Mass. households to
receive first state extra SNAP payment on Friday

BOSTON — Individuals and families in Massachusetts will receive their first state-funded extra Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment on Friday, following Gov. Maura Healey’s signing of a supplemental budget that includes $130 million to create an offramp from the extra COVID SNAP benefits, known as SNAP Emergency Allotments. The Congressional Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 ended these payments as of February and Massachusetts households received their last federal payment on March 2.

The state-funded extra SNAP benefits will be available in the beginning of April, May and June for the prior month. For example, households eligible for SNAP in March will receive the extra SNAP in early April. As directed by the supplemental budget, the payment amount will equal up to 40% of the difference between a household’s maximum benefit amount for their household size and their regular monthly benefit amount, with a minimum amount of $38 a month.

The state has a dedicated website, Mass.gov/ExtraCOVIDSNAP, to provide information on the state-funded extra benefits and help households plan for the end of the temporary federal and state benefits.

Northampton Neighbors to host talk on food security

Northampton Neighbors’ April 24 Community Forum will help participants understand the local food security landscape, learn how to access benefits, and support the efforts being made in our community to help individuals achieve food security.

A panel discussion will be moderated by Clare Higgins, executive director of Community Action Pioneer Valley and former Northampton mayor. Each panelist will describe how their organization is responding to community needs. They will also address questions from the moderator and participants.

These local service providers will serve on the panel: Heidi Nortonsmith, executive director, Northampton Survival Center; Alisa Klein, executive director, Grow Food Northampton; Philip Korman, executive director, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA); and Rabbi Jacob Fine, founder and director, Abundance Farm

The talk takes place from 7-8 p.m. The forum will be recorded and available on NN’s YouTube channel and on Northampton Open Media Channel 12. 

‘Overreach: How China derailed its peaceful rise’ talk to be held at Mount Holyoke

SOUTH HADLEY — Susan Shirk, a 1967 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and former deputy assistant secretary of state, will give a talk at Mount Holyoke on “Overreach: How China Derailed its Peaceful Rise.” The talk will be held on Tuesday, April 11, at 5:30 p.m., in Gamble Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public.

Shirk is the research professor and chair of the 21st Century China Center at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California San Diego. She served as the deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs of the US State Department during the Clinton administration.

The talk will also be live streamed and the link will publish an hour before the talk. Visit events.mtholyoke.edu for more information.

HCC opens registration for summer, fall classes

HOLYOKE — Registration is now open for summer and fall classes at Holyoke Community College.

Summer classes at HCC begin Monday, May 22, and run in two, consecutive seven-week sessions: Summer Session I (May 22-July 7); Summer Session II (July 10-Aug. 25).

The fall 2023 semester starts on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Full 15-week semester classes begin Sept. 5. HCC will also be running three accelerated flex start sessions: Flex Start I classes also begin Sept. 5 but run for just seven weeks; Flex Start II classes begin Monday, Sept. 25, and run for 12 weeks; Flex Start III classes begin Monday, Oct. 30, and run for seven weeks.

Registration for summer and fall officially opened Monday, April 3.

Prospective students can peruse all the course options for summer and fall at hcc.edu/sign-up-for-classes. Students interested in visiting campus, should contact the HCC Admissions office at admissions@hcc.edu

For more information on HCC classes or to enroll, please visit hcc.edu/admission or call 413-552-2321.

UMass to rededicate ‘Justice, Diversity, and Opportunity’ mural

AMHERST — To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the landmark British-Irish peace accord known as the Good Friday Agreement, the University of Massachusetts will welcome the return of muralists Danny Devenny and Mark Ervine for a rededication of their mural “Justice, Diversity, and Opportunity,” Monday, at 1 p.m. on the lower level of the Campus Center. The artists will join the hybrid event virtually.

The mural, commissioned by UMass as part of peacebuilding efforts to highlight the power of art in conflict transformation, was painted in 2010 by Devenny and Ervine, two of the leading muralists during the North/Northern Ireland conflict and transition to peace, along with members of the UMass community. Devenny is an ex-Irish Republican Army political prisoner and Ervine is a British loyalist whose father served in the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force and was a negotiator on their behalf for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Joining the artists at the rededication ceremony, which will be followed by a reception, will be UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy; Peter Abbott, British consul general; Laoise Moore, consul general of Ireland; and Leah Wing, senior lecturer II in the Legal Studies program of the Department of Political Science and founder of the Art of Conflict Transformation event series.

The event, part of the UMass Amherst Art of Conflict Transformation Spring 2023 Event Series “The Good Friday Agreement @ 25,” is free and open to the public, though attendees are asked to register in advance. The ceremony will also be available to view live online via Zoom. Registration for both in-person attendance and the Zoom livestream can be completed on the same page.

]]>