Join us for this April 15th concert at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire. All proceeds for this concert will benefit Construct and the Religious Action Center of Massachusetts.
Doug Mishkin is a longtime singer-songwriter in the Jewish community best known for his folk anthem “Woody’s Children.”
Read more >> https://bit.ly/3FL04hZ
Construct, South Berkshires’ leading affordable housing provider, is pleased to appoint Leigh Davis as Communications and Community Engagement Director. Davis has been instrumental in creating real, tangible change in the Southern Berkshires through her position as Construct’s Development Director as well as her broader advocacy for housing opportunity. She was instrumental in acquiring Windflower Inn as a more flexible workforce housing option, increasing Construct’s media presence, and ensuring the voices of those affected by housing insecurity are heard.
Davis says, “I am honored to be appointed Construct’s first Communications and Community Engagement Director. In my new role, I’ll be able to build on the tremendous momentum of the past few years. I’m excited to bring this work to the next level and look forward to leveraging my skills and experience to make a meaningful contribution.”
With her long and varied engagement with the community, Davis knows the area and its people very well. She has advocated for many of our underserved populations since moving to the Southern Berkshires from Ireland in 2009. Very active as a volunteer for many area organizations, Davis has also worked in marketing, journalism, housing development and local government roles for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, The Berkshire Eagle, Eagle Mill Redevelopment and the Town of Great Barrington. With a background in film and television as a studio film editor in Los Angeles and a tenured film professor in Ireland, Davis has an innate storytelling ability. She communicates in a direct and compelling way that inspires people and enables change.
Construct’s Executive Director, Jane Ralph, says of the appointment and the newly created position, “These changes make sense and will make us a stronger, more cohesive organization. As a result of the need, as well as ‘A Housing Vision for the Berkshires’ and subsequent coalition development—as well as increased need—it’s important that South Berkshire voices are heard. Thanks to Leigh and to all our staff for their flexibility and willingness to jump in and make changes to better serve our community.”
For more information, contact Jane Ralph at jralph@constructberkshire.org.
Construct’s 2023 Warm Up the Winter fundraiser was held Thursday March 2, 2023 at Egremont Barn. The concert was a huge success, as was the campaign, which has thus far raised over $90,000 to help in-need Berkshire residents with fuel cost issues they face during the winter months.
Lauren Ambrose and Gary Happ served as MCs for the evening. We’ve got some incredible video highlights below — enjoy and see you next year!
Construct’s 2023 Warm Up the Winter fundraiser was held Thursday March 2, 2023 at Egremont Barn in the Berkshires. The concert was an enormous success, as was the campaign, which has thus far raised nearly $90,000 to help our neighbors.
Lauren Ambrose and Gary Happ emcee’d the fun-filled annual benefit concert with the the Berkshire Children’s Chorus, the Wanda Houston Band, Billy Keane, Hot Sauce, and Misty Blues.
Watch the concert in full here:
Berkshire Children’s Chorus explores the globe and travels through time by singing music from various cultures and eras. The Chorus uses music to spark new friendships between singers from across the Berkshire region. Weekly rehearsals feature the development of individual self-confidence and teamwork skills, as well as music reading, ear training, and vocal technique.
Wanda Houston Band is a dynamic quartet specializing in the music of the ’30s through ’70s with a blend of rhythm, blues, jazz, and soul. The band is: Wanda Houston, Vocals, Jeff Stevens, Trumpet & Vocals, Rob Kelly, Keyboard & Vocals, Jay Bradley, Drums
Billy Keane’s sound is a blending of neo folk/Americana with indie rock and country and is inspired by his life, his listening, his belief that to be human means to experience the universe, our world and its people, and to reflect all that back upon itself through artistic expression.
Hot Sauce is Tom Major – drums, Benny Kohn – keyboards and vocals, Miles Lally – bass and Steve Ide – guitar and vocals. They play Bluesy, Jazzy, Funky R&B dance music covering artists like Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, The Meters, John Scofield, Little Feat, Frequent Flyers and more.
2019 International Blues Challenge finalist, Misty Blues, is led by lead singer/band founder Gina Coleman. The band plays original and traditional blues with hints of jazz, soul, funk and tent revival gospel since 1999. Misty Blues performs extensively throughout New England and has been nominated for several Independent Blues Music Awards.
Construct’s annual Warm Up the Winter benefit concert is a key experience in the 6 week long campaign: Warm Up the Winter Fuel Crisis 2023. The campaign focuses specifically on the issues Berkshire residents face during the winter months by helping homeless, low income, and middle income Berkshire residents, including professionals—cope with the after-affects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Inflation, the deepening housing crisis and exponentially rising fuel costs are hitting everyone hard.
“Warm Up the Winter has become a core fundraiser for us,” stated Jane Ralph, Construct’s Executive Director. “Winter creates serious challenges for many Berkshire households. More and more people are looking at their bills and deciding between heat, medicine, and food, choices no one should ever have to make. This campaign directly assists households facing these choices.”
Underwriters for the campaign include the Gilson Family Foundation, the Jewish Women’s Foundation, Theory Wellness, The Schnesel Family Fund, Judi and Alan Marash, and Eric and Laura Jordahl.
Donations can be made by texting: ‘Warmth’ to 855-202-2100 or writing a check to Construct, Inc., Mail to: 316A State Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230
Jane Ralph, executive director of Construct, spoke at the recent Distinguished Lecture series at Lenox Library focused on the “hidden people” of the Southern Berkshires.
— Berkshire Eagle, March 2, 2023
“The Hidden People of the Berkshires” are not deliberately hiding; they’re simply so busy scraping together their wages to pay for basic food and barely affordable housing, they can’t show up at meetings to plead to community leaders for relief.
On Sunday, about three dozen local residents gathered at the Lenox Library’s latest in its long-running Distinguished Lecture series. The event focused on those so-called “Hidden People” who remain mostly unseen, even though many work at vital service jobs around the county.
Jane Ralph, executive director of Construct, a southern Berkshires organization that provides emergency assistance, financial aid and affordable housing, explained the importance of making such problems, and the people suffering as a result, more visible.
“If you are not secure in your housing, if you are paying more than 30 percent of your income in rent, you probably don’t have the time to be any more visible than you are,” Ralph said. “To some degree, visibility is a privilege.”
Annual Winter Campaign Focuses on the High Fuel and Electricity Costs Impacting Berkshire Households
Construct will launch their annual Warm Up the Winter campaign on January 30, 2023. Focusing specifically on the issues Berkshire residents face during the winter months, the assistance campaign promises to help area residents—homeless, low income, and middle income Berkshire residents, including professionals—with the after-affects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Inflation, the deepening housing crisis and exponentially rising fuel costs are hitting everyone hard. Fuel costs, for example, have risen close to 250% in the past 3 years.
“Warm Up the Winter has become a core fundraiser for us,” stated Jane Ralph, Construct’s Executive Director. “Winter creates serious challenges for many Berkshire households. More and more people are looking at their bills and deciding between heat, medicine, and food, choices no one should ever have to make. This campaign directly assists households facing these choices.”
Originating fifteen years ago, The Warm Up the Winter campaign began as a benefit concert founded by Rabbi Deborah Zecher. This year, the Warm up the Winter Fuel Crisis 2023 campaign will include a six-week video fundraising campaign and end with a crowd-pleasing benefit concert at the Barn.
The goal is to raise $75,000 by March 15, 2023.
Discussing the current crisis from different perspectives, the short video interviews will feature local residents, business owners, workers and politicians: Josh Irwin (Cantina 229), Kate Coulehan (Construct), Pete Nugent (Sub Contractor), Paul Mark (State Senator), Cheryl Thomson (Program Manager for Advocacy for Access). Actor, singer, and Great Barrington resident, Lauren Ambrose, has recorded an appeal for the campaign’s opening video. She will also emcee the live concert along with Gary Happ of Barrington Brewery.
Underwriters for the campaign include the Gilson Family Foundation, Jewish Women’s Foundation, Theory Wellness, The Schnesel Family Fund, Judi and Alan Marash, and Eric and Laura Jordahl.
The benefit concert will feature performances donated by Berkshire Children’s Chorus, Wanda Houston Band, Billy Keane, Hot Sauce, and Misty Blues.
“We are planning a stellar show this year. Tickets are very limited, so we encourage early purchase,” chair of the WUTW Campaign Committee, Jane Glaser, said.
The concert will take place Thursday, March 2, 2023, and tickets are on sale here:
Donations can also be made by texting: ‘Warmth‘ to 855-202-2100 or writing a check to Construct, Inc., Mail to: 316A State Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230.
1,000 New Applicants Seek Fuel Assistance in the Berkshires — The Berkshire Eagle
PITTSFIELD — With the increase in utility prices and the general rate of inflation, more folks are seeking aid to pay for heat and power through the LIHEAP program administered in Berkshire County by the Berkshire Community Action Council.
As of Tuesday, 7,457 people had applied for the council’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, said Tammy Biagini, its director.
Of that number, 4,991 were eligible for assistance. The number of new applicants doubled from last year, coming in at 1,060, so far. And the pace of applications has been brisk, Biagini said.
“People are in panic mode,” she said. “They’re coming in like gangbusters.”
The deadline to apply for energy assistance is April 30.
The maximum benefit level, which applies to households at the poverty level, is $2,400. The poverty level for a household of one person is an annual income of $13,590.
For those with higher income, the benefit shrinks. According to the 2023 income guidelines, a household of four would qualify for LIHEAP with an income of $81,561 or less. A household of eight would qualify with an income of $112,554 or less.
LIHEAP will pay to help with natural gas heat, electric heat, and deliverable fuels such as heating oil, kerosene, propane, firewood, coal and wood pellets.
Chronogram Magazine — January 1, 2023
By Hannah Van Sickle
The purest form of democracy is alive and well in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Each May, taxpayers come together at Monument Mountain Regional High School—or the parking lot there, as has been the case this past few years—to convene in an open meeting and vote on the town warrant (a full listing, furnished in advance, of each agenda item up for discussion), right down to the last proposed penny to be spent from the town coffers. It’s a tradition spanning three centuries, one hinging on the right of every registered voter to attend, speak, and vote on the issues integral to the community at large. It’s a powerful means of understanding the townspeople’s commitment to their community.
“The people who live in Great Barrington are very involved in what goes on [here],” says Paul Joffe, adding, “and this has an effect on the town” where, in his estimation, people are friendly and polite. Joffe is the brains (and hands) behind the Flying Church and its eponymous coffee shop, which is adjacent to the building. The church was constructed in 1845 by the Methodists before Joffe renovated the venerable building as a mixed-use commercial space in 2014.
For a community where many full-time residents were already struggling to make ends meet, the pandemic created a crucible of sorts—as evidenced by an ongoing housing crisis and a shortage of service industry workers (a pair of chicken-and-egg problems). While uncertainty prevails, so does the collective spirit to press on. Together, many hands are making light(er) work, ensuring often-marginalized populations have the opportunity to thrive here alongside the restaurants, shops, and businesses valued visitors continue to crave.
Many Voices, One Vision
In a town boasting dozens of nonprofits, a handful remain committed to being inclusive of those who might not otherwise feel they fit….
“…I’ve come to see the good, the bad, and the ugly [in town],” Josh Irwin says. The owner of Cantina 229 in nearby New Marlborough and Mooncloud in Great Barrington has had a front-row seat to the growing gap between those who flock to the bucolic hills for fun and relaxation versus those who call the Berkshires home.
His most recent passion project, to create workforce housing, is a shining example. In what turned out to be a long and auspicious chain of events, Irwin’s idea—to purchase the 13-bedroom Windflower Inn, located in neighboring South Egremont, for service worker housing—was ultimately executed by Construct, the leading nonprofit provider of affordable housing and supportive services to residents of the southern Berkshires. The plan is to begin welcoming lodgers (via applications from employers) to the property, as soon as January.
“[This past year] was very difficult for many in our service area, and our waiting lists grew exponentially,” says Construct Development Director Leigh Davis, citing over 200 individuals currently awaiting housing. While Construct has grown over five decades to meet the needs of more than 600 families per year, it is not tackling the problem alone.
Construct, an affordable housing developer, has scooped up a Gilded Age estate at auction and plans to convert its mansion into 11 affordable and low-income apartments.
Two separate houses in mostly cosmetic disrepair on the 20-acre property also will be fixed up and rented to workers at affordable rates. One will be occupied by the end of the month by a local emergency medical technician who couldn’t afford to live close enough to go on ambulance calls.
“It’s exactly the need we were seeking to fill,” said Jane Ralph, executive director of Construct, Inc., of the EMT. “It’s also just a really transformative vision of what affordable housing is.” With the help of the town and the community, Construct bought the estate known as Cassilis Farm off Hartsville New Marlborough Road in August.
And to the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire
The Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce has named Construct Inc. and the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire as the recipients of its Humanitarian Award this year.
“Both organizations are very important because they have put hard work into developing affordable housing opportunities,” executive director Betsy Andrus said. “We want both organizations to know that we appreciate all of the hard work that they have done. They both have invested substantial time, money, and energy into their work. How would we survive without these organizations?”
“It takes a village to tackle the housing crisis, and we are honored to share this award with our valued community partners, the CDCSB,” organization Director of Development Leigh Davis wrote to The Berkshire Edge via email. “Without the backing of our supporters and the tireless work of our dedicated staff and board, Construct wouldn’t be able to do the critical work we do. As the need for affordable housing continues to grow, so do we as an organization. Construct commits to providing affordable housing to strengthen and diversify communities, stabilize lives, and empower individuals to build a better future is needed now more than ever.”