Please click here for our Community Resource Guide.  This guide offers a list of the health, human service, and educational organizations in Northern Berkshire County and how to contact them.  The guide is also available in Spanish.

The Department of Children and Families, in conjunction with the Children’s Trust Fund of Massachusetts, gave nbCC the opportunity to build a complementary resource center for families in northern Berkshire County. The foundation of this work will be to support and provide preventative services to northern Berkshire families.  The framework for programming and services will be the five protective factors for families; parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete supports in times of need, as well as children’s healthy social and emotional development. Our implementation plan has included building on existing partnerships  to help identify and share with the Coalition what families need to be happy, healthy, and successful in northern Berkshire communities.

The work here at nbCC is just beginning. Amber Besaw was hired in October of 2011 to be the Project Coordinator for the resource center. With the help and creativity of community members, the nbCC Board of Directors, the staff of nbCC, and our advisory board we have named the program, “The Family Place”. The Family Place will be joining the current Coalition space at 61 Main Street in North Adams, expanding the current Coalition office by 580 square feet. This location will grant us the opportunity to use the conference room space, kitchenette space, as well as add on a family friendly gathering place, space accessible to the community, and a playroom for children of all ages. This project has passed through stages of design and construction and is entering the final stages of painting and furnishing.

We look forward to working with the community to create an overall programming structure that fits the needs, strengths, and ideals of northern Berkshire families.

nbCC is excited to take the lead on this Department of Public Health (DPH)-funded initiative to provide opportunity for the municipalities of North Adams, Adams, and Clarksburg to expand their pursuit of healthy eating and active living among the communities and initiate change at policy, systems, and environmental levels.

Mass in Motion, which will be funded through DPH over the next five years, is a comprehensive set of initiatives to address the overweight and obesity epidemic in the Commonwealth. nbCC has chosen specific initiatives to target the issues that align with the needs of Clarksburg, North Adams, and Adams. Mass in Motion will work towards creating conditions that encourage, nurture and promote wellness with particular focus on the importance of healthy eating and physical activity. Mass in Motion will look at implementing and expanding Safe Routes to School; a program that provides safety for children as they walk to school, enabling more children to walk, alleviating congestion at the schools and increasing physical activity in children. Mass in Motion will also focus on implementing the new state nutritional guidelines in schools among the three municipalities. These are just two key examples of the many tasks and goals Mass in Motion will meet in the northern Berkshire community.

nbCC has hired Amanda Chilson as the Project Coordinator of Mass in Motion. She will also work closely with town and city officials and leadership committees comprised of people in the communities, as well as with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, to help make this program a success. To learn more about Mass in Motion click here.

Friday, February 10, 10:00 a.m.

Join us for our monthly forum of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. This month’s topic is “Issues Surrounding Poverty”.

We will begin with a round of introductions, followed by brief announcements of your upcoming events or new projects. Please bring flyers about your announcements also, as there will be a table available for display. The organizers of the food pantry at the Friendship Center ask friends who attend Northern Berkshire Community Coalition meetings this year to please remember to bring a non-perishable food item for the pantry, which is located at 43 Eagle St.

Come join us in conversations with your neighbors, friends, and colleagues to help make the northern Berkshire community a better and healthier place to live. We hope to see you on Friday, February 10, 10 a.m. to noon, at the First Baptist Church in North Adams.  Please use the Eagle Street entrance. For more info, contact Al Bashevkin at 413-663-7588. To arrange for childcare, contact Liz Boland at the Coalition.

It’s not too early to think about nominations for the Spring Neighborlies!! Celebrate individuals and groups who have made a positive impact in our community.

Categories include: Neighborly Acts, Groups Pulling Together,  Youth Taking the Lead and Business/Agency Support

The Neighborlies will be held on Wednesday, May 2 from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. at the Congregation Beth Israel, 53 Lois Street, North Adams.

Enter your nomination information in the form below.  Your nominee will receive an invitaion in the mail. Thank you!

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Since 2004, Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol (CMCA) has been a program of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. The long-range goal of the CMCA program is to reduce underage drinking by reducing teen access to alcohol and by establishing stronger community norms against underage drinking.

CMCA strategy teams will now be known as nb21. Not before 21; not in Northern Berkshire. nb21 is also working with the City of North Adams to create a third strategy team in North Adams to supplement the work already accomplished in that community: sticker shock, alcohol server training, compliance checks, Safe Homes pledges and a presence at community events.

Billboards are produced annually by nb21 to remind parents to talk to their youth about substance abuse and to keep their children safe, especially during the high-risk prom and graduation season. In support of the new nb21 ad campaign, billboards using the new nb21 logo can been seen during June on Routes 2 and 8 in Adams, North Adams and near the North Adams/Williamstown line.

Lois Daunis, Prevention Specialist at the Coalition said, “Our strategy teams are doing so much in the communities to raise awareness about the risks of underage drinking. We’re confident that our new logo, nb21, will be a great reminder to the community to keep teens safe and for parents to talk to their teens, again and again, about making healthy choices.”

In 2010, Northern Berkshire Neighbors recruited and trained nine Community Outreach Workers to be knowledgeable about community resources, and to assist neighbors to connect with appropriate social services. Our Community Outreach Workers are committed to working with their designated neighborhoods to provide this information. Another cohort of workers will be recruited and trained in 2011. This training will be partially facilitated by current Outreach Workers. Over time, their mission will include functioning as community organizers.

2011 MLK Jr. Day of Service

On January 16th,  nbCC sponsored the third annual  “Day of Service”, a celebration to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. The day included many different hands-on projects in the community, lunch and a celebration of the legacy of MLK, Jr. which included music and inspirational words. The annual Peacemaker Award was presented to Mark Lincourt for his tireless work in our community. Watch this video from 2011!

Berkshire County has three regional community coalitions to address community issues that impact youth. The leadership of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, the Pittsfield Prevention Partnership, the Railroad Street Youth Project, and the South Berkshire Community Coalition were invited by the Berkshire County Legislative Delegation in January 2006 to consider a Berkshire County project that would support youth programs in each region and serve as a catalyst for countywide approaches to broader social issues. The Berkshire Youth Development Project is a collaboration that includes the Berkshire United Way, Berkshire Health Systems and the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office.

Partners of the BYDP meet monthly to discuss program goals, share best practices, analyze data from the Berkshire County Prevention Needs Assessment Survey for program implementation, and discuss opportunities and funding for countywide initiatives. The BYDP also works with youth and youth-serving organizations to sponsor an annual countywide youth development conference, and a youth worker summit.

The BYDP also partnered with UMASS/Donahue Institute on a successful application for a Compassion MA grant to build the capacity of small faith-based and community organizations that provide positive youth development. Funds are used for organizational assessments, training and capacity building grants.

After School Middle School Program Guide can be downloaded here.