BRPC Gets Federal Grant for Economic Recovery and Resiliency

The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission is getting a huge boost in its effort to support economic recovery and resiliency in the Berkshires. According to a new release from BRPC, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration has awarded a $842,522 CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to the BRPC to develop and implement an economic recovery and resiliency plan and provide technical assistance to bolster the region’s ability to withstand future economic disruptions.

The two-year project will fund expansion of Berkshire County’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy to include regional resiliency planning, and will also help identify and support recovery projects, rebuild the region’s online data and economic indicator tracking capabilities, provide technical assistance and capacity building opportunities to local businesses, non-profits, and municipalities, and support workforce and industry-building efforts to facilitate meaningful work toward economic recovery, growth, and resiliency in the long term.

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Positioning Berkshire County for the best possible recovery from impacts of the pandemic is a top priority for Berkshire Regional Planning Commission... This funding supports a wide range of efforts on behalf of our region, each critical to our future economic wellbeing. ~ BRPC Executive Director Thomas Matuszko

BRPC staff will expand upon the County’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy to address long-term economic resiliency, working with members of the CEDS Committee and additional stakeholders to develop new protocols for coordination during future disruptions.

We’re grateful to receive this investment in Berkshire County... It allows us to take stock of how the region was impacted over the past year, and play an important role in strategizing for the future. ~ Laura Brennan, Economic Development Program Manager at BRPC

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.