The MA SBA will have two cohorts for the Emerging Leaders Thrive program – one in Greater Worcester/surrounding communities and also Greater Boston. They need 25 businesses for each for a total of 50 businesses. SBA underwrites 100% of the cost of this program and it is free to the entrepreneur. To be eligible, the business must be at least 2-3 years old, have one employee, and have revenues in excess of $250K. The program is not for start ups and is for businesses that are committed to the growth of their business.
Over the course of six months, there will be 8 in person sessions but the in person is augmented with virtual sessions and small group discussions. Modules during the curriculum cover all aspects of successfully running a small business and a number of SME’s will be introduced to the participants, both nationally and locally. Both cohorts will be covered by the same instructor from last year who is the reason why the MA office decided to up our commitment to two cohorts and bring the program back to central MA again this year. The end product the small business achieves as a result of their participation is a growth and action plan that they develop.
USA Luge announced a new partnership with Sitka® Creations, LLC, a graphic design studio providing clients with creative and effective graphic and web design, and visual communication services, making Sitka Creations the official marketing partner for the organization.
Founded by Tamar Russell Brown in 2002, Sitka Creations was first opened in Rockland, Maine with Russell Brown and a few freelance staff. Over the years, the business has expanded to locations in Martha’s Vineyard, New York City, and Leominster, Massachusetts. The business is currently based in Shirley, Massachusetts.
“While we were only recently introduced to USA Luge, our team at Sitka Creations was quickly embraced by the USA Luge family,” said Russell Brown. “We are proud to support the organization and its hardworking athletes with our expertise and knowledge in marketing and social media and look forward to sharing the journey toward the 2026 Games with the athletes, staff and fans.”
The partnership includes working to enhance USA Luge’s social media presence as well as offering the organization with a consistent look and voice as the 2026 Olympics approach.
“USA Luge is responsible for recruiting, developing, training, and supporting athletes to represent the United States at all levels of competition, including the Olympic Games. Most of our resources go to making the athletes and their sleds go as fast as possible and we operate very lean on the marketing side,” said Gordy Sheer, 1998 Olympic silver medalist and director, marketing and sponsorship, USA Luge. “Aside from creating visual templates for social media posts, creating posts, working with USA Luge on a monthly posting schedule, the Sitka Creations team also provided much-needed guidance. In short, they serve as an additional staff member and have fully (and easily) integrated themselves into our operations for which we are most grateful.”
The nine-circuit World Cup season will kick-off in Lillehammer, Norway on November 29-December 1, 2024, with the 53rd World Championships scheduled for February 6-8, 2025, on the 2010 Olympic track in Whistler, British Columbia.
Throughout the Winter, we continued to promote the region with a blend of print and digital advertising strategies across our target markets. The creative messaging for these ads focuses on “Everything You Love About New England… A Lot Closer to Home”. We also encouraged travelers to visit the region with the tag: “Drive to, not through, North Central MA.” To achieve this, we focused on developing fresh and engaging content for our website. This included creating captivating Blog Articles as well as compiling a comprehensive listing of upcoming events. To attract more visitors from the drive market, we implemented a range of strategies combining both print, social media, paid search and digital advertising.
We invested in paid social media campaigns to reach a wider audience through MassLive; employed targeted and geofenced digital advertising to maximize our outreach through Cumulus; and utilized paid Search Engine Marketing techniques to improve our online visibility through Local IQ. We also utilized print/digital campaigns through Boston Magazine and Boston Spirit; custom content listings and emails through Visit New England; and listings in Trip Advisor. All these efforts were carefully crafted to effectively showcase the diverse attractions and offerings of our region and to increase web traffic. By utilizing a combination of print and digital platforms, we aimed to captivate potential visitors and encourage them to explore the unique experiences available in North Central Massachusetts.
Visitor Guide
We published 40,000 copies of the Fall/Winter edition of the Guide to North Central Massachusetts, a popular glossy, full-color magazine aimed at informing and inspiring readers. It showcases the region as a unique destination for living, working, and visiting. The guide was distributed to over 300 high-traffic locations throughout New England and a digital version was also shared on our website, social media, via email, and shared with the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism (MOTT) to maximize its reach and engagement. We are currently working on finalizing the Spring/Summer edition.
Fam Trips & Travel Shows
We actively participated in FAM Trips & Travel Shows. We partnered with MOTT to host a familiarization tour for US Travel Media to our region. We also continued our collaboration with two other Regional Tourism Councils (Discover Central MA and MetroWest Boston Visitors Bureau), implementing an off-season marketing campaign funded from a federal grant. We have several advertising campaigns underway and are working with CM Communications, a Boston-based PR Agency that specializes in destination marketing, to assist us with generating more interest in the region among the travel media and other travel influencers. We participated in the Dream Destinations Travel Show, American Bus Association Marketplace, and the North of Boston Tourism Summit to connect with tourism influencers and promote our region as a desirable travel destination.
Social Media & Website
From November 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024, Visit North Central Massachusetts’ Facebook page had a reach of 269,873, a 81.6% increase over the same time frame the previous year. Our Facebook channel also attracted 3,515 new followers, a 11.4% increase. Total followers are currently at 34,700. In addition, the page also had 5,300 content interactions and 5,100 link clicks. Paid reach was 150,439 and 430,803 paid impressions. On Instagram, the page achieved a reach of 12,502, a 177.5% increase over the previous year, and gained 83 new followers for a total of 2,800. Our Instagram page also had 665 content interactions and 353 link clicks during the same timeframe.
Google analytics indicates that our website experienced a 21.5% increase in pageviews; a 27% increase in sessions; and a 24% increase in unique users from November 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 when compared to the same timeframe the previous year. During the same time period we also had over 485,417 google impressions.
Lodging & Visitor Data
Lodging data was also very strong. Data from Smith Travel Research indicates that YTD hotel occupancy through December was 73.4%, a 5% increase over the previous year; ADR was $181.65 which is a 5% increase; RevPar was $133.43, a 10.3% increase over the previous year; total room revenue was up 9.6%; and rooms sold was up 5%. Data from Datafy indicates that our top four origin markets were Boston; Hartford/New Haven; New York; and Providence-New Bedford.
What’s Next
As we move into the winter and spring seasons, our main objective is to raise awareness and attract visitors to North Central Massachusetts. We will continue implementing our successful strategies that highlight the region’s outdoor attractions and showcase traditional New England experiences. With people seeking outdoor activities, we aim to provide them with exciting itineraries for seasonal adventures in North Central Massachusetts. To achieve our goals, we are continuing to focus on a more digital marketing approach. This includes incorporating various tactics such as paid search, paid social media advertising, geofenced ads targeting the Route 2 corridor, digital display and sponsored content ads, print ads, targeted YouTube advertising, branded content, and organic social media engagement. In addition, we are continuing to work on refreshing our home page to ensure it aligns with our updated marketing efforts and provides a captivating user experience. By combining these strategies, we aim to engage a broader audience and encourage them to explore the benefits of visiting North Central Massachusetts compared to our neighboring states.
Rozanna Penney, president and CEO, Heywood Hospital in Gardner
In January, the Worcester Business Journal announced its 2024 Economic Forecast, which focused on the future of several topics in Central Massachusetts but paid particular focus on the current health care landscape here in North Central. The publication forecasted that our region would see more challenges related to access to health care services, especially with our most vulnerable populations.
While it’s no surprise that our nation’s health care system is at a critical tipping point with staffing challenges, more demand and long wait times to obtain care, our region’s health care leaders are working diligently to combat the issues and find opportunities in the challenges while continuing to provide quality health care services to our communities.
Steve Roach, president, UMassMemorial Health—HealthAlliance Clinton Hospital, said he agrees with the WBJ’s forecast, but added this is not just an issue in North Central, but everywhere.
“Across health care, we have a workforce issue, from general hospital staff to nurses and tech aides, while also dealing with the challenges of finding physicians as many [physicians] have retired or moved on during the pandemic,” he said. “These staffing challenges then present a domino effect, which results in additional wait times for people to get seen or to be sent to nursing homes or other long-term care facilities from the hospitals. When this happens, there is a bigger delay and creates a backlog of the inpatient flow as patients in the emergency room wait to get a bed in the hospital.”
Rozanna Penney, president and CEO, Heywood Hospital in Gardner, agreed that bed capacity continues to be a challenge throughout the Commonwealth for medical as well as behavioral health patients.
“This is not unique to our region,” said Penney. “The only way we will be able to effectively make an impact in this crisis is by investing and growing strong community-based programs. North Central Massachusetts has a strong collaborative network of healthcare services and community-based programs with a focus on supporting those who are most marginalized, but more resources are needed.”
Penney said that through Heywood Hospital’s community engagement across schools and community partnerships, improved access and care coordination is how the hospital is focusing on the region’s most vulnerable youth and families. “School and community initiatives span across school-based acute care, behavioral healthcare, youth mentorship, trauma response, economic empowerment, access to healthy foods, diversity, equity and inclusion, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. These services and programs are designed to equip youth and families for a healthy future.”
But staffing challenges are not just being experienced in hospitals. In fact, these challenges stretch across the entire health care system, including home care.
Holly Chaffee, MSN, BSN, RN, president and CEO, Care Central VNA & Hospice, Inc
While Holly Chaffee, MSN, BSN, RN, president and CEO, Care Central VNA & Hospice, Inc., also agreed with the forecasted assessment, she said the managed care era has arrived, with 50 percent of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, as well as a severe working shortage of staff.
“Home health has been facing continual rate reductions, workforce shortages and increased regulatory scrutiny,” said Chaffee. “We do see an increased need for our services and there are multiple challenges.”
Chaffee said among the challenges is the current reimbursement landscape and the rise of the minimum wage, which results in lower wage workers moving into other industries.
“The most urgent concern [we have] is reimbursement of home health services by payer,” she said. “Our efforts with rate setting reform legislation here in Massachusetts can help to resolve these issues, while our efforts in [Washington, D.C.] regarding Medicare cuts and legislation can also help to resolve these concerns.”
Of the workforce shortages, she added, “Home health care is a 24-hour business and staff can move onto other jobs without having to work off-shifts while they make the same amount of money. While the lack of workforce remains a very big issue, the rates we are reimbursed for home health aide services do not cover the cost of care provided. So, as the wages were increased, the payers did not increase their rates to cover care.”
Just as home health is looking to find ways to solve the challenges, Roach, and his team at UMassMemorial Health, are doing the same.
“One major weakness in Massachusetts is the proliferation of urgent care centers that are not owned or operated by hospitals that don’t accept Medicaid,” he said. “As a hospital, we must treat everyone, but the private centers don’t have to accept Medicaid. It would be great if the state went back to these private urgent care centers and said they need to treat Medicaid patients to help us alleviate the strain on our emergency rooms.”
Despite the challenges across the industry, our region’s health care systems have taken great strides to remain strong, even if their decisions were not popular among the community.
In 2023, UMassMemorial Health closed its labor and delivery unit, while Heywood Hospital announced its health care system filed for bankruptcy and stopped construction on the planned surgical pavilion.
While Roach couldn’t specifically comment on the closing of the labor and delivery unit due to pending litigation, he said the hospital has committed to investing more than $600,000 to meet patient prenatal and postpartum needs, including providing curb-to-curb transportation around the clock.
“Our initial year contract was a little more expensive, but as we get up and running, the additional funding from the transportation plan will go toward providing additional programs to ensure people are getting to appointments, are connected to doulas and other things,” he said.
With the closing of the labor and delivery unit in Leominster, Heywood Hospital has noticed an incremental increase in obstetric (OB) patients, but Penney said the hospital has the capacity to accommodate more.
“We have been fortunate to hire some of the experienced OB nurses from HealthAlliance, have re-launched our doula program, and continue to recruit OB physicians” Penney added. “Patients who come to Heywood rave about the community hospital ‘feel.’ The LaChance Maternity Center at Heywood offers beautiful private rooms to comfortably accommodate moms and their partners, and our obstetric physicians and nurses are second to none.”
While Heywood Hospital is providing continued care for the region’s OB patients, financial stabilization of the hospital has been a priority over the last several months, which Penney said is essential in the hospital’s ability to continue to provide services to the community.
“We have recognized significant annualized improvements through the renegotiation of contracts with commercial payers, vendors, and lease terminations, and this would not have been possible without the protection under Chapter 11,” said Penney. “While we have consolidated certain service lines and underwent a reduction in force, we also maintained focus on ensuring that patients in the Greater Gardner and Athol areas do not lose access to care.”
Most recently, Heywood Hospital announced it will be reopening its inpatient Mental Health Unit, which was closed during the pandemic due to workforce challenges. Penney said the hospital also reaffirmed their commitment to providing regional maternity care and relaunched its doula services, while also launching a comprehensive transportation program to provide patients with a variety of non-emergency medical transportation options in partnership with Woods Ambulance. Plans for the surgical pavilion remain paused.
“We are very fortunate to have the support of our community and our dedicated medical staff and employees, who are the reason Heywood Healthcare continues to deliver high quality care, despite challenging circumstances,” she added.
Over at Care Central VNA & Hospice, Chaffee said the agency is working hard to provide quality care to as many people as possible. “There are limitations that hinder our ability to provide care, which are directly related to insufficient rates at a federal and state level,” she added. “These rates lag behind market rates which result in a home care agencies’ inability to compete with others in the health care sector.”
Chaffee pointed to a report released in June 2023 by the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association which reported that 28 percent of the 1,057 patients waiting to be discharged from the 50 hospitals in Massachusetts were awaiting discharge to home health, an increase of 200 patients from the year before. “More than 38 percent of these patients reported they have been waiting for more than 30 days,” she added.
Continuum of care remains at the forefront of importance at UMass Memorial Health.
“We realize not every physician has appointments available ASAP, but we do work to get access to schedules to help maintain the continuum of care,” said Roach. “We are doing as well as we can, and having our EPIC system allows for improved communications across care teams, patients, and their families. In today’s health care environment, we realize families can be involved in the care of their parents, so by having these systems available provides caretakers the opportunity to see results to tests, appointments and more to help mom and dad.”
While our health care systems continue to pivot their respective services and programs to respond to the health care needs of our community, Roach said there is one thing we can all do that doesn’t cost money and could make a difference.
“The most important thing is that everyone needs to show compassion,” he said. “Our caregivers to show compassion to patients, our patients to show compassion to the caregivers. If we can all be a little bit nicer to each other across the board, we will come out with a better situation overall in our current health care environment.”
Pictured: Travis Condon, Chamber public affairs manager; House Minority Whip Katherine Clark; and Roy Nascimento, Chamber president & CEO, at a meeting hosted by the New England Council.
Federal Affairs:
At the end of January, the House passed their Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. According to a House Ways and Means Committee summary, the bill includes $78 billion worth of tax breaks for businesses, expands the small business expensing cap, expands access to the child tax credit, and would allow businesses to immediately deduct the cost of their U.S. based R&D investments instead of over five years through 2025. The last portion is of particular interest to a number of our members, and while it would not create a permanent solution, it would be a step in the right direction. At the time of this writing, we are monitoring the legislation as it moves over to the Senate.
In January, Congresswoman Lori Trahan along with staff from Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Markey’s offices visited the region, making a number of stops including one at the Gardner Municipal Airport to celebrate the grand-reopening following the completion of the Gardner’s recent Airport Revitalization Project. The project, which included a number of improvements to bring the facility into compliance with current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards was made possible through nearly $5 million in federal funding from the FAA, $500,000 through MassDOT, with the city taking on the remainder.
Chamber staff also attended a number of New England Council events that have allowed us to further connect with Congressman Jim McGovern and other members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation including Congresswoman Katherine Clark.
Congresswoman Lori Trahan along with representatives from the FAA present a check to state and Gardner officials for over $5 million dollars for runway and building improvements at the recent grand reopening of the Gardner Municipal Airport.
State and Local Affairs:
In early January, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll joined the Chamber as a featured speaker during our Good Morning North Central Program. Lt. Governor Driscoll highlighted the administration’s accomplishments over the past year and spoke about a number of challenges they are working to address including lower revenue growth resulting in 9-C cuts, housing shortages and the influx of immigrants in the Commonwealth.
Following her first State of the Commonwealth address, Governor Maura Healey filed her proposed budget for fiscal year 2025. The proposed budget includes $58.13 billion in total spending, representing a 3.7 percent increase over the current fiscal year. As written, the proposed budget would fully fund the fourth year of the Student Opportunity Act, boost Chapter 90 funds, increase funding for the new MassReconnect program and continue expanding access to higher education financial aid while also setting aside $7.5 million for small business technical assistance grants.
Additionally, the proposal would direct $1.3 billion from the recent income surtax toward investments in education and transportation. Education investments would include: the administration’s new Gateway to Pre-K initiative, which puts Massachusetts on the path to universal Pre-K access in Gateway Cities by 2026, expansion of child care financial assistance to thousands more families, and funding for the new Literacy Launch program. Transportation investments would include: increased funding for roads and bridges, including dedicated road aid for rural communities, implement a low-income fares program at the MBTA, and make a new investment of $250 million in transportation that will leverage $1.1 billion in borrowing over the next five years to tackle deferred maintenance statewide.
Just prior to releasing the budget, the Healey Administration also announced the Municipal Relief Package in an effort to help cities and towns generate additional resources. The proposed legislation would allow municipalities to increase local option taxes on meals and lodging while also creating a new local Motor Vehicle Excise surcharge option. The bill would also make permanent a number of popular COVID-era allowances for hybrid public meetings, outdoor dining permits and to-go cocktail sales. The Chamber is monitoring both pieces of legislation closely.
In March, the Chamber will meet with our region’s delegation as they work to craft the House and Senate versions of the budget. We plan to advocate for a number of priorities from our public policy agenda in the areas of small business support, tourism and education and workforce.
For questions or concerns regarding the Chamber’s public policy efforts, please feel free to contact Travis Condon, the Chamber’s public affairs manager, at 978.353.7600, ext. 224; or via email at tcondon@northcentralmass.com.
CHAMBER WEBSITE REFRESH: In February, the Chamber launched a refreshed website to offer a more dynamic and valuable resource for our members and communities. The project included redesigning the homepage and several interior pages. It also included consolidating our economic development website – choosenorthcentral.com – into the Chamber website to make it easier to manage and avoid duplication. The website refresh is a work in progress. Chamber staff are continuing to work internally on updating content on several portions of the site.
CHAMBER OF THE YEAR TROPHY TOUR: Thank you to all the members who have participated so far in the Chamber of the Year Trophy Tour! You can check out photos of the tour on our Facebook page. Please reach out to Maureen Babcock at mbabcock@northcentralmass.com if you would like to participate and schedule a trophy tour stop at your business or organization. We are extremely honored to have received this prestigious national award and have enjoyed the opportunity to share this with the people who helped us achieve this historic milestone—our members.
INITIATE SMALL BUSINESS PLATFORM: The Chamber has launched a new online resource platform for members and NCMDC clients called “Initiate”. The platform can be accessed via the Chamber’s new website and provide access to new tools, resources and bilingual supports to help small businesses grow in North Central Massachusetts. The Initiate resource portal covers topics such as money, marketing, management, and resiliency resources by using a variety of learning methods including videos, templates, and guides. Email our team at chamber@northcentralmass.com to request access to the online platform. There is no cost for members.
NEW LOANS: Since the beginning of its fiscal year on October 1, 2023, the Chamber’s economic development arm, the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation, has closed 5 micro-loans for a total of $309,500 and all loans are to underserved owners or in underserved communities. The loans ranged from $5,500 to $250,000.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: In addition to the loans, our team also provided 434 hours of direct technical assistance and counseling to small businesses for the quarter October to December 2023. So far this fiscal year, we funded 3 micro-grants, for a total $9,800, to support technical assistance needs of local small businesses, including assisting a business owner with Minority Certification.
NATIONAL APPOINTMENT: Chamber President & CEO Roy Nascimento was recently named to the U.S. Chamber’s Committee of 100, a group of the leading chamber executives from around the country. This is one of the most prestigious appointments in the chamber industry. The group advises the US Chamber on policy, recommends programming and strengthens outreach to the chamber community.
SOLAR: From its inception in August 2014 through December 2023 the solar field on Pleasant St. has produced 13,362,266 kWh of Net Metering Credits to the manufacturers participating in the program. Total value of these credits is $3,211,876 and the collective savings to participants totals $2,730,095.
40th ANNIVERSARY: This year marks our 40th Anniversary and we are celebrating throughout the year with some special events, spotlights and features. We hope that you will be able to join us for the special 40th Anniversary Member Celebration on April 25 at Oak Hill Country Club and please make sure the save the date of June 20 for our 40th Annual Meeting and Business Luncheon. Check out our website at northcentralmass.com for more information or to register.
SPONSORSHIPS: Our team has revamped our event sponsorship package, introducing new levels and options for every budget. Reach out to Valerie Bruno, Programs and Events Manager, for more details or to explore sponsoring a program in the future.
Source: State House News Service
Author(s): Colin A. Young
What difference can a year make? When it comes to home sales in Massachusetts, the answer is about $50,000.
There were 2,042 single-family homes sold in Massachusetts in February, the exact same number of sales as in February 2023. But analysts at The Warren Group said the median sale price last month reached a new all-time high for the month of February at $548,250, a 10 percent increase over February 2023’s median sale price of $498,369. February’s data added to what has been a familiar trend: monthly sales that are down or flat while the median sale price regularly sets new record highs.
Cassidy Norton, associate publisher and media relations director for The Warren Group, said there’s no reason to expect that dynamic to change in the near future as the spring home buying season gets underway.
“A lack of inventory is the biggest factor driving these trends, and with fewer and fewer homes hitting the market, we can fully expect to see more recording-setting prices paired with a low sales volume in the coming months,” she said.
Through February, there have been 4,438 single-family home sales so far this year in Massachusetts, four more than during the first two months of 2023, The Warren Group said. But the median sale price so far this year stands at $550,000, a 10.2 percent increase over the $498,869 median sale price through the first two months of 2023.
Housing in Massachusetts is inaccessible or unaffordable for many residents, and Gov. Maura Healey last year identified housing as “the number-one issue facing this state.”
Legislative committees are reviewing the five-year, $4.12 billion housing bond bill (H 4138) that Healey filed in the fall seeking to kickstart the production of new housing units. And though there is broad agreement that the state has an economic imperative to make more housing available, some pieces of the governor’s bill — like the potential for local-option real estate transfer taxes — are viewed as controversial in the Legislature because they will add to housing costs.
The Housing Committee gave the bill a favorable report and advanced it earlier this month without making any changes to the governor’s proposal. It is now before the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets.
On Friday, the National Association of Realtors agreed to pay $418 million over approximately four years to settle antitrust litigation related to broker commissions. The longstanding practice has been that a seller’s agent gets a roughly 6 percent commission upon making a sale, with some of that money then going to the agent who represented the buyers.
Groups behind the litigation argued that the arrangement meant agents might steer buyers towards homes that would produce a higher commission for themselves, and critics bristled at the fact that the commission for the buyer’s agent was essentially taken out of any profit the seller made on a sale.
But while some industry observers have suggested the settlement could help reduce the barriers to buying a home, Norton told WCVB-TV on Friday that it’s “hard to say at this point” exactly how the settlement might change the home-buying or home-selling processes.
“What we do know, at the very minimum, is that the two agents — the buyer agent and the seller agent — cannot communicate with each other over the MLS about what they want their rate to be. They can still email each other, they can still call each other, but they can’t do it over the MLS. So that’s all we know,” she said, referring to the Multiple Listing Service platform. “Things may change beyond that. It may be that the buyer is now responsible for the buyer agent’s commission. It may be that negotiations become a lot more common because it has been about a 6 percent rate for quite a while. But we’re not really sure yet what this is going to do for the market. If it turns out that buyers end up paying their own buyer agents, that’s not good news for Massachusetts because the home prices are already so expensive.”
You are invited to the MassHire Northcentral Workforce Board’s upcoming Regional STEM Workgroup meeting on April 4th, from 8:00 to 9:30, at Leominster City Hall. This collaborative initiative is designed to bring together employers and educators to create opportunities and exposure for students interested in pursuing careers in STEM.
As educators, their roles include:
Promoting STEM employers and internship opportunities to students, highlight the invaluable benefits and real-world relevance these experiences offer for future career trajectories.
Identify, vet, and nominate potential interns for MassHire’s subsidized 100-hour STEM internship program.
As employers, engagement is key because:
Provides valuable feedback and insights to educators, shaping the curriculum and learning experiences to equip students with the essential skills and knowledge needed to thrive in STEM careers.
Opens doors for captivating facility tours and engaging informational sessions, giving students an immersive glimpse into the dynamic world of STEM careers and workplace environments. Embracing the opportunity to host interns at your organization, offering them hands-on experience and invaluable mentorship, shaping the next generation of STEM employees.
Register here by March 28th to confirm your attendance and secure your spot in this collaborative effort to empower the next generation of STEM leaders.
This year’s Leominster Cleanup will kick off on Monday April 22, which is Earth Day, and will run through Wednesday May 22. Volunteers can pick their time, pick their location, and pick up some trash. We will be giving out supplies, including t-shirts, trash bags, and gloves (while supplies last) at Leominster City Hall starting April 16.
Businesses and organizations interested in sponsoring this event can confirm their interest to Melissa Tasca at mtasca@leominster-ma.gov through Tuesday March 19. A $100 sponsorship puts their logo on the back of the t-shirt distributed to the first 150 volunteers.
The FARE FREE Initiative has been underway since January 1st and runs to June 2024. Feedback from our customers has been very positive.
MART launched a New Gardner Route 3. Gardner Route 3 (mrta.us). A 30-minute fixed route that connects the north and south areas of Gardner together. The new route cuts the usual bus loop time in half and was based on the community feedback from the City of Gardner. This service runs from 6AM to 4PM and began on January 6th. Saturday/Sunday services have begun for the Athol/Orange Shuttle Route, Athol Link, and Gardner Route 3 with more locations on the way.
Lastly, an all-new MART refreshed website was pushed live for MART’s public transportation users! MART (mrta.us). Beginning on the first of the month, MART’s completely renovated website has been live to our customers with positive reviews on ease of use and the ability to find information easier. The new website was created with the intention of user-friendliness and up-to-date information and design elements.
Each day, we are striving to pursue our Mission Statement – “To serve people by getting them where they need to go to lead their lives.” MART is making many exciting leaps forward this year as we continue to reach for that goal in serving the MART community. More new announcements to follow.
Thank you all for helping MART in serving our community through public transportation! Much more exciting things to come in 2024. Stay alert on our Facebook and Website platforms.
Fidelity Bank announced its 2023 LifeDesign Community Dividend completed the year with a record of nearly $500,000 donated to more than 250 organizations, events, and charitable endeavors throughout the communities the bank serves in Central and Eastern Massachusetts.
The LifeDesign Community Dividend provides funding to support local nonprofit organizations that directly impact and benefit the communities in Fidelity Bank service areas. Eligible programs include those that support inclusion and diversity, culture and arts, elder services, and youth programming, among others.
“These community investments are at the core of Fidelity’s LifeDesign banking brand promise,” said Ed Manzi Jr., chairman and CEO, Fidelity Bank. “Focusing on care, clarity and confidence, our Community Dividend supports the communities that support us, while also providing funding to ensure organizations continue providing important services needed to help our communities thrive.”
Organizations receiving contributions in 2023 included the Boys & Girls Club of Fitchburg, Leominster & Gardner, City of Gardner’s 100th Anniversary, Ginny’s Helping Hand and Food Pantry, Girls Inc. of Worcester, Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center, Needham Education Foundation, Shine Initiative, and the Spanish American Community Center, to name a few.
“The funds we received were immensely helpful, particularly as we embarked on a collaboration with the Needham Public Schools to bring transformative change to the district through equity-centered professional learning for their educators and administrators, in addition to the grants we fund for innovative educational programs in the schools,” said Sarah Winig, administrative director, Needham Education Foundation.
In addition to the many deserving organizations who received support through the Bank’s LifeDesign Community Dividend, more than 18,000 area residents received sweet treats from Fidelity’s Frosty Flyer ice cream truck last summer at over 100 local community and non-profit events, and banking center locations. Fidelity Bank colleagues also got involved with outreach in their communities by participating in more than 150 Random Acts of Care, including delivering meals to first responders in the days following the Leominster floods, donating supplies to animal shelters, purchasing backpacks and supplies for local youth, and donating winter hats and mittens to organizations serving the homeless.
“We love the communities we serve,” added Manzi. “It is truly a privilege to support community initiatives that help others, particularly in the areas where Fidelity Team Members live and work. It is a total team effort, done with true intention and gratitude.”
Since the program was renamed in 2013, the Fidelity LifeDesign Community Dividend has committed approximately $3.6 million to organizations in Central and Eastern Massachusetts.