CDCSB Announces Appointment of Interim Executive Director

08:00AM / Thursday, February 15, 2024Print Story | Email Story

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Community Development Corporation South Berkshire (CDCSB), a 501(c)3 non-profit located in Great Barrington, announced the appointment of Philip Orenstein as Interim Executive Director.

Philip will lead the CDCSB's dual mission to create housing and economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income households in the southern Berkshires. Mr Orenstein has stepped down from his role as CDCSB Board member and Treasurer to take on this role.

Philip is qualified to assume the role of Interim Executive director. His past participation as a Board member and Treasurer enabled him to develop an intimate knowledge of the CDCSB's operations, and his background in finance gives him the required skill set and demeanor. Philip and his wife, Nancy have been homeowners in Great Barrington since 1998 and are committed members of the Southern Berkshire community.

Philip also serves as the Chair of the Great Barrington Finance Committee and is a member of the Board of the Great Barrington Housing Authority.

Philip is a finance professional with over 35 years of experience in banking, capital markets, and investment management. He received a B.A. in Economics from The George Washington University and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University

"I am excited to have Phil take the lead," says Jim Harwood, CDCSB Board President. "As our previous Treasurer and Board Member, Phil's knowledge of the organization will allow him to hit the ground running as we enter this period of continued growth and transition."

CDCSB is the preeminent non-profit developer of workforce and affordable housing in the Southern Berkshires. Recent achievements include the completion in September of 49 units of affordable housing at the Windrush Commons development just south of downtown Great Barrington, and the acquisition of the historic Sumner Block in 2023 which preserved six workforce housing units in the community's walkable downtown.

CDCSB also supports economic development in the Southern Berkshires, providing technical consulting assistance at no charge to local small businesses. During Covid, CDCSB's Small Business Technical Assistance (SBTA) program has helped more than 60 businesses launch, pivot, or stabilize, and helped secure more than $1.5 million in funding for those businesses.

CDCSB is currently working towards a purchase of the Thornewood Inn to create 18 housing units for local workers.

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South County Celebrates 250th Anniversary of the Knox Trail

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
06:18PM / Sunday, January 11, 2026

State Sen. Paul Mark carries the ceremonial linstock, a device used to light artillery. With him are New York state Sen. Michelle Hinchey and state Sen. Nick Collins of Suffolk County.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. —The 250th celebration of American independence began in the tiny town of Alford on Saturday morning.

Later that afternoon, a small contingent of re-enactors, community members and officials marched from the Great Barrington Historical Society to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center to recognize the Berkshire towns that were part of that significant event in the nation's history.

State Sen. Paul Mark, as the highest ranking Massachusetts governmental official at the Alford crossing, was presented a ceremonial linstock flying the ribbons representing every New York State county that Henry Knox and his team passed through on their 300-mile journey from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the winter of 1775-76.

"The New York contingent came to the border. We had a speaking program, and they officially handed over the linstock, transferring control of the train to Massachusetts," said Mark, co-chair of Massachusetts' special commission for the semiquincentennial. "It was a great melding of both states, a kind of coming together."

State Rep. Leigh Davis called Knox "an unlikely hero, he was someone that rose up to the occasion. ... this is really honoring someone that stepped into a role because he was called to serve, and that is something that resonates."

Gen. George Washington charged 25-year-old bookseller Knox with bringing artillery from the recently captured fort on Lake Champlain to the beleaugured and occupied by Boston. It took 80 teams of horses and oxen to carry the nearly 60 tons of cannon through snow and over mountains.

Knox wrote to Washington that "the difficulties were inconceivable yet surmountable" and left the fort in December. He crossed the Hudson River in early January near Albany, crossing into Massachusetts on what is now Route 71 on Jan. 10, 1776. By late January, he was in Framingham and in the weeks to follow the artillery was positioned on Dorchester Heights.

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