Lucy Prashker Named 51st Annual Woman of Achievement

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Business and Professional Women organization has named Lucy Prashker, managing partner at Cain Hibbard & Myers, Counselors at Law, as this year's Woman of Achievement.

For 51 years, Berkshire BPW has been honoring a local woman for her achievements and commitment to the community with the "Woman of Achievement" award every fall. Past recipients include such outstanding community leaders as Dr. Ellen Kennedy of Berkshire Community College, Ruth Blodgett of Berkshire Health Systems, Laurie Norton-Moffat of Norman Rockwell Museum and Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Company.

Prashker will be recognized at a dinner event celebrating National Women in Business Week, on Monday, Oct. 19, at the Country Club of Pittsfield. Kristine Hazzard, president and CEO of Berkshire United Way, will emcee the ceremony.

"I am amazed and inspired by all that Lucy is able to accomplish in her professional life and through her community support," said Donna Collins, chairwoman of the Woman of Achievement Committee. "Lucy has positively impacted the lives of countless individuals in Berkshire County through the organizations with which she is so personally involved. I look forward to hearing more about her accomplishments as she accepts our award."

Prashker was nominated by both Hazzard and Debra Blatt, founder of Group Restorations. In the nomination, they wrote that she is "the epitome of a committed and effective community volunteer."

"She gives of her time, talent and treasure. Her logical approach to a problem and her intelligence and professionalism engender her passion for making anything she does of the highest quality with great integrity, whether serving clients or the community," they wrote. "She's innovative, thoughtful and compassionate, and is very committed to social justice. She recognizes that literacy and education are the path out of poverty and has taken on the challenge of increasing access to the resources people throughout Berkshire County need to succeed."

Prashker is very active in the Southern Berkshire community. She has served for more than 20 years as town counsel to the town of Alford, where she lives with her husband and daughter. She is president and chairperson of the board of directors of the Literacy Network of South Berkshire. She is also a member of the board of Berkshire Priorities (an organization of community leaders working to connect stakeholders to improve educational and economic opportunities throughout Berkshire County), the Early Childhood Literacy Council of Berkshire United Way, Berkshire Hills Fund for Excellence (an educational enrichment fund that supports the Berkshire Regional School District), and the Education Committee of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

In addition, she's a member of BUW's Greylock Society of leadership donors and professionally, as a partner at Cain Hibbard & Meyers, has helped develop their philanthropic commitment to education; Cain Hibbard & Meyers also conducts a BUW annual employee campaign and was named a Pinnacle company in 2015.

Professionally, Prashker is the managing partner of Cain Hibbard & Meyers and chairwoman of its health law, and its intellectual property, technology and Internet law groups. She represents businesses and individuals on a wide variety of business and intellectual property issues. She is also a litigator, handling complex commercial cases in both state and federal courts in both Massachusetts and New York. Much of her practice is devoted to advising clients in the fields of health law and nonprofit law.  Her clients include artists and writers, manufacturers, emerging technology companies, nonprofit organizations, and health care providers.

Jennifer Dowley, CEO of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, said Prashker has helped the organization "navigate through some very complicated and challenging waters" in her more than 10 years as legal counsel.

"She is wickedly smart and brings a clarity of insight that has been invaluable in all areas of her advice," Dowley said. "She sees the architecture of a situation that allows a path for resolution to be clearly seen. She always looks for positive outcomes that are humane and keep the big picture in mind."

Tickets to the Oct. 19 dinner are $50; money raised at the event will go toward BBPW's scholarship fund for Berkshire County women who are going to school to try to further their careers. Individuals and businesses are also encouraged to sponsor a full scholarship in Prashker's honor for $500. Reservations for the dinner are required by Oct. 2; seating is limited. For more information, contact Collins at dcollinsbpw@gmail.com or 413-236-4811.

Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:04AM / Sunday, April 05, 2026

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing. 

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said. 

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today." 

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback. 

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director. 

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care.  Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires. 

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs. 

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said. 

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.