HOLYOKE – Residents and surrounding community members are invited to provide input on open space conservation and recreation opportunities in Worthington on Tuesday, September 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Worthington Town Hall. The meeting will include an overview of the Open Space and Recreation Plan update, and a discussion about conservation and recreation goals and priorities over the next seven years.
It is my great honor and pleasure to introduce Regional Impact Award winner, Geraldine McCafferty, known as Gerry.
Gerry has been working in our region since 2001 and working with the great city of Springfield since 2006. She started as the Deputy Director of the Office of Housing and took over as Director 3 years later. Before coming to the Pioneer Vallery Gerry worked for over a decade at Colorado Legal services. Gerry has what many of us consider the perfect training to be a successful local or regional planner—she has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning (from University of Denver) and a Law degree—from Georgetown University. Of course, Gerry doesn’t actually work as a regional planner, but she does assist the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission to achieve our goal of catalyzing regional progress. We can’t give Gerry all the credit for the great strides Springfield has made in recent years –with respect to building affordable housing, taking action against irresponsible and law-breaking landlords, improving services for the un-housed, planning for new housing and bringing a systems-thinking approach to the city’s housing work, integrating climate action, public health, clean energy and resilience into housing, but much of the credit does go to her. Gerry is not just really well-trained with tons of experience; she is also amazingly thoughtful, thorough, caring, and not surprising, wicked smaat.