BCC Awarded Early Education Grant

12:21PM / Thursday, October 14, 2021Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Commonwealth's Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) has awarded Berkshire Community College a Career Pathways Grant totaling $257,331 for the 2022 fiscal year.

The grant funds tuition, fees and support for those pursuing a degree in higher education while working in the field of early education and care.

The grant is designed to reduce barriers to enrollment and completion by providing coherent and stackable courses for credentialing and degree attainment. It also addresses challenges in the early education field, including certified staffing shortages.

Funding supports:

Educator enrollment and retention
Completion of courses, certificates and degrees
Smooth transfer for students who choose to continue their education at a four-year university.

"This grant changes lives through coursework and through transferable skills that impact the whole person. We have seen students achieve their academic, professional and personal dreams because of the help these funds provided," said Alicia Ginsberg, Early Childhood Career Pathway Grant Coordinator at BCC. "Their growth is truly inspiring."

Recipients of grant funds at BCC have earned teacher certification, lead teacher certification and director certification.

The EEC Career Pathways Grant has supported early childhood educators at BCC since 2019. In just three years, the grant has supported 160 students who completed a total of 1,269 credits.

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Pittsfield Wants People to Know Where Free Public Wifi Is

By Brittany PolitoiBerkhshires Staff
04:46AM / Friday, September 18, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city wants it to be clear where people can connect to free public wifi— which expands beyond downtown.

On Tuesday, the Parks Commission approved "Free Wifi" signage at The Common, Riverway Park, and Durant Park. Community members can access the internet without charge in these locations, as well as in downtown areas.

Two years ago, Pittsfield received a $99,972 Digital Equity Implementation Grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. This allowed the city to take a comprehensive look at digital equity and determine where to focus attention.

"That was a lengthy process that we worked on, and there was a lot of public input. We did some surveying. We met with a lot of focus groups; [Berkshire Regional Planning Commission] was the group that spearheaded that for us, and one of the things that came up was the lack of accessible wifi," Director of Community Development Justine Dodds reported. "Particularly in the westside."

Throughout this process, residents also wanted to see connectivity at the nearby Westside Riverway Park.

In 2023, Pittsfield was selected to participate in the Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program launched by the state and MBI, focused on ensuring residents can use the internet to conduct day-to-day activities. A digital equity plan also qualifies Pittsfield for additional grant funding.

Around 16,000 city households qualified for the Federal Communications Commission's affordable internet program that ended in 2024.

Dodds said adding Wi-FI and signage to Durant and Riverway Parks is a small piece of the larger digital equity project. Signage is already downtown, and the city plans to hire the same designer for the expanded wayfinding so it is cohesive.

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