PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College (BCC), in partnership with Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), has been awarded a multi-year Community College Campus Hunger Program Grant in the amount of $180,000.
Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and administered through the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, the grant award will provide program support through June 30, 2024.
The grant is designed to increase access to academic opportunities for students of color and students experiencing food insecurity. The award letter commends BCC for its "commitment to transform higher education institutional cultures to center equity-minded support."
"Our top priority at BCC is offering a quality education that is accessible to all. But access goes beyond the classroom — we must do everything we can to ensure the basic needs of our students are met," said Ellen Kennedy, President. "Food insecurity disproportionately impacts students of color and low-income students. This generous grant allows us to address the serious issue of hunger head-on by identifying need, taking active steps to alleviate the problem and allowing our students to thrive without the added pressures of food insecurity."
With grant funding, BCC and MCLA plan to hire a full-time Student Services Navigator, a shared position created to make each college's food pantry and food security programming fully sustainable. Daily operations will be run by student advocates, with administrative oversight. A total of approximately 600 students at BCC and MCLA will be served annually.
"Food insecurity makes it more difficult for students to complete courses, stay enrolled and ultimately graduate. When a student is choosing between working on their classes or figuring out how to feed their family or themselves, food is always going to come first," said Adam Klepetar, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. "Funding for this project will have a significant impact on the student populations at BCC and MCLA, particularly in helping to close the gaps in outcome disparities."
Key activities of the grant project will include:
The creation of annual programming such as cooking and nutrition classes with regional partners
Financial literacy workshops with local banks and fuel assistance information
Annual professional development training for faculty and staff on how to address signs of food or housing insecurity and what resources are available
Broadening and strengthening community relationships with key non-profits throughout Berkshire County focused on basic needs and food insecurity
The purchase of additional meal swipes and frozen meals from MCLA's food service provider, Aramark, and BCC's food service provider Epicurean, that would allow students who are unable to afford a college meal plan to access food from the cafeteria
An expansion of services to include taxi and transportation vouchers for trips to the supermarket or local farmers' markets
"We are excited about this advanced partnership with our colleagues at MCLA, once again showcasing how our colleges keep our students at the center of all we do," Dean of Students Celia Norcross said. "Their education is important to us, and having them succeed in and out of the classroom with access to basic needs is vital."
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Classical Beat: Enjoy Great Music at Tanglewood, Sevenars Festivals
By Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires
As Tanglewood enters its fourth week, stellar performances will take center stage in Ozawa Hall and in the Koussevitsky Shed.
Why go? To experience world-class instrumental soloists, such as the stellar piano virtuoso Yuja Wang. Also not to be missed are the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, as well as visiting guest ensembles and BSO and TMC soloists as they perform chamber and orchestral masterworks by iconic composers Purcell, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Wagner, Prokofiev, Richard Strauss, Vaughan Williams and Ives.
In addition to Tanglewood, there are also outstanding performances to be enjoyed at the Sevenars Music Festival in South Worthington. Both venues present great music performed in acoustically resonant venues by marvelous performers.
Read below for the details for concerts from Wednesday, July 17-Tuesday, July 22.
Tanglewood
• Wednesday, July 17, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall • Recital Series: The phenomenal world-class piano virtuoso Yuja Wang presents a piano recital in Ozawa Hall.
• Thursday July 18, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall • Recital Series: Les Arts Florissants, William Christie, Director and Mourad Merzouki, Choreographer presents a performance of Henry Purcell's ‘semi-opera'/Restoration Drama "The Fairy Queen."
• Friday, July 19, 8 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Dima Slobodeniouk leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a program of Leonard Bernstein (the deeply moving, jazz-tinged Symphony No. 2 ("Age of Anxiety") and Brahms' glorious Symphony No. 3.
• Saturday, July 20, 8 p.m. in the Shed: BSO Maestro Andris Nelsons leads the Orchestra in a concert version of Richard Wagner's thrilling concluding music drama from his "Ring" cycle-tetralogy, "Götterdämmerung." The stellar vocal soloists include sopranos Christine Goerke and Amanda Majeske, tenor Michael Weinius, baritone James Rutherford, bass Morris Robinson and Rhine maidens Diana Newman, Renée Tatum and Annie Rosen.
• Sunday, July 21, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Nelsons leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (TMCO) in a program of Ives (the amazingly evocative "Three Places in New England"), Beethoven (the powerful Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Emanuel Ax) and Richard Strauss ("Also sprach Zarathustra" — you'll recognize its iconic "sunrise" opening).
• Tuesday, July 22, 7:00 p.m. in the Shed • Popular Artist Series: Beck, with the Boston Pops, Edwin Outwater, conductor.
For tickets to all Tanglewood events, call 888-266-1200, or go to tanglewood.org.
Sevenars Music Festival
Founded in 1968, Sevenars Concerts, Inc., presents its 56th anniversary season of six summer concerts, held at the Academy in South Worthington, located at 15 Ireland St., just off Route 112.
• Sunday, July 21, at 4 p.m.: Sevenars is delighted to present violist Ron Gorevic, returning to Sevenars after his stunning Bach recital in 2023. This year, Gorevic will offer a groundbreaking program including music of Kenji Bunch, Sal Macchia, Larry Wallach, and Tasia Wu, the latter three composing especially for him. In addition, he'll offer Bach's magnificent Chaconne in D minor and Max Reger's 3rd Suite.
Hailed by The New York Times, Gorevic continues a long and distinguished career as a performer on both violin and viola. Along with solo recitals, he has toured the United States, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Australia, performing most of the quartet repertoire. In London, he gave the British premieres of pieces by Donald Erb and Ned Rorem. He has recorded for Centaur Records as soloist and member of the Prometheus Piano Quartet, and for Koch Records as a member of the Chester String Quartet.
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