1Berkshire Reviews Fulfilling Year at Annual Meeting
1Berkshire President and CEO Jonathan Butler remarks on the organizations successes this past year.
DALTON, Mass. — Some 200 people gathered at the Stationery Factory on Thursday for 1Berkshire's annual meeting, celebrating another year of economic development work and promotion of the county.
President and CEO Jonathan Butler pointed out that 1Berkshire has been involved with the venue since its early days, packing several hundred people in for Celebrates the Berkshires in 2015 and showcasing the potential of the facility.
Today, more than 100 people work in the building and 25 businesses are headquartered there. Butler said this is a tremendous example of economic development and is thought of as a microcosm of the Berkshire Blueprint 2.0, which recommends a cluster approach to development in the Berkshires.
"All of those things are happening right here in the Stationery Factory. We have creative economy businesses, makers, performers, artists, there's light manufacturing upstairs in this building, there's health and wellness businesses in this building, there's food and agriculture businesses in this building," he said.
"This building is an attraction and part of our visitor economy experience in the brochures. The Stationery Factory literally translates across the entire Berkshire Blueprint and it represents all of the best things that we do here in the Berkshires."
Butler and Vice President of Economic Development Benjamin Lamb gave an overview of the organization's numerous efforts and programs over the last year.
The organization took in $2.1 million and had an 85 percent retention rate of its more than 600 members.
Lamb said it has been a very fulfilling year and, in some cases, an overly fulfilling year. 1Berkshire conducted 161 business consultations, supported the creation of 92 new jobs and $2.5 million in investment, and made strides with the Berkshire Tech Impact Collaborative and the Berkshire Blueprint 2.0.
It participated for the past 2 1/2 years in the U.S. Economic Development Administration-funded Berkshire Economic Recovery Project with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission.
"We had an amazing grant opportunity to dive in mid-pandemic into really creating some amazing technical assistance offerings for our small business community," Lamb said.
"We saw over 90 businesses participate in those programs over that 2 1/2 years, all of which got high-touch individualized attention to help tackle the specific issues that they were facing in the moment. This was a highly tailored program and we saw immense outcomes from it."
Over the last year, participants in the program have accessed over $1 million in capital.
Lamb is excited about the Transplant Retention and Engagement Program to engage recent transplants to the county socially and professionally.
"We know we've had a lot of new folks move into the Berkshires throughout the pandemic and the years since and we want to make sure that they stay. We want to make sure that that sticky factor is really here and we know the research shows that engagement is mission critical to making that occur," he reported, adding that they are working on piloting the program in the spring.
This aims to help folks who have joined the community become a component part and help to be a part of the next wave of recruitment and retention to tackle the declining population problem that has been in conversation for 40 years, Lamb said.
Marketing was one of the top tactics for 2023, with 5.3 million impressions on Facebook and Instagram and 95,000 clicks to berkshires.org. 1Berkshire has also looked to YouTube and TikTok to appeal to younger demographics.
Butler reported that housing has been a pressing issue throughout the membership. While it is not something that a traditional economic development business association would wrestle with, the state is in a housing crisis.
"You can't have a conversation with an employer, small, medium, or large without housing being one of the first two or three things they need to talk about. It's affecting their workforce, it's affecting our ability to serve the people that live in this community and want to stay in this community and have a quality of life in this community and there's a lot of work that we have to do," he said.
"As an organization, our role has been pulling together partners. We were excited to be a part of the release of the Housing Vision for the Berkshires, which was the culmination of two years worth of work with a whole bunch of stakeholders from the housing arena that was released last year. A lot has gone into that work. We have a lot of data. We have a lot of specific recommendations that we've been advocating for on a local level on the state level. One of the things that you can help us with is continuing to share your stories with us and how housing is affecting you as employers or even members of our community."
Berkshire Bank's Berkshire/Vermont Regional President Lori Gazzillo Kiely, chair of the 1Berkshire board, said the turnout out on Thursday is a testament to the great work that 1Berkshire does for the community.
"We're unique in Berkshire County, we were just talking about this, as compared to other areas in Massachusetts," she said.
"We live in a beautiful place here over in the western corner of the state and we face different challenges than other areas but I cannot think of a better organization that is better positioned than 1Berkshire to make sure that our needs are heard at the other end of the state."
She said the organization was described as the "keeper of the regional agenda" at a recent executive meeting and that it was a great way to explain its purpose.
"The staff at 1Berkshire under Jonathan's leadership wake up every day thinking about how we can make this place better, even better than it is, it's already great but just constantly thinking about how we can make improvements," Gazzillo Kiely said.
"And it is one of the only organizations in the county that's focused specifically on Berkshire County's economic development and improved quality of life. For all of us who live work and visit here."
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