Berkshire Immigrant Center may be forced to shut

Funding cuts are causing lots of trouble for community service programs, this one may have to close. - - Donna Poisl

By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff

PITTTSFIELD -- The Berkshire Immigrant Center may have to close or limit its hours if it can't breach a $50,000 funding gap by the time its new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

Executive Director Hilary Greene said a cut in federal Community Service Block Grant funds, which make up between $40,000 to $50,000 of the Pittsfield-based center's $140,000 annual budget, has left the agency in this
predicament.

"For the last couple of years, we've relied heavily on Community Service Block Grant funding to help cover our deficit from the grants and fundraising that we bring in," Greene said. "This year it doesn't appear that those funds will be available in the federal budget."
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