On May 7, the Mount Holyoke chapter of the Roosevelt Institute will partner with Citizens for the Revitalization and Urban Success of Holyoke (CRUSH) to hold its first Holyoke Economic Development Summit.
The Roosevelt Institute is a nationwide nonpartisan policy research group for college students. Casey Maliszewski FP’10, who helped found the chapter on campus, is organizing the program. According to Maliszewski, the group wanted to “get involved at the local level, and one community that is in great need around us is Holyoke.”
Maliszewski had already decided to pursue a career in public policy when she found herself in a public policy class at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with Holyoke City Councilor Rebecca Lisi as her Teaching Assistant.
“One day I walked up to her and introduced myself and I said, you have an entire student organization at your disposal, what could we do to help,” said Lisi, a member of CRUSH. The students did not want to enter Holyoke and take an approach of superiority, she said, but chose to offer the summit as a service to the city.
The Roosevelt Institute is coordinating with various members of the Holyoke community, such as members of the Chamber of Commerce, City Council and various community-based organizations, according to Maliszewski. Their goal is to brainstorm about the revitalization of Holyoke. There are two areas of economic development that the community has expressed interest in focusing on: creative economies and environmental sustainability. The first involves the city’s arts and culture offerings, while the second involves green living and energy efficiency.
The day will consist of multiple speakers from within and outside of the community.
“The whole idea is to walk away and think of what can be done to create some urban renewal in Holyoke and what policies can be created to help support economic development,” said Maliszewski.
Holyoke Mayor Elaine Pluta FP’96 has held two meetings with the students involved in the project.
“My hope is to bring information to our city that will enable us to use all our resources and learn additional ideas to enhance how we use these resources,” she explained, expressing confidence that the Roosevelt Institute chapter was headed on the right track. The goal of the conference is, according to Maliszewski, to “have some specific policy items of action that can be readily implemented.” Mayor Pluta also focused on the importance of formulating plans that can be acted upon. “Long term [success] will be determined if the ideas developed will be put in to practice,” she said.
One panel featured at the summit will discuss examples of other urban areas that have gone through successful processes of revitalization. Mayor Pluta cites Providence, Rhode Island, as a model.
“Providence, RI has been able to enhance the qualities that make the City unique and bring economic renaissance to its downtown. I’ve been there and was very impressed how they used their waterways to be the focal point. I admire any city that has brought itself back from a downturn by using its best qualities successfully,” she said, hopeful about Holyoke’s renewal.
Maliszewski stressed that this is not the first event of its kind. “There have been a lot of events like this in Holyoke and not a lot of change from it, so we are looking to see what can we do differently to enable change,” she said.
Despite this history, she is very optimistic about the summit and about the community’s reception of this project. “I think people are hopeful because they have a new mayor. People would like to walk away with specific items of action,” Maliszewski observed.
Mayor Pluta is also looking forward to this project. “It will be a success by bringing all of these good minds to focus on Holyoke and how to put the City back on the map.”
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