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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BUW, NBUW Partner on Community Conversations

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire United Way and Northern Berkshire United Way are partnering on four community conversations focused on food insecurity, disability, redlining and racism, and health insurance.
 
Each of the conversations will run Wednesdays from 5 to 6:30 p.m., with two in Pittsfield and two in North Adams. 
 
The focus of the conversations is to understand how these issues are having an impact on Berkshire County residents and to hear from organizations and experts helping to address these them.
 
The schedule is as follows: 
 
Food Insecurity, Oct. 14: Berkshire Bounty, Pittsfield Community Food Pantry, The Center, and Community Health Programs. Held at The Center, 193 Robbins Ave., Pittsfield. Facilitated by Berkshire United Way.
 
Disability, Oct. 28: United Cerebraly Palsy of Western Mass, Berkshire Family and Individual Resources, and a representative from Nonotuck Resource Associates in North Adams. Held at the BFAIR main office, 771 South Church St., North Adams. Facilitated by Northern Berkshire United Way.
 
Redlining & Racism, Nov. 11: Frances Jones-Sneed, professor emeritus of history and political science at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, MCLA and representatives from NAACP Berkshires. Held in the Community Empowerment Center at Greylock Federal Credit Union, 75 Kellogg St., Pittsfield. Facilitated by Berkshire United Way.
 
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