NORTHAMPTON — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern met with city officials on Wednesday to celebrate an injection of federal funding for the Manhan Rail Trail and brainstorm ways that lawmakers can help with establishing the Community Resilience Hub.

During a noontime City Hall meeting that also included Democratic state Sen. Jo Comerford of Northampton, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said the city is “remarkably grateful” for the $3.6 million from Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) that will fund two rail trail projects. Officials then toured the area of the trail that is due for expansion.

Also called Community Project Funding or earmarks, the CDS is an $82.7 million package that will support projects across Massachusetts, including $670,000 for the expansion of the behavioral health pod at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and $995,000 for the Energy Transition Institute at UMass Amherst.

“I think the pandemic has really reminded all of us of the importance of having spaces where we can get outside, no matter what other conditions face us,” Warren said, highlighting the physical and mental health benefits of outdoor exercise and crediting the city for prioritizing the rail trail.

“Bailey told me that this was one of his No. 1 priorities,” Warren said to laughter, referring to her golden retriever.

McGovern said the project will promote tourism and livability in the city, “and it complements the character of the community, so this is great news.”

“We were lucky we had allies to get it over the finish line because we had some in our Congress who chose to take a walk on it,” McGovern, D-Worcester, said, referring to Republicans who voted against the federal budget bill containing the project funding.

The House and Senate appropriations committees invited members of Congress to request funding for projects in their constituent communities, subject to transparency rules like posting the requests online. The CDS money was added to the federal budget bill signed by President Joe Biden in March.

Warren and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., requested the funding to complete the Manhan Rail Trail section of the Rocky Hill Greenway Multi-Use Trail and connect it to the regional trail network.

“The City has already built 1.5 miles of the Rocky Hill Road Greenway, but those sections are isolated and do not connect (Route 66 to Florence Road and Burts Pit Road to Sandy Hill Road),” the request reads.

A new 1.1-mile section will run from Ice Pond Drive to the New Haven and Northampton Canal Greenway shared-use path, where it crosses Easthampton Road (Route 10). The new section will lead up to Rocky Hill Road and extend along Route 66; the funding would also allow for design, acquisition and construction of another new section to link the two unconnected sections.

“Not only does this connect to a regional network, but it serves a section of Northampton that is otherwise poorly connected in terms of transit and safe bike and pedestrian ways,” Sciarra said. “This helps fulfill our climate goals, as well as our goals for equitable access to alternatives to vehicle use and equitable access to our beautiful trails and conservation areas.”

Comerford said that trail access “is so key to be able to bring the outdoors, the beauty of this region, to people equitably, and to be able to meet climate goals at the same time? My goodness.”

Standing on the rail trail at the site of the future expansion, McGovern said he hopes the natural beauty of the space encourages people to “double down” on the fight to preserve the environment. Warren noted that it will also “give more children an opportunity to walk to school.”

Community Resilience Hub

Warren and McGovern heard an update on the creation of the Community Resilience Hub from officials, including Public Health Director Merridith O’Leary, who noted that the number of free meals provided by Manna Community Kitchen every day tripled during the pandemic, from about 102 to 308.

The city began planning for the Community Resilience Hub after it was recommended in a 2019 report, “A Downtown Northampton for Everyone,” by former Mayor David Narkewicz’s working group on panhandling.

The hub would provide showers, storage for belongings, connections to social and medical services, and other resources to assist the homeless community and all those who are experiencing crises.

“We also want it to serve as a regular meeting and community space for the entire community,” Sciarra said, and house the Health Department, the fledgling Department of Community Care and services provided by Hilltown Healthcare.

O’Leary said the city wants all residents to be able to “break bread” with those using the hub’s resources “and realize that these are real problems and we’re all here to help. … Part of our philosophy is to serve people with dignity.”

Despite the city identifying several candidate buildings, a site to build the hub remains elusive.

Sciarra said the city will ask for federal funding “this week” for the hub project in hopes of choosing a larger space, while McGovern said “there might be existing pots of money” that could be distributed quickly.

Warren proposed a phone call between city officials and members of her and McGovern’s staffs to strategize around the funding request.

“A reminder: Massachusetts started community health centers. Now I’d like to see Massachusetts start resilience hubs,” Warren said, urging officials to collect data on their efforts to look for strengths and weaknesses, which would help other communities set up similar programs.

“This is the proper function of government,” Warren said. “Government is what we do together that none of us can do alone.”

Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.]]>