An intern's insight

Hello!  My name is Charlotte Cahillane and I'm the summer Positive Youth Development Intern here at Berkshire United Way.

Charlotte poses for a photo opp in front of Berkshire United Way's South Street office in Pittsfield.

I grew up in Berkshire County, attending Lenox Public Schools from kindergarten until high school graduation in 2015. After leaving high school, and taking a semester off, I began studying at Middlebury College in Vermont. At school I study French and Global Health while volunteering and working. It’s been over a year and a half since I've spent more than two weeks in the Berkshires and I'm thrilled to be home!

When I was looking for internship positions for the summer months, I became interested in Berkshire United Way because of its commitment to build a dynamic, engaged community. Although I'm focusing on global health at school, I'm very interested in public and community health as well as community building. As a funding source for dozens of non-profits throughout the county, Berkshire United Way seemed a principal source of community-based activity. I particularly wanted to learn more about positive youth development, community health practices, LGBTQ support and community organizing, or the coordination of efforts by local residents to build a stronger community together, in Berkshire United Way’s work.

As a member of the team for the next couple months, I'm supporting several projects, including:

•       Supporting the recent positive youth development resource fair where 14 organizations compared programming to determine how they could overlap and strengthen referral networks.

•       Researching youth programs in the Berkshires, particularly those that support career or college readiness programs, to aid in a project that strive to connect these resources and promote college and career readiness.

•       Overseeing the Humans of the Berkshires Facebook and Instagram pages – I love learning more about the aspirations of local youth.

There's a lot to do and only a few weeks to do it, but I'm glad to have this opportunity to learn and grow with Berkshire United Way!

-Charlotte

When you volunteer through United Way, you’re joining 2.9 million people who are giving back so others can get ahead. Join our global community of game changers today! To learn more about volunteer opportunities through our Positive Youth Development Impact Council, please contact Kat Toomey, Coordinator of Positive Youth Development at ktoomey@berkshireunitedway.org or 413-442-6948 x15.

Driving Our Community Forward

In case you missed the Pittsfield Parade on the 4^th of July, we have some BIG and exciting news for you!  Anyone who Drives Our Community Forward by participating in our 2018 campaign, will be entered into a drawing to win the three-year lease of a 2019 Ford F150 Supercab FTX.

This is the 19^th year that The Johnson Dealerships and Greylock Federal Credit Union have generously sponsored the car truck promotion to encourage participation in Berkshire United Way's campaign. The money raised through the campaign impacts more than 15,000 lives in 32 communities throughout Berkshire County in ways that no single person, program or agency can do alone.

Be sure to look for the Berkshire United Way truck at various locations throughout the fall, and check it out. For more information on how you can Drive Our Community Forward, please visit our office at 200 South Street in Pittsfield or give us a call at 413.442.6948.

The actual drawing will take place on May 9, 2019 – make sure you save the date! One lucky winner will be driving this truck.

Duffy
Development Manager

Progress on the path to economic prosperity

Emerson works two jobs but is still not earning enough to put food on the table at every meal for herself and her two school-age children. She often has to make difficult decisions between paying for car repairs or purchasing an A/C unit for her asthmatic children. This is an all too common reality here in the Berkshires.

While progress is being made in moving working families out of poverty, there is still much work to be done. More families are low-income families and they are struggling to move into the middle class. In 2016, 28.2% of families in Berkshire County were low-income, up from 22.4% in 2015. The median household income also increased to $52,253 from $49,956 in 2015 – but that is still far below the median household income of $70,954 across the rest of our state. (Source: Berkshire Benchmarks)

This is where our Economic Prosperity Impact Council comes in. EPIC is a cross sector coalition of over 35 members representing 30 organizations. The coalition’s goal is to reduce the number of households with incomes under $75,000. Our dedicated EPIC volunteers are committed to getting more people to work. Our strategies are focused on refining hiring practices of employers, building the skills and talents of job seekers, improving college completion rates, and aligning social services to promote employment. In order to address these strategies, Berkshire United Way invests $105,000 in Berkshire County Regional Employment Board Berkshire recruiter program, and $75,000 in Lever, Inc’s Berkshire Business Interns.

Next steps for EPIC are to build on the opportunities for success, including working with local employers to refine their hiring practices to support employees and promote retention and aligning our existing training/certificate programs with the current job openings. We also need to keep an eye on areas where there are job growth opportunities, like manufacturing and health care.

We would love your input on what is and is not working related to your employment needs – whether you’re an employer with positions to fill or a job seeker who’s looking to add to their resume.

Please contact me via email at jsingley@berkshireunitedway.org or give me a call at
413-442-6948 x32, if you are interested in helping to build our community through this important work.

Julie
Program Manager, Community Impact

"We should remember those who changed the world."

That’s what Allison, a sixth grader at Herberg Middle School, said following a recent presentation about Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman by local author Jana Laiz. Laiz wrote the book “A Free Woman on God’s Earth,” about Mumbet, the first African-American woman to file and win a freedom suit in Massachusetts.

Berkshire United Way, through the Berkshire Youth Development Project, purchased 338 copies of Laiz’s book for Herberg students to read prior to her presentation.  In return, Laiz agreed to do a day of presentations for Herberg students to provide even more meaning to what they had read. Connecting positive role models and mentors such as Laiz to young people in the Berkshires is one of the many ways Berkshire United Way creates positive opportunities for young people in our community.

Learning that an independent movie, based on Laiz’s book, will be produced in the Berkshires by critically-acclaimed actress, Octavia Spencer, elicited additional enthusiasm from the students.

“The presentations were very well received by the students and the faculty. Additionally, many of the students took advantage of having their books autographed by the author,” commented Herberg Principal, Dr. Gina Coleman.

Seventh grade students at Herberg Middle School in Pittsfield visit the Ashley House in Sheffield, MA.  Mumbet, who was enslaved in the Ashley House, helped end slavery in Massachusetts.

Berkshire United Way is proud to support positive youth development activities such as this in schools throughout Berkshire County. To learn more about this work and/or to join our Positive Youth Development Impact Council (PYDIC), please email me at ktoomey@berkshireunitedway.org or give me a call at 413-442-6948 x 15.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Kat Toomey
Coordinator of Positive Youth Development

Turn the "summer slide" into the "summer glide"

If you ever learned to play an instrument, draw or dance, you may have heard, “Practice makes perfect.” The same holds true for building reading and learning skills in young children.

Studies show that children experience a learning loss when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer.  This phenomenon, known as the “summer slide,” is something every parent hopes their child will avoid.  

Summer learning opportunities are fun for the whole family plus they help keep your child’s skills sharp.  Need some ideas?  Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Take advantage of Free Fun Fridays, which offer no-cost admission to treasured cultural venues in Massachusetts, including many here in the Berkshires! Visit HighlandStreet.org for a complete schedule.
• Take pictures of your adventures and create a summer scrapbook with your child. Label the new things you do and learn.
• Read 20 minutes every day! Take turns with your child reading aloud and sharing books. Introduce your child(ren) to newspapers, maps, comic books, or online resources.
• Stargaze together by enjoying a free visit to nearby Williams College Planetarium.
• Visit the library and check out some audio books for car rides.
• Enjoy family-friendly podcasts while doing crafts.
• Cook together following recipes – it’s a fun way to incorporate reading!
• Garden together – learn what vegetables need to survive and how to control garden pests organically.

Most importantly, explore together. Share stories about your childhood, and ask open-ended questions about their interests.  You will create wonderful family memories that will last a lifetime.

Happy learning!

Stephanie
Coordinator of Early Childhood Development

Making a positive impact

 When you give to Berkshire United Way, your gift is part of a collective that impacts our community in a way that no single person, program or organization can do alone.

I’d like to provide a glimpse of just one of the many ways you made an impact in the Berkshires. 287 youth were matched with a mentor last year - mentoring provides teens with a caring adult who acts as a positive role model, helping them to navigate those critical formative years and make healthy decisions that will lead to high school graduation and a career or college plan.

Mentoring in action at the Railroad Street Youth Project.

One young man, we’ll call him Jack, was struggling to remain in school; he was combative with teachers, school administration and some peers, resulting in a couple of school suspensions and being held back from class field trips.

In an effort to intervene he was matched with a mentor, but right out of the gate he let the mentor coordinator know, he was only interested in playing basketball.

As time progressed, he became an active member in various group activities and games and even attended multiple field trips. With the help of his mentor, his peer relationship skills developed, and he demonstrated positive growth in his relationships with his peers and school and even earned a field trip to Boston.

This is just one story, and mentoring only represents one strategy we are implementing in our positive youth development work. Currently we are investing over $575,000 in quality youth programming.  We could not do this without you. On behalf of our community partners, friends and neighbors throughout the Berkshires, thank you.

Duffy Judge
Development Manager

Emergency food and shelter – it matters

Since November 2015, more than 9,000 community members have been touched by the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) administered by Berkshire United Way.

How are EFSP funds used here in the Berkshires?

• Meals or groceries were provided to 7,000 of our people
• They covered the cost of 2,800 shelter nights for residents
• They paid 109 utility bills (for one month)
• They helped with 10 rent/mortgage payments

When you are facing a non-disaster-related emergency, assistance with basic needs like food and shelter really matters. 

Berkshire County has been awarded $49,311 in Federal EFSP funds. Qualifying agencies may complete an application before Wednesday, June 13th and submit it as requested. A local board will then determine how the funds will be distributed.

For further information, please feel free to contact me via email or give me a call at 413.442.6948.

Together, we can make a difference.

Julie Singley
Program Manager, Community Impact