Springfield Partners for Community Action still serves as the connection place in city
SPRINGFIELD — D.J. Jones, an administrative assistant at Springfield Partners for Community Action, smiled broadly, excitingly relaying how she'd just gotten a new commitment for more donated diapers.
She runs the diaper program at Springfield Partners, supplying about 100 families, accounting for 166 individual children each month.
'Diapers are expensive,' said Mickey E. Harris, the executive director of Springfield Partners for the past few months.
Springfield Partners is an $8 million to $10 million a year operation, offering home weatherization, tax preparation, financial literacy education, first-time homebuyer classes, veterans programs, SNAP counseling and apartment rental assistance, and is a general one-stop shop for people in poverty looking for resources.
'People come to us when they are in need and frequently frustrated,' Harris said. 'We give them something to help.'
These are frustrations that might mount and resources that might become more scarce, given growing needs and uncertainty about the federal antipoverty programs that Springfield Partners manages.
'There are differences in terms of resources and changes in ideology,' said Harris, an attorney before taking over at Springfield Partners.
It's also a time for celebrating the career of former Executive Director Paul F. Bailey, who retired Jan. 31 and will be honored at an event on Saturday at the Sheraton in Springfield.
The cause for celebration comes at a time of uncertainty, however.
J.C. Schnabl, Springfield Partners for Community Action deputy director, said the agency already has lost out on $100,000 in federal money that normally passes down through the state.
'For staffing,' Schnabl said. 'And we are already shorthanded.'
Springfield Partners celebrated 60 years in 2024. It was born through the efforts of President Lyndon Johnson and his slate of War on Poverty programs, also known as the Great Society. Those programs called for community action agencies to put those programs into effect in neighborhoods across the country.
Springfield Partners was the first community action site to open in Western Massachusetts in 1964, Harris said.
And it still serves as a major connection point for people in need.
'Our model is to do everything we can do to fight poverty any way we can,' Harris said.
More than 700 households took advantage last year of weatherization and household improvements, said Craig Tomlinson, director of that program. That involves assessing and making improvements. There are programs that provide air conditioners and dehumidifiers, as well.
It's funded by the state and federal governments, as well by utilities through their efficiency programs.
Taxpayers — 1,123 of them to be exact — came to Springfield Partners for Community Action this spring for help filing their taxes, said Terryl Wilson, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program coordinator. All told, that's probably $1.5 million or more in refunds, she said, as she finished reporting the results for the VITA effort in 2025.
'Tax preparation is very expensive,' Harris said. 'And a lot of people don't know how to do taxes.'
Programs like tax preparation also give Springfield Partners a chance to offer other resources. Workers search out people who are eligible but not signed up.
Springfield Partners closed its child care center last year and now leases the space to Playful Minds Learning Center.
Harris said Springfield Partners continues to evolve.
'How do we encourage people, young people especially, that what they can accomplish is limitless? If you can dream it, you can do it,' he said.
And that's going to take collaboration. Not everything has to be Springfield Partners for Community Action's idea or its own program.
'We can jump in,' he said.
A Food Truck Festival put on in October by the Indian Orchard Citizens Council is a great example. By participating, Springfield Partners got a chance to reach out to the community and let people know about SNAP, about homebuyer classes, rental advancements and other services.
'We are trying to flow with the need,' Bailey said. 'There is more need and not as much funding to support those needs.'
Over 24 years, there was one key lesson, Bailey said.
'Not to judge,' he said.
It's tempting to see someone in need, someone in poverty, and see it as a result of a personal choice or failure.
'That is rarely the case,' he said.
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