Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. announces Pittsfield Restaurant Month
PITTSFIELD — Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. has announced its Downtown Pittsfield Restaurant Month will run from March 1–March 31, 2021.
People are encouraged to dine local for the month of March to help carry local restaurants to the other side of the pandemic. Share your support by posting a photo of your dine-in or takeout order on social media with #dinelocal and share it with the Restaurant Month Facebook page by tagging @downtownpittsfieldrestaurantmonth.
View participating restaurants and their March specials at the Downtown Pittsfield website or Facebook page, or call 413-443-6501 for more information.
—A.K.
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RBC Wealth Management promotes Chester to senior vice president – financial advisor
GREAT BARRINGTON — RBC Wealth Management recently promoted Matthew Chester, CFP®, to senior vice president – financial advisor, senior portfolio manager – portfolio focus.
This promotion was given due to the knowledge and experience level Chester has attained and the growth of his business helping individuals and nonprofits achieve their financial goals.
Chester has served clients in Berkshire County and the surrounding areas for eight years. Previously, he served as co-leader of The Sherman-Chester Wealth Management Group and branch director of RBC Wealth Management’s then-Pittsfield office. He now serves clients as a solo advisor in the Great Barrington branch.
—A.K.
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Griswold and Rudin take on management roles at MOLARI, Inc.
PITTSFIELD — Gail Molari, president and CEO of MOLARI, Inc., recently announced Guin Griswold and Lee Rudin have joined the company’s management team.
“As MOLARI, Inc. continues to expand its footprint throughout the Berkshires, we’ve seen a need to build on our success with an expanded management team,” Molari said.
Griswold, who rejoined the company in 2020, brings over two decades of experience in staffing, sales, and management. As client service manager, she will spearhead initiatives to serve the evolving needs of businesses in the county.
Rudin, director of HealthCare Services, has worked at MOLARI for nearly two decades. Her background as a Registered Nurse, with a focus on providing services to seniors that enable them to stay in their homes, will allow the company to continue to expand its private in-home services to seniors, and will offer direction to MOLARI HealthCare staff.
Griswold and Rudin join the current management team that includes Molari, CFO Nicholas Kirchner, and Susan Foscaldo.
—A.K.
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Bennington College Prison Education Initiative receives grant
Bennington — Bennington College’s Prison Education Initiative (PEI) has been awarded a grant of $40,000 from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.
Now in its sixth year, PEI brings Bennington College faculty to Great Meadow Correctional Facility, a maximum-security men’s prison in Comstock, New York, to provide a quality liberal arts education to incarcerated students. This grant will allow PEI to serve more students while expanding its course offerings and increasing student services and academic support.
To help meet the unique needs of its students at Great Meadow, while also staying true to the ideals of a Bennington education, PEI will expand its course offerings, increase advising for degree-seeking students, and bolster financial aid support services and guidance for continuing students. Since PEI’s first class in 2015, the demand for the program — which currently serves 44 students — has grown, and an increasing number of inmates wish to enroll.
PEI’s goal is to promote education as a lifelong pursuit, serving both those who will one day reenter society and those who will spend their lives in prison. In addition to improving inmates’ overall quality of life, a successful educational record increases their chances of clemency or geriatric parole. Research has shown that access to education shapes how inmate students make meaning of their worlds, cope with their sentences, and engage with others, which in turn has a positive impact on other aspects of prison life, including a reduction in violence and disruptive behavior.
—A.K.
