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Massachusetts Nonprofit Network Honors Emmaus’ Murphy with Excellence in Leadership Award

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Massachusetts Nonprofit Network Honors Emmaus’ Murphy with Excellence in Leadership Award


Emmaus’ CEO Jeanine Murphy was lately awarded the Massachusetts Nonprofit Community’s 2022 Excellence in Management Award.

Murphy, together with greater than 120 professionals, was nominated earlier this spring for one of many six Excellence awards. She was then named a finalist and offered the award at Nonprofit Community’s annual award celebration on June 22.

“Our mission of hope embraces the philosophy, ‘there however for the grace of God go you or I,’ Murphy mentioned, whereas accepting her award in the course of the digital award ceremony. “This award is the validation of the unbelievable work being completed at Emmaus—altering lives one individual at a time.”

The Excellence Award in Management, acknowledges a senior nonprofit govt who has a unprecedented report of organizational outcomes, exemplifies strategic imaginative and prescient, ardour, integrity, innovation, perseverance and a collaborative spirit. This 12 months, the award honors Murphy’s greater than 20 years of extraordinary management and her strategic imaginative and prescient, ardour, integrity and innovation. Since opening its first shelter in 1987, Emmaus has served greater than 40,000 individuals.

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In recognition of Murphy’s award, Emmaus will obtain $500 from Residents Financial institution.

Murphy is a resident of Newburyport.

“Jeanine’s ardour for, and contributions to, our group and on problems with homelessness are profound,” mentioned Deborah Peckham, president of Emmaus’ Board of Administrators.

Murphy’s colleague and Emmaus Chief Working Officer Leslie Lawrence agreed. “Working aspect by aspect with Jeanine for the previous 11 years, I’ve witnessed first-hand her dedication to creating high quality packages that help homeless households and people in rebuilding their lives,” mentioned Lawrence.  “Her imaginative and prescient and management have enabled Emmaus to stay versatile within the face of latest challenges, nimbly reply to the evolving wants of these we serve, and guarantee Emmaus’ inexpensive housing legacy nicely into the longer term.”

Murphy got here to Emmaus after taking a month-long depart of absence from company administration place to provide again to her residence group. She started as a volunteer in 1988, serving to households safe housing, earlier than being named operations handle and, as of 2001, chief govt officer.

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When Murphy first took over as CEO, Emmaus owned 5 properties and 30 models of everlasting inexpensive housing.  At the moment, Emmaus owns 17 properties and 99 models of inexpensive housing. Emmaus has served greater than 40,000 males, ladies and kids since opening its first shelter in 1987.



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Massachusetts

$15 million prize won on scratch ticket sold in western Massachusetts

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 million prize won on scratch ticket sold in western Massachusetts


Imagine winning $15 million on an instant lottery ticket.

The Dublin Street Nominee Trust of Boston has claimed a $15 million prize in the Massachusetts State Lottery’s “Diamond Deluxe” instant ticket game, state lottery officials said Friday.

The trust, represented by trustee Greg Racki, opted to receive its prize in the form of a one-time payment of $9,750,000, before taxes.

Racki said the winner plans to invest and help out their family with the winnings.

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The winning ticket was purchased at King Mart, 494 Westfield Rd. in Holyoke.

The store receives a $50,000 bonus for its sale of this ticket.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Amid Mass. school budget crises, lawmakers weigh how to fix school funding system – The Boston Globe

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Amid Mass. school budget crises, lawmakers weigh how to fix school funding system – The Boston Globe


The recommendations could address budget challenges districts are facing due to causes including recent high inflation, the end of federal pandemic relief funds, and the rising costs of special education and student transportation.

“There are few issues as important as ensuring we have well-funded, high-quality public schools for all of our children, no matter what communities they live in,” Lewis said. “Even though the inflation rate has come down to more manageable levels, we had several years where inflation was quite high, and that has a real impact on school districts.”

Lewis helped lead the creation of the Student Opportunity Act, passed in 2019, which will add more than $1.5 billion to school budgets by 2027. Most of the new money has gone to Gateway Cities such as Springfield, Worcester, and Lawrence, which serve disproportionate numbers of high-needs students and depend heavily on state education funding. The law has also ensured all districts receive at least $30 more per student each year.

But that financial boost has been greatly eroded by inflation: its annual inflation cap is 4.5 percent, but inflation in the wake of the pandemic surged to more than 7 percent. It has since come back down, but the gap it created in district finances remains. Teachers and other school staff continue to seek raises to keep pace with the cost of living, including through increasingly frequent strikes.

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School leaders, teachers unions, and advocates have called for the state to cover the gap created by inflation. Lewis’s proposal appears to have early bipartisan support; Senate minority leader Bruce Tarr is a cosponsor of the bill, while Senate President Karen Spilka said in her inaugural address earlier this month she hopes to tackle school funding this year.

Ed Lambert, director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, said it made sense to try to address some of the challenges identified by Lewis, but said the state should not just be focused on how much money it provides districts.

“We need to really be prioritizing, along with how the money is distributed, how the money is being spent,” Lambert said. “If they’re not spending it on evidence-based practices … you can change the formula all you want, it’s not going to make a difference.”

Lambert’s group is one of those that would get a seat on the commission, according to the bill.

Other drivers of rising costs include special education, particularly the $1 billion-plus Massachusetts districts spend to send students with disabilities to specialized campuses, including private special education schools. The cost of transporting students — also often to special education schools — has also risen significantly.

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Making district finances more difficult is the state’s property tax cap, which limits increases to 2.5 percent annually unless voters approve an override at the polls. Dozens of communities have sought overrides in the last two years — often unsuccessfully.

Colin Jones, deputy policy director for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a progressive think tank that would get a seat on the commission, said in a statement his group has not taken a position on the bill, but immediate action is also necessary.

“Over the past five years, the Student Opportunity Act has added $1 billion in school funding across Massachusetts,“ Jones said. ”Even with that incredible progress, it is a fitting time to have a systemic review of K-12 funding.”

Lewis acknowledged the budget challenges go beyond the schools, and said he would also support reexamining how the state distributes other local aid, but education is his priority.

“The school budgets are typically by far the largest part of municipal budgets, so if a community is looking to have to make budget cuts, that’s often going to fall disproportionately on the schools,” he said.

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This year also marked the end of federal pandemic relief funds, which infused more than $2 billion into Massachusetts schools since 2020. That money was always known to be temporary, but it was used to “shore up the finances of many districts,” Lewis said. Other districts spent it on new staff, including tutors and extra classroom aides, to help their students, who are still behind their pre-pandemic peers.

Lewis noted the commission would take years to produce a new school funding formula and said the state should try to provide more funds to school districts on an annual basis in the meantime.

According to the bill text, the commission would also consider whether to remove the inflation cap on state aid, how to fund special education and transportation appropriately, and how to adapt to many districts losing enrollment, given state aid is largely allocated based on enrollment, except the state does not cut aid to districts with falling populations.

That could even include examining areas of potential cost savings, Lewis said, such as having small districts with declining enrollment share resources or consolidate.

The commission would include members of both parties in the state Legislature, the state education department, teachers unions, various municipal and school associations, and five appointees of the governor.

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The commission would also consider removing or altering a requirement for the state to assist even the wealthiest towns with their school budgets. The state calculates a “foundation budget” required to adequately educate the community’s students (though districts can and do spend more) and funds at least 17.5 percent of the foundation budget for every district.

Lambert said the commission should address that provision as well as the annual per-student increase received by every district, as both run counter to the system’s goal of sending more needs-based aid to needier districts.


Christopher Huffaker can be reached at christopher.huffaker@globe.com. Follow him @huffakingit.





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Close-knit Massachusetts figure skating community supporting each other after deadly plane crash

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Close-knit Massachusetts figure skating community supporting each other after deadly plane crash


LEXINGTON – The figure skating community in Massachusetts is lending support to each other after a plane crash near Washington, D.C. left six members of their community dead.

Figure skaters knew each other

Earlier this month WBZ-TV introduced viewers to Simon Mintz and Annie Huang. The pair of figure skating teens were bound for the U.S. Nationals in Wichita. Those who don’t qualify can go to an elite camp that follows the competition. It’s the same event that skaters were flying back from when their plane crashed into a military helicopter near Washington, D.C. No one survived.

WBZ-TV spoke with Mintz’s parents. They said had their son not qualified for the U.S. Nationals, he mostly likely would have been at the camp and possibly returning home on that flight. The notion has been on their minds.

“It’s eerie,” said Simon’s mother Linda Wertheimer Mintz.

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“We flew through Dallas, not D.C., but we just as easily could have gone through D.C.,” added Pavlik Mintz, Simon’s father.

They returned to Massachusetts last week, yet all day Thursday, the Mintzes have fielded texts and messages from people concerned they too were on the flight.

“It could have been us if they went to the camp this year instead of the championships,” said Linda Wertheimer Mintz, adding that Simon has been at the camp before, “We definitely knew both of the young skaters who were killed, not as great friends, but we knew them. And totally knew about Maxim Naumov’s parents. Over the years, we’ve certainly seen them around said, ‘Hi,’ to them.”

A second family

The parents of skater Maxim Naumov were Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, two coaches killed on the flight. Also in the crash were skaters Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, along with their mothers.

“I remember going to the Edge in Bedford with my son for a skating lesson, and Maxim was practicing with his dad,” said Linda Wertheimer Mintz.

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Simon and Annie recently were at a U.S. Nationals send off party at the Skating Club of Boston. They said Lane and Han were in attendance.

“The kids in particular would have been there sitting right near Simon and his partner,” said Linda Wertheimer Mintz, “When your kid becomes a skater, it’s like you all of a sudden have a second family.”

She has been messaging with other skate parents who have been trying to lend support to those who knew the families.

“I talked to one mom whose kid knew the kids, and they were heading out to be with their coaches,” said Linda Wertheimer Mintz, “It’s not just about being a tight community, this was the past, the present, and the future of U.S. figure skating that was on that plane too.”

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