Kamala Harris to Attend Pittsfield Fundraiser

05:24PM / Tuesday, July 23, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It appears that Vice President Kamala Harris will be attending a campaign event in Pittsfield on Saturday.

Harris had been scheduled for the sold-out event before being suddenly elevated to presidential candidate on Sunday. The original Biden-Harris fundraiser is now a Harris fundraiser but it was unclear if she would continue with her scheduled appearances.

The Berkshire Eagle reports that organizer Sherwood Guernsey has confirmed she will attend.

The event will also feature James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma, former Gov. Deval and former first lady Diane Patrick, Boston College historian and political commentator Heather Cox Richardson and former Pittsfield Mayor Evan Dobelle and his wife, Kit, both of whom worked in the Carter administration.

Guernsey, an attorney, is a leader of the Berkshire Brigades local Democratic organization and president of Rural Freedom Network.

Tickets sold out almost immediately; they ranged from $100 to thousands of dollars.

The last political fundraiser in Pittsfield was with Michelle Obama for her husband's second presidential run in 2012 against former Gov. Mitt Romney, now a U.S. senator for Utah. Taylor also performed at that event and a private roundtable was held afterward at the Patricks' Sweet P Farm in Richmond.

iBerkshires has reached out to the campaign for more information.

Tags: campaign event,

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Pittsfield ARPA Funds Have Year-End Expiration Date

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:20AM / Thursday, January 15, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — American Rescue Fund Act monies must be spent by the end of the year, and Pittsfield is already close.

In 2021, the city was awarded a historic amount of money — $40,602,779 — in federal remediation funds for the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the end of September 2025, more than $37 million had been expended, and 90 percent of the 84 awarded projects were complete.

Special Project Manager Gina Armstrong updated the City Council on the ARPA funds during its first meeting of the new term on Tuesday.

As of September 2025, the $4.7 million allocated for public health and COVID-19 response has been fully expended. Additionally, $22.7 million of the $24.9 million allocated for negative economic impacts has been expended, and nearly all of the infrastructure funds, more than $5.8 million, have been expended.

Less than $3 million of the $3.7 million allocated for revenue replacement has been spent, along with about $873,00 of the $1.1 million allocated for administration.

Armstrong noted that in the last quarter, "Quite a bit more has been done in the areas of the housing projects." In 2022, then-Mayor Linda Tyer allocated $8.6 million in ARPA funds for affordable housing initiatives, and the community is eager for those additional units to come online.

Nine supportive units at the Zion Lutheran Church on First Street received more than $1.5 million in ARPA funds, the 7,700-square-foot housing resource center in the basement received more than $4.6 million, and the Westside Legends' home construction project saw more than $361,000 for two single-family homes on South Church Street and Daniels Avenue.

"This is just about complete, and I believe that people who are currently homeless or at risk of homelessness will be able to take these apartments in the very near future," Armstrong said, noting the supportive units and resource center that had a ribbon-cutting in late 2025.