Are you still banking with an international mega-bank? Isn't it time to align your money with your values by moving to a community bank? BerkShares’ partner banks Adams Community Bank, Lee Bank, Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, and Salisbury Bank and Trust Company have offices conveniently located throughout Berkshire County.
GREAT BARRINGTON - Gisele Desjardins loved eating popsicles when she was growing up in Georgia. But her mother didn't like how the sugary treat's sticky sweetness affected Gisele when mixed with the heat prevalent in that area of the country.
By Tony Dobrowolski, [email protected]
PITTSFIELD - The ideas for businesses came from all angles. Everything from a micro mall to mini golf, a commercial kitchen to an international food bazaar was proposed.
By Tony Dobrowolski, [email protected]
PITTSFIELD - The ideas for businesses came from all angles. Everything from a micro mall to mini golf, a commercial kitchen to an international food bazaar was proposed.
Alice Maggio, Executive Director of BerkShares, Inc. is interviewed by Josh Hallmark of the podcast "Our Americana" for a piece on the Berkshires and BerkShares, in which she synthesizes Berkshire history of local economy experiments, the current BerkShares program, and our plans for the future.
Aired on WAMC on Monday, September 26, 2016. Listen here. A local currency program in western Massachusetts is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Alice Maggio is the executive director of BerkShares Inc. based in Great Barrington.
Originally published here on September 23rd, 2016 by The Berkshire Eagle. GREAT BARRINGTON — BerkShares, a local currency for the Berkshire Region, was launched in 2006 with a message so simple it almost seems hokey now.
Garrison Keillor gave a shout-out to BerkShares on Saturday night, June 25th, at Tanglewood during his last broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion!
The Big on Small Business, hosted by Keith Girouard. "Youth Entrepreneurship"
Part 1 :
Part 2:
Keith Girouard, regional director and senior business advisor at the Mass. Small Business Development Center Network, sat down with Alice Maggio, Local Currency Program Director at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, to discuss youth entrepreneurship and Entry to Entrepreneurship, a business planning course for young people in the Berkshire Region. The Schumacher Center, BerkShares, Inc., and the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network have collaborated closely on the development of the Entry to Entrepreneurship program. Keith Girouard's monthly radio show is called The Big on Small Business: Ideas, Trends and Tools for Small Business. You can listen in on the 1st Wednesday of every month – 10:00-10:30 a.m on WBRK – 1340 AM in the Berkshire region of Massachusetts. This show's title was "Youth Entrepreneurship."
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alice Maggio, Berkshares, Inc., [email protected] or (413) 528-1737
“ENTRY TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP” REACHES FULL ENROLLMENT.
BerkShares, Inc.’s business-planning course for Berkshire County youth, called “Entry to Entrepreneurship,” has reached full enrollment. The twenty registered students ages 14 to 25 will have their first class on Tuesday, January 26 at Berkshire Community College’s South County Center in downtown Great Barrington.
“Entry to Entrepreneurship” is a business education course that is community-supported, community-taught, and focuses on inspiring ‘import-replacement’ businesses that will fill gaps in the local economy. This approach is a part of a larger initiative spearheaded by BerkShares, Inc. called “Community Supported Industry (CSI).” CSI builds on the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model to find ways that Berkshire citizens can identify local business opportunities and work together to turn them into enterprises that become part of the local economy.
November 23, 2015 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
More information: [email protected] or 413 528 1737
BERKSHARES, INC. TO OFFER BUSINESS-PLANNING COURSE: ENTRY TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP
This winter, for the second year in a row, BerkShares, Inc. is offering a business-planning course for young people ages 14 through 25. Entry to Entrepreneurship will take place once a week at the South County Center of Berkshire Community College starting on January 26, 2016. The program will culminate with a public event on April 12, 2016. Participants will present their business plans and receive an award of 200 BerkShares each.
What goods and services do we currently buy from outside the region that we could, instead, produce or provide locally? How can residents of the Berkshire region begin to identify and seize these opportunities and turn them into businesses that are locally owned, provide healthy livelihoods for local people, and shorten the supply chain for some of our most basic needs in the areas of food, clothing, shelter and energy?
This year, we’re working to take “buy local” to the next level.
Since BerkShares were launched in 2006 we have focused on “keeping it local.” BerkShares have been a leading voice and shining example of the “buy local” movement, and consumers have become more aware of what they’re buying, and from where.