Berkshire Business and Professional Women Hold 2021 Woman of Achievement Gala

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Business and Professional Women's 2021 Woman of Achievement Gala raised $29,000 in funds for local scholarships at its annual event held in late September.  
 
The gala, which featured a hybrid model, honored the women of the Berkshire Vaccine Collaborative.
 
"We were thrilled to be able to shine a spotlight on the hardworking, caring women of the Berkshire Vaccine Collaborative for this year’s Women of Achievement celebration. Through the generous support of our donors, sponsors, and supporters, we were able to exceed our fundraising goals with this event, and continue to increase the positive impact of our Career Advancement Scholarship Program in the Berkshires," said Vice-President Hannah DeLisle-Stall, of the event held on Sept. 20. "An event like this allows us to lift up women in multiple ways - by honoring and celebrating the hard work of these women in our community, and by raising funds to help more women grow in their careers."
 
Sponsors organizations included: 1 Berkshire, Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Community College, Berkshire Eagle (in kind), Berkshire Health Systems, Berkshire Inns, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Blue Spark Capital Advisors, BRIDGE, Canna Provisions, Celia Clancy Associates, Community Health Programs, Dalton CRA – Mill + Main (in kind), Dan Bosley Consulting, Doc’s Signs and Truck Outfitters, Dulye & Co., Generating Autonomy, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Home Sweet Home Real Estate, Interprint, Jacob’s Pillow, Katalyst/Harnessing the Power of Change, Methuselah Bar and Lounge, Lee Bank, MCLA, Mildred Elley, Milltown Capital (in kind), MountainOne, Mountain View Home Care, Inc., NAACP, Neenah Technical Materials, October Mountain Financial Advisors, Onyx Specialty Papers, Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, Radius Financial Group, Toole Insurance, and Willow Investments.
 
Individual sponsors included: Hannah DeLisle-Stall, Shirley Edgerton, Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Joe and Tracy Finnegan, Amalio Jusino, Sheryl Lechner, Ellen Kennedy, Linda Tyer, and Karen Zink.
 
For more information about BBPW, please visit berkshirebpw.org.
 
 
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Worldwide PowerSchool Breach Reaches Pittsfield Schools

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — District students and teachers had their personal information accessed as part of a worldwide PowerSchool breach.

"This is not unique to the City of Pittsfield," Superintendent Joseph Curtis told the School Committee on Wednesday.

"Every one of the 18,000 PowerSchool customers has experienced a data breach. We were informed yesterday with a very brief notice from PowerSchool and our technology department began to dig into the impact near immediately."

The breach reportedly took place between Dec. 19 and 28, when it was detected by PowerSchool and all accounts were locked down. It is being investigated by the FBI and a third-party cybersecurity firm.

On Jan. 8, PowerSchool hosted a webinar with the investigative team to provide school districts with further details about the situation.

The Pittsfield Public School's technology department investigation found that personal information from the fields "Student" and "Teacher" were accessed. This includes home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.

Other school districts have reported access to student grades, health information and Social Security numbers. 

As a cybersecurity computer science student, School Committee member William Garrity found the breach "deeply concerning."

"I am concerned by the security practice PowerSchool had implemented before this," he said.

"I think there was a lot of this oversight, I'm not going to get into it in this meeting. Hopefully not just us but other districts around Massachusetts, the county, and the world hold PowerSchool accountable for their security practices."

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