NBCC Celebrating Community at Adams Event

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Northern Berkshire Community Coalition is venturing south to hold its annual meeting in Adams for the first time. 
 
The Adams Theater, reopened and under renovation, will be the site of the 38th annual meeting on Friday, June 28, from 11:30 to 1:30. 
 
Executive Director Amber Besaw sees it as a way to demonstrate that the coalition is really about all of Northern Berkshires. 
 
"We're sort of trying to make sure that people know we serve the whole region by not only having them in North Adams," she said. 
 
NBCC held its annual gatherings at the old Williams Inn, as did so many other organizations, then switched to GreylockWorks in the city's West End when the hotel was demolished. 
 
That worked out but the coalition is eager to include another venue in a community that it serves. The keynote speaker will be Yina Moore, an architect and financier, who purchased the theater three years ago. Moore is working to make the theater a community and cultural hub in Adams. 
 
She's also invested in the Topia Inn, now called the Trail, behind the theater and other real estate in the area.  
 
The meeting will also honor founding board member and NBCC's "biggest champion," the late Steve Green, with the Northern Berkshire Hero Award. "You know he's our hero," said Besaw.
 
Berkshire Catering Co. is serving the light luncheon and the meeting will include a look back over the past year, plans for the coming year and updates on initiatives and on projects, such as NBCC's plans for its new home on State Street.   
Besaw and communications coordinator Suzy Helme said they got some input from staff that maybe the description of the event as a "meeting" doesn't communicate that the public is more than welcome to attend.
 
"We did get a little bit of some thoughts from some staff who are new. We call it our annual meeting. And so people in the community might feel like it's not a thing for them, but it's really a celebration of community," said Besaw. "This is an event that we hold every year but it's really a celebration of community and community members are invited to come."
 
Tickets are $30 per person, but scholarships are available by request. Register online here (preferably by June 21) or for questions or to register by phone: 413-663-7588.

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Letter: CDBG Funding for Housing Fix-Up, Purchase Assistance, and Affordable Housing Trust

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

At the public hearing (03/25/26) on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Application submitted by North Adams, the presentation indicated that no funding was allocated to assisting residents with housing fix-up and housing purchase.

North Adams remains the only jurisdiction in Berkshire County that does not include these types of programs in their CDBG application. The grant application also misses an opportunity to fund the newly created Affordable Housing Trust which receives CDBG funds in other jurisdictions.

North Adams funded housing fix-up and housing purchase assistance in the past and these programs helped many residents with home upkeep and purchases. The need for these programs has only increased since they were abandoned by North Adams.

For the median income resident of North Adams the median home price is $40,000 more than they can afford. Over 27 percent of homeowners spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing and 12.5 percent of homeowners spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Over 20 percent of properties in North Adams are rated as below average condition by the North Adams assessor.

There should be no doubt that North Adams needs both fix-up and home purchase assistance programs and a well supported Affordable Housing Trust. I urge North Adams residents to advocate for funding for these programs during the upcoming budget review meetings.

Virginia Riehl
North Adams, Mass. 

Riehl is co-founder of the North Adams Community Housing Organization (NACHO)

 

 

 

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