Updated: Dec. 08, 2021, 6:57 a.m. | Published: Dec. 08, 2021, 6:57 a.m.
By The Republican Newsroom

SPRINGFIELD — The 2021 OnBoard Matching Event took place Tuesday, Dec. 7, at Valley Venture Mentors at 276 Bridge St.

OnBoard, which merged last month with United Way of Pioneer Valley, connects talented individuals with organizations seeking to increase diversity on their boards and committees.

United Way of Pioneer Valley helps matches connect, and offers training and mentoring support, to help ensure matches don’t just happen, but become fruitful partnerships.

[VIEW MORE]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kristel Applebee
Western Massachusetts Training Consortium
(413) 536-2401 x3041
[email protected]

The Consortium Announces New Development Director

Terrie Thompson is the Consortium’s New Director of Development

HOLYOKE, MA November 9, 2021 – The Consortium is excited to announce it has a new Director of Development, A. Terrie Thompson.

Terrie Thompson has joined the Consortium as the Director of Development with over 16 years of advocacy experience. She has worked in various capacities of service within corporate settings, non-profits, and human services in the Western Massachusetts area, including the cities of Springfield and Holyoke. She has most recently worked with the Springfield Department of Health and Human Services in a groundbreaking community engagement project for the local Springfield Community through the Office of Problem Gambling Prevention. In her new role as Director of Development, she will utilize her extensive advocacy and community engagement experience to lead the Consortium’s development efforts and support innovative community engagement to generate a balance of funding streams and sustain the organization’s partner communities in the long term. Throughout her career Terrie has been committed to advocating and working closely with marginalized communities to create social equity, inclusion, exercise personal choice, and help provide equal access to resources in the larger community. She looks forward to working collaboratively with the Consortium’s programs and communities.

In all areas of Terrie’s career, she has practiced honoring the unique experiences and needs of the communities she serves. Her approach helps those individuals and groups to be empowered by their own experiences so they may thrive where they live, work, eat, and play in a meaningful wayHer work continues to reflect her passionate commitment to social justice, equity, and community inclusion. She intimately understands the importance of this type of community work because of her own experiences with her son with disabilities, which has further fueled her passion for advocacy and equity…social justice.

The Consortium, founded in 1975, is a learning organization committed to creating conditions in which people who have faced marginalization, oppression, or otherwise felt invisible are better able to pursue their dreams and strengthen communities through voice, choice, and inclusion. This is supported by an organizational commitment to address systems of oppression and work toward undoing the harms they have caused. To learn more, visit their website at http://wmtcinfo.org/.

GREENFIELD — Common Media, a web design and communications business based at 278 Main St. Greenfield, recently donated to the Western Massachusetts Training Consortium, an umbrella organization that supports numerous local recovery communities.

According to a Western Massachusetts Training Consortium press release, the donation will support the work of The RECOVER Project, the Salasin Project, People’s Medicine Project, the Support Network and the Greenfield center of the Wildflower Alliance (previously known as the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community).

[CONTINUE READING]

Contact: Mary Kate Farley
The Consortium
(413) 536-2401 x5511
[email protected]

Local Web Design Business Gives Back to Franklin County Community

During the holiday season, Common Media of Greenfield gifts gracious donation to the Consortium

HOLYOKE, MA January 25, 2021 – The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium is pleased to announce it has received a generous donation from Common Media, a web design and communications business based out of Greenfield. Common Media chose the Consortium alongside several other local non-profits to support in the Franklin County area. Their contributions to Western Massachusetts non-profits uplift crucial, mission-driven work throughout the region at a time when it’s most needed.

Kristi Ceccarossi, the CEO and co-owner of Common Media, described in an interview what inspired them to donate. Originally based in Hadley, Ceccarossi and her business partner Gabe Smith moved the business to Greenfield to feel like they were rooted in a community. “Part of our beliefs around this work is that being human is about being in community […] [W]e feel like it’s really important for us to be an active participant in whatever way we can.” With the needs of Franklin County residents close to their hearts, particularly surrounding substance use and recovery, Ceccarossi and Smith identified several impactful non-profits to share their success with.

When asked what motivated Common Media to support the Consortium, Ceccarossi noted how much she appreciated “the sort of 360 approach that I feel like the Consortium has. It’s not enough to just treat recovery this one way, you need to bring in the full circle of support. […] We’re very lucky that we have people who think that way in our community and who are so organized around those principles.

“[T]he Consortium’s work, sort of the spectrum of the work, is really inspiring.”

Beyond financial donations, Common Media seeks to connect with mission-driven projects to offer inclusively designed, human-centered web services. “[W]e’re here, and we’re interested in finding ways that we can plug into the work that other people are already doing and support it.”

Their donation will contribute to the incredible work of local Consortium-supported communities such as the RECOVER Project, Salasin Project, People’s Medicine Project, the Support Network, and the Greenfield center of the Wildflower Alliance (previously Western Mass Recovery Learning Community).

Interested in contributing? Check out the Consortium’s Network for Good donation page, where you can designate your donation to a community that speaks to you: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/theconsortium

The Consortium, founded in 1975, is a learning organization committed to creating conditions in which people with lived experience pursue their dreams and strengthen our communities through full participation. To learn more, visit their website at http://wmtcinfo.org.