyer I put in the chat and email me if you have any questions. It will run through the third week of September and then we will be establishing dates at the YMCA in Holyoke for the month of October. Thanks a lot.

Mark Gaudet: Valley Opportunity Council.
Hi, good afternoon everybody. My name is Mark Gaudet. I work for Valley Opportunity Council. I think Valley Opportunity Counsel is well-known from both in Chicopee and there is a building in Holyoke. They cover services such as housing, fuel assistance – they actually got the contract for fuel assistance for Springfield this year, so they will be covering Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke. Daycare centers, wick services, elder programs such as the senior companion that was already mentioned, and adult education. I work in the adult education part of it. I am a referral counselor, out stationed at the masshire career centers. I am putting into the chat right now the schedule for in person counseling at the career centers in Springfield and in Holyoke on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings. Otherwise, people can reach me, please feel free to give out my google voice number. I have put in my cell phone number for you all and my email address. I serve the DESI funded centers, the Department of Education Centers as well as the city funded programs and the small non-profits. So I have a comprehensive list of adult basic education and English for non-native speaker classes in Hampden County. Thank you so much Ed.

Mary Jamieson: Holyoke Medical Center
Hi everyone, Mary Jamieson from Holyoke Medical Center. I also work in our community navigation department with Marissa Chiapperino. I did share in the chat already the pamphlet for Holyoke Healthy Homes which is our asthma program with revitalized CDC and the public health institute of Western Mass. This is a free program for anybody in the city of Holyoke who has asthma and they can go into the home and remove environmental triggers such as mold, pests, and provide air conditions or air purifiers. This is a great service to our community, so if you are interested in that you can either reach out to me via email for more information but there is also contact information on the flyer. The other thing I wanted to bring up is that the Holyoke Medical Center is also participating in the planning for the Lawrence walking school bus. We are still looking for volunteers to help walk children to school. It is part of the Massachusetts Safe Routes to School and provides children a healthy, safe way to get to school on time. Volunteers help lead the children down the route; it is only about a half hour commitment in the morning. So if you have anyone at your agency or organization that might be interested, I am putting the signup sheet links in the chat. That is about it for me.

Nayroby Rosa-Soriano: OneHolyoke CDC
Hi everyone. My name is Nayroby Rosa and I am director of community engagement resident services at OneHolyoke. We have a couple of things going on. The biggest thing is our cleanup campaign is ending at the end of September so we are looking to do a city wide cleanup. I know that Ed has a team over in Ward 2 and we have a team in Ward 1. Other people who want to join our cleanup efforts please reach out to me. September 24th will be our city wide cleanup; we will be leaving out of 43 Canal Street and then we will be heading back there at noon for a barbeque. So please join us in our cleanup efforts. We will also be doing our parent support group that day in the afternoon. We have something new going on where we have received some funding from the Valley bike share and we are giving memberships to our residents for $10 for the year. So if anyone knows any young adults that want to be on the Valley bike share and have a bike for the year for about $10 and a little more in taxes please reach out. Shannon at Valley bike has been helping us promote that as well. We do have a little survey that they have to complete. Then on October 15th we are going to be doing little library tours out of our tiny house. I don’t know if you guys have seen in Holyoke we have a little tiny house that was donated to us by UMass Technology Center and we are going to be putting that house somewhere eventually and selling the home. For now we are allowing people to tour it and we are going to have bikes for people to do little library tours of all the little libraries in the city and bring some books to them, so come join us. The last thing is the community dinner – the community dinner is happening again. I sent out an invite for folks in the planning committee that were there last year, I hope you join us again. If anyone has interested in being part of this community dinner, it is now the 7th annual community dinner that started with Israel Rivera. We have been working together and making it happen. We have been doing an outdoor event for the two years due to COVID and we will hopefully doing the event indoors this year. So we will be looking for bands and music and a nice dinner for people to enjoy. That tentative date is December 13th so look for that and you’ll be getting information about it in the future. Thanks, Ed.

Rafael Santos: Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
Hi everyone, my name is Rafael Santos. I am from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department. I work in the reentry program here at the department and I also support the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative that is spearheaded obviously by Mr. Ed Caisse and with all of your support. So that is pretty much what I do; I am trying to get myself reconnected again to Ward 4 to start meeting with folks and try to support any efforts that are being made in that area for establishing the community and helping the residents in the area connect with services. So again, my name is Rafael and I am from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department. Thank you.

Sandy Ward: Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Mass
Thanks Ed, thank you so much for these meetings. As many people know for a long time I have been a volunteer at the Holyoke public library helping the mini golf and games fundraiser. It has just been announced, the date is Saturday April, 29th next spring. So many of your organizations have helped in one way or another as sponsors of that.; I am not on the planning committee this year but Nancy is leading the charge for the Holyoke public library, so save that date. My energies are now going more into the Funeral Consumers Alliance that I often make announcement about. We have a big announcement now. We just completed another one of the surveys of the prices in the funeral homes of the 85 locations in the four counties of Western Massachusetts. We wish they would put their prices up on their websites but they don’t. So I as webmaster of this group, do. So we have 81% of their prices and we have put it up on a price chart on our website. I have put the link in the chat so you can go directly to the price chart. The takeaway message from this is that people in choosing one firm versus another, can save thousands of dollars. So it is really important for essentially similar services. So it is wise to shop for a funeral service when you don’t need to get an idea of the price range because when you really do need one, you don’t have the time for that shopping around and you are not in the mind for it. You might be accidently buying from one of the expensive ones. That’s it, thank you.

Sarah Biette: Tapestry Health
Hi everybody, I am here with Tapestry Health. I am here representing our sexual reproductive health wing. We provide sexual reproductive health care to anybody with or without insurance, anybody regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, or income. Everyone that comes into our offices is welcome to our support. I specifically work with our coordination for outreach opportunities for education all over Massachusetts. If anyone is interested in having a tapestry table for information and resources at any of their upcoming events, if you are looking for an educational workshop for the group you are working with, or for staff to have mentor or caregiver training on how to talk about sexual reproductive healthcare topics, I am going to send my information in the chat one more time. Thanks so much.

Sarah Lynn: MSPCC Prevention
Hi everybody, Sarah Lynn from MSPCC Prevention. We have the health families and parents as teachers programs and we are accepting referrals for both. I am really excited to announce that our fathers and families network series is upon us again and Ed thank you for sending out the information earlier. I am going to put the description in the chat box. Our first talk is about fathers and daughters and creating a toolkit. Thank you everyone.

Stephanie Colon: Mass In Motion
Hi everyone. I am the new Mass In Motion coordinator for Holyoke. A little bit about Mass and Motion is that it is created to create sustainable projects and changes in Holyoke to promote active living and healthy living; so walk ability, food security, housing. I am working through the office of planning and economic development in Holyoke. I left my email and all of my information in the chat, so please reach out if you think we could connect. Thank you.

Susan Ventura: Interim Health Care
Hi everyone, Susan Ventura. I am the in house recruiter for Interim Health Care located in West Springfield Massachusetts. It is so lovely to be a part of this group again; it is nice to see some familiar faces. Thank you for what you do every day. Interim Health launched a retired to hired campaign and also I am made for this campaign. The retired to hired targets retired individuals who are looking for work. The made for this campaign targets veterans and the general public. What we are offering is employment as a homemaker, PCA, or CNA and our aim for these programs or these initiatives is to hire folks to work in the rural parts of their communities or their neighboring communities to help take care of those aging in place. It is no secret that this country is in a national health care crisis. The need in these communities prior to that was bad and now it is even worse. Some are waiting weeks or months just to get an evaluation done. If they are hooked up with a home healthcare agency, chances are we can move them up in the line to get them that evaluation and start getting them services. I want to work with anybody; I have a couple of names I reached out to already who is working with these seniors in these communities, especially these rural communities where they need those services terribly. So please reach out to me, my information is in the chat and I am looking forward to proving more information in the future. Thanks so much, I am glad to be a part of this group. Take care now.

Thais Rivera: Trulieve
Hi everyone. I work for Trulieve, a cannabis company that is manufacturing here in Holyoke. However, I have a lot of ties to non-profits and community engagements with families and stuff like that. In my current position, I am trying to bridge the gap. I have actually reached out to a few people who are here in this meeting about getting some information I can share with the people because you know they are also members of Holyoke. We are just trying to do our best to support them as much as possible and provide information and resources. Speaking of the South Holyoke rental applications, I have them at my desk and have been handing them out. Honestly I love being able to join this meeting and share information and connect people. Thank you again.

Victor Machado: Homework House
Hi everyone. This is my first time in this meeting so I am very grateful. I am working right now in Homework House. Homework House is an after school program. My position is family and engagement coordinator. Homer House is offering free tutoring for kids. We are recruiting kids from schools and I am so glad we have great resources here in the city and in Springfield. Thank you everyone.

Ileana Carrion: Office of Planning and Economic Development (Holyoke)
Hi everyone, happy Thursday afternoon. I just want to give a shout out to Stephanie Colon, our new Mass and Motion coordinator, we are so happy to have her on board here. She is going to be working with so many initiatives we have going on so shout out to her. The only update I have is that on October 15th we are going to be having some events and doors open. I know Nayroby mentioned the tiny house tours and there is also going to be the brick race, the paper city food festival, and some tours at the Children’s Museum. So I hope everyone can join in on those nice fall events. Have a great afternoon, thanks Ed.

Art Lobdell: Boy Scouts of America
Currently we are serving boys and girls from kindergarten up through age 21. We have a number of projects and we are looking for community partners. We are very thankful that this network has made some opportunities for us. We very much enjoyed the event last week at the carousel – shout out to anyone involved in that. That was great to be able to be there and do tabling. Also a shout out to One Holyoke who borrowed our story watts; Story watts are available for any agency who wants to use them for any of their events. We have four of them; we have a process where we reserve them in advance so that they can go out. We are still looking to create events in Holyoke. We have scouting all over Western Massachusetts but we are still void of scouting in Holyoke. So again we need some partners. [He cut out] On that topic, if anyone has any young people, any age, for September 17th we have an activity in our camp and I guess I will close it there since you can’t hear me very well. Thank you.

Ed Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
In closing I just wanted to thank everybody that helped us with the back to school event, all of the volunteers and all of the different agencies representatives that were there that were able to pass out information to the community. It was great to see so many community residents visiting those service provider tables, so I just truly want to say thank you so much to everyone. Thank you for all that you do. See you next month; our next meeting is going to be Thursday October 13th. If you know of any agencies that aren’t at this table that may have resources for youth and families in Holyoke, I just want to encourage you to actually consider inviting folks. Try to get us connected and get them the link to our networking meeting and we appreciate that. Have a great rest of the week, have a good weekend, great seeing all of you. See you next month, take care.

Chat Notes:
Adlyn Colon
Adlyn G. Colon HCC Adult Education - HiSET preparation and ESOL classes. acolon@hcc.edu - 413-552-2927 www.hcc.edu/pafec, www.hcc.edu/job-ready acolon@hcc.edu.

Elizabeth Veillette
Hi all, Elizabeth Veillette, CHD Shelter and Housing, Employment Specialist/Navigator. 413.266.9840, eveillette@chd.org

Joanna Berube
Joanna Berube, Economic Mobility; Way Finders jberube@wayfinders.org

Domonica LaValley
Nicky LaValley NEFWC- Director of Housing and Shelter dlavalley@partnersfor community.org 413-237-6285

Jenyka Spitz-Gassnola
Jenyka Spitz-Gassnola (She/They), DYS/JDAI, Local Coordinator - Jenyka.spitz-gassnola@mass.gov

Stephanie Colon
Stephanie Colon, Mass in Motion Holyoke, mimcoordinator@holyoke.org

Amy Karangekis
Amy Karangekis - Massachusetts Attorney General's Office - amy.karangekis@mass.gov

Victor Machado
Victor Machado, Family Community Engagement Specialist at Homework House, Vmachado@homeworkhouseholyoke.org

Carlos Vicenty
Carlos Vicenty, Computer Coordinator at the Holyoke Public Library. cvicenty@holyokelibrary.org and 413-420-8118

Danielle Hartner
Danielle Hartner- Clinical Director, CHD Diversion Shelter Programs- DHartner@chd.org

Daniel Torres
Daniel Torres 413.218.0640 Daniel@fishersofmen-ne.org Church Capacity organization. Looking to connect faith organizations with community organizations

Edward Caisse
Eddie Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff's Department

Susan Ventura
Susan Ventura - In-house Recruiter -Interim HealthCare of Western MA 1132Westfield St., W. Springfield (413)734-6900 - Cell-(413)334-9128 susan@interimhealth.com

Mary Jamieson
Mary Jamieson , Community Navigation, Holyoke Medical Center, jamieson_mary@holyokehealth.com, 413-534-2586 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe6P6wrQtg6LhNg2Dl7scGWYLTh-XzjcfT-H5RovtZG9eAFow/viewform?usp=sf_linkhttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-sZjPm1bzh7iqIDF8pte_GQmtrQYn8Q5SZVNAlbzhLH_rdQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Sandy Ward
Sandy Ward, sandyward56@gmail.com, volunteer with Funeral Consumers Alliance of W.Mass. We just released results of our 2022 Price Comparison report, with price information from over 70 funeral homes (81% of total). See https://funeralconsumerswmass.org/price-chart/

Denise kelly-lachat
Denise Kelly-Lachat, Diversion Specialist, Hampden District Attorney's Office

Iris Sosa
Iris Sosa Outreach for Boy Scout of America. Western Massachusetts Council, iris.sosa@scouting.org, 413-594-9196 x 7030. https://www.wmascouting.org/whoa

Andrea Holden
Andrea Holden, Senior Companion Program @ the Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. aholden@valleyopp.com, 413-612-0229. This program specifically seeks volunteers there 55 or better that want to help service as Senior Companions for other seniors in Holyoke and Chicopee. These volunteers help seniors that are socially isolated and lonely and in need of friendship, helps with local transportation to doctors appointments and shopping as part of the companionship or respite services for informal caregivers of those with dementia or Alzheimer's. SCP volunteers are paid a tax-free hourly stipend and other benefits if they meet the financial eligibility.

john mccarthy
John McCarthy USCIS Citizenship and Immigration Service john.j.mccarthy@uscis.dhs.gov
From USCIS news available at USCIS.gov/news current entries 1) Extending EAD for DED for Liberians issued 9/2/2022. 2) re-registration for TPS for Venezuela, 3) Renewal of the Cuban Family Reunification Program, 4) Regulation to Preserve and fortify DACA Upcoming Citizenship for Boston Event virtual at the BPL 9/19/2022 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM Those interested must register with the BPL. Go to PL.org on events Calendar select the date and time of the program to find information on how to register.

Brianna Owen
Brianna Owen, She/her, Program Manager a Rise Above to help youth in foster care get funding for activities such as sports, dance, music, camp. Email me at Brianna@weriseabove.org to learn more

Yajaira Marquez
Yajaira Marquez, Holyoke Chicopee Family and Community Program (CFCE)
Yajaira Márquez, please feel free to reach out if you are interested in any of our programs- playgroups, baby and me, book buddies, raising a reader and Take 5 (Parent lead Program) Marquezy@headstart.org

Liz Plouffe
Liz Plouffe, LICSW - Community Social Worker, City of Easthampton Liz Plouffe, LICSW, Community Social Worker for the City of Easthampton. My e-mail is EPlouffe@easthamptonma.gov, work cell 413-278-1285, happy to connect on local events, resources for individuals and families of all ages, always looking to add to my resource lists. Please feel free to reach out with your info and what your agency offers. Thank you!

Abbie~ Western Mass MOMS
Abbie Germain- Western Mass MOMS Partnership, 413-561-7413, agermain@viability.org. I would love to speak with you individually to answer any questions you have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly. We are always enrolling and will continue to do so throughout the next several months. THANKS AGAIN ED!!!!!!!!

Carlos Furcal
Carlos F, Peer Mentor- Impact Center/Springfield Cfurcal@gandaracenter.org

Maria Pelchar
Maria Pelchar, Holyoke Fire. If you want a fire truck to visit your event or a Fire & Life Safety Workshop or Car Seat safety/installations class or if you want to bring a group for a tour of the station or an inspection of your workplace/home, I am your contact - 600 High Street, (413)246-0659 Ext 105. We also have a FREE smoke and carbon monoxide program for Holyoke residents only.

josh colon
Off. Josh Colon Holyoke Police Dept. 264@holyokepd.org

Liandro Gonzalez
Deputy Liandro Gonzalez Hampden County Sheriff's Dept. liandro.gonzalezhcsd@gmail.com

Laura Soderbaum
I have placed both English and Spanish Flyer regarding HHA South Holyoke Homes on 624 South East St. here in Holyoke.

Mark Gaudet
Mark Gaudet, (413) 588-8043, mgaudet@valleyopp.com, adult ed referral counselor stationed at MassHire Springfield & Holyoke Google Voice #413-341-0150 for all applicants. I help folks apply to DESE funded programs such as- SpringfieldAdult Learning Center at STCC (ABE & ESOL), Valley Opportunity Council (ABE & ESOL), Ludlow Area Adult Learning Center (ESOL), Community Education Project (ESOL), HCC Adult Learning (ABE), the CARE Center (Youth ABE) as well as other programs such as Springfield Adult Education (Spr Pub Sch) (ABE & ESOL), Holyoke Pub Sch Opp Academy (ABE), and MANY others. Mark Gaudet, in-person Adult Ed counseling at MassHire Springfield Tues morning 10-12:00, 413-858-2800; at MassHire Holyoke Thurs morning 10-12:00, 413-532-4900

Corrine Ryan, Community Legal Aid
communitylegal.org; apply for our services online through our website or by calling 855-252-5342; my contact info=cryan@cla-ma.org; 413-686-9018

Debbie Gonzalez
dflynn-gonzalez@gandaracenter.org Hope for Holyoke 413-561-1020 Holyoke Recovery Day March Friday 9/16 12:00 Heritage Park to Veterans Park Recovery Day Celebration 1-4 Recovery Month Flag Raising at City Hall 3:30

Emily Skoczylas
http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ej7a13bcf37f6000&llr=5nart88abEmily Skoczylas, Alianza's Oct 1 Event

Erica Letson
eletson@caringhealth.org - Caring Health Center Outreach Opportunities

Jac Essing (DIAL/SELF AmeriCorps Program; she/they)
Jac Essing, (she/they) with DIAL/SELF AmeriCorps Program, jessing@dialself.org. 22 AmeriCorps members are serving in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin County in non-profits and schools, 7 with the Restorative Relationships Corps within school settings to support Restorative practices and 15 working with young people in supporting their development and self-efficacy. We are still recruiting for positions with Enlace de Familias in Holyoke, Upward Bound, Rise Prep Academy in Springfield, Mohawk Trail in Shelburne Falls, and Montague Catholic Social Ministries in Turners Falls. Members receive a 17,000 dollar stipend, about 6500 dollar education award, and are eligible for insurance, childcare, and EBT. If you or someone you know are interested in a 10 month year of service and investing in this community, please send me an email or call me at 515-570-5994.
Sorry to have to leave y'all! Thanks for the great information and all the service you and your orgs are doing to make this community healthy, successful, and thriving!

Lisa Carbonell-Correa
2022 Walk to End Alzheimer's - Pioneer Valley - Holyoke, MASunday, September 25, 2022https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2022/MA-MassachusettsNewHampshire?pg=entry&fr_id=15614

Kate Murdock
Kate Murdock, CPCS Attorney in charge, 413-355-5273. Our address is 100 Front Street, 4th floor in Holyoke; hope to see you at 3:30!

Julio Torres, MassFairHousing01:10:28
Julio Torres, Massachusetts Fair Housing Center jtorres@massfairhousing.org 413-206-9605 Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, Executive Director job posting. https://www.massfairhousing.org/get-involved/job-postings

Thais Rivera
I've handed out so many applications to employees today! that's awesome! I would love to join in on that!!

Jeffrey Hayden
www.hcc.edu/job-ready

Maria Chambers
Have to run to another meeting. Nice seeing everyone today!

Roxane Cotton
Ed I had to step away should be back in a few

Rob Crawford, SPG DHHS
Have to run but thank you everyone and thank you, Ed! If you have any programs concerning youth substance prevention or would like to connect regarding potential collaboration, please connect with me! I work with the cities of Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee! Blessed day everyone.Springfield DHHS413.787.6718rcrawford@springfieldcityhall.com

Nayroby Rosa
Nayroby Rosa, Director of Community Engagement and Resident Services for OneHolyoke CDC. 413-409-2004 and email is Nayroby.rosa-soriano@oneholyoke.org
I am looking for CPR classes for a group 20 residents

Sarah Biette - Tapestry Health
Sarah BietteTapestry HealthSexual & Reproductive Health Outreach Education CoordinatorPronouns: they/shesbiette@tapestryhealth.org413-472-9556tapestryhealth.org

Sarah Lynn
Fathers and Families Network series talk #1 powertools for your fathering toolbox
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/power-tools-for-your-fathering-toolbox-dads-and-daughters-tickets-412872020327?utm-campaign=social%2Cemail&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=strongmail&utm-term=checkoutwidget

Old Business / New Business
Next Meeting is Thursday, October 13th, 2022 (ZOOM).
Zoom Registration Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUucOqsqTwrE9beiY2pQiYyS-QxzzjO_3y0

Close Meeting 2:15pm
Contact Information:
Edward Caisse
Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
(413) 858-0225
ed.caisse@sdh.state.ma.us
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