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Date: 4/27/2021
NORTHAMPTON – On April 15 and April 16, Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz announced that the city had received a $200,000 gift from Smith College and signed an option with the Curran Roundhouse to potentially purchase the location for the Community Resilience Hub.
Narkewicz said the gift was important because it allows the city to purchase a suitable location for the Resilience Hub.
“The funding piece of it was important to me as it relates to trying to secure a location because we wanted to make sure we had the funding in place if we found an adequate location so we could move forward on potentially securing it,” he said.
With the donation from Smith College, Narkewicz said the city was able to close the gap for the project’s funding.
“We had been working on marshalling some of our Community Development Block Grant funding with the $1.61 million that I sought the authority to appropriate toward this project from the City Council. Even with those two sources of funding we had a bit of a gap,” he said. “When I met with the president of Smith College over many months, my request to her was for $200,000, which was basically our gap.”
Between each funding source, Narkewicz said the project will cost $2.2 million along with other grants for the project.
Narkewicz said he was thankful for the donation from Smith College and its president, Kathleen McCartney.
“I am extremely grateful to President McCartney and to Smith College for recognizing the critical importance of this project to the entire community, which Smith is a part of, and stepping forward with this gift to help us move it closer to realization,” he said.
Narkewicz added that this gift is not the first time Smith College has donated to help the city.
“They have made other gifts to the city over the last several years. Primarily we have focused on using them for educational related needs, including when they quite significantly gave us a gift to help support our one-to-one Chromebook program,” he said.
As the Smith College donation was being finalized, Narkewicz said the option piece came together quickly, which led to the announcements on back-to-back days.
“The timing of it lined up so that we got the final pieces of the funding in place and then the option piece came together in the same 24-hour period, so I executed the option. Initially we were just announcing the Smith gift and the option coalesced in the same time period so that is why we announced the option the very next day,” he said.
By signing the option for the Curran Longhouse, Narkewicz said the city has the sole option to purchase the property within 120 days while more research is done on the building.
“The option was critical because we have been in active search mode and zeroed in on this as a possible perfect location. To be able to reach an agreement where essentially, we are given an option on the property, which means we have the sole right to purchase for the next 120 days, was important,” he said.
In terms of the work that needs to be done at the Curran Roundhouse during the option period, Narkewicz said the city will be investigating its structure and environmental remediation done on the building.
“Obviously there are some structural things, there is looking at the HVAC system, and then the environmental piece is also important. There was a bunch of environmental remediation done by Columbia Gas in that area of the city. Because we were not closely involved in that process, we just want to make sure we understand what potential future uses are allowed,” he said. “We want to understand what it will entail to build out the space.”
Between the work the city and its partner, Community Action of Pioneer Valley, are doing, Narkewicz said the project is moving along smoothly.
“I think we are well positioned, our main partner in this project is Community Action of Pioneer Valley and they just advertised a position to hire a Resilience Hub community collaborator, which is basically a community organizer who they want to begin the process of meeting and gathering input from stakeholders and users of the project,” he said.
Narkewicz added that he is happy both pieces are moving along, but it will take time before the hub is finished.
“My main concern is securing the facility and space, but I am heartened that Community Action is already putting in place the process to begin getting the input to help us put together the actual programming of the space. I feel like we are making good progress, but it is going to take time,” he said.
Once the hub is up and running, Narkewicz said the city will not directly run operations in the building but will leave it up to the agencies housed within.
“We’ll be the owners, the landlord, and a partner but ultimately, we feel it will be run by the various tenants and agencies that would operate out of it by working with community stakeholders,” he said.
Narkewicz added that the Resilience Hub will be a place for people to find basic needs and potentially serve as a shelter in larger emergencies.
“The goal of the hub is to be a one stop that people in need can have access to basic needs as well as critical services, whether it be food, health care, or shelter. Long term it is supposed to be potentially a shelter to serve all residents in cases of climate emergencies as well,” he said.