Berkshire Benchmarks Releases State of the County Update

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Benchmarks data team recently released a State of the County Update for 2023. 
 
This brief report builds on the Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County Report published in May 2022 and highlights notable changes in regional indicators over the past year. The berkshirebenchmarks.org website has also been updated to reflect the most current available data. 
 
The purpose of the Benchmarks initiative and report is to highlight the region's successes and challenges.
 
The 2022 Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County report provided a comprehensive overview of our region's performance across eight sectors: Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Health, Housing, Social Environment, and Transportation.  
 
In the future, the Berkshire Benchmarks team will continue to monitor these and other indicators to aid with the regional understanding of changes in these sectors and whether the work happening throughout the region is having the intended impact. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks is a collaborative initiative managed through Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC). Our sources are publicly available data, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Community Survey, various Massachusetts data sets, and periodic surveys of Berkshire County residents. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks aims to work with the community to understand priorities and help inform the region on how we are doing and if we are improving. Berkshire Benchmarks enhances the region's access to quality data and analysis. 

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Pittsfield Council Sees Last ARPA Update

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It has been five years since Pittsfield received more than $40 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to offset the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2021, with Linda Tyer as mayor, Pittsfield accepted $40,602,779 in ARPA awards to be used by the end of 2026. Now, five years later, the city is looking back on everything those once-in-a-lifetime monies supported. 

Through June 30, $40,357,427 of those funds have been expended. Eighty-five projects were allocated funds, and only the Old Town Hall HVAC installation, soon to be complete, and administrative expenses remain. 

Special Projects Manager Gina Armstrong gave her last ARPA update to the City Council last week. 

"For me, this is the labor of love," she said. 

"It's been so exciting to see where we are after planning, having community engagement, community input, having our advisory council and our ARPA team just putting it all together, and now we have all these outcomes to show for the incredible investments we've been able to make."

Expenses will be completed by the end of this month, and a final report is due to the U.S. Treasury in October. Pittsfield anticipates returning about $42,000 in unspent administrative funds because ARPA is wrapping up sooner than the deadline. 

Funds were spent in five categories: $4.7 million for public health, $25.1 million for negative economic impacts, $5.9 million for infrastructure, $3.5 million for revenue replacement, and about $1 million for administration. 

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