BCC Gets $735,000 Workforce Training Grant

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PITTSFIELD, MA - Berkshire Community College (BCC) has received a $735,000 workforce training grant, part of a total of $15 million awarded to the Commonwealth’s 15 community colleges. 
 
Each college is allocated 75 seats for training courses, and additional funds will be made available from the grant’s remaining $3.45 million after a school expends the current allocation. 
 
According to a press release issued by Governor Charlie Baker, the grant supports “the creation and expansion of training programs in high-demand industries, such as healthcare, education, manufacturing, information technology and cybersecurity.”  
 
The funding was earmarked in An Act Relative to Immediate COVID-19 Recovery Needs, signed by Governor Baker in December 2021. About a third of funds will be allocated to increasing training programs for the healthcare industry, which is in high demand in the Berkshires and beyond. 
 
“This award represents a direct opportunity to bolster educational training for the jobs Berkshire County needs, particularly in the Governor’s Berkshire Skills cabinet identified priority areas including Healthcare, and Advanced Manufacturing,” said BCC President Ellen Kennedy. “It also serves as an important channel for reaching our underemployed population as we strive to provide the skills employers look for. We are thrilled to receive such a generous award.”  
 
According to the governor’s release, the training programs supported by the grant aim to help populations who have traditionally experienced higher rates of unemployment and barriers to employment, as identified by the Black Advisory Commission and the Latino Advisory Commission. Priority will be given to those who are unemployed and underemployed. 
 
“These grants complement our administration’s ongoing work to address the skills gap by building additional training capacity at all the Commonwealth’s community colleges so people have opportunities to gain hands-on skills and knowledge in growing industries,” said Governor Baker. “It is crucial that we provide more residents with quality training options and eliminate the gaps between what skills the Massachusetts workforce has, and what skills employers need.” 
 
Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) and the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges (MACC) will jointly administer the grant program with the Executive Office of Education, and in consultation with the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and regional Workforce Investment Boards.

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EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

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