Business Development

Construction Work to Begin April 8, 2024 The City of Springfield Department of Public Works (DPW) announced today that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is in the process of reconstructing the St. James Avenue and Tapley Street Intersection into a roundabout. As a result of the construction, traffic will be impacted. Beginning the week…

Several western Massachusetts organizations gathered Tuesday at the State House for a briefing to bring attention to the Cliff Effect, which largely affects low income households. The Cliff Effect happens when an individual who relies on public assistance receives a slight increase in their salary, and they get pushed over the cliff to disqualify them…

CitySpace announced the launch of its 2024 Pay It Forward program, aimed at supporting artists and organizations across Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties. This initiative provides free access to CitySpace’s Blue Room, a performance and incubator space situated in Easthampton’s historic Old Town Hall. Interested applicants can submit their proposals at cityspaceeasthampton.org/pif through May 6.…

Palmer is known to many as the Town of Seven Railroads, a nod to a very rich history as a transit center. Indeed, several passenger and freight rail lines ran though the community at one time, most notably the Boston & Albany, which ran east-west between the two cities, and the Central Vermont, which ran…

Dan White calls it “turning back the clock on decomposition of food and seeds.” That’s how he chose to describe the technology created by Clean Crop Technologies, a Holyoke-based company that has become one of the foundations of that city’s emerging cleantech and greentech sector and one of the more intriguing regional entrepreneurial success stories…

Report identifies opportunities in food science, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy. A mural depicting characters from the Wizard of Oz including Dorothy in downtown Springfield on June 10, 2022.CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE STAFF Think about Massachusetts’ economic engines and often the “eds and meds” — the state’s thriving education and health care sectors — are top…

Tourism is critical to the economic energy of Western Mass. — it’s often the first experience people have with the region, and can be a strong factor in whether they want to move or work here. And the annual economic impact of visitors — at tourist attractions, restaurants, hotels, conventions, and events — soars into…

MTF’s next webinar will look at the role that public and private colleges and universities play in the Commonwealth’s economy. Higher education has been a magnet for talent and investment in the state, while building tomorrow’s workforce. This conversation will assess where that sector currently finds itself in a post-pandemic world. Click here to register.

When Lucy Damkoehler returned to Western Mass. after 20 years away, she opened a bakery in a town she knew well — Bernardston, to be exact, with its population of 2,000. That was in 2018. Today, Sweet Lucy’s Bakeshop is thriving, demonstrating, like many other businesses already have, that it’s possible to succeed in a…

‘Diverse.’ That’s the one word Jessye Deane kept coming back to as she talked about Deerfield and its business community. And with good reason. Indeed, while this community of just over 5,000 is home to Yankee Candle Village, Historic Deerfield, the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory, and other tourist attractions, its economy is quite broad, covering…