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Mayor Joshua Garcia speaks as Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi, Holyoke Police Chief Brian Keenan, and Holyoke Community Development Director Alicia Zoeller listen behind him last Wednesday at the Holyoke War Memorial Building on Appleton Street. -
“Everybody likes to see the guns. They like to see the drugs on the table. That’s the sexy stuff of policing,” said Police Chief Brian Keenan at the opening of a resource center for those who have been incarcerated in the War Memorial building in Holyoke. “But to me, what you don’t see is what’s important — the absence of crime, the absence of people getting arrested, the families together.” -
Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi speaks last Wednesday in the War Memorial Building in Holyoke. -
At-large City Council Israel Rivera speaks in the War Memorial building last week about his former incarceration, as well as his capstone project at Westfield State University, which is spearheading the opening of the new resource center in the building. -
One of the several renovated room on the second floor of the War Memorial. -
One of the several renovated room on the second floor of the War Memorial, where counselors from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office will work.
HOLYOKE — The city is no stranger to addictions, crime, and the incarcerated, but a new initiative that officially launched this month will bring city and county resources under one roof as a way to address these endemic problems.
In the heart of downtown, in the second floor of the War Memorial Building on Appleton Street, the mayor, city dignitaries, and leaders from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office recently unveiled a hub of support built with especially the recently incarcerated in mind.
From this point onward, the hub will be home to the Holyoke Police Department’s Street Outreach Program, the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department’s All Inclusive Support Services for formerly incarcerated individuals (AISS), and Holyoke’s Community Response Advocate, a newly created office providing guidance, referrals and support services.
“Last March, Elon Musk made a statement during an interview where he said, ‘The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy,’” Mayor Joshua Garcia told a room full of Holyoke officials, press and staff who gathered on July 9 to unveil the new space. But the mayor, who noted that Musk took the quote from a podcast with Joe Rogan, believes the statement isn’t true. “I believe empathy is our fundamental strength here in the city of Holyoke … we’re a compassionate city,” he said.
But, the mayor added, compassion needs to work “hand-in-hand” with law enforcement. And that is exactly the accomplishment being celebrated by officials about the new one-stop-shop resource hub, which will have both law enforcement representatives and social service agencies under the same roof.
In addition to lifting the quality of life for the city’s most vulnerable residents, the project also resurrects a hallway of rooms and offices that haven’t been used in more than a decade, said Laddy Rua, veteran services director for the city. The costs to revive the space were covered by the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, which provided personnel and inmates to paint, carpet and clean the rooms.
“When you talk about Holyoke, you talk about entrenched traditions,” said Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi, adding that the War Memorial, which was constructed in 1936 as a tribute to veterans of World War I, is a very “special” place and a part of Holyoke’s history.
Police Chief Brian Keenan admired the furnishings, saying that cleanliness and a sense of decorum impact the way that visitors feel about themselves.
“Don’t you see the importance of people not coming in to a beat up, lousy looking building?” he asked rhetorically. “Clean environments trigger behavior. When we bring clients to a nice, clean place, they act a little more refined.”
But even more important than its history, its 10-foot brass doors, or even its grand appearance, is the building’s prime location, officials explained.
“Why is this building so important? It is eliminating the transportation issues for people returning back to the city of Holyoke — they shouldn’t have to get on a bus or get into a car to go to Springfield for services,” said Cocchi. “Whether it’s one mistake, 10 mistakes — it doesn’t matter. It’s about giving people an avenue and an opportunity to walk through a door, put their hand up, and say, ‘I need help.’”
Keenan doubled down on the need for a centrally located one-stop-shop for resources, saying, “You don’t realize how important a driver’s license is for a guy getting out of state prison, who lives on High Street, who’s getting told he’s got to go to State Street … We’re bringing the services to them.”
But don’t just take the cops’ word for it that the space is the perfect fit. Take a previously incarcerated person’s words.
“It’s just a hop, skip and a jump over to the health center, you can go get your Social Security card, or you can go to City Hall,” said Israel Rivera, an at-large city councilor who briefly recounted his past incarceration and how he uses his role to be a voice for those who have been to prison.
Rivera spearheaded this initiative as part of his capstone project for his master’s degree from Westfield State University where he is receiving a degree in public administration.
And, he explained, time in jail is not a prerequisite to seeking help, saying that the resource center will help “anyone seeking to reenter society.”
The space replicates and expands services offered in an office on State Street in Springfield where citizens leaving prison can get appropriate counseling through the nearly 30-year-old Hampden County Sheriff’s AISS program.
AISS assists formerly incarcerated people in all aspects of their lives as they try to integrate back to civilian life. Struggles often faced are addiction, mental health problems, lack of identifying legal documents, employment obstacles, financial concerns, limited education, poor housing or lack of housing, in addition to coping with a lack of familial support, poor self-esteem, or constant temptations to return to a criminal lifestyle.
Holyoke’s Street Outreach Program, which focuses on homelessness and was formerly housed in the Police Department’s location on Race Street, will now be housed in the War Memorial. The move coincides with the creation of a new community response advocate position, a job that will soon be advertised, said Holyoke Community Development Director Alicia Zoeller.
This position will allow a centralized phone number that can connect people with local and regional resources with a single phone call.
Zoeller laid out how the programming for the next year is being funded with two pools of money totaling approximately $100,000.
Half is coming from federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds, and the other half from the state’s Opioid Recovery Response funds.
Through these and other resources, Cocchi celebrated that there has been a 23% decrease in fatal overdoses in Hampden County over the past year. And because of the resources that will now be offered in Holyoke, he is expecting continued and drastic changes — even as soon as next year.
“Let’s be back here in a year, and let’s watch the crime rate go down in the city of Holyoke,” said Cocchi. “But most importantly, let’s watch the quality of life go up here in the city.”
“Everybody likes to see the guns. They like to see the drugs on the table. That’s the sexy stuff of policing,” said Keenan. “But to me, what you don’t see is what’s important — the absence of crime, the absence of people getting arrested, and families together.”
Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.
