The Board of Health Job Aids Initiative provides a comprehensive collection of resources to support Boards of Health in developing and maintaining their structure, policies & procedures, protocols, and operational standards.

The mission of the Berkshire Overdose and Addiction Prevention Collaborative (BOAPC) is to collectively implement local policy, practice, systems, and/or environmental changes to reduce harms from opioid and stimulant use, and to prevent substance-related deaths and harmful impacts throughout the 32 municipalities in Berkshire County.

The mission of the Berkshire Public Health Alliance (BPHA) is to promote, preserve and enhance Berkshire County’s public health by meeting community needs, improving capabilities and providing equitable access to affordable public health services

On March 29, 2023, Governor Healey signed into law a supplemental budget bill which, among other things, extends the temporary provisions pertaining to the Open Meeting Law to March 31, 2025.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, on behalf of the Berkshire Public Health Alliance, is working together to improve food safety in the region. Many foodborne illnesses...

Flu Surveillance The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) produce weekly influenza surveillance reports: CDC Weekly U.S....

The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission acts as a fiduciary agent for emergency planning and response activities.

Tickborne illness dashboard that is updated weekly throughout tick season.

BRPC has joined with the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts to design, promote, and train local Berkshire organizations in the use of a new online resource directory covering the four western MA counties, 413Cares (https://www.413cares.org/).

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) staff will continue to provide services to Berkshire County Boards of Health Association (BCBOHA) programs such as Septic Installer Certification Courses, Chokesaver to restaurants, and other programs/services as needed or requested by the Berkshire County Boards of Health and the BCBOHA Executive Committee.

This BE3C project is basing its collaborative work on the shared belief that when we as a community prioritize the health and wellbeing of Women and Girls of Color, that the wellbeing of all people will improve. With this knowledge, the BE3C partners, aided by BOAPC and WOCHE, will build a new way of doing substance misuse prevention planning: By creating a culturally-responsive, safe space where community members can come together to share knowledge, stories, and experiences, build new relationships, and create tools to address the identified needs of Girls of Color ages 5-11 in the community of Pittsfield.

BRPC has been retained as a consultant to write Berkshire Health Systems' Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA).

This funding will allow the Public Health Program Manager to act as the Western Mass Public Health Association (WMPHA) representative to the Coalition for Local Public Health (CLPH). In addition, BRPC will help develop a simple website for the use of WMPHA.

This grant will support the County Health Initiative (CHI) in developing and implementing a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) for Berkshire County.

This pilot increases access to care for people with SUD and a carceral history in rural Berkshire County, MA by addressing barriers related to transportation and the higher cost of rural care via 3 key activities: Pair EMS with Sheriff’s Office navigators to enhance field medical services and linkage to primary care; Improve First Responder ability to address overdose through field bupe induction and improved overdose response; Enhance OEND training for formerly incarcerated individuals by incorporating an Overdose Safety Plan and SafeSpot “test call” Following guidance from people with lived and living experience, this project will create a scalable structure to build collaboration among primary care, behavioral health and the legal system.

BOAPC will engage community members to carry out to Days of Action to knock on doors in areas/ neighborhoods with higher rates of overdose. They will increase awareness of fentanyl in the supply, particularly for people who use stimulants, and encourage engagement with Berkshire Harm Reduction, SafeSpot, the Thrive Team and other local supports.

Support Berkshire Medical Reserve Corps efforts. This work will include meetings with Emergency Preparedness stakeholders, development of training needs assessments, participation in exercises and drills, and management of volunteers.

Support Franklin Medical Reserve Corps efforts. This work will include meetings with Emergency Preparedness stakeholders, development of training needs assessments, participation in exercises and drills, and management of volunteers.

Through pooled Opioid Abatement funds from eight Northern Berkshire Municipalities (Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Florida, New Ashford, North Adams, Savoy, and Williamstown) and Berkshire Health Systems, this project will engage a full-time staff member to coordinate community-led efforts to enhance harm reduction, treatment and recovery efforts while addressing underlying root causes in order to reduce opioid overdoses and related harms from substance misuse and addiction.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC), through the Berkshire Public Health Alliance is coordinating the Berkshire Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative. The purpose of the Berkshire Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative (BOAPC) is to implement local policy, practice, systems, and/or environmental changes to prevent the misuse and abuse of opioids and to prevent and reduce unintentional deaths and non-fatal hospital events associated with opioid poisonings throughout the 32 municipalities in Berkshire County.

These project funds are provided through the Massachusetts Healthy Community Fund and are committed to removing barriers to health, incuding structural and institutional racism, poverty and other power inbalances, through community-centered policies, systems and environmental changes approaches. The Pittsfield Gray to Green Project will engage the community and prioritize green planning in a social and racial justice context. Partners include Habitat for Humanity and Working Cities, 18 Degrees and the City of Pittsfield.

Plastic pollution has long been recognized as an environmental problem. Research now suggests that microplastics are also a human health problem. BRPC has partnered with the Toxics Use Reduction Institute on a three-pronged approach to addressing each of these problems: 1. Development of public-facing materials on how everyday citizens can reduce their exposure to microplastics, 2. Development of educational materials for food establishments on how to explore safe alternatives to single-use plastic containers, 3. Development of a toolkit for municipalities on the subject of plastics reduction bylaws.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) acts as the fiduciary agent for the Berkshire Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coalition. Public Health Emergency Preparedness Funding supports local Boards of Health in Berkshire County to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies and disasters from a public health and health equity perspective. Berkshire County Boards of Health Association (BCBOHA) acts as the emergency preparedness coalition for Berkshire County.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission will engage in the second phase of the Racial Equity Capacity Building (RECB) pilot program with Public Health Institute of Western MA (PHIWM) and the Women of Color Health Equity Collective (WOCHEC). Within this project, BRPC will work with WOCHEC to review internal and external policies, attend Advisory Board Meetings, and attend a summit for the program in June 2023.

Implementation and Expansion of the “Strengthening the Berkshire County Regional Food System with Locally-Sourced Mobile Farmers Market to Serve Low Access Populations” (Berkshire Mobile Farmers Market) project will build on prior and ongoing collaborative efforts to expand local food production and delivery systems as well as bring the benefits of fresh and healthy locally grown food to under served communities and individuals. By increasing the regional food supply network, the Berkshire Mobile Farmers Market Project will improve community resiliency by diminishing our reliance on long-distance food chains, improve equitable access to local, healthy food options, especially for low-income, remote, and rural families, educate the public on the availability and benefits of local foods, and mitigate the stigma of using SNAP benefits and food pantries. The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission joins Berkshire Bounty, Berkshire Grown, and the Southern Berkshire Rural Health Network and partners with Berkshire United Way and Community Health Programs in this partnership. Each partner addresses a distinct food production, storage, purchase, and distribution aspect.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) is serving as the fiduciary agent to the Berkshire Public Health Alliance to implement a regional Public Health Inspection Program in selected Alliance towns.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) is serving as the fiduciary agent to the Berkshire Public Health Alliance to implement a regional Public Health Nursing Program in selected Alliance towns.

This project is focused on the rural municipalities in central Berkshire County (Windsor, Washington, Dalton, Becket, Richmond, Lanesborough, Peru, Hinsdale). The initial phase of this project will be focus on meeting the immediate needs surrounding response to COVID-19 possibly including assessment, COVID education and outreach, information dissemination, supporting current and future vaccination needs, and implementing other state resources. The second phase will focus on supporting resiliency and addressing the factors that created poor outcomes during the pandemic, with a focus on a specific projects or projects that aim to eliminate or reduce a barrier or factor.

The SPARK Coalition aims to prevent and reduce substance misuse and its associated harms among Central Berkshire County middle and high school aged youth.

BRPC's Public Health Program will design and develop a comprehensive, HSEEP-compliant tabletop exercise (TTX) scenario focused on municipal evacuation and sheltering in response to either a natural disaster or an act of terrorism. The consultant will also develop related injects that can be integrated into a card game format, allowing municipal officials and their partners to conduct the exercise independently, in multiple settings, and over time if wanted.

The project builds on existing capacities to expand new and ongoing community-centered, field-based interventions to address the Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) Lifecycle of prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery in Berkshire County, MA. The project contains three coordinated, regionally specific (North, Central, and South) field programs that reduce the risk of harm from substance use, decrease arrests, and improve health outcomes through field outreach to higher-risk individuals, outreach to & engagement with communities disproportionately affected by substances, along with training and public communications to decrease stigma and increase engagement with services.