October 2024

Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative
Meeting Notes


Date: October 10, 2024
Time: 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Place: Zoom Meeting


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


Welcome & Introduction 1:00pm - 1:05pm
Ed welcomed everyone and mentioned for those that are new the meeting process; one month we allow an agency to present for about 15 or 20 min, and then, after that person gets done presenting, we actually go around the room. We want to hear from everybody; your name, your agency, and what resources your agency has.

I was talking to Victor before many of you got on, and as we run the Holyoke Hub, and we're having acutely elevated risk situations come to a table, we find that knowing about what resource agencies in our community is very important for us. So, for you guys that get on month after month, we get familiar with the resources that you have when we come up with a situation, and if an agency is not on an MOU with the Holyoke Hub, we'll end up sending you one. So if that's something you're interested in learning more about, please send me an email, and I'll get you updated on exactly what the Hub is. So at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Nia Rennix from the American Red Cross, Massachusetts Region.

Nia Rennix: American Red Cross Mass Region 1:05pm - 1:20pm
All right. Well, thank you Ed, thank you so much for having me. I see a lot of people on here so definitely excited to share a little bit more about the Red Cross and what we have to offer, and just some information about kind of what's going on now with what you're seeing with these hurricanes and everything. So I'm going to share my screen, and then we can go from there.

My name is Nia Rennix, I'm the executive director for the Central Western Mass Chapter of the American Red Cross. And I have my email on here for you. So we're going to talk a little bit about who we are, our founding, our mission and our values. And then we're going to go a little bit more locally into kind of the local, central Western Mass chapter. It's going to be a little bit high level. I'm not going to go too much into the weeds of the organization and everything that we do. If you're interested knowing in depth more of what we do, you can always go on our website, our local Massachusetts website or you can reach out to myself and my team.

Our mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. So what I like to point out is, we are an organization that tries very hard to prevent and alleviate human suffering in any way that we can. These are our 5 kind of core values that we have. We call it the 5 C’s, and we really try to lead the organization and run everything we do by being Compassionate Collaborative. We have several partnerships throughout the Central and Western chapter. And we're always looking for more partners, being Creative, Credible, and just, really Committed to not only our community, but to the mission that we serve. Then we have these 7 fundamental principles. The ones I really like to point out are our volunteer service. Many people may not realize. But the American Red Cross in general, is 94% of the workforce is made up of volunteers. Did you know that 94% of the work is done by volunteers, people that do not get paid at all. And in Massachusetts 91% of the workforce is made for volunteers. So we're literally asking people every day to believe so much in this mission to go out there and do the work as if you're getting paid. So we are such a volunteer driven organization.
I also have to point out the neutrality and partiality of our organization. That's one thing that separates us from other organizations. It doesn't matter what side of the aisle you walk on, and that's primarily from our founder, Clara Barton, that I'll talk about a little bit later. We help anyone who is in need, we are neutral and partial. That helps us out a lot when we go internationally to these countries that are war torn when you have on Red Cross it shows that we are impartial and neutral.

So our founders. Well, we have one American founder, but Harry Dunant, is the founder of the International Red Cross, and he founded the International Red Cross in like 1863. He was a Switzerland businessman, and I like to kind of give this fun fact. A lot of people think that the Red Cross has to do with religion. It's a cross, but it's actually the inverted Swiss flag, because it was international. Red Cross was founded in Switzerland, and then Clara Barton was so inspired by the work of Henry Dunant, and what she saw him doing and kind of leading on the international stage that she founded the American Red Cross during the Civil War around 1881 she founded the American Red Cross. I point her out because she is the inspiration behind what we do. She was really a leader amongst her time. She believed in it not mattering who you were, she would help you, she would bend you on the battlefield. Her known nickname is Battlefield Angel of the Battlefield, because she didn't care who you were. She was also an abolitionist, so she believed in the abolishment of slavery. So I actually get asked to speak about Clara a lot, because just her story and in itself is just so inspiring because she was so ahead of her time.

So kind of going into more of the organization, every day in your community and across the country. Just in the U.S alone, we have 230 chapters and over 265,000 volunteers. These are our lines of service. We are one Red Cross, we're large, but we like to focus on the fact that we are one Red Cross. Our lines of service are our biomedical service, so that's our blood services, our training services and our humanitarian services. Under humanitarian services, you'll see our disaster services, international services and our service to armed forces. For the Central and Western Chapter, we no longer have mobile blood drives you probably know that already. Right? So they were sunseted several years ago. But we do have our fixed blood centers, here in Springfield we have one at 150 Brookdale Drive, and that's open every single day of the week. We have one blood center out in the central part of the State in Worcester. So for us I mean the Red Cross, we are the largest, supplier of blood, of any blood bank, in the country. Blood saves lives right, so we're always imploring people to please, volunteer to donate your blood. And if you can't ask your family or your friends to do that. We do a lot of work in the blood space, a lot of work with our sickle cell, huge sickle cell initiative that we do nationally, but also within Western Massachusetts and Central Massachusetts. We give events and have folks come out and donate blood, people of black, and brown descent.

You also are probably familiar with our life saving skills, that we offer training in that. So, CPR, First Aid like for babysitting classes. This is a shameless plug. Would always say that you are a volunteer with the Red Cross. Then you are you offered free First Aid training and CPR, so that's a kind of a nice little Perk, if you are a volunteer with the Red Cross.

We help after disasters that are big and small. Some of our local disasters that we have every single day, or fires or water main breaks, or things like that. And then these large scale fires right the hurricanes or tornadoes, local, or whether it's, you know, abroad on a national scale.

A lot of what's going on right. And I'll talk about that a little later on. What you see is climate change, right? Man made climate change, and for people that this not doesn't exist. But we're seeing it kind of firsthand, and we've been tracking this at the Red Cross for some time now, on a national scale. We have folks who are dedicated to just climate change and kind of what's going on with these disasters. You know, Hurricane season starts June 1st and November 30th and just this year alone. We've already had 27, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes, 5 of which have been 3, 4, and 5. So there is definitely something to that. And one of those lines of service that we you don't really hear us talking a lot about, or we do talk about it, but I don't think you'll know as much about it is our service to armed forces. We have a whole department within the Red Cross that helps our military men and women and military families help them through their process. So while they're in the military, and when they come out of out of the military We help prepare for military life, helping to respond to difficult times and then to recover.
We also do resiliency workshops we offer. We put together comfort kits, service officers, comfort kits for veterans, homeless veterans, and for the homeless. We offer counseling support, we have something here in Springfield office, called the Hero Care Center, it’s a 24 h call Center. There's only 3 in the country, and that call center connects loved ones that are maybe here to their loved ones in the military that are over overseas. It's open 365 days out of the year, 24 hour per day. And it's just amazing to kind of see the work that is done in that particular line of service. So if anyone's interested in in learning more about that, please definitely connect with me.

We help vulnerable people around the world. Again, it doesn't matter what type of really disaster we're here to prevent and alleviate human suffering around the world. So a lot of times that could be internationally as well.
Now, kind of getting a little bit into the local Central Mass. This is our service area map, these are different chapters. So we have our northeast chapter, greater Boston chapter, western chapter Hampden County and our southeast chapter which is made of Plymouth County and Norfolk. So for us were in the Central and Western chapter. So these are, how locally, right in Massachusetts. So we're turning in 19 0. 5. Our main headquarters are in Medford, Mass. We have 5 chapters, as I mentioned, within the Central and Western Territory, I and my team oversee over 180 cities and towns. And then we have our New England blood and dental processing center and we have 8 fixed blood sites throughout Massachusetts.

These are just some local numbers right from July to September. So our incidents and cases, these are fires. The local fires this number could be more as well. Not every time there's a fire we don't always get called right from the fire department from the police or from a neighbor. It just depends on really the severity of the incident. But we've got 32 incidences, 67 cases we've helped over 140 clients with and then immediate assistance is currently around 38,000. So usually at the end of our fiscal year. So right now we're in fiscal year 25, our fiscal year ends June 30th So by the end of that we'll have reached probably around 300,000 within Western Mass, and if another 300,000 in Central Mass of immediate assistance, and then in Massachusetts, we might end up at like 1.2 or 1.5 million of financial assistance that we've given out to clients. So we also have different kind of educational and programs that we offer.

We have something called be Red Cross ready, and that's our volunteers. Our team kind of going into businesses and helping folks come up with a plan, a prepared plan in case if you don't have one in your local company or in your business. Making sure you're prepared in case there is a fire, some type of disaster. We've done this all throughout Western Massachusetts, with different companies in Central Massachusetts. If you're interested it's free, it's just another program or service that you can offer your team or your employees. This is called the Home Fire Campaign. All fire campaign is something that we do. Every single day 365 days out of the year. What we do is we partner with the local fire departments and sometimes ourselves alone. We're trained to do it, we go into the homes of residents, and we provide. We install free smoke alarms, Co 2 alarms in folk’s homes again, it's free of charge. We go into your house, we assess it, we also give you give the more education on typically right cases of buying. We also can install bed Shakers right bed Shakers for the deaf and hard of hearing.

So as we talk about kind of what's going on right now, with Hurricane Helene and Milton and Debbie that wasn't on board of August we had 3. Debbie was like a category one, and now 5 in category, 4 and so currently we have about 50 volunteers and staff from Central and Western Mass deployed out to the Southeast, right part of the State to help with the survivors. We have 5 emergencies. So mercy response vehicles as you can see, pictured here our herbs going out a few left last week. Those herbs supply food, water, and necessary medical essentials for folks. So we have some volunteers take those herbs to the Southeastern part of the State to help out with, you know the survivors and help them get the get what they need.

Currently, we raise over 1.2 million just in the last, you know, month or so again, from individuals and donors is important to know. Many people don't know this either, but the Red Cross does not get any government dollars. We are a 501c3, but we do not take any government money. So all the money that you see that what we get in it comes from private donors, corporate donors or individual donors. We've seen a 30% increase in individuals registered to volunteer, which is amazing, because at times like this we need even volunteers to register and to train, to kind of go out and volunteer. And again, you know, we have these natural disasters. We have these disasters that happen nationally. But the work still continues right locally, because we still have things going on locally. So we still have to make sure that we're taking care of our home as well. But also we have to help out.

This is your last slide ways in which you can help, and really kind of support us is go to the Red Cross.org and you'll see how to navigate. You know that page on the top right hand corner. You can identify your local chapter, area. If you want to give us a call, or you can, donate or do what you need to do on that particular website. Donate right to hurricane and building necessary. Again, we don't receive Federal dollars; everything is private individual corporate donations volunteer to support our mission. So you can volunteer in a number of different ways. We have several volunteer opportunities, whether you want to be trained to volunteer on a local level. We have our disaster action team, our dat members. They go out to the local fires that we see right every day, or you can train to deploy to a national disaster. We have something called community volunteer leader. You can volunteer with our Service and Armed Forces Department. I mean, it's a whole host of ways in which you can really like volunteer within the disaster line of service. There's just several categories, even under the disaster part of it you can also volunteer virtually right. So a lot of our volunteer roles are not in person. A lot of them are virtual volunteer opportunities. Even our national deployments some of them are virtual deployments.

In the Central Western chapter we have 3 open seats available. So if you know anyone or who you are thinking about joining a board consider the Red Cross. We do so much great work. My board does, they're amazing men and women from all different sectors of industries. And I will say, with this board, it's the Judiciary board, So it's a little bit different than the regular kind of boards that you see, it's more of a strategic type of board. So if you're interested in that. Let me know if you know anybody, let me know regarding that also get blood right again. blood saves lives. The work doesn't stop here, even if we have these national, you know, disasters. You can sponsor a virtual blood drive. I've had several companies that have done a virtual blood drive. One in particular, we're working with the Western mass Nurses Association, the Global Sickle Cell Alliance and they're doing a sleeves up. We call it sleeves up campaign, sickle cell campaign to give blood. So there's so many opportunities, where you can kind of step in and help support our mission.

Edward Caisse:
Thank you so much, Nia, we really appreciate you joining us today and sharing about your work. Just wondering if anybody has any questions for Nia, if so, you can put them in the chat. And Nia, if you don't mind keeping an eye on the chat and responding to some of those questions that'd be greatly appreciated.

So the next portion of our meeting is, we're actually gonna go around the room. I'm gonna call on folks, this month we are going to be starting at the beginning of the alphabet. So I'm going call on folks in the beginning of the alphabet the way you show up on my screen. So if you want to just mention your name, your agency, any agency resources, upcoming activities, whatever you want to share about your agency with the number of people we have on, we should all be able to speak for a minute and a half to two min. Just to let you know.

Agency Overview and Updates 1:20pm - 2:25pm
Aleyx Bernard: Palante Transformative Justice
So my name is Alex Bernard. I'm the drop in and admin Coordinator here for Palante Transformative Justice.
This month we'll be having a haunted house, it'll be on Halloween. It'll be running from 4 to 6 pm. All ages are welcome, each level. We have 3 floors, so each level will have a different level of scare. So feel free to bring in youth that you know, or your families as well. The more the merrier. We also have a 7 week course on healthy eating habits that'll start the 1st November the Thursday. and that'll start at like 5 Pm. Again, all ages from 13 to 19 will be in our drop in center at that time. If you have any questions, please just reach out to me. I put my email in the chat.

Alyssa Golden: Community Legal Aid
Hi, everyone! Alyssa Golden, I'm the senior supervising attorney of the criminal records and reentry unit at Community Legal Aid. So we are the free civil Legal Services organization for Central and Western Massachusetts. The Criminal Records Unit represents people in criminal record sealing and expungement denials of public and subsidized housing and mobile vouchers because of criminal records, issues
in a household employment denials and terminations because of criminal records, issues, and some other miscellaneous things.

We also offer a lot of trainings to folks. So know your rights trainings for direct service providers who might be in a good position to issue spot for criminal records issues that would be appropriate to make referrals to our office for I put my information in the chat. I'm happy to talk with anybody who's interested. Thank you.

Areliz Barbosa: Bay Path University
Good afternoon, everyone. I am with Bay Path University Project coordinator. We were just a recipient of a Samsung grant for medication assistant treatment, multiple pathways to recovery and harm reduction. So I don't have any current updates with it. It's just we just was recipient within the last couple of weeks. But I do look forward to collaborating with a lot of you that are on this call. I also work as an independent consultant, and that contract was renew, and we will be joining Maternal health training and community health worker, mental health training also.

Then on the community side really in the faith based community, I organize a Thanksgiving outreach. Which I will be sharing a flyer with Ed, and he could share it forward. If you're interested in volunteering, donating, or if you or any of your clients, anyone that needs a Thanksgiving meal, it is free. We do deliver, and we'll have two drop in locations also for individuals to come in. Thank you so much.

Ariana Avezzie: Holyoke Public Schools (Sullivan School)
Hi, I'm Arianna Avezzie. I am an adjustment counselor for the Holyoke Public School System. I'm in Sullivan Middle School in the therapeutic intervention program. I'm just here to learn about all the resources that you guys have and to offer. So we can hopefully support our kids more.

Bianca Frederick: RFK Community Alliance
Hi, everyone. I'm from RFK. Community Alliance. I oversee the aim program, and at this time we don't have any updates.

Ashley Stackow: Community Representative
Hi! I'm Ashley. I'm in many organizations in Hoyoke, MA. and I'm also a parent. The only thing is that Holyoke needs a lot of change.

Bill Taylor: Hospice of Western and Central Mass
Hi, everyone. I'm with Hospice of Western and Central Massachusetts. Very passionate, obviously about what we do. You know my thing, and what I tell people or mention is that you know we all for the most part, come into this world in a beautiful celebrated way. And I'm very proud of my team, and that we allow people to go out the same way. But yeah, Hospice of Western and Central Mass. I'd love to have someone on ones with you guys. So you know. Please message me if you're interested. Thanks so much.

Carl Borden: Boy Scouts of America
Carl Borden from the Boy Scouts of America. We just launched the Sea Scout Ship 235 in Holyoke this
week and a half ago it made the top fold of the newspaper in Holyoke. Our girl troop is meeting very well, and our Cub Scout pack is meeting, very well. All 3 meet up at Mount Tom Lodge. We're about 2 kids away from being able to launch the Boy Scout Troop in Holyoke as well. So if anyone wants to know about scouting in Holyoke, my contact information was put into the chat.

Corey Williams: Gandara
Hello, everybody! Corey Williams, my 1st time at the networking meeting. I am an employee of Gandara. I've worked as a recovery coach, and now I'm working as a recovery support coordinator here at the Holyoke District Court. Certainly, since we've been able to start this initiative in April, we've been networking rapidly to try to give our court and justice involved individuals help, and we work a lot with the families who love them and are trying to support them. So I'm very excited to be here and share resources hopefully, be of help and service. And it's nice to meet all of you.

David Robinson: Valor Recovery Center
Hey, How y'all doing? This is David Robinson. I'm the assistant director here at Valor Recovery Center. We don't have any updates right now. Only update. I do have, is I started a nonprofit organization separate. What I do here is called 2nd Chance Movement. We're hosting our event on November the 9th from 10am to 3pm. We're having a youth empowerment summit. We're looking for people, if they want to volunteer, if they want to sponsor, or if they want to share ways they can help with this organization. I'll drop my information in the chat.

Deb Snape: Ghani Workforce Board
Hi, I'm Deb snape. I'm from the mass higher hand and Ghani Workforce board. I'm the director of youth career, pathway initiatives. So I work with the schools and a number of community organizations. And we do employment programs. So we do the youth works programs, we're actively recruiting right now for both youthworks, and we owe programs 16 to 24 for WIOA, and both in school and out of school and we also have openings in the Youth Works program primarily older youth, this time around 17 and up but they do get paid employment and career, readiness, training, and certifications, so please feel free to reach out for more info.

Denise Kelly – Lachat: Hampden District Attorney’s Office
Hi, Denise Kelly, Latchet from District Attorney Gulluni's office. I'm diversion specialist in Holyoke Juvenile Court and Holyoke District Court. and nothing to add right at the moment. Thank you.

Diana Biagioli: Federation of Children with Special Needs
I am Diana Biagioli from the Federation for Children with Special Needs. We work to support young people with disabilities up to age 26 or 30, depending on our programs. And we have free information trainings. I put a bunch of things on the chat, so I didn't have to talk so much.

We have an event coming up planning a life is a transition event. So for a youth transitioning out of high school, virtually on Friday, the 25th in person in Boston this year. Unfortunately, on the 26th it's really an array of amazing events, all kinds of information for those young people next Gen.

Careers I also put in there, I presented on this. But for those new people that came in massability, I don't know if you guys know, MRC has changed its name to massability. So FYI, they have this pilot program for youth ages 18 to 30, with disabilities, and they help them get employment. And finally, this is free money people, the coordinated pandemic related funds and services they're actually going to present at the November meeting. My colleagues on this, but the Department of Education has given us quite a bit of money to pass out to youth. Born between March 10th 1998, and September 30th of 2001 because, they missed out on a lot of services because of the pandemic. And we're actually giving out free checks for them to use. So they're going to be presenting, like I said, next month on this, and you can always reach out to me if you want more information. Thank you. Ed.

Elizabeth Veillette: CHD
So my name is Elizabeth. I am the employment and training navigator for CHD's emergency family shelter system. We have shelters throughout Hampden County, and a few in Hampshire County. Over 300 families at this point that we're serving those who are classified legally as homeless. Normally, I don't have any updates because it's a closed system. Our referrals come from the State. However, we are actively redefining my role to allow for me to meet with far more participants than I was able to under my previous job description. And it's also allowing me to do more referrals to resources that could benefit my family. So if you have an agency that might be able to support either one of my parents or one of my children in one of my shelters. I'd be really interested in hearing from you, and thank you.

Gabe Vargas: Community Education Project
Hi, everyone! My name is Gabriel Vargas. I just go by Gabe. I'm the student advisor here over a Community Education Project. We are currently still accepting students to come here, and we also have a position open for an daytime English teacher. I made sure to put the link in the chat, you know, if anyone's interested, or as well as if you know someone who may be interested or who would be into that. I'm more than happy to share that link, and we'd be more than happy to check them out. Thank you so much, guys.

Georgie Brown: One Holyoke CDC
Hi! My name's Georgie. I work for one Holyoke CDC in the community engagement department.
Our big thing is that we're starting to look for volunteers for our community dinner in December. I'll send that information in the chat, and then we're also always looking for volunteers for our food banks. There's one tomorrow at 70 North Bridge Street. I'll send that information in the chat as well. and the only other event we have is our yearly Halloween party which is on Halloween Night at the Flats Community Building.
But yeah, I'll send all that information in the chat. Thanks.

Gerardo Torres: Way Finders
Hi, everyone nice meeting you. My name is Geraldo Torres. I'm our resident. active in the community of Holyoke with Way Finders, and I've been working with Ed Caisse. Thank you everyone.

Gloria Penagos: Holyoke Community College
Gloria, Penagos from Holyoke Community College workforce development. Yes, Diana has money, free money, but I only can offer free job trainings just that, we will have one more in November. The line cook and the hotel ones. The other ones won’t be until 2025. So if you have somebody interested in these free job trainings they are more than welcome. I will put my information also in the chat. Thank you, Ed.

James LaConte: River Valley Counseling Center
Hi, everyone! My name is James. I'm the assistant director for River Valley Counseling Center,
outpatient mental health Clinic in Westfield. We have 5 clinics, Holyoke, Chicopee, East Hampton, Springfield, and Westfield. We offer individual, group couples, therapy services, including psychiatry services as well.
We are currently actively accepting referrals. Our wait list here in Westfield is extremely low at the moment. So we're very open to referrals. And you can refer by going to our website rvccinc.org, I can put it in the chat I think I might have already put it in. Then just getting the central intake number and any potential client can call. We're also actively hiring masters and license clinicians as well as fifa service and supervisor positions.

Jennifer Yekel: MSPCC
Hi, everyone! I'm Jennifer Yekel, from MSPCC with the Survivor Services program. I'm a trauma clinician in our Holyoke Office. We provide individual counseling, group counseling and case management for survivors and their families, ages 3 to 21. We also offer trauma-related community presentations. We are accepting new clients and are able to assign right away. Same with our IHT team and Tm's. And we have a new online Internet safety group. We're hoping to start it this fall. There are no ages yet. It's going to run for 3 weeks, and we're hoping to do a cycle with caregivers, teens, and littles. So please let me know if you have any interest. My information is in the chat.

John McCarthy: USCIS
Thank you, Ed. John Mccarthy. I'm from USCIS, and I've put my contact information
in the chat. I have a couple of items this month. and the 1st one is that for those people who are replacing their green cards and they are timely filing to replace their green cards as of the 10th of September. USCIS is now providing an automatic extension of 36 months rather than 24 months.

The second item that I have is that I've indicated. I put this into the website, the Keeping Families Together. And you can read through that information on our website. That particular program aims at individuals who have not received either parole or admission into the United States, have been here for 10 years, and have been married to an American citizen. and this is a benefit that may allow you to process to permanent resident without leaving the United States and having to counsel or process overseas. That is also when the chat.

A 3rd item is that this month I am going to be putting on a presentation at the Boston Public Library virtually, and the presentation is going to be on Family Reunification Act. That includes 7 countries from Central and South America and the Caribbean and how those people can come into the United States under parole while they're awaiting processing to become permanent residents.

The second part of the presentation is going to be on the CHNV program and that's the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela parole program. And there's been recent news on that front, and that's going to be covered as well at the meeting. And if you're interested in attending, we haven't firmed up a day, but it's going to be Wednesday at the end of this month, either the 23rd or the 30th and it will be posted on the Boston Public Library website. You go to the bostonpubliclibrary.org.

Take a look at their events section, and put in the date and search the date, and you'll be able to find it. It probably will not be posted until mid-next week. The last thing I want to mention is that if there's any groups out there, particularly groups who are involved in education who may be interested in receiving a presentation on the new N400 application or any other type of immigration benefit. My contact information is in the website. Just get in touch with me and I'll see what I can do for you. Thank you very much, Ed.

Jose Ramos: Gandara Center
Hello, everyone! Thanks for having me. My name is Jose Ramos. I am the recovery coach program director here at Gandara Center. We have recovery coaches in Chicopee and Holyoke District Courts also in our local hospitals at Baystate, Mercy and Holyoke Medical Center, and I would just like to let everyone know that we are actually working on a pilot program for a Family Center Peer recovery Coaching Program.
Hopefully, we're looking to roll that out in January. So we'll be looking for referrals for that. And I will stay in touch with Ed to let him know when the when the program starts. Thank you all for having me. And I look to
collaborate with everyone here and all the agencies you all work for. Thank you.

Julia Popkin: Community Legal Aid
Hi, everyone. Sorry I'm having some camera issues today, but my name is Julia Popkin. I'm a staff attorney at Community Legal Aid in Springfield and I practice in the education unit, and I don't have any updates. Thanks so much.

Laura Jansen: Baystate Family Advocacy Center
Hi, everybody, Laura Jansen, from Baystate Family Advocacy Center. We are a child advocacy center for Hampden County and provide trauma services for ages 0 to 24, therapy case management, forensic interviews and medical evaluations. Then we also provide homicide bereavement services for the lifespan. Right now our therapy wait list is closed, but we do anticipate it opening up towards the end of the month, and then we do have some drop in workshops. I will drop the flyers in the chat, one of the highlight ones this month is Survivors Guilt, so really geared towards homicide, bereavement families looking to kind of identify like what is survivors guilt, and ways to deal with that with one of our psychologists here. He'll be facilitating that towards the end of the month. and I'll put the rest in the chat.

Lauren Carptenter: Holyoke Medical Center
Hi, everybody! My name is Lauren Carpenter. I am an addiction nurse at Holyoke Medical Center.
So I meet with people who are admitted to the hospital, whether medically, psychiatrically, who need any resources or need to start medications, or, you know, help with withdrawal management, things like that.
We also have an outpatient office here, called the Comprehensive Care Center. It's located in the main building of the hospital. And we treat alcohol opioid and stimulant use disorders. Basically, we do all of the medications except Methadone. We don't do Methadone here. But my information is also in the chat. So if you need anything. Please reach out. Thank you.

Madeline Martinez: Way Finders
Hi, everyone! My name is Madeline Martinez. I work for Way Finders. I run the secure job program here. We accept referrals for anyone that is in a family shelter, so we could help them get a job or any training they may need. We also have the SNAP ET Program, even if they have food stamps. They could come here
and get do an intake with us, and they're able to do the same and look for a job. We can help them with resumes and cover letters; we can help them with lots of stuff. I don't know if anybody knows about RAF. But the same thing with RAF, if they receive RAF. they help them with 1st, last and security deposit. We could also help them. They could come down and ask for Madeleine Martinez, and we could help them get into the program to help them with any job search they need.

We also have the SNAP outreach, and if you have any clients that need to apply for food stamps and don't want to go down there, or anything like that to go apply, or a little confused with applying my information is in the chat. You guys could email me, the client's phone number, of course; let them know I'll be calling. And then I could do schedule them to come in, and I could do the application with them here at Way Finders, and they should be getting emergency food signs within seven days if they qualify. So we just want to put out there. If anybody's interested, just my name and my contact information, it's there. and I'm sure that Ed will send it in the minutes. Thank you.

Magda Colon: Learn to Cope
Hi, everyone. My name is Magda, and I work for Learn to Cope. Learn to cope is an organic peer support organization for families and loved ones of those affected by substance use disorder. We have in-person and virtual groups. We have groups that are geared towards families who have lost a loved one, but still have a loved one that's struggling. We have grief groups as well, and I wanted to let you know that we're offering an overdose awareness training that includes CPR and First Aid, just because our drug supply is so all over the place and sometimes Narcan is not enough. So we offer this training, I put the information in the chat. So if you are you interested about the training there's an email for you in the chat to contact someone via email that you could reach out to. So thank you so much.

Mandy Goutlet: Hope for Holyoke Peer Recovery Center
Hello, everybody! My name is Mandy Goulet. I'm from Hope for Holyoke Peer Recovery Center.
We have a Highway to Hope Program here which offers rides and transportation with the recovery coach to any detox residential aftercare continuum of care that anybody might need for support with any substance related disorder they may have. We offer peer recovery support groups, Monday through Sunday we're open.
We have an all pathways meeting that are at 10 o'clock every day, and at 12 o'clock. So the All Pathways group is a motivational meeting.

You can hear anything from any of the 12 step fellowships or anything spiritual. Any anything you can think of; Zen, whatever pathway suits individual that's at the group. We also have a costume party coming up on the 26th from 11 to 3:30. We'll be pumpkin picking earlier that morning. Becoming a member is free. You just come in and get a tour of the building, and the next step come in and develop an application, and finally come in and get the orientation. We're right across from the Gas and Electric Company. I look forward to meeting new people. Thank you.

Miguel Arce: Springfield College
Thank you Ed, thank you for providing this invaluable service, the network. I don't have anything to report but just one small opera observation in in the background of two people, Elizabeth V and John Mccarthy. They both had the word Believe in the background and I suspect that's why you do what you do Mr. Caisse, that you believe, and so do I.

Ruben Arroyo: Way Finders
Hey, guys, my name is Ruben. I'm from Way Finders. I am currently a youth employment specialist.
I work hand in hand with my manager, Madeline. She discussed the programs that we offer. We do some trainings to help with employment. You know, readiness and at and teach clients as well. We have a new training to teach clients how to be advocates for themselves when there's no one around. We work with youth from 16 to 24, and also adult public populations. So if you have any clients like my boss suggested, you can contact us or ask them to come to either of our offices in Holyoke, Springfield, or Northampton. Thank you.

Sasha Viands: Girls Inc. of the Valley
Hi! Good afternoon, everyone. Sasha Viands, she/her pronouns. I'm the volunteerism and community Engagement Coordinator for Girls, Inc. of the Valley. Officially, I have been here one month. I'm going to drop in the chat our current volunteer opportunity. It's a cleanup and a link to the form as well. Wednesday, October 16th or Saturday, October 19th We’ll provide lunch. It'll be a good time. A basement slash garden cleanup, so I definitely will be in touch for additional volunteer opportunities, hopefully share like a further in advance calendar and getting up getting ready for speaking out event this evening. I'm not sure folks will be attending and super happy to see you all. So thanks for having me.

Sheryl Maldonado: Way Finders
Hi, good afternoon. My name is Sheryl. So I'm a vista member at Way Finders. So we have the computer class. We have it in both languages, in English and Spanish here at Way Finders, in Holyoke. And also we have it in Springfield. So if you know any folks that will be interested in taking this class, please reach out to me. So they're going to be in Spanish or English like I said, also, we're going to have a workshop called President. Leadership program is coming up in November. So we need to fix some details, I'm going to share with you guys. And also we are part of the community we are doing community building and engagement. So, as Geraldo has said that he's part of us, so we want to get the residents to go out and become a community leader. If you know anyone that will be interested in doing this. they can also reach out to me. I put my information in the chat. So you're more than welcome. Thank you, Ed.

Sidney Richeux: Gandara Center
Hello, everyone! My name is Sydney. I am a triage clinician from Gandara Center. I oversee the intensive care coordination waiting list. Right now we have a waiting list of around 2 to 3 weeks. So if you're looking to
complete a referral for a youth, you can. I'll place my contact information in the chat that way, you can call me, and I can support you with filling out the referral for the ICC program. Thank you.

Therese Ross: Rick’s Place
Good afternoon. I am from Rick's Place, and we are a grief support organization. We provide free peer grief support to youth, ages 5 to 18 and their caregivers. We also facilitate grief groups in area schools, and we provide professional development to school personnel, social service agencies and practitioners about the impact of grief on youth. I'm excited to announce that on November 11th Springfield College's William Blizzard Art Gallery is going to be hosting our second annual art show called Colors of Grief and the artwork that is created by our participants about their grief; experiences will be on display at the gallery for the entire week. Thanks so much.

Timothy Powis: Hampden Superior Court
Hi there, Tim Powis from Hampden Superior probation nothing to report, and nothing new over here.

Edward Caisse: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office
I just want to talk about our basketball League. We're currently in the middle of registrations. We got about 2 weeks of registrations left. We currently have about 290 youth registered for our Basketball League.
So if you can just get that information out to families over the next couple of weeks, if there's any families that want to have their kids connected and enrolled in a basketball program, please have them register. We're going to be doing evaluations from October 18th to November 1st, and the League's going to start early December. I do want to say about the basketball league, we are always looking for coaches and volunteers. So if any of the agency representatives want to get involved in that, please send me an email and I'll get you connected.

Secondly, I wanted to mention that we're partnering with Mont Marie on a trunk or treat event which is going be October 30th from 5:30 to 7: 30. We are still looking for about 8 trunks. So I'm actually going to go ahead and put this Trunk or Treat link in the chat: https://forms.gle/DScFWstsgTzddwWy8. I sent it out a couple of times. If anybody here is interested in having a trunk with us during our trunk or treat event. The last two years been really cool to see all the families come out. You can go ahead and click on that registration form and register your trunk.

Lastly, I just want to mention that we're holding a food drive at both Stop & Shops in Holyoke on December 14th. I also sent an email out this week to see if any agency representatives wanted to be part of that planning team to help us pull off that event. Last year we did it at both Stop & Shops, and we had a huge truckload full of food. This year we are going to try to do two truckloads and we're actually going to have some drop locations two weeks leading up to the event.

So if your agency is interested in just being a drop zone for us, you could also send me an email on that. That's really all I have for today. I just want to say, thank you to each of you for the work that you do. I heard a lot of agencies talk about resources that you have for youth and families. I just want to remind you we do have a Holyoke Hub that we have acutely elevated risk situations that come to a table and we wrap around services. So if you're a resource agency that is not connected to the Hub, but you may want to be connected, please send me an email, and I'll get you connected.

Denise Kelly – Lachat: Hampden District Attorney’s Office
I just wanted to interrupt because I used to do basketball with Ed for many years, and I think I sent you two kids from court today, but just want to emphasize. People that aren't aware of your Basketball league to
let them know that they don't have to be like basketball superstars. It's a very fair league where it's a mix of all different kids that are really good kids that are not so good, and Ed and all the coaches are really fair about making the teams fair. So I just think when you're talking about basketball with the kids, you should mention this to them. I took two kids out of court today and gave them your flyer and explained to them that you don't have to be a superstar, it's more for fun. And it's a very structured league with lots of mentors. I just think it's important to emphasize that when you're mentioning the league to the kids.

Edward Caisse:
I appreciate you saying that Denise.
Hey, you guys have a great rest of the week. Hopefully, we see you next month. I do want to say this before we close: Can you do me a favor? We used to have 60, 70, 80 agency representatives on the meeting. If you're working with agencies, it's important for us to get them to the table. When the notes are put together and sent out and posted on our website, that information can be useful to people. When people are looking to get youth and families connected to resources, they know exactly where to send them. So if you can help bring some people to our meeting, so we can grow it and get more agencies that have resources for our community, it will be greatly appreciated. Have a great rest of the week.

Chat Notes

Gabe V. Hello everyone this is Gabe from Community Education Project and we are currently looking for a Daytime English Teacher. I am putting the link to the position in the chat and if anyone is interested or if you know someone who is please share the position with them.
https://www.indeed.com/job/esol-teacher-ffb0bdb6860e91f8

Charlene Rivera- Care Coordinator Holyoke Peds riverac@holypeds.com-413-536-2393

Laura Jansen, LICSW CAC Clinical Supervisor Baystate Family Advocacy Center 300 Carew St., Suite 2 | Springfield, MA 01104 Telephone: 413-794-8823 Laura.Jansen@baystatehealth.org

Sasha N. Viands (she|her|ellas) -- Girls Inc. of the Valley, SViands@GirlsIncValley.org | 413-335-0059

Shannon Burke Holyoke Pediatrics-Medical Home Care Coordinator burkes@holypeds.com

Areliz O. Barbosa 413-539-3530 with Bay Path arbarbosa@baypath.edu

Diosdado Lopez-Martinez, The Support Network 413-887-2771

aleyx Bernard(he/him) Pa'lante transformative Justice located at 220 linden street. I am the drop in and admin coordinator aleyx@palanteholyoke.org and 413-200-0624

Jennifer Yekel - MSPCC/Eliot in the survivor services program as a VOCA clinician. jyekel@eliotchs.org

Madeline Martinez Wayfinders 413-233-1737 and i am the ESS Manager

Julia Popkin, Community Legal Aid, jpopkin@cla-ma.org

James Laconte, LMHC, Assistant Director of River Valley Counseling Center (RVCC) outpatient MH clinic in Westfield, MA. 413-437-9211, Laconte_james@holyokehealth.com, 94 N. Elm Street, Westfield, MA Suite 206
Deb Snape Director of Youth Career Pathway Initiatives MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board dsnape@masshirehcwb.com

Jose Ramos Gandara Center Recovery coach director 413-204-7400 Jramos2@gandaracenter.org

Elizabeth Veillette, Employment and Training Navigator, CHD, eveillette@chd.org, 413.266.9840

Corey Williams, Gandara, Recovery Support Coordinator, CHATS program at Holyoke District Court. cwilliams1@gandaracenter.org

Ariana Avezzie Holyoke public school (Sullivian middle school TIP) aavezzie@hps.holyoke.ma.us

Bill Taylor. www.hospiceofwesternma.com

Alyssa Golden (she/her)- Supervising Attorney of the CORI/Reentry Unit at Community Legal Aid (we represent people in record sealing and expungement, housing denials, employment denials, etc. because of CORI issues). We also offer trainings about these issues. agolden@cla-ma.org (413) 582-1377

Therese Ross, tross@ricksplacema.org free grief support for youth ages 5-18 and their caregivers. Providing professional development to school personnel and practitioners about the impact of grief on youth.

Mandy Goulet Hope for Holyoke Peer Recovery Center mgoulet@gandaracenter.org (413)561-1020

Gabrielle Vargas (Gabe V.) Student Advisor at Community Education Project

Timothy Powis Probation Officer, Hampden Superior Probation #617-921-0501

Lauren Carpenter, RN, CARN, Addiction Consult Service, Holyoke Medical Center 413-534-2897

Miguel Arce Springfield College

Diana Biagioli, Transition in Special Education at Federation for Children with Special Needs FCSN, We offer information, support and training to youth with disabilities, to their families and to professionals working with them. dbiagioli@fcsn.org

Magda Colon - Regional Mananger Learn to Cope West. mcolon@learn2cope.org Provide peer support for families and loved ones affected by substance use disorder.
Enhanced Overdose Prevention Training -CPR, First Aid, and Narcan Training- Date: Thursday 10/17/24 Time: 6:00 to 8:30 pm Location: LTC West, 116 Pleasant St. #147, Easthampton MA We would like to invite you to a Training, designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to respond effectively in overdose situations. This training will include: • CPR • First Aid • Narcan (naloxone) Administration The training will be presented by Magda Colon, who is American Heart Association CPR certified, an experienced educator in overdose prevention, and a Naloxone master trainer. This is an invaluable opportunity to learn life-saving techniques and ensure you're prepared in case of an emergency. Whether you are new to these practices or need a refresher, this training is open to everyone and there is no cost to attend. To sign up for the training, please e-mail kiellamo@learn2cope.org or call 413-203-1264. Warm regards, The LTC West Team

Diosdado Lopez- Martinez - Ed, I will be here today for a brief moment. Thanks

Carl Borden, Western Massachusetts Council Scouting America, Membership Director carl.borden@scouting.org 413-594-9196 x 7003

Diana Biagioli- Also wanted to let everyone know about NextGen Careers, a pilot program run by MassAbility (formerly MRC) to help youth with disabilities get employment. Here is a link with more information: https://fcsn.org/nextgen/

Gerardo Torres- Hello my name is Gerardo Torres I am a Ra Resident Active and a Volunteer of Way finder.

Ruben Arroyo - Way Finders Employment Support Services - Employment Retention Coordinator. In employment Support we provide members of our community with assistance with job development, support, and growth to obtain employment or better themselves. There are various ways to enroll.

Hi, Sheryl Maldonado, AmeriCorpsVISTA member working at Way Finders, Resident Engagement Training VISTA, my email smaldonado@wayfinders.org work phone 413-386-6898. We have computer class in Spanish and English free for the community also we are working to have full in Spanish a workshop Resident Leadership Program. I will update and send any information when we have all the details together. Thank you everyone

John McCarthy- USCIS Community Relations Boston; John McCarthy CR Specialist. boston.communityrelations@uscis.dhs.gov
USCIS Extends auto extension for timely filed I-90 forms from 24 to 36 months effective September 10, 2024; see; https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-extends-green-card-validity-extension-to-36-months-for-green-card-renewals Keeping Families Together: see https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-implements-keeping-families-together USCIS. Website https://www.uscis.gov

Georgie Brown - OneHolyokeCDC Georgianna.brown@OneHolyoke.org

Denise Kelly-Lachat, Diversion Specialist, Holyoke Juvenile and Holyoke District Court, Hampden District Attorney's Office, Denise.kelly_lachat@mass.gov

Charlene Rivera -Had to step into a room with my patient sorry couldn't stay

Shannon and Charlene Holyoke Pediatrics. sorry have to jump off for another meeting at 1:30Pm we have nothing new to add. Thank you Red Cross. great presentation.

Bill Taylor- My email... Bill Taylor wtaylor@hospiceofwesternma.com

Diana Biagioli- Planning a Life Transition event on October 25th (virtual) and October 26th (in person) pertaining to students with disabilities planning a life after high school. Here is a link to register (there is a cost but scholarships are available): https://fcsn.org/event/pal2-making-the-most-out-of-transition-supports/
NextGen Careers is a pilot program for youth with disabilities ages 18-30 who are looking for employment. It is run by MassAbility (formerly MRC). Here is a link with more information: https://fcsn.org/nextgen/

Nia Rennix- wilhelmina.humphries@redcross.org
If you are interested in more information regarding the Red Cross, you can also email wilhelmina.humphries@redcross.org

Diana Biagioli- Coordinated Pandemic Related Funds and Services: For youth born between March 10th, 1998 and September 30th of 2001 who stayed in high school with Special Education until age 22. We are giving away stipends and here is a link with more information: https://fcsn.org/transition-support/

Ed Caisse, Hampden County Sheriff's Office, ed.caisse@sdh.state.ma.us

David Robinson (413)286-4558 email david@2ndchancesmovement.com website www.2ndchancesmovement.com

Georgie Brown-- Community Dinner Volunteering Information: https://www.oneholyoke.org/community-dinner-december-7th-2024/

Gloria Penagos HCC - gpenagos@hcc.edu Free Job Training Programs | Holyoke Community College (hcc.edu)

Diana Biagioli- If anyone needs more information about any of the programs I mentioned, here are my details. Diana Biagioli: dbiagioli@fcsn.org; 617-399-8359

Lauren Jansen- Baystate Family Advocacy Center is also offering a virtual information session on October 14th from 12-1. Please email me if you'd like a link to drop-in and learn more about services we offer/ask any questions. Laura.Jansen@Baystatehealth.org

Magda Colon- Hello Friends - I just wanted to tell you about our Learn to Cope's free peer support groups for families and loved ones of those affected by substance use disorder. we have a support center at the Eastwoks building in Easthampton. please stop by to learn more!!!

Areliz Barbosa- I will be starting a Moms Breaking Generational Barriers group. Starts Thursday, October 17th from RSVPhttps://sites.google.com/motherwoman.org/focs/home

Nia Rennix- The Red Cross is offering a FREE volunteer Disaster Training on Thursday, Nov 7th at Westfield State University at 4pm. FOOD will be served! For more information, please contact Wilhelmina Humphries at wilhelminia.humphries@redcross.org

Areliz Barbosa- I have to jump on another meeting. Hope everyone has a wonderful day! Thank you

Georgie Brown- I also have to head out- thanks!!

Sidney Richeux- Sricheux@gandaracenter.org ( Triage clinician for ICC services)

Edward Caisse- https://forms.gle/DScFWstsgTzddwWy8

Sasha Viands- Does anyone need sports materials for youth? Like elementary school children?
Please contact me -- SViands@GirlsIncValley | 413-335-0059

Elizabeth V-
Sasha, do you have any football equipment?

Old Business / New Business
Next Meeting is Thursday, November 14th on Zoom


Close Meeting 2:30pm
Contact Information:
Edward Caisse
Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
(413) 858-0225
ed.caisse@sdh.state.ma.us
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