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Date: 3/6/2024
SPRINGFIELD — An organization in Springfield with the mission of serving as a hub to serve low-income women, is seeking nonprofits to bring its vision to fruition.
The O’Dell Women’s Center opened in 2023 and is Springfield’s first nonprofit women’s center, said newly-appointed Executive Director Margaret Tantillo.
“We are about providing women with upward mobility,” Tantillo said. She noted that it is difficult for women without a vehicle to travel to various organizations and agencies, especially if they have small children in tow. By creating a one-stop location, she said, “We can break through some of those barriers.”
The center is in its infancy, with Dress for Success as the only nonprofit currently occupying 45 Lyman St., but other nonprofits will be invited to share the second floor of the building, creating a “safe environment where women can come and have their needs met.” Tantillo stressed, “We’re being very deliberate about this” and “curating nonprofits that complement the work done by Dress for Success.”
The nonprofits will be charged little if any rent for the space, which Tantillo said can greatly help organizations devote their finances to their philanthropic goals. This is made possible by O’Dell Women’s Center founder Keely Krantz, who Tantillo described as “a very generous angel donor.” The O’Dell Women’s Center is named for Krantz’s grandmother, Constance “Connie” O’Dell, who treated women for decades as a maternity nurse at Holyoke’s now-shuttered Providence Hospital.
To better serve the community, Tantillo said the center is listening to the women they aim to serve, as that population identifies how their needs can best be met.
“We don’t have the same resources as a large city [in eastern Massachusetts], but the women here have the same needs.” According to the federal Census Bureau, 29.2% of Springfield women live below the poverty line, nearly three times the state average of 11.1%.
There is no proof of income or other financial criteria that must be met to be served by organizations at the O’Dell Center. “When somebody reaches out, it is a very difficult thing,” Tantillo said. “We just come at this from an angle of compassion and that we don’t know what anyone else has been through.”
Tantillo said if someone is seeking aid that the nonprofits located at the center cannot provide, Tantillo said they will be referred to other resources in the city.
Tantillo was previously the executive director for Dress for Success and Girl Scouts of America. She has volunteered in positions of leadership with the Core Economic Mobility Hub of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, the Coordinating Committee of the Alliance for Digital Equity and as a member of the Core Partners of Springfield WORKS.
Organizations interested in being located at the center can contact Tantillo at margarettantillo@theodellwomenscenter.com. For more information, visit odellwomenscenter.com.