Sen. Benjamin B. Downing encouraged the Economic Development Committee that communities working together could achieve more.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — After weeks of taking advice from experts in various fields, the Economic Development Committee is welcoming input from all comers.

 

The committee on Wednesday, April 29, will hold two public forums, timed for the convenience of local business people.

 

The first of two events — both at the Williams Inn — will be 7:45 to 9 a.m. The second will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

 

The committee is looking for guidance as it develops an economic development plan for the town.

 

To that end, it has been meeting every two weeks and hearing from invited guests who have experience in the field.

 

Its most recent guest was state Sen. Benjamin Downing, D-Pittsfield, who, among other things, told the panel that Williamstown should be thinking about partnerships with other towns.

 

"I think it's great you all are thinking that way," Downing said. "Too often, you find with communities engaged in a process like this it becomes just, 'What can we do?' My thought on a fruitful next step would be to gather a group like this or a subcommittee from your group to talk to other communities in the region.

 

"Say, 'Where is the sweet spot for all of us? If we're going to be marketing, where is it targeted and let's do it together.'"

 

And if the towns join forces to seek grants, they have a better chance of securing funding if those grants would serve a wider population, Downing said.

 

The committee pressed the senator for specifics on what sort of state aid might be available to fund economic development efforts at the local level.

 

He prefaced his remarks by saying that the commonwealth continues to adjust to the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker, but he offered encouragement that the transition will not leave cities and towns out in the cold.

 

"[Housing and Economic Development] Secretary Jay Ash is widely regarded as one of the better municipal officials in the state," Downing said. "Was the city manager of Chelsea for the better part of part of the last four years.

 

"I worked with him a lot as chairman of the Gateway Communities Caucus. He's really hard working and understands the challenges of doing economic development at the local scale. He's someone who is open to new ideas and wants to be solicitous of ideas from all areas of the commonwealth."

 

Downing said there is funding available from sources like federal Community Block Grant Development funds that pass through state agencies.

 

But all such grants can be hard to come by, he cautioned.

 

"MassWorks is the most competitive grant program in the state," Downing said, referring to the infrastructure program administered by Ash's agency. "In the last round of funding, there was $50 million available statewide. My Senate district alone had a hair over $50 million in applications."

 

That said, Downing encouraged the committee to get in touch with various state agencies like Housing and Economic Development and the Massachusetts Office of Business Development and quasi-public agencies MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to see what assistance they can provide.

 

He also told the committee members that their region has more going for it than they might think.

 

While he acknowledged the issues of a shrinking and aging population that have been the focus of much of the talk around economic development in the Berkshires, Downing said there also is much right with the region.

 

"The trends are scary, and they're real," he said. "Having grown up here ... all I ever heard was how great it used to be. If you tell a whole generation how great it used to be, those trends become self-fulfilling. The county is getting older, smaller and poorer.

 

"At the same time ... let's just take North County. You've got two great colleges, McCann Tech, Mass MoCA, the Clark. We've got some stuff to work with here.

 

"The glass isn't half empty or half full. It's both. It's a matter of how we use the assets we have to fill it up."