Scholarships Available

Want Money for College?


Apply for a scholarship from Springfield Partners for Community Action!

Visit www.springfieldpartnersinc.com for a Scholarship Application!

Springfield Partners for Community Action is pleased to announce the availability of 10 Community Scholarships of $1,000 each, and the Second Annual Ray Hershel Honorary Scholarship. Scholarships are available to both adult learners and to 2011 high school graduates.

The Second Annual Ray Hershel Honorary Scholarship is one $1,000 award for college students pursuing a degree in journalism, communications or a related field. It was established by John Gormally, president and owner of WGGB-TV. Ray Hershel is an award-winning broadcast journalist and longtime chief political reporter for WGGB.

The deadline to apply for all scholarships is May 20, 2011 at 4 p.m. Scholarships will be distributed at an awards breakfast on June 10, 2011; winners must be at the breakfast to receive an award.

All applicants must be Springfield residents enrolled in an accredited college or vocational school in Massachusetts; demonstrate community involvement; and meet income guidelines. Applicants may download the application at www.springfieldpartnersinc.com or pick one up at Springfield Partners main office, 721 State St., 2^nd Floor, Springfield. 

Weatherization! It's not just for winter

Did you know that our Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) can replace incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient CFLs?


Did you know that our Weatherization team can also provide safety testing of a home’s heating system and examine homes for health and safety issues?

Well, you might know that they can test the efficiency of refrigerators and freezers and if either is found to be inefficient, they can replace it with a new, energy-saving unit.

And, our WAP crew can provide attic insulation and venting, wall insulation, air sealing, and weather-stripping of doors and windows.

You should definitely know that eligible households receive fuel assistance and priority households have an elderly family member, a child under the age of six, a person with a disability or have high energy use.

WAP services can safely and effectively lower utility bills by $400 a year on average.

You might just want to contact us.

Weatherization is for more than just winter.

Open House

Please join us at our Open House on Monday, May 16. We invite you to take a tour, enjoy some refreshments and chat with staff between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. There will be a short program at 3:00 p.m. and Congressman Richard Neal has agreed to make opening remarks.

We are all rather pleased to be in the same building together with our childcare center, New Beginnings, in the first floor. There are still some improvements that we hope to make but want to hold our Open House to correspond with National Community Action Month. There are 24 Community Action Agencies in Massachusetts and over 1,000 nationwide.

Please drop in to our Open House. We'd love to meet new people, make new friends, and definitely want our old friends to see our new place. See you on the 16th!!

Celebrating the Week of the Young Child at New Beginnings Childcare Center...

Amidst the doom and gloom of federal budget cuts, we have happy news:

First up: New Beginnings pre-schoolers will stroll up State to participate in the Grand (Re)Opening of the Mason Square Library on Wednesday, April 13, 2011. We are so, so happy to have an nice, full-size library branch back in our neighborhood! A few Springfield Partners staff got a sneak peek at the renovated library last week, and we can promise you, you'll LOVE it there. Thanks to Jean Canosa Albano and the Mason Square branch staff for their hard work!

It's also the Week of the Young Child, and our very own New Beginnings Childcare Center here at 721 State Street has some exciting activities on tap this week.

New Beginnings children celebrating WOTYC

On Wednesday the 13th, from 2-3 p.m., New Beginnings will hold an Autism Awareness event at the center. A special guest speaker will educate center parents and family about autism and its impact on children and families, and will distribute free resources on autism.

Parents and families of New Beginnings children are invited to a special talent show, "New Beginnings Has Talent," at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 14, at the center. Tickets are $1 each. Our teachers and kids are really creative, so you won't want to miss this one!

Week of the Young Child will go out in style with a Cookout and Dance Party, set to start at 10 a.m. Friday April 15 at the playground in the rear of the center building. Parents and families are welcome to join us!

More on budget cuts

Many people are fasting to protest the drastic cuts that are being proposed in Washington right now. You can read more about the fast and even join in at Move On. The premise of the fast: when Congress is debating forcing veterans into homelessness and cutting food aid to pregnant women and children, while giving tax breaks to billionaires, something is very, very wrong. Religious leaders have banded together to organize the fast.

Those who will go hungry because of these cuts are largely invisible to decision-makers in Congress. By fasting in solidarity, we have an opportunity to make their suffering visible, and expose the immorality of this policy.



Anyone can participate although please don't if you have health issues. You may choose to fast for a day, for a meal or a week. The choice is yours.

We have to find ways to make our legislators listen to us and this just may be the way to do that.