New community centers to open in Pittsfield

PITTSFIELD – Through a new collaboration between the City of Pittsfield and the Pittsfield Housing Authority (PHA), community centers will be established at two public housing locations ,with the possibility of one more to follow.

City officials hope the community centers will make a broad range of city services accessible to residents in housing authority-managed developments.

Two community centers are ready to open immediately, with a formal ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled for Friday, June 21 at 2 p.m. at the Dower Square Community Center.

The first is located at 15 Francis Plaza, with 44 units of elderly and disabled units in the Westside Neighborhood. The second community center is located at 1 Dower Sq., with 50 units of family housing located on Wahconah Street.

A future location is planned for Wilson Park, another large family development operated and managed by the PHA. Currently, Wilson Park is undergoing a renovation project. When the project is complete, a third community center in Wilson Park is planned.

“Our goal with the community centers is to connect Pittsfield residents with opportunity, to link them to community programs and services that can enhance their quality of life, and to provide exposure to the variety of community based programs and resources that are available to all,” said Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi.

Each location features a living room-style meeting space for a variety of educational programs and services available to city residents.

A host of programs have been planned for the community centers including, but not limited to, childhood literacy programs, meeting rooms for neighborhood initiatives and committees, sports mentoring and instruction programs, tax filing assistance, wellness clinics, nutrition counseling and healthy eating cooking demonstrations, voter registration drives, Neighborhood Crime Watch meeting space, helmet and biking safety instruction and fire safety awareness.

“We are an active partner in promoting these programs,” said Charlie Smith, executive director of the PHA. “We know that our tenants will benefit if we make city services more accessible. For the PHA, this will be a very low cost program with the potential to see some significant impact for our residents and the community.”

Programs to be offered immediately include health screening and informational workshops provided by Berkshire Health Systems and the city’s public health department, financial literacy and energy saving workshops run by Berkshire Community Action Council and Habitat for Humanity, and childhood literacy programs through Berkshire United Way and Pittsfield Promise.

The Sheriff’s Department is planning on running TRIAD programs that help protect and educate seniors from crimes that target the elderly and youth sports programs. Preservation Housing Management, which operates and manages Central Annex and Union Court, has also scheduled craft workshops at Dower Square to engage their senior residents with the youth there.

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on June 13, 2013. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry