Merrimack Valley Magazine

Methuen Family, UML Alumni Gift $50 Million to UMass

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Methuen natives Robert J. Manning and Donna Manning donated a $50 million cash gift to the University of Massachusetts — the largest donation of any kind in the university’s history.

The couple, high school sweethearts who later commuted to UMass Lowell, have long been generous supporters to the university. They previously committed more than $11 million to UMass Lowell, where the Manning School of Business bears their name.

Also on the Lowell campus, they have endowed several faculty chairs, sponsored a nursing simulation lab, and established the Robert and Donna Manning Endowed Scholarship Fund. The Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching is awarded to faculty on all five UMass campuses for high-impact teaching.

Robert Manning received a degree in information systems management from UMass Lowell in 1984. Donna Manning earned a nursing degree in 1985 and a masters in business administration from UMass Lowell in 1991. They each received an honorary doctor of humane letters from UMass Lowell in 2011.

The couple credits their UMass education with giving them the foundation for success.

 

“Donna and I are at a point in our lives where we want to make a real difference, and this was the best way to do that, because we know what UMass does for students. It transforms lives,” said Robert Manning in a statement. “We firmly believe that UMass is the most important asset in the Commonwealth, and that the greatest thing we can do to support the Commonwealth is to support the UMass campuses and UMass students.”

UMass said the first distribution will be a $15 million endowment to the UMass-Boston nursing program, which will become the Robert and Donna Manning College of Nursing and Health, and will be geared to promoting student diversity and equitable patient care.

The remaining $35 million of the donation will go toward improving access and opportunity at the UMass campuses in Lowell, Amherst, Dartmouth and Worcester. Those plans will be announced in the coming months.

The couple, who now reside in Swampscott, plan to be heavily engaged in the UMass programs their gifts will support.

“The significance of this gift cannot be overstated,” UMass President Marty Meehan said in a statement. “Rob and Donna are two of our own. As first-generation college graduates, they experienced the transformational impact UMass has on students’ lives. Rob and Donna have always led by example in their philanthropy, and this remarkable gift is a call to action to the philanthropic community.”

NoteWorthy – 4/11/21

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AROUND THE VALLEY

Reps. Trahan and Castor, Sens. Markey and Blumenthal Press Facebook on Plans to Develop Instagram for Children

U.S Reps. Lori Trahan and Kathy Castor, both of whom pressed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on his company’s targeting of kids during a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, partnered with Sens. Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal to demand answers regarding Facebook’s recent announcement that the company is exploring plans to develop a version of Instagram for children. In their letter, the lawmakers express concerns about Facebook’s past failures to protect children on Facebook’s messenger kids app and highlight evidence that young people’s use of social media platforms like Instagram may be detrimental to those users’ well-being and mental health.

“Children are a uniquely vulnerable population online, and images of kids are highly sensitive data,” write the lawmakers in their letter. “Facebook has an obligation to ensure that any new platforms or projects targeting children put those users’ welfare first, and we are skeptical that Facebook is prepared to fulfil this obligation.”

In their letter, the lawmakers ask Mr. Zuckerberg a series a questions and request detailed commitments about how any future version of Instagram for children would operate.

The lawmakers’ letter concludes, “Should Facebook fail to provide adequate responses to the questions above or otherwise fail to demonstrate that a future version of Instagram for children would meet the highest standards of user protection, we would advise you to abandon your plans to launch this new platform.”

A copy of the letter may be found here.

UML Prof. Creates Mentoring Network for Asian American Teachers

UMass Lowell (UML) Associate Professor Phitsamay Uy was the first refugee from Laos to receive tenure as a professor of education in the United States. And for years, she was the only one.

Determined to change that, Uy has started a mentoring network for Asian American and Pacific Islander teachers and education students.

“One of my goals is to try to bring as many Asian American educators up through the K-12 and higher-education ranks as I can,” said Uy, who joined UML’s college of education in 2011.

Working with educators in Canton, Charlestown and Medford, Uy launched the Asian American Educator Mentor Program in 2019 with a $35,000 award from a National Education Association grant program that provides support for diverse teachers. The grant was just renewed.

Teachers of color are greatly underrepresented in the nation’s schools, even as the school-age population is becoming more diverse, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Nationwide, 79 percent of teachers are white, but nearly half of K-12 public school students are Black, Hispanic, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native American or multiracial, according to the U.S. Census.

 

The need to support Asian American and Pacific Islander educators is particularly acute, according to Uy. Although educators are highly respected in most Asian countries, many Asian American families discourage their children from pursuing teaching careers in the United States in favor of higher paying jobs in other fields, Uy said.

Only 2 percent of U.S. public school teachers are Asian American, and less than 1 percent are Pacific Islanders, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The mentoring program has 40 participants and has expanded this year to include several veteran teachers in California and Minnesota. Connecting via Zoom meetings, the full group convenes regularly for educational presentations and discussions with scholars and leaders of community organizations. Smaller mentoring groups that include one education student, one or two early-career teachers and one veteran teacher also meet on a rotating basis.

 

MassDevelopment Bond Helps CREST Finance New Location in Andover

MassDevelopment has issued a $17 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Collaborative for Regional Educational Services and Training (CREST), a nonprofit that provides educational, vocational, and therapeutic programs for children with developmental disabilities. CREST used bond proceeds to buy an approximately 127,470-square-foot newly renovated school building in Andover, where the organization will consolidate programs offered at its three existing locations in Methuen under one roof.

The new facility, which was recently converted from its previous use as an office building, consists of 62 classrooms, 10 conference rooms, 55 private offices, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, several workshops, including art, music, computer, and woodshops, an auto repair facility, group restrooms, and a kitchen area. TD Bank, N.A., purchased the bond, which MassDevelopment enhanced with a guarantee.

CREST is comprised of 16 member school districts including Andover, Dracut, Greater Lawrence Technical School, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, Newburyport and North Andover. The organization offers educational programs and services for students with developmental disabilities to supplement and strengthen existing school programs and services that otherwise would be neither affordable nor accessible to each local school district on its own.

Pentucket Bank & Cote Family Establish Memorial Scholarship at Haverhill High School

Pentucket Bank and the family of former bank president and CEO Edmund Cote Jr. have established a scholarship for graduating Haverhill High School Seniors in the name of the late Mr. Cote, beginning in 2021.

Cote served as the president and CEO of Pentucket Bank for more than 15 years from 1983 to 1998 and remained a part of the Pentucket Bank family as a director and corporator until his passing in June 2020. Cote was instrumental in several strategic growth initiatives at Pentucket Bank, most notably spearheading the purchase of what is now the bank’s main office branch and office building at One Merrimack Street in downtown Haverhill.

As a tribute to Cote, his family raised $20,000 to establish a memorial scholarship in his name at Haverhill High School. In honor of the bank’s former leader, Pentucket Bank matched the funds in full, providing the city of Haverhill with a $40,000 investment to The Edmund J. Cote Jr. | Pentucket Bank Scholarship Fund.

The scholarship will be awarding two $1,000 scholarships annually to two Haverhill High School graduating seniors beginning in 2021.

On the Move Inc. Announces “Reading with Rowdy” Literacy Program

On the Move Inc. (OTMINC), in partnership with Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union and UMass Lowell, launches “Reading with Rowdy,” a program that encourages reading and literacy. Local Division I head coaches, politicians, celebrities, business leaders, and other members of the community have come together to share some of their favorite books in a series of videos with mascot Rowdy the Riverhawk for the children of Lowell.

The goal of this collaboration is to help students achieve reading proficiency by the time they complete the third grade. To help foster children’s love of reading and to help build home libraries, OTMINC has purchased over 3,000 books to go along with the stories. The students of the Abraham Lincoln and the S. Christa McAuliffe schools, as well as the Cardinal O’Connell Early Learning Center in Lowell, will each receive an age and reading level appropriate copy of one of the featured books, so that they may read along while watching the videos on YouTube.

“Literacy is such an important factor in a child’s life. Not only did we want to do something to help the kids in our community, we wanted to make it fun,” said Mark Cochran, president and CEO of Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union.

To view the first and subsequent titles in the series of “Reading with Rowdy” videos, visit Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union You Tube channel or OTMINC.org and click on the link on the web page.

Area Child In Need of Life-Saving Transplant

With the cost of a life-saving transplant often exceeding $800,000, most transplant families are unable to shoulder that financial burden. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is a national 501(c)3 charity dedicated to organizing and guiding communities in raising funds for transplant-related expenses. In Newburyport, volunteers are raising funds for COTA in honor of transplant patients like local child, Heeth Atanasoff.

Heeth is the son of Molly and Todd Atanasoff. Born in 2012, Heeth was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. The transplant team at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Mass., recommends a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Newburyport volunteers are raising $100,000 for COTA to assist with transplant-related expenses.

Volunteers are needed for this COTA community campaign. Individuals and groups interested in more information should contact Community Coordinator Kerry Marshall at (978) 609-0866 or kerrymarshall48@gmail.com.

Heeth’s family has asked for assistance from the Children’s Organ Transplant Association. One hundred percent of all funds raised for COTA in honor of patients assist with transplant-related expenses.

Contributions may be sent to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, 2501 West COTA Drive, Bloomington, Indiana, 47403. Checks should be made payable to COTA, with “In Honor of Heeths Hope” written on the memo line. Secure credit card gifts are accepted online at COTAforHeethsHope.com.

NECC Health Students are Administering Vaccines in Lawrence

When the city of Lawrence was in need of staff for its vaccine clinics, Northern Essex Community College answered the call.

Since March 11, 35 health care students have been volunteering at the site located at the Arlington Middle School. Nursing and medical assistant students are administering the vaccines and medical office administration students are registering those getting the vaccines.

It all started with a phone call from Elicia Miller ’13, community coordinator of the Mayor’s Health Task Force in Lawrence, to Kathy Hudson, her former professor.

“They wanted to open another vaccine site and they needed help,” says Hudson.

At the time, Hudson was struggling to find externships for her medical assisting students because many of the sites were no longer available due to COVID restrictions.

The end result was a win-win. The city had staffing help for the vaccine sites and students were gaining valuable experience administering vaccines and working with patients and their health records.

Medical assistant student Catherine Ripalda of Methuen was volunteering for the first time last week and she says it’s “a really good experience.” With each vaccine, she became “a little more comfortable” and she said she is proud to tell her son “I’m doing something for the community.”

Ripalda is bilingual as are most of the students in the college’s medical assistant program, which is a plus when giving vaccines in Lawrence, a city which is over 80% Hispanic.

Before giving the vaccines, students are fielding questions about side effects, existing health conditions, and COVID-19, according to Hudson, all under the supervision of NECC faculty.

To learn more, visit the website or contact Lancaster at slancaster@necc.mass.edu.

 

Outdoor Dining is Open at Tuscan Kitchen Burlington, Salem & Tuscan Sea Grill in Newburyport

Tuscan Brands has announced that their Burlington and Salem locations are open this weekend for dining, as is the new Tuscan Sea Grill in Newburyport.

Additionally, they have announced that the Salem Tuscan Market is moving to Tuscan Village, with a grand opening scheduled for May 2021. To learn more or to make reservations, click here.

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Physics Professor Wins $1M in Funding for Quantum Information Processing Research

UMass Lowell (UML) researcher Archana Kamal has won two early career development awards totaling more than $1 million from the U.S. Air Force and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her research in the emerging field of quantum information processing (QIP) with open quantum systems.

QIP is based on the principles of quantum mechanics, which mathematically describe the behavior and interaction of matter and light on the atomic and subatomic scale.

 

Elder Voices

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New Project Explores Healthy Aging in the Lowell Community

Lowell is known for its vibrant cultural diversity and strong sense of regional identity. Adults 60 years of age or older make up 15% of the city’s population — according to a Tufts Health Plan Foundation (THPF) 2019 report — and they bring a unique perspective and lived experience to the community. This makes them an important asset, according to Phillip Gonzalez, the senior program officer for the THPF. 

“We often think about older adults only in their deficits,” Gonzalez says. “If we default to that type of thinking, we overlook the fact that they lived in these communities, and contributed to these communities, for much of their lives.” 

A community-based effort that aims to develop healthy aging solutions has been in progress for over two years in Lowell. This has led to an Age-Friendly Lowell collaboration among UMass Lowell and community partners including the Greater Lowell Health Alliance, the Lowell Housing Authority, Elder Services of Merrimack Valley and North Shore, D’Youville Life and Wellness, and the Lowell Council on Aging.

 

With support from the THPF, which funded a $300,000 grant for the project, these local collaborators can develop the tools they need to determine the infrastructure that’s required to promote this healthy-aging initiative.

Age-Friendly Lowell will involve the city’s entire community, including older adults, elected officials, the heads of nonprofits, volunteers, and other organization leaders, along with a diverse and older action group of residents that can shine light on specific issues within each unique community in the city, according to Lillian Hartman (no relation to the author), director of the Lowell Council on Aging.

“We are hoping to ensure that every element of our project has the voice of older residents, and who live and work within the community,” says project leader Sabrina Noel, an assistant professor in UMass Lowell’s Department of Biomedical and Nutritional Sciences and the director of community engagement in the university’s Center for Population Health.

Local residents who volunteer will be directly involved with a unique element of the project, which is to research and develop the plan for promoting healthy and productive aging. These volunteers will be involved in collecting information from local residents in order to evaluate the community and determine what is already being done in the city to promote healthy aging, and which existing programs, policies, and systems need to be modified. 

Age-Friendly Lowell will focus on nine different domains, including housing, healthy living communication, transportation, employment, crime and safety, and health services, according to Noel and David Cornell, an assistant professor of physical therapy and kinesiology at UMass Lowell. By identifying priority areas within these domains, informed by older adults living in the community, an action plan can be developed to begin addressing strategies such as access to healthy food, places to walk, social engagement opportunities and more to promote healthy and productive aging. 

“As we all age, we want to be able to stay in our communities, and feel supported by our communities, and have the resources we need to be able to age in place,” Noel says.

Gonzalez emphasizes how everyone involved in this project should recognize the importance of older adults. Residents of Lowell who have lived in the community for a long time, often for most or all of their lives, bring a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to understanding what works and what doesn’t at the neighborhood level.

“What we should be thinking about is how we are investing in the infrastructure for ourselves in the future, and for older adults now,” Gonzalez says.   

NoteWorthy – 1/24/21

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AROUND THE VALLEY

2020 NECC Grad Continues His Education with a Little Help from Oprah

Oprah Winfrey is helping Jeurys Santiago, a 2020 Northern Essex Community College (NECC) Business Transfer graduate, to continue his studies at UMass Lowell (UML).

Santiago, a 2017 Lawrence High School graduate, was awarded the Oprah Winfrey Scholarship, which will provide him with $5,000 a year while working on his bachelor’s degree in business with a focus on entrepreneurship in the Honors College.

Santiago was nominated for the scholarship by staff in the federally funded Northern Essex PACE Program. The scholarship was created after Winfrey spoke at a 2018 UML event that raised $1.5 million for scholarships through ticket sales and sponsorships. Winfrey matched that figure with another $1.5 million to create a $3 million scholarship fund.

Santiago has always been an entrepreneur, selling bracelets and hats from his father’s barber shop in New York City and Yu-Gi-Oh cards as a kid. Last year, he started his own business, Minds With Purpose, a networking platform designed to bring together the Lawrence community including local businesses to do “good works” in the city.

He organized a “giveback challenge” which encouraged good deeds that were shared on social media; “A Merry Christmas Giveaway,” which supplied 70 people in need with winter clothing; and “Music Mondays,” events showcasing the talents of local performers.

While at Northern Essex, Santiago participated in the National Leadership Society; the Civic Scholars Program, which provides an opportunity for students to explore and grow their civic knowledge and skills; and the Alpha Beta Gamma business honors society. He also had an internship with the college’s athletic department, where he ran the department’s social media accounts and created photography and videos.

 

UML Researcher Receives Grant for Pursuit of Virtual-Reality Therapy to Aid Patients Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injuries

UMass Lowell (UML) researcher Jiabin Shen, who is developing innovative therapies for injured children and teens, has received more than $700,000 from the National Institutes of Health. Shen, an assistant professor of psychology, is exploring how virtual-reality based rehabilitation could improve cognitive functioning in young people with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). A new three-year grant from the NIH marks Shen’s latest step in a long march toward improving the quality of life for these patients through technology and developmental psychology.

Traumatic brain injuries are a leading cause of disabilities for children in the United States, according to Shen. Virtual reality — commonly used in games, flight simulators and surgeries — offers a computer-generated world in which individuals use special goggles and sensor-laden gloves to interact in the created environment.

In therapeutic settings, virtual-reality systems offer interventional tools that can sharpen cognitive skills in children with TBIs. Custom-designed hardware setups can accommodate the clinical needs of patients and specialized games can improve memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibition control, according to Shen.

The NIH funding will support patient recruitment, intervention delivery, data collection and analysis. It will also allow Shen to hire doctoral students to assist with the project, which will provide them with hands-on training in how to conduct clinical research, he said.

Shen has been studying how to prevent and treat pediatric injuries since 2011. He first took an interest in child psychology during graduate school when he began to recognize the importance of childhood in shaping the rest of an individual’s life. He believes virtual reality holds great promise for cognitive rehabilitation in young patients.

GLCF: Partnering to Meet the Social and Emotional Needs of Greater Lowell During COVID

As local nonprofits began reporting that their clients were suffering ill effects from isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Greater Lowell Community Foundation (GLCF) responded by awarding a series of grants to help address social and emotional health issues.

In March, when COVID-19 hit, the children and adults with disabilities at Concord’s Minute Man Arc for Human Services (MMAHS) and Seven Hills Pediatric Center in Groton were suddenly cut off from family and friends. Both nonprofits received GLCF grants to purchase iPads to enable their clients to communicate with loved ones and outside professionals.

Another GLCF grant for Strongwater Farm Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Tewksbury allowed for the revival of its Visiting Program, which brings therapy horses to patients in long-term care and hospice facilities.

GLCF helped MMAHS, who provides lifelong care to 850 children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, purchase 25 iPads that were distributed to clients living in eight group homes, according to Chief Development Officer Stephanie Parish.

MMAHS offers virtual programs like educational classes, yoga and aerobics, plus recreational activities like bingo and — everyone’s favorite — musical sing-a-longs, said Parish, “Now, when they bring up a class on their iPads, they can see their friends again. It has been really critical to our clients’ well being.”

Children living at Seven Hills Pediatric Center have also benefitted from a GLCF grant to purchase five iPads, plus five tall standers to hold the devices, according to Elizabeth Vittum, assistant vice president of development for the Seven Hills Foundation.

Recognizing these pandemic-related social and emotional health issues, as well as other needs, the GLCF has awarded more than $2.9 million in COVID-relief support to local nonprofits.

Groveland Firefighters Receive Federal Grant to Assist Fire Department

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today $560,726 in direct assistance grants to 39 volunteer and combination fire departments nationwide through the agency’s FY2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant COVID-19 supplemental program (AFG-S). Included is the Groveland Fire Department, which will receive $7,226 in funding.

Authorized and funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the AFG-S is a $100 million supplemental funding opportunity to support the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) and related disinfectant supplies and equipment to help the fire services prevent, prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study of Heart-Rate Sensor Earns Praise for UML Team

UMass Lowell (UML) students testing a new device that could transform the way heart rate data is collected have won praise for their work from the American College of Sports Medicine.

A portable sensor that collects heart rate data shows promise for its accuracy and convenience, according to research conducted by David Cornell, UML assistant professor of physical therapy and kinesiology, and his students.

“Information collected by the device provides insight on the patient’s heart-rate variability, which can be a window into how one’s autonomic nervous system is functioning. Used by researchers, clinicians and practitioners in many ways, the data can also provide clues about health and cardiovascular diseases risk,” Cornell said. This new device collects information using a sensor that fits over a finger, potentially expanding its use by athletes and fitness enthusiasts.

The students’ results showed that the finger sensor, which costs about $150 and comes with a smartphone app that interprets the raw data, was both accurate and reliable, finding similar heart rate patterns in the same person on different days. The sensor can be used by athletes to measure their fitness, performance and recovery after exercise and by health care professionals in their everyday work, according to Thomas Sherriff of Lowell, who helped conduct the research. Sherriff is a UML doctoral candidate in physical therapy who also holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology from the university.

Other UML students working on the project included Stephanie Amico, a master’s degree candidate in public health who received her bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology from the university in May, exercise science major Kevin Ha and exercise science major Andreas Himariotis of Tyngsborough.

The students were honored virtually for their work during UML’s annual Student Research and Community Engagement Symposium. Building on that recognition, each student submitted the team’s results and a recorded presentation about the project to the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual conference. Himariotis, a junior, won the top Student Investigator Undergraduate Award, while Sherriff and Amico were selected as finalists in the doctoral and master’s categories, respectively.

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Check Out the Latest Episode of The 495 Podcast!

Merrimack fans take note! This week on The 495, we discuss the state of our favorite river with Matthew Thorne from the Merrimack River Watershed Council. Then, we’re joined by Dr. Lien-Thu Dao of Haverhill Family Eye Care for tips on taking care of your eyes in a digital world. Listen to the podcast here.

NoteWorthy – 1/3/21

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AROUND THE VALLEY 

NECC Offers Free Mobile Farmers Market in Haverhill and Lawrence

After suspending the mobile farmers market temporarily in March, Northern Essex Community College (NECC) launched a socially distanced market in September in order to serve a growing need during the global pandemic. Adjustments to obey social distancing protocols included having individuals sign up in advance, receive a timed appointment and drive on to campus and get their food without having to leave their vehicle.

Janel D’Agata-Lynch, NECC’s civic engagement, service-learning and community resources coordinator, estimates that an average of 50 to 60 cars visited each campus for each market and that from September through November about 250 distinct households and over 1,000 individuals were served.

NECC’s farmers market starts back up this Jan. and run monthly on the 4th Tuesday of each month.

 

Greater Lowell Community Foundation Awards Additional Funding in Latest Round of COVID-19 Response Grants

The Greater Lowell Community Foundation (GLCF) announced that it granted an additional $55,000 in emergency grant funds from the GLCF COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. A dozen local nonprofits, from organizations that provide essential supplies to individuals in need to those who serve the hungry, have been announced as the recipients of these grants. 

In total, the community foundation awarded $55,125 to 12 organizations serving Greater Lowell. The GLCF COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund awards were the 11th round of grants disbursed by the community foundation this year. 

This round of grants has aided organizations such as Lowell Alliance, an organization that helps Lowell families and neighborhoods thrive by connecting them with critical resources, including diapers; and the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation, which helps local veterans and military families through its Food4Vets program.

New UML East Campus Exhibits Honor Lowell’s French Canadian Immigrants

UMass Lowell recently installed a new series of panels that in the area of Pawtucket Street in Lowell to commemorate the Little Canada neighborhood that was once located there, including the lives of Lowell’s French Canadian immigrants.

The exhibit consists of four panels, which are considered a “collaborative project between the university’s facilities management and community relations offices, the Center for Lowell History, Lowell National Historical Park and the Lowell Historic Board” according to an article by Ed Brennan.

The panels offer an opportunity for visitors to learn about Lowell’s historic French Canadian culture and the role that this community plays within the city. For more details, check out Brennan’s full article here.

Baker-Polito Administration Awards $67.4 Million in Additional Grants to 1,366 Businesses Most Impacted by the Pandemic

The Baker-Polito Administration announced $67.4 million in awards to 1,366 additional small businesses in a second round of grants through the COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program administered by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC). Additionally, the new Sector-Specific Small Business Relief Grant Program, also administered by MGCC, is now accepting applications from businesses from sectors most impacted by the COIVD-19. Both grant programs are part of a new $668 million relief package.

The businesses being notified of their successful grant application include many that are owned by minorities (50%) and women (48%). Restaurants and bars, beauty and personal services, health care and retail are among the top sectors receiving relief in this second round of awards. The first round of grants announced last week totaled nearly $49 million in support of 1,158 Massachusetts small businesses.

Experts Say Cashless Economy is Leaving Some Charities in the Lurch

Buskers and charitable organizations that collect donations via street appeals are going largely empty-handed this season due in part to the increased use of mobile payment services, according to a business expert.

Banking apps such as PayPal and Venmo offer a convenient way to transfer money at the click of a button — particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic when individuals may be reluctant to touch coins and paper bills. But, potential donors in an increasingly “cashless” society are wary of using the technology to give to some charitable causes, said UMass Lowell’s Spencer Ross, an expert in digital marketing and consumer behavior who has studied the issue.

“It seems like it would be instinctive to donate via tap-and-go apps but it’s something people haven’t quite figured out yet,” Ross said.

Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union Announces New Prize Linked Savings Program

Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union has announced the launch of a unique new savings program, the WinStrong Savings Account, available for Massachusetts residents beginning Jan. 2, 2021. The WinStrong Savings Account offers a new and exciting way to save money. For each $25 you increase your savings balance each month, the member will receive one prize drawing entry into monthly, quarterly and annual drawings, with a maximum of four entries per month. All of the money deposited remains with the account holder and, as a bonus, they receive entries qualifying them for a chance to win cash prizes. Prizes include five $50 monthly prizes, two $500 quarterly prizes, and one $5,000 annual prize.

For more details about opening the WinStrong Savings Account visit here. 

Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership Receives Generous Donation

The Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership (MVHP) has received a $25,000 Grant from the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation. MVHP is receiving the grant for its work in addressing housing insecurities compounded by the COVID-19 outbreak. The grant will support the comprehensive training program for first-time home buyers of low and moderate income.

Jim Wilde, executive director of MVHP, states “During the pandemic, we have experienced a significant increase in demand for our home buyer training program and financial counseling services. Eastern Bank’s support of our efforts is generous and greatly appreciated.”

MassDevelopment Awards Nearly $4.5 Million to Improve Taxi and Livery Business Competitiveness

MassDevelopment has awarded 85 grants totaling $4,465,619 from the Taxi & Livery Business Support Grant Program to support 104 small businesses operating in the taxi and livery industries and two taxi and livery industry associations.

The first round of the Taxi & Livery Business Support Grant Program offers taxi and livery operators financial assistance to secure products or services that will aid in improving their competitiveness and enhancing safety capabilities in the rapidly evolving market of for-hire transportation. 

The grants will fund expenses including dispatch systems or other equipment, technology-enabled ride-hailing systems, safety enhancements, workforce training programs and business consultant services. Furthermore, it will help industry associations fund aggregated improvements that will have a collective impact on the taxi and livery industries in Massachusetts. 

Lowell Couple Welcomes Lowell General’s First Baby of 2021

Izabela Grace Casara Cruz was born at 2:35 a.m. New Year’s Day to parents Jean Casara and Zuleisly Cruz of Lowell. Izabela arrived a day early, her parents say, but she was ready, needing just a couple of pushes to come into the world. She is 20.5 inches long and weighs 8 pounds, 1 ounce.

City of Lowell Conducts Parking Study

The city of Lowell is using a Housing Choice Grant award from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) to conduct a comprehensive parking strategy.

The Lowell Parking Study will review and analyze existing parking conditions including parking inventory, utilization, policies, management, regulations and pricing, and analyze the parking supply and demand compared to existing land uses. The parking study will help ensure that the parking system is consistent with the city’s economic development and transportation planning goals, including the ongoing GoLowell Multimodal Complete Streets plan.

Please take a few minutes to help them identify what has been working and what can be improved by taking the survey, available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Khmer.

For more information on the study, you can follow them on Facebook @GoLowell , check out their website, or email them at parkingstudy@LowellMA.gov.

TAKE THE SURVEY

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Karen Gomes Elected as Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts’ Vice President of Board of Directors 

Home Health Foundation President and CEO Karen Gomes has been elected as vice president of the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts board of directors.

Founded in 1969, the Boston-based Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts is a nonprofit trade association of home care agencies that promotes home care as an integral part of the health care delivery system.

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