Chamber breakfast highlights nonprofits’ role in stimulating Franklin County’s economy

GREENFIELD — The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce’s monthly breakfast on Friday highlighted the positive impact the region’s nonprofit sector has, not only for community members using their services, but also the local economy.

The breakfast at Greenfield Community College featured a panel with Community Action Pioneer Valley Executive Director Lev BenEzra, Rachel’s Table of Western Massachusetts Director of Program Strategy Cara Silverberg, Resilience Center of Franklin County Executive Director Amanda Sanderson, The United Arc CEO Fred Warren and LifePath Executive Director Gary Yuhas.

Each panelist spoke to the services they offer residents and took questions from Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jessye Deane about their impact on the local economy.

Deane opened the breakfast by highlighting important statistics to frame the discussion: 14% of the overall Franklin County workforce is in the nonprofit sector, and these nonprofits employ 5,000 Franklin County residents. She said nonprofits “do whatever it takes to meet the need,” while working with limited resources and keeping a “collaborative, optimistic approach.”

“Today’s breakfast is intentionally designed to think about misconceptions that we can sometimes hear that nonprofits sit adjacent, or draw from the economy rather than contribute to it, and too often, nonprofits are framed as exclusively service providers and safety nets,” Deane said. “The reality is that nonprofits are one of Franklin County’s most stable economic sectors.”

To kick off the discussion, Deane asked Silverberg to explain how Rachel’s Table works with farms, food retailers and distributors to strengthen the local food economy while reducing food waste. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food waste is the single most common material in landfills and an estimated 30% to 40% of the total U.S. food supply goes uneaten. Silverberg explained Rachel’s Table diverts food to families that would otherwise end up in the trash. As more food is diverted, waste is reduced, landfills stay open for longer and new landfills don’t need to be built.

Additionally, Rachel’s Table works with 13 Franklin County farms to glean produce, or pick what the harvesters miss. That food is then distributed, helping volunteers learn about land and food access. From there, Silverberg said anecdotally that the volunteers tend to patronize more local farms.

When asked about the impact of recent federal funding cuts to social programs, and what pressures would exist locally if Community Action’s services become unavailable, BenEzra explained that Community Action’s services, helping people maintain housing, food security, child care and health care, are all “foundational” parts of the Franklin County community, and act as an “upstream investment” to help keep costly impacts off of local court systems, health services, schools and employers, among other stakeholders.

“We as a community are avoiding more expensive downstream issues such as increased homelessness, eviction and foster care that are deeply harmful and disruptive, as well as being truly, truly costly,” BenEzra said.

BenEzra added that 40% of Community Action’s $44 million annual budget comes directly from the federal or state government. That money is passed to community members, who then inject it back into the economy through local purchasing.

BenEzra noted that the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is one example of federal funds helping local people with their home heating expenses. When cuts or disruptions occur to these programs, nonprofits can’t make up the gaps that the federal and state funds offer.

Deane asked Warren to detail how The United Arc is able to help people with disabilities live and participate in their local communities.

“First and foremost,” Warren said, “all the individuals that we support and serve are, as was mentioned, part of our community. They’re shoppers, they rent or do all the things that we do to help drive the local economy.”

Warren said The United Arc provides support to children and adults with intellectual disabilities, and helps around 1,000 people each year. Expanding on the point that the people served by The United Arc are driving the local economy, Warren added that the nonprofit’s beneficiaries are not spending any differently, but that the money that comes from the state to support United Arc participants is going back into the community.