2020 Woman Owned Restaurant Grant Application

Massachusetts Conference for Women, Massachusetts Restaurant Association and Chef Joanne Chang Join to Announces $250,000 Initiative to Support Women- Owned Restaurants

2020 Woman Owned Restaurant Grant Application: APPLY HERE

Chef and restauranteur Joanne Chang has joined the Massachusetts Conference for Women and the Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA) to announce a new $250,000 initiative to award grants to dozens of women-owned restaurants across Massachusetts to assist women in an industry that has been devastated by COVID-19.

The Massachusetts Conference for Women will donate funds to provide $5,000 grants to 50 women-owned Massachusetts restaurants, which will be selected via an application process by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. Restaurants can apply here or online via the MRA website until October 22.

“Restaurants truly are the heart of our communities, where people can find comfort at a time when we all need to be able to enjoy some of our favorite traditions such as enjoying a special meal,” said Chang, owner of Flour Bakery in Boston and Cambridge, cookbook author and a James Beard Foundation Award winner for Outstanding Baker. “This initiative will allow a number of women in this hard-hit industry to thrive and provide nourishment to their communities.”

The nonpartisan, nonprofit Massachusetts Conference for Women has been committed to promoting gender equality and to amplifying the influence of women in the workplace and beyond for 16 years. This year, women are disproportionately shouldering the economic impacts of COVID-19 due to mass layoffs in industries that employ many women such as hospitality and retail, increased caregiving responsibilities, and a devastating impact on women-owned small businesses.

“The Massachusetts Conference for Women strives to elevate women in business and all areas of life,” said Massachusetts Conference for Women Board President Gloria Larson. “Our mission is to promote equality, amplify the voices of women and our allies, and foster community. Helping women-owned restaurants that have been impacted by COVID is directly in line with this mission and our efforts to promote women helping women.”

Massachusetts restaurants employed 300,000 people in March 2020, but over 255,000 people have been furloughed during the shutdown and today 39 percent have yet to be recalled.

“This partnership will make a substantive difference for working women in the restaurant industry, which has suffered so deeply from COVID-19. We are thrilled that the Massachusetts Conference for Women is making this initiative possible to help women- owned businesses succeed and thrive,” said Bob Luz, President and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.

The virtual 2020 Massachusetts Conference for Women on December 10th will feature speakers including Awkwafina, a Golden Globe-winning actress and producer; Doris Kearns Goodwin, a presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author; Rachel Cargle, an activist, academic, and prominent voice on race and feminism; and Stephanie Land, an economic justice advocate and author of the best-selling book Maid. The interactive Conference also will give attendees opportunities to engage with speakers and each other, support women-owned businesses in a virtual exhibit hall, and participate in career coaching and resume reviews.

The Massachusetts Conference for Women is part of the nation’s largest network of women’s conferences, with events in California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas, as well as year-round programming. Tickets are available at https://www.maconferenceforwomen.org. 

Northampton Arts Council Board Meeting 9/22/20

 

Baystate Health Announces Request for Proposals (RFP)

Baystate Health (BH), in partnership with its Community Benefits Advisory Councils, is pleased to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). $1.2 million in grants will be awarded in early 2021 to community-based organizations for outcome-based projects that address one of the Baystate Health hospitals' social determinants of health.

Information Session: 
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
2:30 - 4:00 pm
REGISTER HERE

For organizations interested in submitting Letter of Intent (LOI), Baystate Community Benefits staff will provide an overview of the guidelines and answer any specific questions that potential applicants have before submission. Participation in this info session is not a prerequisite to submitting an LOI. 

Key Dates: 
RFP announced Monday, September 21, 2020
General Info Session Wednesday, October 7, 2020, 2:30 - 4:00 pm
Letter of Intent (LOI) due Wednesday, October 23, 2020 11:59 EST
2nd Info Session (required for organizations that submit an LOI) Tuesday, November 10, 2:30 - 4:00 pm
Final Applications due Friday, December 4, 2020 11:59 PM EST
Notification of Decisions January 2021
Grant Awards announced early 2021

GRANT GUIDELINES

APPLY HERE

Current Barriers to Voting: online event presented by Forbes Library

WHAT: Current Barriers to Voting, third event in online series The Right To Vote: Past, Present, Future.
WHEN: September 21 7:00 PM on Zoom 
WHERE: Please preregister at https://forbeslibrary.libcal.com/event/6506682

This year, Forbes Library is presenting a series of scholar-led public discussions about voting in America. Each event in The Right to Vote: Past, Present, Future starts with a presentation by a panel of speakers, followed by group discussion. Forbes Library received support for the series through “The Vote: A Statewide Conversation About Voting Rights,” a special initiative of Mass Humanities that includes organizations around the state.

The third event will focus on current barriers to voting, such as incarceration, accessibility, ID requirements, gerrymandering, COVID-19 and other present-day challenges.

Four speakers will present historical context and guide discussion. The presenters are:

David Daley, author of Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy

Lois Ahrens, founder of the Real Cost of Prisons Project

Lindsay Sabadosa, Massachusetts Representative, 1st Hampshire District

Dr. Kathleen Banks Nutter, historian, independent scholar (Moderator)

Registration is required for this event.

The final event in the series,The Youth Vote, will take place in October (date TBA)

All events are free and open to the public. Details can be found at https://forbeslibrary.org/right-to-vote/.

This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About "The Vote" - Mass Humanities

“The Vote” commemorates the centennial of the 19th Amendment through grants to 17 Massachusetts organizations. Through public events, workshops for educators, museum exhibitions and new research, “The Vote” provides Massachusetts residents with free opportunities to consider issues including women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights movement, voter suppression, civics education, and teen voting.

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution declared that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of a person’s sex. Ratified in 1920, it marked a major victory in the women’s movement by extending the vote to women. But with racism and xenophobia on the rise in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many women of color, like their menfolk, still could not vote. Poll taxes and literacy tests effectively barred many African Americans from voting, especially in the South, and Native Americans in 1920 could gain the right to vote only by severing their ties to their tribes. Many states had passed laws making it illegal for noncitizens to vote, and Chinese Americans were barred from citizenship. Clearly the ratification of the 19th Amendment represents a complicated moment in our nation’s history, one that warrants thoughtful reflection on how to commemorate it.

The year 2020 arrives at another pivotal period in our nation’s electoral history. Some states are considering extending the franchise to felons and younger teens, while others have increased the hurdles to voting. As voting rights, voter fraud, and electoral security are being debated across the country, the humanities offer essential resources for deepening our understanding of this moment.

POST PAUSE: online arts exhibition presented by Easthampton City Arts

POST PAUSE is an online arts exhibition of works created during this time of pandemic in recognition of our expanded community of artists working in Western Massachusetts. Only works created after Friday, March 13, 2020 will be considered. Artists working in any media in Western Massachusetts are encouraged to apply. Selected artworks will be on display in Easthampton City Arts’ Virtual Gallery during Fall 2020. There is no submission fee or commission on work sold through this show. Support for the artists, exposure and connection is our primary goal. See the submission form for guidelines.
***BIPOC artists are strongly encouraged to apply***

DEADLINE TO APPLY: September 22, 2020

Easthampton City Arts Page: https://www.easthamptoncityarts.com/post-pause-call-to-artists/

Direct link to the submission form/guidelines: https://forms.gle/CtRpgcBqoufRd49H9

Questions welcomed!: postpauseart@gmail.com

This exhibition is made possible by support from Easthampton City Arts' Artist Grant Initiative.

Additional Information:
The creative practice of many artists and performers has inevitably been impacted by changes in our local and global realities since the emergence of COVID-19. Works included will overtly or quietly respond to the complexities of this moment.

The goal of this online exhibition is to amplify this shared moment and make visible a representation of diverse artists in our region, using the Easthampton City Arts website as a hub. The hope is to promote connection and creative momentum in this time of potential isolation now and moving forward, and to include many voices in this visual conversation. Viewers will directly be linked with artists to encourage the sale of works or to support artists in other ways. Artists are also encouraged to reach out to one another to form new dialogues and links within our community.

Ideas you might consider: how has the subject matter, form or scale of your work been influenced? Are you making more or less work than you had been prior to the pandemic? Does your work reflect notions of isolation, infection, police brutality, human rights, political leadership, unemployment, family life and relationships, spirituality, etc.? Perhaps your work responds to an altered pace of daily life? If your works has remained unchanged, that is important to note as well. Artists are encouraged to consider how their practices have been impacted and are asked to include a short description to accompany their submission
(up to 500 characters).

Artist Maggie Nowinski will be highlighting and curating groupings of selected artists via a takeover of the Easthampton City Arts Instagram account. The exhibition will be promoted through Easthampton City Arts networks, social media and news outlets from Springfield to the Berkshires. Press releases will go out prior to the exhibition going public.

Forbes Library Presents: The Opioid Crisis in the Age of Pandemic

WHAT: The Opioid Crisis in the Age of Pandemic
WHEN: Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7 pm

WHERE: ZOOM - PRE REGISTER HERE

Join us on Zoom for a panel discussion with local experts and practitioners.
How has quarantine, social distancing, and the coronavirus impacted those living with opioid use disorder and those who support and care for them? What's it like to have one public health crisis stacked on top of another public health crisis? What can the principals of harm reduction teach us about responding to health crises of all kinds?

Featuring Elizabeth Evans, UMass Professor in the School of Health currently conducting research on opioid treatment with incarcerated populations including the Franklin County Jail, Deb Flynn Gonzalez, Program Director of the Hope for Holyoke Peer Recovery Center, Jill Shanahan, Harm Reduction Training Coordinator, Tapestry Health, and Cherry Sullivan, Opioid Program Coordinator for the Northampton Department of Health.

This program is supported by funding from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

**PLEASE PRE-REGISTER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK.**

Oxbow Gallery reopens with "Evolving in Chaos" exhibition

WHAT: "Evolving in Chaos" Exhibition 

WHERE: Oxbow Gallery 273 Pleasant St, Northampton, MA 01060

WHEN: Opening September 4th

              New Gallery Hours: Friday (4-7p), Saturday (3-6p), and Sunday, (2-5p) 

On Friday, Sept 4 the Oxbow Gallery reopened with the exhibition, Evolving in Chaos, a group show comprised of rotating members and their work. Every month different members will exhibit and during their time they may choose to swap out pieces. A visit at one time during the month may look very different at a later point. Additionally, individual front window shows will be ongoing through late November. Look for the #alwayssomethingnew@theOxbow

The Oxbow Gallery opened in 2004 and is a collective with over 40 members who work in a wide range of styles and media. Their work shares a drive towards clarity of purpose, exploration of color and light, and a desire for experimentation.