February 2026

Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative
Meeting Notes


Date: February 12, 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: Mary Wagner: Holyoke Community College 1:00pm to 1:20pm

Eddie and Gloria, thank you so much for having us. It's so wonderful. I love being on the mailing list, and we try and forward on what we see come through, but it's such a vibrant group, and so great to see so many different organizations here. My name is Mary Wagner, and I work in the Workforce Training Department at HCC. I'm the Clean Energy Training Manager. We tried it once before, but the Western Mass was a little too early for Western Mass, but, we've tried it again. I've been with HCC just over a year. We are able to offer through a grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education, free hands-on training programs in clean energy and associated building trades.

Our mission is clean energy for the community. By the community, we work to help people who are interested in getting into this sector who are underemployed, learn these skills and we connect them with employers in the region, also with building trade unions. A big part is to bring people who have been underrepresented in clean energy and also help support the emergence of minority-owned businesses and the diversification of the workforce. We couldn't do that work without these partners. This idea was brought to us by Tracy Whitfield, Springfield City Councilor, and also Director of Coalition for an Equitable Economy.

Springfield Works is our recruiting partner. Dean Tech High School is where our programs are based, their workshops. We work with their instructor team and MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board, along with other various employers and community organizations. So it's definitely a team effort. Coming up this spring, we're offering 3 different trainings. We have and I'll go into the most current ones more as I go, but just wanted to give you a snapshot.

We have weatherization training. We're very excited to launch an advanced manufacturing for clean energy training. Then, an EV charger installation training, and that's particular for or specifically for electricians and electrical apprentices. And then, coming in the fall, our most popular program, the introductory training in construction, electricity, and how those relate to clean energy systems. And then we're really excited to partner with PV Squared, a local solar cooperative company too. We offer a solar installer, electrical pre-apprenticeship program. I'll go into that more too, but we are now enrolling for weatherization.

Gloria has been great championing our programs. This is coming up March 23rd through June 4th. It runs in the evenings, Mondays through Wednesdays, and we do have class select Fridays, and one Saturday per month. We get a balance of the hands-on skills as well as some job and career skills as well. So that's 11 weeks, 98 hours. To be eligible for any of our programs, we're looking for people who are 18 or older who have or by the time of the course, they'll have completed their high school diploma or GED, and are willing and able to seek part-time or full-time work in the field. With this weatherization course, we offer OSHA 10 Construction Safety Certification, but students are required to do it outside of class. Though we coach them in class as well, but the majority of it is done online outside of class. We ask for that commitment and then willing and able to attend one-on-one career sessions for up to a year after the program. We really like to keep in touch and continue sharing resources and see how people are doing. And then, participate in an intake exam and we do a SORI check.

We do not do a CORI check. We want to give people opportunity. So these are our course objectives for weatherization and what's great about this is that it's a great entry-level position. There’s turnover in it, I won't lie. It can be grueling because you're in attics and basements, but if you want to get some hands-on experience it's a great place to start out. It does have a career path, and does look good on a resume too. Our training sites are with our partner at Dean Tech and of course at HCC.

This is our weatherization instructor, he actually hails from Vermont, but he is familiar with the area, has great partnerships with our local companies, and is very experienced. This is a career pathway for weatherization technicians starting out in spray foam, going to crew lead, you can get certified to be an energy efficiency technician, and then go all the way up to Energy Auditor. Each of these will lead to good paying jobs.

Our upcoming training, April 6th, and the QR code leads to a general interest form, and we'll make sure to let you know when enrollment opens. We’re very excited to offer connections to a variety of advanced training after people graduate from our programs. Through SpringfieldWorks, we've been able to connect with a lot of the labor unions in the area. The Construction Union, Electrical union, pipe building, or pipe fitters and plumbing, you wouldn't think of them as clean energy, but they're actually doing a lot of the geothermal work.

We want to open up that process for people because it can be challenging and competitive, getting a trade apprenticeship. We open that up to them, we have speakers come in. There's a pre-apprenticeship program at UMass called CommunityWorks. We let people know about that, and then there are a couple trainings for people who are interested in starting or growing their business. Emerald City's Collaborative, and there's ARCA building clean energy accelerator for women minority entrepreneurs. So that's great. We also offer for people who don't have access to a reliable car, we offer free Uber transportation. We're very excited. HCC is in the spring, probably in March or April, we'll be able to host and offer free evening childcare. We're really excited about that. These are some of our graduates.

Gloria Penagos: Holyoke Community College
If you have more information about the connection with the EV, that will be the next. The next program is in the spring, correct? I don't know if we can talk a little bit about that one.

Mary Wagner: Holyoke Community College
Yeah, let me go back to that. So that will be offered May 18th. It’s a 4-week program in the evenings, and it is geared towards people who already have their electrical licensure or are apprentices, so they have some background knowledge coming in. We link them up, help them get their certification for doing that, and they get to practice with the EV charger so they know how to set up the circuits for the systems and all the safety related to that.

We had originally thought to make an EV maintenance program, but so many companies or organizations look for people who have an electrical license already, and they go through an EV company, like ChargePoint or something like that. We found it was more viable to help people already in the electrical field add that to their toolbox.

Edward Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
Mary, I just wanted to add that when these programs get a little closer, I know the March 23rd one is kind of close, but Gloria is really good about sending us trainings and opportunities with Holyoke Community College, and we can blast those out.

Mary Wagner: Holyoke Community College
This is a little bit about our most popular program. This is our introductory training. We call it our 3-in-1 program because they get electrical, construction fundamentals, as well as exposure to solar and EV. This is our training crew. A lot of them are union-trained themselves and have been in union leadership, so they're also a great connection for opening up the unions. These are the objectives. We've been really fortunate to be able to do on-site visits at the veteran's home. As well as with Schweitzer Construction, they do a lot of projects downtown in Springfield. These are the 3 pathways. Coming from this, somebody can go into an entry or mid-level building trades job, they can apply to a union apprenticeship, or they can move on to an advanced training program.

Kim Rivera: Aide to State Representative Budd Williams
This is very informative. Thank you for sharing this, I'm really impressed. My question is, you had mentioned, Tim, that to be eligible, did I hear you right that you cannot have a job already? Is it possible that maybe somebody has a job and just wants to change careers or learn? Is that possible, or do you have to not have a job?

Mary Wagner: Holyoke Community College
No, we welcome that. We actually have a lot of career changers. We have people up to 55 and 60 years old in our classes, from 18 on up. We welcome people wanting to change careers. We just ask that during the program, they're seeking other jobs. Jobs in their desired career path, and then of course that they'd be willing to move into that career after the program.

Agency Overview and Updates: 1:20pm to 2:00pm

Abbie Germain: Viability, Inc
For those of you that don't know, I represent Viability. We're a nonprofit serving Holyoke and surrounding communities. We have a variety of services for people with and without disabilities including mental illness, we have folks that are in recovery, we have folks with dual diagnosis and other disabilities as well. And so our services range. We have community-based day programs, we have adult foster care, we have clubhouses which is a safe space for people specifically with mental illness. We do have one in Holyoke on Appleton Street.

We keep busy, but a big part of our program is not just advocating for our folks, but also helping with getting them back into the workforce. We do that with some career services, including resume building, interview skills, getting them the outfits that they need, and connecting them to businesses and agencies like yours that might be hiring. Our job seekers that we assist are a big range of skills and abilities and experiences. Some are looking for entry-level positions with little to no work experience. So they're just starting out. We also have more advanced folks with advanced degrees and many years experience and looking for a specific career.

I would love to connect with you or someone in your agency that makes hiring decisions to see what type of employment needs you have, so we can screen our job seekers to make some matches. Again, it's really an untapped pool of applicants that are ready, willing, and able to work. I'd love to tell you more; it's hard to kind of fit it into 2 minutes. But if you are not familiar with Viability, I'd love to have you come for a tour of one of our facilities, and just so we can start a partnership. It's nice to see those that I've met before. If you're new to this group, welcome. Please come back. It's a really great way to get to know what's out in the community to share information about your program, but also to learn about resources that you can bring back to the people that you serve. It's really probably one of the best meetings you're going to come to every month. So again, thank you, and HCC I love what you're doing. Keep up the good work.

Angie Rodriguez: Holyoke Community College
I work at Holyoke Community College as well. I work specifically in the Admissions Department, so anything that is on the credit side, if someone's looking to complete a degree or a credited certificate at HCC. I also am the counselor in our office who works with our adult students, or anyone who might be quote-unquote non-traditional. Maybe you are a first-generation college student, a full-time worker, a caretaker, some of those things which I was myself as well, so I'm that person who kind of works with you, works with your situation, helps you get situated at HCC so that you can be successful when you start. We have applications that are still open for the summer and for the fall now. Spring semester has already started, and some of the deadlines for our major programs like nursing, radiology, veterinary, are passing. But if you have any questions or are looking to learn more about HCC, learn more about our programs, feel free to connect with me. I'm also always happy to come visit you and your people, and we're kind of talking about get that information out there in any way that I can. Thank you everyone.

Austin Bechler: Springfield Rescue Mission
Hey there guys, Austin Bechler, Springfield Rescue Mission Workforce Development Coordinator. Just a couple of things, we have our 5K-10K run-walk coming up on March 14th, with the spaghetti dinner included the night before with some local vendors, raffles, and things. So we hope you can join us for that. Just a quick note, I've announced it at the other meetings this week, but our phones and our Wi-Fi have been kind of on and off sporadic the last couple weeks, so if you've just got straight to voicemail, or haven't got back to touch with anybody, please feel free to reach out to me. Know that our system will also be down tomorrow. We already are aware of that and preparing for that, so if you guys need anything, please feel free to stop by and we can take care of you.

We have one individual who has some educational background and has been graduated from our program for a couple of years. He's looking for some part-time work as a coach or a peer support specialist type work, so if you or anybody you know might be able to kind of navigate that with me, feel free to reach out. As well as, we're getting ready to start working on some kind of house training opportunities, and so if there's an opportunity for me to connect with you and perhaps see how you conduct your trainings or your workforce development program or doing interview prep and those kind of things on any given day, I would love to have that opportunity to kind of model that and see what would work for our guys as well.

Ben Abbott: Community Legal Aid
Hi everyone, I'm Ben, I work with Community Legal Aid. I provide civil legal aid for various needs around Western Massachusetts. Primarily, we have a lot of people in housing, we do education support, we do family law in cases where there's a domestic violence-related need, and also a lot of immigration support through our partner legally distinct agency, Central West Justice Center. I particularly work in the Family Preservation Project with families who have custody of their children but are DCF involved, try to help them retain custody and close their cases. I would love to hear from you. I've put my email address in the chat. I'd love to talk about family preservation-specific stuff. Also, we have online phone referrals through our website. Currently, I've got a client who's moving out of a shelter and into an apartment and is looking for funding for a couple of beds, so if anybody knows about that, I would love to chat with you.

Cesar Cruz: Latino Scholarship Fund of Western Massachusetts
My name is Cesar Cruz, and I'm the Director of Communications for the Latino Scholarship Fund of Western Mass. We're a non-profit organization that works to provide scholarship opportunities for college-bound students, in Western Massachusetts. Right now, we're gearing up for annual banquet. A save the date was sent out through email. The save the date will be June 12th, 2026. The theme of our banquet this year is going to be Pages of our Journey, so we're excited to be able to host this again this year, and we're just gearing up and trying to spread the word in hopes of setting up the banquet. We hope to see everyone there.

The Community Foundation Western Mass College Application, where our LSF application is found on under the line, is March 1st. So we're kind of just spreading out how we're making sure that applicants are applying for the scholarship, and then after that we'll provide more information on the banquet, ticket sales, start time, and stuff like that. We'll be posting those on our social media pages, as well as through email. I'll be providing my email contact information in the chat below, so if anyone has any questions or would like to get more information as to the banquet or the scholarship board, just feel free to reach out to us, and we'd be more than happy to connect with you. But thank you guys again for having me here, it's a pleasure as always.

Dirk Vernon: Northeast Center for Youth and Families
Hi everyone, my name is Dirk Vernon. I am the Clinic Director at NCYF with this Northeast Center for Youth and Families. We are at 203 East Street in East Hampton, so we're right across the way from Mountain Road. Good news is that we actually since the last time I've been to this meeting, we've actually been able to start up an in-home therapy program and a therapeutic mentor program, so we do have CBHI services available. The good news is we have availability. The good news is definitely we're taking referrals. If you want to contact me, directly, I will put my information in the chat.

Elizabeth Rogers: BayState Family Advocate Center
Hi everybody, Elizabeth Rogers from the BayState Family Advocacy Center. We provide trauma-focused counseling and case management support to young people if they've experienced a trauma, witnessed or experienced, if they've also experienced commercial sexual exploitation, or at high risk for that. We also have a lifespan program that is for any age. If somebody unfortunately lost somebody to homicide, we have traumatic bereavement services for them as well. I'm working with some other agencies in Springfield that also provide homicide bereavement support services, and we're working on a larger community event for later this spring that I hope to announce more details next month.

Then, Bay State itself has both online and in-person grief support groups. Ed, I'll send you that email because I just got that from David today, so that's open to anybody in the community. It's not specific necessarily to homicide bereavement; it's for anybody who's experienced a loss. I'll send that out, and then people can contact David, whose contact information is on the flyer, and be put on his mailing list for the rest of the year too. So, my email's in the chat if anybody has any questions, and we're also available to come out and present to agencies around Trauma 101, CSEC 101, and Vicarious Trauma. We can do some workshops for people if they're interested, and are always open to table.

Art Lobdell: Holyoke Rotary Club
I’m Art Lobdell representing the Holyoke Rotary Club. We are always looking to be able to expand our reach in the city. Projects we're working on right now are scholarships. We have our big fundraiser that we're underway that we will be granting scholarships to Holyoke students. That fundraiser is the Taste of Holyoke at the Senior Center coming up in April. We'll make sure we get that flyer and date out to everybody so they can come and enjoy all of the restaurants from Holyoke, taste all the things, and help us raise dollars for scholarships.

We also this year are proud to announce that we are sending a Holyoke student abroad for a semester, so they will be departing in September. Don't want to give out the name of the student just yet. The student has been determined. The country that they're going to is going to be announced in the next week or so. But that's a big project that we're involved in as well; helping to work on international peace and understanding, and a Holyoke student will be participating in that. We meet at the library on the third Tuesday for lunch, so please come by and join us. We also are going to be working with a service project cleanup of the river in May, on May the 16th.

Flor Diaz: Valley Opportunity Council
VOC is a nutrition and nutrition education program for pregnant women, infants, children, and postpartum. Also, foster parents and foster families can apply for the children. It's for children 5 and under. I don't have any updates. I am actually working right now on doing our weekday. Weekday is going to be June 26th at the Heritage State Park. I'm working on the flyer. Once I have it ready, I will share it. I am actually inviting any community partners that would love to table at this event. It is a good event. We'll have the merry-go-round open for free for families. So I will bring more information the next time for the next meeting. Thank you. My information's on the chat.

Georgie Brown: OneHolyoke CDC
Hi, I'm Georgie, I work for OneHolyoke CDC. I don't have a ton of updates right now. I'll definitely have more next month. We're going to be working with Ed on a citywide cleanup for Earth Day, and we're going to be doing some civic engagement work, so we're going to be looking for people from Holyoke who want to get involved in that. I'll put my contact info in the chat if anyone has any questions or anything. We do have a mobile food bank every month, twice a month, second and fourth Friday, so that's tomorrow at, 70 North Bridge Street from 1pm to 2pm.




Gloria Penagos: Holyoke Community College
We have an in-person meeting in May. I would like to continue doing this kind of thing that we did with Mary, I am very grateful and thankful because you can expand all the information, so I will continue work in the different free trial trainings with that. You will understand more about these programs that you'll always offer. So, the Next Line Cog Program will be March 30th. That will be for the daytime, and April 27th for the evenings. We are working in one right now that we start in January. Very, very successful, and we're expecting getting ready for March. Hospitality and Hotel will be February 24th. We are receiving a lot of inquiries, thanks to all the referrals that we receive from different organizations. Also the para-educator, the North Side Program, and you already saw the presentation from the Clean Energy that I think is very interesting to everybody, especially in a field of people that want to change careers, or people that want to learn more about this.

Jailyn Vega: Youth Villages
My name is Jailyn Vega. I am the program representative over at Youth Villages. At Youth Villages, we do have two programs. We have our Interstep program, which is an intensive in-home service for children and families that have DCF involvement. So it is a DCF-contracted service. We also have our LifeSet program, which is a community-based service for young adults looking to develop independent living skills and just need a little support achieving any goals that they have for themselves. That is also a DCF-contracted service, but at some times, we do have community grant slots available, so if there is a young adult that you are working with that could use a service working on independent living skills, feel free to contact me either way, and I'll put my information in the chat.

James Maloney: Hope for Holyoke
Good afternoon everyone, my name is James Maloney, I'm the Assistant Director at Hope for Holyoke. Hope you're all doing well. Hope for Holyoke is a peer recovery support center located on 100 Suffolk Street. We help people get into recovery, maintain recovery, and support them finding their pathway. We are operating Monday through Friday, 8am to 7pm, Saturday 8am to 4pm, Sunday 8am to 3pm. In the upcoming weeks, we have an event, it is our first Hope for Holyoke Recovery Resource Fair in the winter because we were like there's nothing happening in the winter, we should do something. So we were like, let's do something in the winter. The 27th is our resource fair. If you guys are interested in taking part, stopping in, saying hi, we hope to do this more in the future. We hope this is the first step of many in the winter projects that we have planned out. And then, of course, in the coming months we're going to be in the parade, we're going to be doing our Hopi Awards, so keep your ears out and your eyes out for the emails that will be coming out soon. So please, feel free to stop in, give us a call, come on through, hope to hear from you soon. Take care, thank you.

Jason Harvey: RFK Community Alliance
We run a program for housing young adults 18 to 22. We are located in the western region of Mass, but we also have a main campus that's located in Lancaster. We have young adults who come in, we put them in fully furnished apartments that are around the Springfield area wherever they are, wherever they like to be located. What I do from my standpoint is we come up with goals, we succeed the goals, we teach them life skills, we do workshops each month, we just finished our financial workshop teaching them how to obtain housing, how to build credit, so on and so forth, and etc. We give them monthly calendars to let them know what events we have coming up.

Jennifer Yekel: MSPCC Elliot
I'm a Trauma Clinician over there. We do trauma assessment, education opportunities, we do individual counseling, case management, and we also have an child art therapy group that's going to be starting this spring. We have a small waitlist for services, but we can assign pretty quickly.

Juan Anderson-Burgos: Representative Duffy’s Office
I don't have any updates, but I will state that there's a high increase in unemployment cases. For the most part, a lot of our constituents don't know that it's the rep's office that they should be reaching out to if they have issues with unemployment. We cover Holyoke and Ward 3 in Chicopee, so if you know anyone out there struggling with their cases, please feel free to send them my way. I did provide my email in the chat.

Julio James-Torres: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
Right now we're working in the Winter Basketball League, and we’re gearing up for city cleanups and other projects, and I will be putting my contact information in the chat.

Kerry Medeiros: Holyoke Juvenile Court
I work in Holyoke Juvenile Court a couple days a week, and then also Springfield Juvenile Court. I like this opportunity just to come on, I put my name and email in the chat, but if anyone ever has any questions in regards to juveniles and probation. I love coming on, so I get any more networking or any information for the youth, especially in Holyoke or in Springfield. I do provide them to all my staff, so I just want to say thank you again so much, and I appreciate what everyone does.

Kim Rivera: Aide to State Representative Bud L. Williams
I'm glad that it's getting a little bit warmer this week, so I'm excited about that. Besides that, our fifth Annual Easter Hunt. We normally have it at Magazine Park in Springfield, but because they're working on it, we're going to have it at Samuel Bowling Park. I will put a flyer in the chat. Right now, we're looking for vendors and volunteers. The vendors are free, all the access for a raffle gift. You come, but you got to bring your own stuff too. You know, your pop-up tent, tables, all that, and give out your information. It's a great time. I normally get 30 to 35 vendors. The Sheriff's Office comes with the horses. C3 police come, a lot of community members, so it's a good opportunity to meet people, give up your information, and network.

Lourdes Balestier: Women’s Money Matters
They are a financial literacy education organization. They're a non-profit. We work directly with women, all ages from 8 and above, all the way until you decide to stop learning. We match you with a coach, so everyone that comes in to learn for every workshop has a personal coach with them through their journey. It's an 8-week program. We are currently enrolling for our February cohorts, for the 24th. We have them during the daytime, we have them during the afternoons, they're only an hour and a half, and it's only once a week for 8 weeks. I put a bunch of information in the chat. I hope you all got that. I'm also from Western Mass Care Solutions, and we are also having an Easter event April 4th. We are looking for vendors that one's going to be over in Brightwood.

Patty Lubold: Ward Tech School
I am working with Ed and some other folks to stand up an engagement leadership team to help assist our Sullivan School neighborhoods, and Sullivan School engagement projects. We’ll be working together more significantly, and I'm just really excited about the work ahead and to meet all of you.

Sandy Ward: Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts
I'm a volunteer with the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts, bringing education about death care, a topic people would rather avoid, but it's a lot better for your families if you think about it ahead of time and write something down and give them a clue of what you might want to plan. I can come out, I or others can come out and do a group, a talk with a group if you've got some people at any age that would want to hear. Sometimes we focus on, “What’s green burial? What are the environmentally favorable options that are emerging, in addition to the traditional ones?” We're glad to have help where we can on this. We're all volunteers.

Sydney Strauss: Eagle Eye Institute
Hi everyone, this is Sydney, the Program Coordinator for Eagle Eye Institute. We offer learning programs and opportunities for all youth to experience well-being, belonging, and empowerment through a relationship with nature. Programs that we offer is an after-school program, and also full-day programs. So if you know any organized programming for after school, or any Holyoke public school teachers, Springfield public school teachers, I'll leave my contact information in the chat. We also have the Great Holyoke Outdoors campaign starting up in a couple of months, and once I have those flyers, I'll send them out and everything like that, but those will be coming in the springtime. I would love to be part of the Earth Day cleanup. We have a lot of Earth Day events happening that week as well.


Dr. Marie Ange Delimon: Tech Foundry
This is your one-stop shop for technical training. We have 3 main programs, and all our programs are free to the community. Free for participants, but they're very expensive, paid by generous donors, so we like to share that, because when people hear free they think it's a scam, or it's not teaching them what thing of value. But Tech Foundry personally changed my life, and I love giving back and sharing with the people in the community how they can do the same for their lives as well. So our three programs, we have the TechHub Program, I'm sharing everything in the chat right now. The TechHub Program is open to everyone, as long as they can type, talk, and start typing on the computer. We teach digital literacy in this program at different levels. You may not know anything, or you may have a certain level and want to update your skills, and you don't need to want to work in technology.

At the TechHub, they teach you the skills to actually be able to stay current in that century, go apply for other jobs that you want to do, or just join your medical tele-health, or connect with your grandkids, if that's what you want to do. This is the way to stay connected, stay relevant, and bridge the digital divide. We were able to get funding since the pandemic, and we're continuing to do our work. We have a center located in Springfield, another one in Holyoke that just regained full capacity, so this is where the people go, one-hour workshops, one-on-one tech services, and we do device distribution. After six workshops, people get a device for free, and continue their lives. The other two programs are Workforce Development Programs; the TechHub, and the TechBridge, the TechLunch. The TechLunch just closed, so I'm not going to talk a lot about it today, but the TechBridge is the program that our young people will need. It's a 9-month program for young high school graduates who have not selected anything yet.

It's a dual pathway, they can lead them to college or lead them to the workforce in technology, audiovisual, low-voltage electrical, and every certification in this program is offered. It's already paid for, and they have the most amazing training. This program is only for the young people from Chicopee, Holyoke, and Springfield. So, if you know people in your community, your relatives, your church, or your environment, that are about to graduate with no plan, even if they have a plan, but they want to explore, our pipeline is open right now. In the links that I've shared, I shared the main Tech Foundry website, but also the direct link to the TechBridge. They can apply and start exploring what the program will be able to offer them, if it's the right space for them. So I will hope to see some of you in our pipeline asking questions.

Terri Lombardo: EPS Head Start
No updates for Head Start, however, I do want to share with you I did put the flyers in the chat. The Holyoke- Chicopee CFCE Program, they are offering some fantastic programs. One is called Family Talk, it's actually every month for the next 5 months. Again, the flyer's in the chat, but the first one is February 25th, 5pm to 7pm, all the time at the Holyoke Museum, and food and childcare are provided. The next is called Family Explorers; that also is in late February. Again, the flyers are in the chat, and that's amazing. They provide a bus to go to the Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton, and they do a nature walk, and they have an educator that gives a great program. Again, food, transportation, fantastic programs, if you know any families with young kids, they definitely should sign up.

Therese Ross: Rick's Place Grief Support
Good afternoon. I am from Rick's Place, and we are a grief support organization. We provide free grief support to youth ages 5 to 18, and their caregivers after the death of a parent or a sibling. We also provide grief groups in area schools, and we do professional development for educators, healthcare providers, and support staff that talks about the impact of grief on youth and families. I want to give a big shout out to Ed and everybody here who shares all of the postings. I love getting all the announcements about what's going on. I wanted to draw attention to the Wildflower Alliance and The Support Network are holding an online training about addressing suicide in childhood and the teenage years, February 24th. Great presenter, really important information. We know it's a tough topic, but really important for everybody to pay attention to it, so thanks a lot.




Ed Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
It looks like we got everybody, so a couple of you reminded me that it's probably a good time for me to remind you all about the Holyoke Hub. So, I'm just going to give you a little quick overview. What the Holyoke Hub is, is the model was really supposed to take acutely elevated risk situations that come to a table of agencies, and based on the risk factors, wrap those agencies around that individual or family, and help them get out of that acutely elevated risk. We started doing it in Holyoke, following the model that came out of Canada, and more specifically, the model that was happening in Chelsea, Mass, and they actually helped us to put it together. So a couple of your agencies that are on here today that are not part of the Hub.

If you think you're interested in being part of the Hub as a resource, when we have a youth or a family member that actually has risk factors; like Dirk, when you were talking, and I thought to hear about therapeutic mentoring, we're always looking for mental health agencies to be part of the work. So, just send me an email, I'll get you connected, I'll send you an MOU, you can be a great part of the Hub, and even though the Hub is every Tuesday, you don't have to jump on every Tuesday. If we have a situation that has a risk factor, and you have the resource for it, even if you're not on that meeting, by us knowing that you're part of the Hub, we can reach out to you and bring you into a Filter 4 team of agencies that's going to work with that individual or family.

Since 2022, when we kicked it off in April, we've had 149 situations come to the table. Now, many of those youth and families are in different places because of the work, so it is impactful, and I know there are other systems of care out there, but it's just an additional system of care to try to help bring support to youth and families that are in really bad situations. I wanted to throw a reminder out about the Holyoke Hub. If you want to be part of the Hub, just send me an email.

Our next meeting is actually going to be an in-person meeting. It's going to be at the Summit View. I know Gloria spoke about our May meeting, and Sydney, I apologize because I know you're scheduled to speak at the May meeting, and it's actually going to be in person. Holyoke Community College opened up the opportunity for us to be at the Culinary Arts Program. So, for the May meeting, June, September, and December meetings are all going to be in person, but I'll send you guys notifications on that. We did open up the link for the March 12th meeting, and I sent it out a couple days ago. Those meetings fill up fast, the in-person ones. We only have capacity for 125, and a lot of times they get sold out. There's no cost to it. I just call it sold out. I mean that the seats are taken, so they're reserved.

Even though sometimes everyone doesn't show up, and that's something that we'll throw out there, we ask people if you do register, particularly for those in-person meetings, because there's such a big cost to those meetings, we just ask people, if you do register for it, please try to make it, and if something comes up, let us know because sometimes we have a waiting list, so we can move somebody else in.

The next thing, I know Georgie spoke about it, but I really wanted to encourage all the agencies, this is going to be a citywide clean up. We’re actually going to hit wards 1 through 7, so it would be really cool to see so many different agencies in Holyoke come out and be part of that Earth Day cleanup, which is going to be April 22nd. I did put the link in the chat. If you are interested in getting involved or getting some folks from your agency involved, please consider registering them on that volunteer registration link. It's important for us to try to get people registered early so we have an idea of exactly how many people we're going to have, so we can end up breaking down those teams for those 7 wards, and try to make them balance. So we're shooting for, I know it's a big number, but we're shooting for at least 20 people in each of those areas. So 7 wards, that's 140 volunteers, so that’s what we're expecting.

The last thing I just wanted to mention is, I know I sent out a Save the Date, but our Back to School Event is going to be August 15th. Last year was probably our best event. We were able to have 16 barbers at the event. We gave away about 2,000 backpacks. We were ready to give away 2,500, but about 2,000 people showed up. 3,000 in total, but about 2,000 kids getting backpacks. And this year, we're hoping we get the 2,500 kids show up, so we can give away those backpacks.
CHAT NOTES:

Juan Anderson-Burgos
Legislative Aide to
Representative Patricia Duffy
Fifth Hampden District. Email: juan.anderson-burgos@mahouse.gov

Cesar Cruz
Communications@latinoscholarshipwesternma.org

Abbie- Viability, INC
Congrats HCC, what a great program!
Abbie Germain Business Developer, Viability, INC, 413-217-0348 agermain@viability.org

Lourdes Balestier, WMM
are these programs free?

Terri Lombardo
Thank you Mary, sounds like an amazing program!

Mary Wagner
Thank you, everyone!

James Maloney
Good afternoon everyone, James Maloney, Assistant Director at Hope for Holyoke! Hope you're all doing well.

Dirk Vernon
Mary, Do you have flyers for this program?

Flor Diaz
Valley Opportunity Council WIC Program Community Coordinator fdiaz@valleyopp.com (413)612-0214

Elizabeth Rogers
Hi everyone- Elizabeth Rogers, VOCA Grant Project Coordinator/ Behavioral Health Clinician at the Baystate Family Advocacy Center, Elizabeth.rogers@baystatehealth.org

Therese Ross, Rick's Place Grief Support
Providing free grief support for youth, ages 5-18 yrs, and their caregivers after the death of a parent or sibling. On-site programs , grief groups in an area schools, professional development about the impact of grief on youth and families. tross@ricksplacema.org

Jennifer Yekel
Eliot/MSPCC in the Survivor Services program - trauma therapy and groups for youths ages 3-21 - no waitlist jyekel@eliotchs.org

Ben Abbott, CLA
Case Manager, Family Preservation Project, Community Legal Aid Springfield. babbott@cla-ma.org. Online referrals and phone referral info at communitylegal.org. Feel free to contact me directly about Family Preservation Project questions

Gloria Penagos HCC
gpenagos@hcc.edu
Workforce Development | Holyoke Community College

kerry Medeiros
HI Everyone! Assistant Chief Probation Officer , Kerry Medeiros from Hampden County Juvenile Court. kerrya.medeiros@jud.state.ma.us Hope everyone is doing well!!

Lourdes Balestier, WMM
Lourdes Balestier; Regional Relationship Manager; lbalestier@womensmoneymatter.org; Women's Money Matters

Sandy Ward
volunteer educator re death care options. See our website: funeralconsumerswmass.org or contact me directly (I can come speak to a group): 413-250-8079, sandy@nonotuck.us

Abbie- Viability, INC
Austin- for your job seeker looking for coach recovery work- Not sure if they're hiring but you can try New Growth Recovery. I have a contact there if you need it.

Austin Bechler
Springfield Rescue Mission
Workforce Development Coordinator
Abechler@springfieldrescuemission.org
413-316-7777

Abbie- Viability, INC
Great, Dirk! Congrats!

Lourdes Balestier, WMM
Women's Money Matters is looking for volunteer coaches for upcoming cohorts https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050e4da9a82ba6ff2-budget#/

Cesar Cruz
Director of Communications -Latino Scholarship Fund of Western MA- communications@latinoscholarshipwesternma.org- 413-213-5856

Abbie- Viability, INC
If anyone has an email group- please add me agermain@viability.org. Always happy to share your program's flyers/brochures with our program.

Abbie- Viability, INC
Ed- can you send me the game schedule when you start the basketball games? Do you still plat at YMCA?

Georgie Brown
OneHolyokeCDC Georgianna.brown@oneholyoke.org 413-409-2006

Art Lobdell
holyoke rotary dg.7890.2728@gmail.com Scholarships, food program, youth leadership, youth international education, clean water guatamala, disease reduction. Meet 3rd tuesday holyoke library 12:15
Scouting America serving all youth age K through 20 art.lobdell@scouting.org summer resident and day camp

Jailyn Vega
MSW, LCSW
Youth Villages | Program Representative Email: Jailyn.Vega@Youthvillages.org
Cell: 413-452-3643

Abbie- Viability, INC
James- I just blasted the Resource Fair flyer to my programs. Thank you for reminding me!

Jason Harvey
RFK Community Alliance YASL West Case Manager jharvey@rfkcommunity.org 413-579-1589 please reach out if you have any further questions about our program

Julio Torres
Hello everyone, Julio Torres from HCSO/HSNI my email is julio.torres-james@sdh.state.ma.us and you may reach me at 413-858-0286. Thank you.

Abbie- Viability, INC
Kim- Can I sign up our Spfld Clubhouse to table?

Abbie- Viability, INC
Lourdes- contact me. I am sure our Spfld location will table !

Edward Caisse
April 22nd Earth Day Clean-Up: Volunteer Registration: https://forms.gle/xZKY1sAQURxgBGFy7
ed.caisse@sdh.state.ma.us

Sydney Strauss
Program Coordinator for Eagle Eye Institute. sydney@eagleeyei.org

Flor Diaz
sorry, I have to leave for another meeting. Thank you everyone.

TECH FOUNDRY/Dr Marie-Ange Delimon
Dr Marie-Ange Delimon with TECH FOUNDR
marie-ange@thetechfoundry.org
413-276 0609 EXT 10
https://www.thetechfoundry.org
https://www.thetechfoundry.org/tech-launc
https://www.thetechfoundry.org/tech-bridg
https://www.thetechfoundry.org/tech-hu
TECH HUB and TECH BRIDGE programs are currently accepting applicant

Patty Lubold
Hi thanks for all you do! Pluboldward6@gmail.com Patty Lubold Holyoke School Committee Ward 6

Kim Rivera
I will be calling you Dr. Delimon

Elizabeth Rogers
I have a client in her 50s that recently completed the course and received her laptop. She LOVED the program!!

Terri Lombardo
Love all of these resources! Thank you everyone.

Terri Lombardo
Thank you Ed!

Lourdes Balestier, WMM
Thank you, Ed!!

Mary Wagner
Thank you all for the work you do - very inspiring.

Abbie- Viability, INC
Thank you Ed!!

Kim Rivera
Thank you!

Elizabeth Rogers
Thank you!!




Old Business / New Business
Next Meeting: March 12th, 1:00pm @ Summit View in Holyoke


2:30pm
Contact Information:
Edward Caisse
Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
(413) 858-0225
ed.caisse@sdh.state.ma.us
Friend Request us on Facebook @ Shsni Holyoke