Grow Food Northampton has announced that Michael Skillicorn has been made co-executive director, joining existing Executive Director Alisa Klein in leading the community garden and sustainable food nonprofit.

Skillicorn, who has a background in fair trade coffee both domestically and internationally, joined Grow Food eight years ago as the organization’s program director. He was promoted to associate director three years later, helping oversee the nonprofit’s finances and budgeting.

“I really got interested in how people and business and land interact, and a way to transform all of those things up into something that’s more sustainable,” Skillicorn said. “After working with coffee, I ran a mobile farmer’s market in Springfield and Holyoke, where I purchased local foods and brought them to public housing neighborhoods, and that led me right to Grow Food Northampton, where they had a mobile market as well.”

As a co-executive director, Skillicorn said he would help assist in establishing a community orchard at Grow Food as well as expand upon the Seed Sovereignty Garden, a described “living museum” that grows crops with historical significance, such as a strain of tomato that can be traced to a Black man fleeing slavery in the U.S. South via the Underground Railroad.

“We’re hoping to continue that, where we would plant crops that are historic to Northampton,” Skillicorn said. “We’ve had some community meetings about [these projects], so if anybody wants to join these efforts, they should get in touch with us and we’d be happy to include them.”

McCarthy to retire from city

After serving Northampton for nearly a decade, Central Services Director Pat McCarthy plans to retire effective July 11, 2025.

McCarthy joined the city in 2015 as a facilities project coordinator, managing projects across city and school buildings. His background includes 36 years in construction, affordable housing development, and project management with organizations such as Home City Housing Corporation and Valley Community Development Corporation.

After being appointed Central Services director in 2022, McCarthy managed city and school facilities and parking operations. Central Services also oversaw energy contracts until those responsibilities were shifted to a new Climate Action and Project Administration Department.

In a statement, McCarthy said that he was “most proud and grateful for being able to work alongside such dedicated professionals in the Central Services Department. My coworkers in Central Services consistently go above and beyond their duties to serve the city.”

He plans to spend his retirement pursuing his hobby of woodworking and spending time with his family.

The city has posted the Central Services director position on its website. It aims to hire McCarthy’s successor by April to allow overlap with him, ensuring a smooth transition for the department

DPH awards city $600,000 grant

The city’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has been selected as a recipient of a multiyear grant totaling nearly $600,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. This funding, part of the state’s Diversion to Care (DivCare) initiative, is designed to reduce exposure to the criminal justice system, with a focus on supporting individuals with substance use disorder.

According to the city, the goal of the DivCare initiative is to “foster new collaborations and strengthen existing partnerships among community organizations, local public health agencies, public safety departments, and criminal justice system entities.”

In a statement, DHHS Director Merridith O’Leary said that “our ultimate goal is to increase positive health outcomes, address areas of inequity, and limit interactions with the justice system, particularly where substance use is at the core.””

The DivCare initiative will be led by DHHS’s multidisciplinary coalition Hampshire HOPE, which has been in existence since 2018 and aims to address the impacts of substance use across the county. Additional partners on this project will include local law enforcement and public safety representatives, behavioral health, harm reduction, medical providers, and housing agencies.

In total, the DivCare initiative represents $2.6 million in grants over the next three years.

Fellow grant recipients are the cities of Brockton, Revere and Worcester.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.