November 2025

Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative
Meeting Notes


Date: November 13, 2025
Time: 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Place: Zoom Meeting

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

Edward Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office 1:00pm - 1:05pm
So, we're going to get started. I just want to welcome everybody. Thank you for joining our networking meeting. And, just for folks that this is your first time joining the meeting, I just want to give you a heads up in terms of the process. Every month, I welcome people. I do ask people to try to keep their cameras on as often as they can, but especially when they're speaking. I ask folks if you can keep yourself on mute until it's your turn to speak. Every month, we have a speaker speak for about 15-20 minutes, and then, if there are a lot of people on, which today it doesn't look like we're going to have a big crowd, I ask people to put questions inside the chat. But if it's a small crowd like today, Kate, you guys can actually ask if anybody has any questions, and then you can just answer the questions as they come. And then as we do the round robin, if people feel like, oh, I didn't ask Kate or Melissa that question, people can go ahead and put their questions inside the chat, and I just ask if you guys can stay on and kind of keep an eye on the chat and answer some of those questions.

I just want to welcome everybody. I'm going to turn it over to Kate Shapiro from the Attorney General's office. She's going to do the presentation today, and then we're going to do our round robin, and last month we began the round robin at the end of the alphabet first, so this month we'll be starting in the beginning of the alphabet.

Guest Speaker:
Kate Shapiro: Massachusetts Attorney General's Office 1:05pm - 1:20pm
Thanks so much, Ed. So again, my name is Kate Shapiro, and actually, Melissa, I'm going to let her introduce herself a little bit later, but in the interest of time, she and I are both here from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, Melissa Armstrong, and I know that Nia, one of our colleagues, has been out here before to talk about some of the services that the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office provides. We're here to talk today about the Consumer Advocacy and Response Division, and in many ways, this is probably the most consumer-facing, division at the Attorney General's office. In 20 minutes, we are not going to be able to give an overview of what we do at the Attorney General's office in general. We're going to try to talk about this program, which is where both Melissa and I work, but in reality, probably, we need a good hour, and I do want to name that we have, a community engagement division at the Attorney General's office, so if folks did want to kind of collaborate or coordinate with us on more information, or ways that we can kind of help a little bit more, we can certainly do so.

So, I always have to do a really quick disclaimer. You've probably seen this before. The Massachusetts Attorney General is the state law enforcement, the head law enforcement, and we are charged with, doing lots of things, but enforcing, consumer protection laws. That being said, no one from the Attorney General's office can represent anyone, or provide any legal advice. So everything that we are saying here, we are sharing information, and in no way are giving any legal advice. We're also going to maybe at times refer to any kind of third party. We might refer to third-party resources, which are really, really helpful, but they haven't necessarily been approved by the Attorney General's office. So that's kind of our legal disclaimer that folks can look around, if they're interested.

So, not everybody actually knows who our Attorney General is. We've had many. Right now, it's Andrea Campbell. Not just because she's my boss, but she's incredible, I love her. And what all attorney generals are, Andrea being one of them, is responsible for is, she is an advocate, and a resource for all residents of Massachusetts. So Melissa and I work with people throughout the Commonwealth, and she is charged with protecting consumers, combating fraud and corruption, investigating and prosecuting crime, and protecting the environment, workers, and civil rights. That's a lot of things to do. The best way to explain how we do that, or how Andrea does that, is by dividing our work probably into four categories. So there's the investigation part of the Attorney General's Office, there's the enforcement part of the Attorney General's office, there's the policy part of the Attorney General's office, and then CARD, the Consumer Advocacy and Response Division we'll go into in a moment, probably falls most in the prevention part of the Attorney General's office. So I just want to kind of name, those are the ways that we kind of think of, our work at the Attorney General's office.

So, if everyone forgets everything else, you should at least know where our offices are. We have our biggest office in Boston. I'm actually there, right now, I'm in East Hampton, I live in East Hampton, but I do go to Boston once a week. We have a Springfield office, which is actually right across. you guys will know it is in the TD Bank building. We're on the 12th floor. We have a New Bedford office, and we have a Worcester office. And our Attorney General is really committed to regional equity, lots of documents and plans about that, but just so folks know, if you ever need to go in person, though, most of our services really are available online.

So, today we are coming to talk about the Consumer Advocacy and Response Division. And again, it's the most forward, public-facing part of the Attorney General's office. So, what is it? And actually, you guys will be ahead of the curve, a lot of people do not know what Melissa and I do. So, it's a team of 18 staff, which is fairly big. There's usually some kind of consumer advocacy, similar programs in all attorney generals throughout the many states, rarely, and we kind of interact with them, are they this big. So we've got 18 staff members on this Consumer Advocacy and Response Division, and the mission is to provide non-attorney, so we are not giving you legal advocacy, non-attorney consumer assistance services in response to consumer complaints filed with the AG's office, right? And we'll go into how you file a complaint. What CART also does is we manage a network of 18 local consumer programs, and I'll go into that in a moment, and we provide consumer education and outreach events in cooperation with our Community Engagement Division. So again, if folks are interested in actually having, some kind of presentation that has more subject matter, please reach out to us if you want to know more about landlord-tenants, and Melissa's going to talk about utilities, because that's her, realm.

So, we receive these consumer complaints, and what is our job if we are not legal advocates? What we're trying to help people do is really do these six things, right? Which is,, number one, identify the key facts, right? So, what's happening here? Why are you making this complaint, right? What is the, perhaps it's the law, or something's gone wrong, and often when people are really upset and agitated, they actually need a more neutral third party to do so. Our other job is to establish a dialogue, right? So our goal is, we are working with both,
the consumer and the business, right? And if someone's filing a complaint, it's never a good reason. Something's broken down in the communication. And so that's one of our main jobs, right? And we'll talk about how we do it, but it's usually calling, we're all telephonic, we're going to talk to the consumer, figure out what happened,
and then call the business.

Another really big part of CARD, the Consumer Advocacy Division, is to document misconduct. Though we aren't part of the enforcement divisions, at the Attorney General's office, we are all one agency. So if we have, I don't know, folks read there was a recent settlement, Springfield Gardens, having to do with really bad conditions for a landlord. That was where the AG used her enforcement power, and we sued, a really bad-acting landlord. That actually came from a number of consumer complaints that were filed with our office. So there is that possibility. A lot of people want us to do that, but that's not what CARD does. We are actually directly dealing with consumers. Sometimes we're not able to actually help people, and I'll tell you why. And so, a lot of what we're doing is explaining the legal framework and what options are.


We also, try to remove barriers to communication. The number one, sometimes it can be language, but oftentimes the barrier is people are so mad and so upset that they're really not able to even figure out what they're asking that business anymore. Another really big part of our job is to provide referrals and resources, and to make sure that we're trying in the best way possible to make them good referrals and resources, including information like there really isn't another resource out there, because what we hate doing is saying, oh, go to that person, just because we don't want to talk to them.

So that's what we do, and we're going to give you an example. I want to name what we don't do, because actually, if you went to file a complaint right now, it doesn't always say online what we don't do, and so it's really important to know what we don't do. The number one thing that we don't do, aside from giving legal advice, is we cannot assist with our voluntary program if parties are already in court. So court is not a voluntary process, right? If you got subpoenaed or you're getting sued, you're actually supposed to be there. There can be consequences to not showing up. So we cannot use our voluntary services when you are already in court. And when I give my example of landlord-tenant, you're going to see how that plays. We're also not always able to help people, even if there is a bad action. So, we're empowered by the local, most of it is state laws, and sometimes the people that regulate a certain law it’s actually a federal law. So, those are the two biggest limitations. And the other thing is there actually has to be some kind of misconduct. So we are here trying to enforce consumer protection laws, and so if someone is just mad about something, that's not necessarily our job. Our job is to make sure, is aligned with the Attorney General's goals. So I just want to highlight that sometimes some of the issues that come up that we can't do often have to do with federal laws. And what we focus on is state laws. Examples of those would be the Consumer Protection Act, which is 93A, New and Used Vehicles, Lemon Law, Home Improvement Contractor Act, and I do want to highlight when I go into our teams that foreclosure law, the 35B law, is very important to us, as well as landlord-tenant laws.

So, we have 5 subject areas, and they are divided into teams that we help consumers with, and even though we cover a lot, we don't cover everything. So we have an auto team, again, and these are people that are filing complaints alleging something like the Lemon Law has been violated, alleging that someone has repossessed your car, in violation of some kind of law, and again, we're going to use our process to help mediate those complaints. We have a housing team. That's the team that I am the supervisor for. The main focus on the housing team is, again, landlord-tenant alleged violations, but it has to have occurred prior to summary process, prior to going to court, and that's one of our biggest issues often. And the other thing that we specialize and do quite well, is foreclosure prevention. I would not suggest that someone comes to us as the first resource. If anyone knows anyone that is in foreclosure, it says it in those notices that you should really go to HUD, a HUD counselor first, because they are an in-person service, but what we're very helpful at sometimes is if someone has a good reason, a way to preserve their house, we can help often with foreclosure sale postponements, and we work with Springfield, no one leaves quite a bit.

I'm going to leave utilities for Melissa, but again, it's a team that does very similar things. And then we have Trades and Professional Services, which is TAPS. Again, that's a lot of folks around contracting complaints and other kinds of services. I'm not going to have enough time, but I will throw it in the chat. Another thing that the Attorney General does is we put out a lot of advisories. I don't know if folks are aware of this, but there's a new junk fee, law. There are regulations that are promulgated by the Attorney General's office. I'm going to put it in the chat, but a lot of this has to do with businesses and how they advertise, and so we get a lot of complaints around that. There also is a new, broker fee law that people should be familiar with, not as important in Western Mass, because we don't have as many landlord-tenant brokers.

Okay. I'm going to breeze through this one, which is sometimes if people file a complaint with the Attorney General's office, they're going to get a call from someone, and they're not at the Attorney General's office. The reason for this is we get too many complaints for us to be able to address them all. Even… so in 2024, we got around 24,000 complaints. We have a team of 18, right? We could not address 24,000 complaints. Even of the ones that we have, we're not able to address them all. There is a human being that looks through each one of them and decides which ones we are able to, to help and mediate, but really, we wouldn't be able to do this work without the partnership with our local consumer programs, which are state, non-profit, often municipal agencies. So in, we're in Western Mass, so the City of Springfield is actually our subcontractor, if you filed a complaint in Holyoke. And then we've got the Northwest District Attorney that's doing most of our work in Hampshire and Franklin County. So, just to be really, to be aware that sometimes you file a complaint with the AG's office, and one of our local consumer partners, contact. Again, they contract with us. We partner with them, and they have the same kind of standards and regulations that we have to follow.

So let me just jump into one quick, those are some of the places. So let me just jump into one quick fact pattern, and then I want to pass it on to Melissa. So, let me just throw this out. This is a landlord-tenant one. These are all tru-ish, I don't want to say the exact thing, but, so we got a notice, we got a complaint, and what the consumer was alleging was that there was a notice to quit for non-payment of rent, and the notice was for $1,000. What the consumer was saying was the bad thing was that there were attorney fees put into that notice to quit. They had also applied to RAFT, but RAFT would only pay the part that was the rental arrears, right? So, what our process is, right, so that's actually a really tricky complaint, because one of our goals is to try to see if we can resolve things outside of court, and save everyone that energy, but also preserve housing. But I have a deadline, because I can't help once they actually go to court.

So the way this looks, just to give you an example of one complaint, is it always starts by a phone call. I cannot do anything unless, this is a voluntary program, so the consumer has to say, yes, Kate, I want you to contact this person. I do the phone intake. I have to gather documents, right? So you're saying this, but let me see the ledger. Let me see all these things. Then I, I provide some education. So the consumer's like, I think there's something wrong about this, and there actually is something that's not permissible, though it's not a clear statute. You're not allowed to charge for legal fees prior to entry of judgment in a summary process case. Then I have to contact the landlord and try to convince them that they don't want to go to court, and why wouldn't they want to go to court? Well, we can resolve this outside of court.

And it can get really complicated because sometimes landlords are not that happy that a consumer filed this consumer complaint. And then we try to request and see if we can come up with some resolution. So I'm just giving this to you and even that's fairly simple, because that's not really how it went down. The consumer was confused, I had to call them 20 times, the landlord…but I just wanted to give an example of it. So with that, we've got lots of other FACT ones. Let me just pass it on to Melissa, because one of the reasons why, aside from being an incredible colleague and that she's been at the Attorney General's office for so long, she deals with the utilities, and one of it has to do with propane and deliverables, which is really something that's much more relevant to Western Mass. So, with that, I will pass it off to Melissa.

Melissa Armstrong: Massachusetts Attorney General's Office
Thank you, Kate. Hi, I'm Melissa Armstrong, Supervising Consumer Specialist in our Consumer Advocacy Response Division. I lead our utilities team, and I have consumer specialists below me that work on propane, electric, gas, solar, you name it, for utilities. But what I'm going to do here, so this is an example of how our utility team responds to a consumer who contacted our office, and how our consumer specialists helped resolve it. So, in this case, a consumer ran out of propane during a cold winter day, leaving their home without heat. So, that's just uncomfortable, and it can be a real safety concern in the freezing weather. Once the consumer contacted us, our consumer specialist immediately contacted the propane company and arranged an emergency propane delivery, and had a technician go on site to relight the system's safety. After service was restored, the consumer specialist took time to explain how the consumer could monitor tank levels and prevent future run outs. So finally, the consumer specialist followed up to make sure the system was running safely and the consumer was comfortable.

So, this situation really highlights a will-call consumer. You have full control over, like, when to order your propane. That flexibility is great, but it also means it's up to you to keep an eye on your tank level. So, during cold weather, your propane use can increase quickly, especially if the temperatures drop for several days. We're in Massachusetts, so it will. So if you forget to order or wait too long, you might find your tank empty before your next delivery can be scheduled. So when a tank runs out, your home loses heat, which can lead to frozen pipes, damage to your finances, and even safety risks to you and or your family. There's also cost factor, so emergency, deliveries are more expensive, and you must perform a leak or pressure test before they can turn your service back on.

So, a run out can easily become an avoidable headache. There are a few ways to make sure you never run out of propane. Start by checking your gauge regularly, especially in cold weather. You may want to call your propane company when it gets to about 30%. That gives you plenty of time to get you on the schedule before it becomes super urgent. Try to plan ahead. If you know cold weather is coming, it's best to order early, since delivery demand always spikes during a freeze. Keep your tank clear of snow or ice so the propane company drivers can easily access it. If it's a snowstorm and your street has not been plowed, please call your city or town to have them plow the streets so the propane company can get down to your home. If you're busy or not home you may want to ask a propane company about a tank monitor, or automatic delivery options. These tools make your supply, tracked automatically, so you don't have to think about it, and they schedule fills for you.

Some resources for Massachusetts residents, HEAP. HEAP stands for Home Energy Assistance Program, also known as Fuel Assistance for Massachusetts. It helps low-income households pay for the home heating costs during the winter. You know, who qualifies for it? Low and moderate income residents. It's eligibility based on household size and income. You can find your local Community Action Agency for guidance and application, through the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. And then, you know, there's also the cold relief, heat line that you can call for assistance. And, just a side note, before calling, try to gather required documents early, like your ID and proof of income. Does anyone have any questions?

Kate Shapiro: Massachusetts Attorney General's Office
I will put in the chat as well, how to file a complaint. People should be aware that CART is not the only public-facing, division at the Attorney General's office.
Just so you guys know, there's a Fair Labor Division. Each one of these is very specific things. A civil rights division, and a health… a healthcare division, and an insurance and financial services division. I highlight these because they have their hotlines, and they also have some type of consumer-facing, work that they do. But again, we are not anyone's attorney, and often people are really disappointed by that, because really what folks are looking for is for an attorney. But, I'm going to put in the chat some of those resources, particularly because if folks can resolve issues on their own, that's often helpful. If I was talking about landlord-tenant, I talk about that a lot more. But again, anyone that has any questions, we went over, but maybe not that much.

Edward Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
No, you guys are good. Kate and Melissa, thank you so much for presenting, we really appreciate you. If anyone has any questions, even though you didn't ask them now, if a question pops into your head, you can go ahead and put your questions inside the chat, and I'm sure Kate or Melissa will answer them for you. So, the next portion of the meeting is actually going to go around the room, give everybody an opportunity to mention their name, what agency they're part of, and any agency activities or resources, upcoming events that the agency might have. I do ask at this portion, when we call on you, if you could be on camera while you speak.

And I do want to remind you that you can put your name, your contact information in the chat, and after you get done speaking, if there's something that you forgot to mention, feel free to enter any information you want in the chat, and we'll make sure that that gets in the notes. I do want to throw a disclaimer out there, if I mispronounce your name, I just ask you to help me, just correct me so I can try to remember the exact pronunciation of your name. So, we're going to start in the beginning of the outfit, the best way you show on my screen. We'll start in the beginning. Even though Abby's the first A, I'm going to start with Mike Pratt, and then we'll go to Abby. So, Mike, I'm going to let you talk first.

Agency Overview and Updates 1:20pm - 2:15pm

Mike Pratt: Sheriff's Office/HSNI
Yeah, sure, nice to see you all. I'm Mike Pratt from the Sheriff's Office with the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative. I guess the only update that I have right now is that we're gearing up for a basketball league, so we're always looking for coaches and volunteers. We really use the Basketball League as a platform to get youth and families connected to services, so if you'd like to come volunteer or coach, be an assistant coach, please feel free to reach out to me or Eddie. And then we also have the Holyoke HUB, so the Holyoke HUB is a community intervention model, and if you feel like your agency has any resources that can help youth and families, please just reach out to, again, Eddie or I. Thank you.

Abbie: Viability, INC
Hello! Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for that presentation, that was very helpful. My name is Abbie, I represent Viability, and welcome back to those that have been here before, and if you're new, welcome to the group. Viability is a non-profit organization. We serve the Holyoke community and surrounding communities across the state of Massachusetts, as well as other states. We offer a variety of programs that help support folks with disabilities and other disadvantages including those with mental illness, those low income.
We have community-based day programs, clubhouses, adult foster care. We also offer employment services. We also work with DTA, for folks that are receiving benefits that need to reach either educational or employment goals, so we help connect those folks to opportunities to help them achieve that.

A lot of programming, and so it's kind of hard to fit it into a one-minute, but one thing I do want to add on here today, just because it's fresh on my mind, another program that we have at Viability is called our Pre-ETS program, so that's our pre-employment training program, where we work with youth in high schools that have special needs that are looking to enter into the workforce. And so today, I received a really, really wonderful testimonial from one of our employers that hosts the student intern in Holyoke, so I have that prepared in the chat. I'm going to share that. I just want to share that, you know, when we're working with community partners that either employ or intern our participants, it really means a lot to us, so if you have any employment needs where you're hiring, we have a big pool of individuals with a lot of different experiences and backgrounds and skill levels ready and willing to work, and certainly the internship program is wonderful as well, and we do work in Holyoke. So, I just want to share that, just because I think it's really special, and I'm really grateful for it, and it came to me today, so it's fresh on my mind. But with that, thank you so much.

Aleyx Bernard: Pa’lante Transformative Justice
So, my name's Alex Bernard, I work for Pa’lante Transformative Justice. I'm the drop-in manager here. We serve youth 13 to 19 years old. We have paid opportunities for youth, so if they're looking to get a couple, you know, extra bucks in their pocket, especially when winter's coming around, It's always good, you know, we also have our food pantry, and we also have a whole bunch of therapists on site, and there's a whole bunch of other fun things to do over here. So, it's at 220 Linden Street here in Holyoke, and there's no cost to join, so, we'd love to have more youth engaged. Thank you.

Ana Santiago: Hampden Superior Court Probation
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ana Santiago, I'm from Hampden Superior Court Probation. At this time, we don't have any upcoming events, but we're always looking to bring in community providers to come in and address what services they may have available to the people that we service on probation. My email is in the chat, so if you guys want to reach out and possibly do a presentation in our department and, inform our
Department in Superior Court of the services you guys offer, just let me know. Thank you.

Ben Abbott: Community Legal Aid
Hello, I'm Ben. I work with the Family Preservation Project with Community Legal Aid. Community Legal Aid provides civil legal assistance for low-income people in a variety of different areas. Housing is the big one, education law, family law in cases of domestic violence, and my unit is Family Preservation. We work with families who have active cases with DCF, but have custody of their children to help them retain custody of their children and get their cases closed when they're able to do that. We currently have a very short waitlist, but we're always looking for people. I'm happy to talk about any cases that you are aware of. We're also potentially looking for organizations where we can go and do a little presentation, talk about what we do to people, whether your staff or your clients, a lot of them might, have a reason to hear from us, so I'll put my contact information, and I'm happy to chat with people about it. Thank you.

Cassie Giardina: Rise Above Foundation
Hello, good afternoon, everybody. My name is Cassie, I am with Rise Above Foundation.
We do not have any upcoming, events or special projects, but I will share that we serve and provide funding and resources for youth and young adults that are in foster care. From anything from basketball shoes, to an instrument, to a specialty summer camp, college textbooks, study abroad. Most things that are a positive experience, or activity for the youth or young adult and there's a lack of funding to get them access to that thing. I will throw my information in the chat, and happy to chat with anybody that has a kiddo that might use our funding or resources.

Cesar Cruz: Westover Job Corps/Latino Scholarship Fund of Western Mass
Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. My name is Cesar Cruz, and I'm the CTS Manager for Westover Job Corps, as well as the Director of Communications for the Latino Scholarship Fund of Western Mass. At this moment, I don't have any news to report on, but I just wanted to make sure that I jumped onto the meeting to meet everybody, and I'll put my information in the chat, so it's a pleasure to meet everyone. Thank you.

Cinnamon Smith: Westover Job Corps
Hello, everyone, good afternoon. Cinnamon Smith, Business Engagement Specialist, also of Westover Job Corps. I just wanted to let everyone know and remind others that, Westover Job Corps is now enrolling. We're enrolling for the youth ages 16 to 24 years old. We're a vocational trade school, and we offer 14 trades here. This is free. There is some income eligibility, but there's always a way to get a young person in. We provide room and board for those who live outside of a 20-mile radius, and those who live within a 20-mile radius are welcome to live here as well if they choose to do so. They are also welcome to commute. If anybody ever has any questions about the Job Corps program, please feel free to reach out to myself, or even my coworker, Cesar Cruz, and we'll be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, glad to be here.

Jasmine S.: Clearview Health and Wellness
Hi, everybody. My name is Jasmine, I'm from Clearview Health and Wellness. We are an outpatient medication management and therapy group with no waitlist. We continue to do this as we continue to hire on therapists as we start to see a need within the community. We hire based off of what the community needs, so we do offer multiple languages, such as Spanish, Hindi, Nepali, and Portuguese. We also offer ages 6 and up, and we do take most insurances as well, including MassHealth. We do have all of, you know, the information as well in the chat there, so feel free to contact me if, you do need anything on that regard. We don't, unfortunately, have any new events going on right now in Western Mass, but we are opening up a new location in Medford as well, in Boston area in the next, couple months, and in Connecticut, soon as well. So, if anybody does have any people that do need immediate services in the mental health regard, we are more than happy to be those services for them. We do online and in person, so regardless of where that person is, we can help them out. And we also do flexible scheduling, so we do afternoons and weekends as well, to be there for people as much as we possibly can. So thank you, and feel free to contact me if you need anything.

Diosdado Lopez-Martinez: The Support Network
Good afternoon, I'm Diosdado Lopez-Martinez. I work for the Support Network. Basically, what we do is we support families that have children with mental health issues in Holyoke, Springfield, and Western Mass. Services are free, and we have a lot of family, but we will do our best to work with any family. Thank you.

Dirk Vernon: Northeast Center for Youth and Families
Hi everyone, my name is Dirk Vernon. I'm from the Northeast Center for Youth and Families. I am the clinic director here at Northeast Center for Youth and Families. I want to talk about a bunch of services that we have. The first one is kind of our flagship foster care. We have case managers who are working with children who are in foster care. That's, like, one of our flagships, as well as we have residential programs, we have residential in Springfield, West Springfield, Westfield, and East Hampton where we are located. Another program that we have is our therapeutic day programs, enrolling kids from 12 to 19. What they do on our campus, which I'm located on, is they do a lot of coping skills, and actually, they're doing some cooking right now. Nobody can smell it, but I can smell it, I'm getting hungry since I haven't had lunch, but really cool things that the therapeutic day program does. And then also we have the clinic. You know, the clinic, we have outpatient therapy, we have therapeutic mentors, and we have medication management. The good news that I have is maybe we don't have events, but we are actually hiring two therapeutic mentors, and we're actually going for a grant, as well, too, so if you do have any kids that need therapeutic mentoring. We are going to actually open up 20 to 30 slots to get those youth, and thank you. I will pass it back to Eddie.

Elizabeth Hamel: Morgan Elementary
Hi guys, it's, Liz Hamill, the face coordinator here at Morgan Elementary. I work closely with Ed. We do the Family Fun Nights once every month for the school year. We try to do something in the summer, too. So, for this upcoming month in November, our next Family Fun Night is the 21st, and we are having a paint night. We're trying to do something for December. I'm going to follow up with, Ed after this, and then the one that we do have set up so far is January, 21st of next year, and that'll be Craft Night, so we're always looking for the materials that we need for those nights. Also, for the paint night, we're hoping to have some, like, a contest, so we're looking for either gift cards or gift baskets to kind of raffle those out. I mean, aside from that, that's pretty much what we have planned so far.

Elizabeth Pizarro: Holyoke Health Center
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Elizabeth Pizarro. I'm the family coordinator here at the Holyoke Health Center. We serve the community, offering primary care services, pharmacy, dental, walk-in hours, including Saturdays in the mornings, BH services, care management with CHW. No upcoming events at the moment, but we have, like, a mini event, like, offering, providing free coats to the pediatric, family. So that's the only event that we are having now in the pediatric department, providing free coats to the kids.

Elizabeth Rogers: Baystate Fmaily Advocacy Center
There's so many today of us. My name is Elizabeth Rogers. I'm a clinician and the VOCA Grant Project Coordinator at the Baystate Family Advocacy Center. So we provide trauma-focused services to young people up to age 24 if they've experienced a traumatic event, or if they've experienced or are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation. We also have one program for Lifespan. Anybody can join if, unfortunately, they've lost somebody to homicide, so we provide traumatic bereavement therapy for that.

But I just wanted to draw people's attention. I put some stuff in the chat. Baystate has released its CHNA, the Community Health Needs Assessment for 2025, so that's its goals for the next 3 years. So, I put the link for Baystate's four sites in there, and I just wanted to make sure people, and people probably already know, but the Baystate Foundation uses the five goals that the medical centers will be focusing on for the next few years to also help them figure out who they're going to fund for the foundation money. So I think the foundation money usually gets released, and I don't know exactly the date, but usually the beginning of the year, so just look for that, and the five areas include, one of them is substance use and mental health, which there's a lot of providers on here today, and then basic needs, so food insecurity, housing, so, the CHNA is out already for Baystate, and then I also put a link to the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, because all of the medical centers around here, coordinate, and so the rest of them should be out soon, so I put the two links in there, and just wanted, you know, to make sure people had that info. So thank you.

Elizabeth Veillette: Center for Human Develpment
Hi everyone, Elizabeth Veillette. I'm a navigator with CHD's Diversion, Shelter, and Housing Division, and I don't have any updates letting down the other three Elizabeths, so there you go. Thanks for the meeting, everybody.

Gabriela Alicea: WayFinders
Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. My name is Gabriela Alicia, you guys can call me Gabby, and I'm really excited to introduce myself as the new Community Coordinator with Wayfinders. For those who may not know, Wayfinders is a non-profit organization. It's based here in Massachusetts. We focus on housing stability, financial empowerment, and community development. So, in my role, I'll just be connecting with residents, local partners, organizations, in order to strengthen the community and collaborate with our neighbors. I want to listen, learn, and help to uplift the community. Right now, events themselves, we have the Chestnut Community Alliance, which is an active coalition of residents that work together and talk about neighborhood safety and health. We are meeting every third Thursday of the month, so our next meeting is going to be the 20th. And that's about it for now. I'm, looking forward to connecting with all of you guys. If you guys have any questions or any ideas you'd like to share with me, let me know. I put all of my contact information in the chat. Thank you.

Gina Anselmo-Fowler: Hampden District Attorney’s Office
Hi, good afternoon, everybody. My name is Gina, I'm from the Hampton District Attorney's Office. I work in the Community Safety and Outreach Unit. So CSO is really a hub for all of the DA's prevention and education programs. I can share in the Zoom chat a list of all of our programs, but just as a quick overview, we offer a lot of presentations for young people. We have internet safety presentations for the elementary, middle, and high school level. We do impaired and distracted driving presentations for students of driving age. We have a healthy relationships presentation, substance use, and we also have some really great opportunities for young people as well, like our Future Lawyers of Springfield program and our Youth Advisory Board program, and we do offer court tours as well, for anyone that's interested in learning more about the criminal justice system and job opportunities within. Everything is free of charge, so if you work at a school or if you work with a group of young people and you're interested in taking advantage of any of our presentations, or just want to learn more, feel free to reach out. I will leave my information in the chat, my email, and also the program descriptions as well.

Gladys Lebron – Martinez: Allianza
Good afternoon, everyone. I hope everybody's enjoying this crispy kind of weather. My name is Gladys LeBron-Martinez, and I'm the Community Engagement Coordinator with Alianza, coordinating a prevention project, named already by an advisory board called BASTA YA. We are, going to be, conducting a community assessment that eventually will be released once our approval is done by DPH, and then, we'll also be going to be looking out for any organization who wants to help with hosting a focus group, or we would be providing incentive. Anybody interested, I put up my information, and we will let you know further about when, discussing the time, because first we have to wait for the approval so that we can then set up anything. But, we still want to line it up, because we know time is an essence when it comes to people's time. So, again, my number is on the chat, also my email, and I'll be happy to tell you that this is for young adults 18 to 24. The focus group, or anybody who can answer it, survivors, immigrants, anyone 55 and older, and the GBLTQ community. So, if anybody is working with any other population, do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.

Gloria Penagos:
Thank you, Ed. Okay, so, thank you so much. One little update, everybody probably received all the flyers for the free job training, and you probably saw that the solar tech will start on December 1st. Unfortunately, we have to move that date. I will update the information and send it again. The solar tech will be scheduled for January 7th to May 1st. So, for the rest of the trainings, the line cook, hotel, nurses, paraeducators, and Clean Energy, will be until next year. So, I want to just take this opportunity to say thank you to every single body here, to every single one of you. I'm sure that our attendance always has been really good, because you are sharing this information, you are helping your clients and connecting with us, so I always say, this is my favorite meeting, because it's just amazing how the responses are, so, thank you so much, and I appreciate every single connection that you said. Thank you, Ed.

Heather MacInnes: Scouting America Western Mass Council Office
I'm Heather McGinnis. I'm with the Scouting America Western Mass Council Office. I also run the Scouting units in Holyoke. I work with youth from kindergarten to 21, so we have programs for all boys and girls, everyone. Also, we have an event this Saturday. Not only will our Scouts be having their awards ceremony, we will actually be having a food drive for the town of Holyoke. Thanks to Ed, for connecting us, we're going to be partnering with United Way and having donations from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m at the Mount Tom Lodge, and we're going to take those donations and bring it to the Holyoke Harbor on Ray Street. So, we're trying to do our good turn to help the community especially during this time when a lot of food has been scarce for some families. So, I have my information in the chat, and I also have the flyer for the community food drive as well.



Jasleen Singh: University of Massachusetts – Amherst
Hi, everyone! This is my first time attending this meeting, so it's kind of awesome to see what you have generated here. I'm clinically trained as an audiologist, but I'm also on faculty here at the University of Massachusetts. My research interests are related to making hearing healthcare more accessible and affordable.
I don't have any projects, but rather, I'm just looking to support any ongoing initiatives or collaborations where you could see my expertise as being helpful. So, anything related to hearing loss or hearing aids, I'm happy to be a resource. So, yeah, thank you for letting me attend, and I appreciate the opportunity.

Jason Perez: HCSD
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jason Perez, I work for the Hamden County Sheriff's Department, the all-inclusive support services here in Springfield, 736 State Street. We work with, justice-involved individual and non-justice-involved individuals. Basically, we have wraparound services in order to integrate individuals back into society, and again, you know, as everyone has stated, this type of coordination and collaboration, is what helps us become stronger in what we do. So, thank you.

Jorge Perez: PATCH: People Aligning to Create Harmony
Thanks for having me. This is my first time being involved with this, and I want to say thank you. So, I have an organization called PATCH, which stands for People Aligning to Create Harmony. And, basically, I'm taking a roundabout approach to prevention, intervention, and reintegration, and what I've been doing is, providing education, mental health, and therapy, through nature and agriculture. Pretty much either learning about yourself with groups of individuals, or, you know, connecting with nature, then circle back into the connection we have as humans. I work with all different age groups, I work with schools, I work with adults, and recovery programs, so on and so forth. And, I personally just come from a non-traditional background, and I'm kind of just targeting all the people that I feel like, either are left in the cracks or just don't have the drive to actually, you know, go through and find that help that's actually necessary. So, whether it's, you know, generational trauma, systematic oppression, cultural displacement, That's what I'm here for, and I'm based out of Springfield, pardon me. And my information's in the chat, and I would love to work with any and every one that's here.

Katelynn Cruz: Pa'lante Transformative Justice
Hi everyone, my name is Katelynn Cruz. I'm also from Pa’lante Transformative Justice. Pa’lante is a youth-led social justice organization based out of Holyoke, 220 Linden Street. As my coworker Alex mentioned earlier, we have a drop-in space for young people ages 13 to 19. But alongside those services, we also have something called Mindful Rage, which is a, alternative to traditional court-mandated anger management, and that's open to young people ages 12 to 25. In January, we have an upcoming session cycle for youth ages 12 to 17, so if you know of anyone that could benefit from, anger management, we'd love to connect with them, and I dropped my email in the chat. And also, we provide trainings for organizations that are led by youth, regarding the school-to-prison pipeline. We talk about, restorative and transformative justice, indigenous circle practice, unlearning adultism, so there's all of these different topics that we bring. So, I would love to connect if your organization is interested, or if you know anyone that would be interested in taking any of these trainings, please send me an email. Thank you so much!

Megan Gross: University of Massachusetts – Amherst
Hello everyone, good afternoon. It's been a while since I've been able to make it to one of these meetings, so it's really nice to be back. I am a speech-language pathologist and also a faculty member at UMass Amherst, and I run the Bilingual Language Development Lab. So, 3 quick things that I wanted to share in collaboration with Nayroby at One Holyoke and Enlace de Familias, we have a monthly group called Supporting Bilingual Families, which is specifically for Spanish-speaking families who have children with disabilities, and we have our meeting coming up this Saturday. We're going to be talking about tantrums and meltdowns and offering some strategies for parents. It's going to be led by one of my students, who is also a parent of neurodivergent children, and then we have two research studies going on in our lab, specifically to support Spanish-speaking families who have a child with an autism diagnosis of various ages. So I'll put those opportunities in the chat, and always happy to connect with anyone who would like to collaborate. Thanks so much for the opportunity.


Miguel Arce:
I like the way that, Megan summarized 3 points, so let me take that model to make 3 points. First of all,
Ed, you should really feel absolutely proud of this organizational structure that you have created that allows us to chat amongst ourselves. I think what happens is, gives us an opportunity to reconnect with people we may have not seen, or hear about new information that exists out there. So, for example, today, I see, Diosdado Lopez and Gladys LeBron Martinez, who have been doing this work in Holyoke since the 80s. So… and then, newer people, like this PATCH. I love that idea. So, congratulations, Ed. The second thing is, 40 people, I'm sure well over 100 chats. That's impressive in just the terms of organizational development, organizational support that you're providing. And then finally, the last point is, as a result of this, you help break down the isolation, and that you provide people hope. You know, the fact that I see so many new people coming in and doing the work provides me hope that we're moving in the right direction. So, kudos to you, Mr. Caisse.

Gladys Lebron – Martinez: Alianza
Can I just say something quickly? For those who do not know, this is a legend, a broker, first, person at Nueve Esperanza who led the charge of these apartments in South Holyoke, for those who do not know. He gives credit to others, but we have to give credit for where we learned from. Thank you so much, Miguel.

Nayroby Rosa: One Holyoke
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Nayroby Rosa, I'm the Director of Community Engagement and Resident Services for One Holyoke. Three points, since we're going on that, we're going to follow along. First is our Holyoke Community Dinner, this year more than ever, we need as many residents and as many volunteers and as many organizations supporting our event. It's our yearly annual Holyoke Community Dinner. It is our 10th year, which is, something that's been going on for a very long time, and we want to make it big, we want to make it great. We have, rented a train. It's a Polar Express theme that will give the kids a ride at Kelly School, and it's going to be amazing. A wonderful dinner, activities, bingo, and tons of stuff, and we need, need, need volunteers and sponsors, so please follow us on Facebook or Instagram. Oneholyoke.org is our website, and you can sign up to volunteer for this great event. And we will have a resource table at the event, so if any organizations are interested in sharing their resources, they can get that information to either Enlace or One Holyoke, and we will make sure it's at the table.

Another big point, we recently just received grant funds for civic engagement, which is an activity that I have been promoting, and I want to be able to inform. Obviously, there'll be a big, you know, inform about it, but it's the Merck Family Foundation, and in addition to providing us civic engagement, we did some election forums a couple weeks ago during elections, thank God elections is over, put that behind us, but we need to keep residents engaged, we need a better voter turnout in Holyoke. Midterms are coming up, municipal elections are very important, and so we're going to be doing some resident leadership trainings around civics, and so I'm trying to talk really quick to say that point, but please make sure to follow us, or send me an email. I'll put my information in the chat, and, I'll be able to share that.

The final thing, final third point is that with the Merck Family Foundation, they provided us some funding to get grocery gift cards out to our Holyoke community. So we are looking at meeting with other organizations to figure out the best way to get them distributed to the community, and what makes someone eligible to receive them, and all of that. So we're putting together a steering committee, or some sort of a group of folks that will help us lead, how to distribute them, and we're planning to distribute them next Friday, November 21st. So, I will keep everybody posted, and I'll share my information in the chat.

Rondey Allen: CrossPoint Clinical Services
Hey everybody, good afternoon, I'm Rondey Allen. I'm the Executive Director for CrossPoint Clinical Services. We're an agency that specializes in outpatient mental health and wellness services. We even, as a subset, specialize in Christian faith-based mental health and wellness care, but we serve anyone. And just happy to be here as a part of this meeting again, and I'm going to put a link in the chat to offer services. If someone wants to refer someone for services, we are continually accepting referrals, and we take most insurances, including MassHealth and Medicare, and we're happy to serve the community, and I'm happy to volunteer in many of the great volunteer efforts that Safe Neighborhood puts on, from the community dinner to the basketball league.
and the HUB, and it's just great to be here.

Sandy Ward: Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts
Hi, Ed. Thank you very much. I'm Sandy Ward, a volunteer with the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts, and we can do presentations to groups, about what your rights and options are, what the green burial or traditional burial, cremation, and it's a topic that a lot of people don't want to deal with, but it's so much more helpful to the families to have an idea ahead of time of what you might want than to have to suddenly deal with it when it's a crisis and grieving and, all of that. I've given 4 talks in the last 8 days, so it's been very busy recently, but we have other volunteers, we have time for additional, if you have a group of people who would like to engage us for informal question-answer, people find that they come in with this one curiosity about it, and then they realize, oh, there's so many more parts of it I didn't know, and I hadn't thought about this, and it kind of opens it up, and we actually do have a good time together, in spite of the subject.

We want to make the plans while we're alive and kicking, and answer the questions, not necessarily make plans, but have some ideas clarify what are some of the important things to know. And our website is a 24-7 helpful device with a comparative price survey. We we had got 94% of the funeral homes in the four counties of Western Massachusetts, did give us their price lists the last time we asked, which was in 2024, and we've put that up on the sortable chart on our website. That's a tool that can be quite helpful if you suddenly need it. So, we will be engaging next in January, we start over again to ask them again for the new price list, and we can always use volunteers, a theme I've heard from many people this morning. Thanks for these meetings, Ed.

Austin Bechler: Springfield Rescue Mission
Hey there, and Austin Bechler, Springfield Rescue Mission Workforce Development Coordinator. Just wanted to say thank you, to everybody for all of our, fundraising events that we've had in the last, couple of months. It was a great success, and it's been wonderful to see different individuals at different places and things. So, thank you for that, and even amidst the government shutdown, we had plenty of food, and still have plenty of food and had lots of, private businesses, and just even private people, coming to drop off food. So, really, you know, thank you for being a community that supports us, and we hope to give back as much as you guys give to us. and so, in that realm of things, we have bumped our mobile food service to Holyoke from about 120 meals to about 200 meals between Tuesday and Thursday, and, and now, if you weren't at HCAT yesterday, I got to soft launch, the, fact that come 2026, we will be transitioning our Taylor Street shelter/transitional program, to a full women's program. So that will be, starting up next year, and, just from the HCAT room, and just the love right now that I know that you guys are sending me. We really, I mean, we really are humble and hard to be able to serve the community, and we look forward to now being able to serve women in the near future. So, soft launch, there's not too many details, but please reach out if you have any questions about any of our different other services that we have here in Springfield. And thank you guys.

Edward Caisse
In closing, I just want to say for our next month, we're actually going to move the meeting up to the 8th. Thanks to funding we got from MassMutual, we're able to do 4 in-person meetings a year, so we're already booked for 2026. So our next one for the end of this year, though, is going to be December 8th. If you look in the chat, our in-person networking meeting is going to be December 8th. It's going to be from 11:30am to 1:30pm up at the Delaney house.

If you want to register, the registration typically fills up quick. We got room for about 120/125, so, I just wanted to throw that out there. If you see the link in the chat, I will be sending an email out, but I wanted to give you guys a heads up, so you guys could have first-come, first serve in terms of being able to attend the meeting. Have a great rest of the week. And, we'll see you guys soon.

CHAT NOTES:
Miguel Arce
Miguel Arce, Holyoke resident


Abbie- Viability, INC
Checking in- Abbie Germain, Business Developer, Viability, INC 413-217-0348 agermain@viability.org


Cesar Cruz
Good Afternoon! Cesar Cruz- Westover Job Corps CTS Manager and Director of Communications for the Latino Scholarship Fund of Western MA


Elizabeth Veillette
Elizabeth Veillette, Navigator with CHD's shelter and housing division, eveillette@chd.org, 413.266.9840.


Cinnamon Smith
Hello everyone, Cinnamon Smith, Business Engagement Specialist, Westover Job Corps, smith.cinnamon@jobcorps.org, 413-593-4005


Jenneke Reynolds
Hello! Jenneke Reynolds, Shared Service Coordinator for the Central Pioneer Valley Public Health District. Jreynolds@southhadleyma.gov. Can’t stay do the whole meeting today!


Heather MacInnes
Heather MacInnes Membership Special Scouting America Western Massachusetts Council. Cubmaster/ Scoutmaster Holyoke Scout Units. heather.macinnes@scouting.org 413-218-2798


Cassie Giardina (she/hers) Rise Above Foundation
Cassie Giardina- Rise Above Foundation- Providing funding and resources for youth and young adults in foster care, working with DCF for extracurricular activities and positive experiences.


Elizabeth Pizarro-Holyoke Health Center
Elizabeth Pizarro, Family Partner at Holyoke Health Center.


Jasleen Singh
Jasleen Singh, Assistant Professor UMass Amherst- focus on the accessibility and affordability of hearing healthcare. jasleensingh@umass.edu


Edward Caisse
ed.caisse@sdh.state.ma.us


Clearview Health- Jasmine S
Hello! I am Jasmine Serhan from Clearview Health and Wellness Outpatient therapy and Medication Management NO WAIT Ages (6+).
Multilingual Support: Services are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, and Nepali.
Insurance: We take most insurances, including MassHealth.
Scheduling: Flexible scheduling, including afternoons and weekends.
Contact: Clearviewma.com | 413-237-9010 jasmine@clearviewhwg.com


kerry Medeiros/Probation
Hi! Everyone, Kerry Medeiros ( Assistant Chief Probation Officer ) from Hampden County Juvenile Court. kerrya.medeiros@jud.state.ma.us


Ana Santiago - Superior Probation
Hello, Ana Santiago, Probation Officer Hampden Superior Court, ana.santiago@jud.state.ma.us


Jason Perez
Hi, Jason Perez-Diaz AISS for the Hampden County Sheriffs Department jason.perez-diaz@sdh.state.ma.us we provide all community services to justice involved and non-justice involved


Edward Caisse
Thank you Miguel


Dirk Vernon
Hi everyone, Dirk Vernon - NCYF Clinic Director. We provide Outpatient, Therapeutic Mentor, In-Home Therapy & Medication Management. Dirk.Vernon@ncyf.org (413) 335-9061.


Helen Aghababian
Hello, Helen Aghababian - Membership Recruiter for The Girl Scouts of Central and Western MA. haghababian@gscwm.org - 413-584-2602 ext 8026


Diosdado Lopez-martinez
Diosdado Lopez-Martinez, The Support Network 413-887-2771 or email: dlopez-martinez@wmtcinfo.org


Rondey Allen
Rondey Allen, Executive Director CrossPoint Clinical Services https://www.crosspointclinical.org/
RAllen@CrossPointClinical.org


Det. Brian Summers HPD Care team
Det. Brian Summers Holyoke Police Department crisis intervention detective. 305@holyokepd.org


Megan Gross
Megan Gross, speech-language pathologist and director of the Bilingual Language Development Lab (https://websites.umass.edu/bld) at UMass Amherst - focused on supporting Spanish-speaking families who have children with an autism diagnosis or other special education needs


Ivelisse Lozada
Good afternoon, this is Ivelisse Lozada, Section 8 for FSS coordinator at Holyoke Housing Authority, we will be doing a First Time Home Buyer Class during day on 11/18 & 11/19 from 9am-2pm, this is next week. We are also doing a Open House on 11/22 from 11am-12:30pm for the newly build South Holyoke Homes. Any questions, feel free to reach out to us at 413.539.2220, or by email ilozada@holyokehousing.org. South Holyoke Homes


aleyx bernard
Aleyx Bernard- Drop in Manager for Pa'lante Transformative Justice. Located at 220 Linden Street, Holyoke MA 01040. We offer therapy on-site, a food pantry, paid opportunities for youth, washer and dryer access, shower access community and much more! You can reach us via Instagram palante_tj or by phone at 413-200-0624 or my email is aleyx@palanteholyoke.org


Jorge Perez
Jorge Perez - People Aligning To Create Harmony; We provide Education, Mental Health and Therapy thru Nature and Agriculture. Within that realm we can focus on Prevention, Intervention and Reintegration, Mentorship, Counseling and Recovery Support
413-504-9168
Patchma.org


Gabriela Alicea
Gabby Alicea, I am the new Community Engagement Coordinator for Way Finders in Holyoke. We have a couple of events coming up, including the Holyoke Leads, Holyoke Works program in February. It aims to provide professional and work-related topics. It will provide computer classes, information on new age jobs, and the impact of AI on the workforce, among others. Please forward me your emails to include you in our email blast list. gabriela.alicea@wayfinders.org or text (413) 523-3826. Looking forward to connecting with you all.


HSNI/Julio Torres/Hampden County Sherrif's Office
Hello everyone, Julio Torres here. Holyoke Ward 3 Coordinator for Hampden County Sherriff’s Office. I don’t have access to a camera or microphone at this moment. My number is 413-858-0286. My email is julio.torres-james@SDH.state.ma.us
Please feel free to reach out and add me to your email lists. Thank you.


Melissa Armstrong
Thank You everyone


Elizabeth Rogers
Elizabeth Rogers, Baystate Family Advocacy Center, Elizabeth.rogers@baystatehealth.org
https://www.baystatehealth.org/about-us/community-programs/community-health-needs-assessments
https://www.publichealthwm.org/reports/community-health-needs-assessments


Kate Shapiro
File a consumer complaint | Mass.gov


Abbie- Viability, INC
Quote from a Community Partner of Viability, INC- "We've genuinely enjoyed having the student interns with us. It's been incredibly rewarding to help the younger generation gain real workplace experience, build confidence, and discover their strengths. We've watched them grow more comfortable with customer service, daily operations, and communication skills. Each student has been respectful, motivated, and kind, and they've bought a positive energy to our team. It's been a wonderful partnership, and we look forward to continuing to support Viability's programs." - Retail Shop Owner, Holyoke, MA- November 2025


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


kerry Medeiros/Probation
Sorry I have to leave the meeting.


Elizabeth Pizarro-Holyoke Health Center
Elizabeth Pizarro, email-Elizabeth.pizarro@hhcinc.org-


Tanyka Barnett
Sorry driving !!


aleyx Bernard
Aleyx Bernard- Drop in Manager for Pa'lante Transformative Justice. Located at 220 Linden Street, Holyoke MA 01040. We offer therapy on-site, a food pantry, paid opportunities for youth, washer and dryer access, shower access community and much more! You can reach us via Instagram palante_tj or by phone at 413-200-0624 or my email is aleyx@palanteholyoke.org


Abbie- Viability, INC
Abbie Germain, Business Developer, Viability, INC 413-217-0348 agermain@viability.org


Kate Shapiro
Kate Shapiro, MA AGO, CARD, kate.shapiro3@mass.gov (617) 963-2485.
I have to run, thank you so much for having us!


Elizabeth Veillette
Thank you, Kate


Kate Shapiro
Please feel free to reach out to me if you think of any questions


Ben Abbott, Community Legal Aid
Ben Abbott, Family Preservation Project at Community Legal Aid. 413-686-9082, babbott@cla-ma.org Open to presentations to your staff or clients to discuss FPP's support for families with open DCF cases who have custody.


Cassie Giardina (she/hers) Rise Above Foundation
Cassie Giardina- cassie@weriseabove.org, Rise Above Foundation


Cesar Cruz
Good Afternoon! Cesar Cruz- Westover Job Corps CTS Manager and Director of Communications for the Latino Scholarship Fund of Western MA- communications@latinoscholarshipwesternma.org 413-213-5856


Abbie- Viability, INC
If anyone is hiring- we have folks looking for full time and part time positions. Also, if would like to talk about how a student intern can help with any upcoming projects (at no cost to you) please reach out anytime. agermain@viability.org 413-217-0348


Gladys Lebron – Martinez
Gladys Lebron - Martinez, Community Engagement Coordinator with Alianza with the Basta Ya! Project glebron@alianzadv.org and or 413-363-3737. Our Domestic hotline number is 536-1628. My role is to work on a prevention domestic violence with the community on a community assessment and we will be hosting focus group to hear from the community. More information will follow once our IRB is approved by DPH. Enclosed information to enrolled and learn more about it. thanks




Dirk Vernon
Hi everyone, Dirk Vernon - NCYF Clinic Director. We provide Outpatient, Therapeutic Mentor, In-Home Therapy & Medication Management. Dirk.Vernon@ncyf.org (413) 335-9061.


Elizabeth Hamel
FYI: Each Friday, HPS provides backpacks filled with nutritious foods to more than 300 students to ensure they have nutritious meals to eat over the weekend.
We are in need of single-serve packages of non-perishable foods to help sustain the program through the winter months, and I am hoping you can help.
If you’re able, please consider donating non-perishable food items to support our students who rely on this program. We have placed a donation box in the main office of each school, as well as at Suffolk Street, for your convenience. These boxes will remain in place over the next several months, so please consider donating as you are able.
Breakfast
Instant oatmeal packets
Dry cereal in single-serve boxes
Granola bars/cereal bars
Pop-Tarts or toaster pastries
Lunch and Dinner
Ready-to-eat mac & cheese cups
Chef Boyardee or similar canned pasta meals
Canned chili or beans
Tuna salad or chicken salad snack kits with crackers
Lunchables
Peanut butter or sunflower-seed butter snack cups
Shelf-stable cheese & cracker packs
Instant ramen cups or rice cups
Snacks
Applesauce cups or pouches
Fruit cups
Small bags of dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apple chips)
Trail mix or nut-free snack mixes
Pretzels or goldfish crackers
Animal crackers or graham crackers
Popcorn
Treats
Mini cookies or snack cakes (individually wrapped)
Fruit snacks or gummy fruit strips
Rice Krispies treats
Drinks
Water bottles (8 oz or 16 oz)
100% fruit juice boxes


Gina Anselmo-Fowler
Gina.Anselmo@mass.gov
Deputy Director, Community Safety & Outreach, Hampden District Attorney's Office


Ivelisse Lozada
Good afternoon, Ivelisse Lozada, HCV (Section 8) FSS Coordinator at Holyoke Housing Authority, can reach me at 413.539.2220, ext. 232 or by email at ilozada@holyokehousing.org. No microphone or camera. I had already share our upcoming events on the chat. Thank you, have a great day!


Sheryl L Maldonado
Hi, my name is Sheryl Maldonado. Im a Community Engagement Associate in Way Finders. Im working with Gabby Alicea if you wanted know more what will be our next event please contact me at smaldonado@wayfinders.org and 413-386-6898. If you will like me to share to residents any upcoming events in the community please feel free to send it to me Thank You


Abbie- Viability, INC
Jasleen- welcome! Viability has a program specifically for hearing impaired folks. Would love to connect. agermain@viability.org


Jasleen Singh
Amazing Abbie! I will reach out via email


Gloria Penagos
Gloria Penagos - Holyoke Community College - Workforce Development - Free Job Training Programs | Holyoke Community College


Katelynn Cruz Pa'lante TJ
Katelynn Cruz, Training Manager @ Pa’lante Transformative Justice - Katelynn@palanteholyoke.org
Mindful Rage - We provide free Anger management services to youth ages 12-25, we have upcoming sessions for youth ages 12-17, please reach out if you know any young people who may benefit.
Trainings - We now offer trainings on the School-to-Prison Pipeline, Indigenous Circle Practice, Restorative and Transformative Justice, YPAR (youth participatory action research) and more. Please reach out if your org would benefit from our trainings!


Abbie- Viability, INC
Welcome Jorge! Sounds like a GREAT program you've got. If you have a flyer or brochure- I am happy to share it.


Sandy Ward
Sandy Ward, volunteer with nonprofit Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts. https://funeralconsumerswmass.org/ See our Comparative Price Chart online. We offer free presentations to groups. We answer questions about rights and options re death care. fcawmass@gmail.com or reach me at sandy@nonotuck.us


Yamaris Rivera
Yamaris Rivera- Families First Program Manager- we are offering The power of Parenting Program for parents of young children. Program consist of 12-session. online, 2x week, in English and Spanish language. If you know any parents who can benefict from this amazing program, please reach out to me. yrivera@families-first@gmail.com I'm happy to provide more information. Thank you!


Megan Gross
Megan Gross, Bilingual Language Development Lab, megangross@umass.edu, 413-461-4399
Supporting Bilingual Families monthly group at Enlace de Familias: https://forms.gle/mB7hg9hYQ7nSB8mcA
Project ABC Familias (children ages 4-6 with autism diagnosis): https://bit.ly/49vwNnG
Project Hermanos (children ages 7-12 with autism diagnosis and at least one sibling): http://bit.ly/4ofT8ht


Edward Caisse
Here is the EventBrite link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1962662328859?aff=oddtdtcreator


Abbie- Viability, INC
Yes Mr Arce and Mr Caisse!!!!


Rondey Allen
Facts!!!


Abbie- Viability, INC
Train! How fun!


Jasleen Singh
This was a great meeting- I will need to sign off for another meeting. Looking forward to the next one!


Sheryl/CommEngagementAss/WayFinders
Sorry I need to go to another meeting Thank you every one. And Ed keep enjoying you time off


Nayroby Rosa
Nayroby.rosa@oneholyoke.org, 413-409-2004, www.oneholyoke.org


Rondey Allen
Here a link to our website if someone would like to make a referral for therapy https://www.crosspointclinical.org/about-us/video-library/find-a-counselor/


Clearview Health- Jasmine S
I do have to jump to another meeting but it was great to be a part of this meeting! Please feel free to check our website for any more info or reach out to me at Jasmine@clearviewhwg.com


Heather MacInnes
I have to go. Another meeting. Thank you everyone


Jorge Perez
Please please please contact me I have to jump I have an appointment for 2 pm
Jorge@patchma.org
Patchma.org
413-504-9168


Springfield Rescue Mission - Austin Bechler
Austin Bechler
Sptingfield Rescue Mission
Abechler@springfieldrescuemission.org


Abbie- Viability, INC
Can't wait to see everyone in person! Register early folks!


Edward Caisse
Here is the EventBrite link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1962662328859?aff=oddtdtcreator


Abbie- Viability, INC
Thank you, Ed!!


Gabriela Alicea
Thank you everyone


Ivelisse Lozada
Thank you, have a great day!


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