February 5, 2024: Preserve, Secure, Protect

Today’s show is all about giving back.

It’s in regular members of our community who come together to help our growing youth one on one. CHD’s Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County hosts the second annual “Big Love, Little Performances”, a fundraiser where the who’s who of the area come together to sing karaoke for the cause. Executive Director Susan Nicastro joins us to talk up how important mentors are, how great their need is, and mention how much “rick-rolling” will probably happen at this event.

It’s in the preservation of the memory and legacy of an activist couple from Deerfield. Wally and Juanita Nelson were the impetus of many stalwarts in Greenfield, including the Farmer’s Market, and the Harvest supper. They lived a philosophy that has inspired many in the years before and after their passing. We talk with Bob Bady and Betsy Williams of the Nelson Legacy Project, itself a branch of the Nelson Homestead, about the influence of the couple’s practice of passivism, the classes they teach under this ideology, and more.

And it’s in a community being delayed in it’s efforts to right itself. The Holyoke Public Schools have been in receivership since 2015. This past fall, mayor Joshua Garcia, acting in his capacity as chairman of the school committee, petitioned the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for a release from that receivership. This past weekend, they were sent notification that the decision for that release would be deferred to a later date. But what does that delay mean in the interim for the schools and students of Holyoke? How is the state measuring the growth of a city’s educational focus against their expectations? We delve into the many repercussions with the Mayor, along with newly appointed vice-chair of the school committee Erin Brunelle, and Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page.