Regional Initiative Prioritizing Support for BIPOC Community

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Funding Focus has established a priority to support BIPOC-owned or led businesses, organizations, and institutions, as well as those businesses, organizations, and institutions that provide significant services to Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities.
 
To address this priority, BFF, a regional initiative which launched earlier this fall to build capacity of grant seekers throughout the Berkshires, is conducting a multi-phase outreach and assessment process to better understand best practices around supporting access to and acquisition of government funding by BIPOC and BIPOC-serving entities.
 
Berkshire Funding Focus intends to listen to and learn from leaders of color to understand the local and regional needs that government funds might address and prepare recommendations as to how Berkshire Funding Focus staff and Advisory Committee members can help address those needs, according to a press release.
 
Outreach will be led by consultant Emily Williams of ERAC LLC assisted by a sub-committee reflective of the BIPOC communities in Berkshire County. 
 
The first phase of the assessment involves a brief survey to identify those interested in providing background on the needs and capacities of BIPOC entities in the region, followed by one-on-one discussions with leaders of BIPOC businesses, organizations, and institutions expressing interest in participating. Findings will be shared with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, host of Berkshire Funding Focus, and the partner agencies that form the BFF initiative.
 
The initial survey can be accessed at this link. Responses are requested by Dec. 1. Anyone requiring assistance in accessing the survey should contact Williams at consultant@berkshireplanning.org.
 
About Berkshire Funding Focus: www.berkshirefundingfocus.org
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

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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