Seeing Rainbows Awarded Outdoor Recreation Grant

04:00PM / Tuesday, December 03, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Seeing Rainbows, founded just before the beginning of Pride Month 2024, has been awarded a $10,000 grant, from the Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation.

The grant is in response to the agency's call for grant applications to support Inclusive and Accessible events.

"With this grant, we're able to retain and grow our team of trans and nonbinary hiking facilitators to sustainably hold space for trans community in our outdoor spaces. By compensating trans facilitators for their time, we are signaling the inherent value of this labor in defending our community, during a particularly challenging time," said co-founder and executive director, maayan nuri héd.

Seeing Rainbows, a trans-led and operated organization whose mission is to build a sustainable and supportive trans community through the presentation and production of liberating art and experiences by and for trans and other marginalized peoples, has been facilitating weekly hikes as a core activity of the organization since before its founding in May of this year.

"We are excited about the potential for these grants to help create belonging and inclusion in outdoor spaces for those who have not always felt welcome," said Paul Jahnige, director of the Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation (MOOR). "We are thrilled to support organizations like Seeing Rainbows in their efforts to expand what it means to be a "Massachusetts' Outside."

This grant was sought in collaboration with Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC).

"BNRC is thrilled to celebrate Seeing Rainbows' well-deserved grant award. This funding will empower our ongoing collaboration to create outdoor spaces and experiences that are safer, more inclusive, and welcoming--fostering community, healing, and deeper connections to place," said Volunteer and Outreach Manager Charlotte Hood.

This award is the largest in Seeing Rainbow's less-than-six month history, and provides funding to support the Berkshire Trans Hike program well into 2025. This is only the third institutional grant received by Seeing Rainbows, following an initial grant of $1,000 in July of this year from the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund, also in support of the hike program, and an additional $500 from Greylock Federal Credit Union issued September 30 in support of the Trans Mutual Aid Fund.

Seeing Rainbows has hosted a range of events for trans community as well as opportunities for cis allies to join, support, and be in community with local trans folx. In addition to weekly hikes, Seeing Rainbows hosts a monthly art workshop in partnership with Berkshire Art Center at their downtown Pittsfield studios, a monthly co-creation "salon," open to all with varying themes and venues, a monthly dance class in partnership with Berkshire Pulse, as well as events such as the Nov. 20, Trans Day of Remembrance "Existence is Resistance" Celebration at the newly opened, trans-owned WANDER Berkshires, where the next salon — a two-session narrative workshop beginning on Dec. 8 — will be hosted as well.

All of Seeing Rainbows' programming is offered on a pay-what-you-can / no-one-turned-away-for-lack-of-funds (PWYC/NOTAFLOF) basis.

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Pittsfield Council Approves Rename of DEI Office

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:17AM / Friday, October 16, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After hours of testimony across multiple meetings, the City Council has approved a renaming of the DEI office.

Mayor Peter Marchetti's request to rename the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion the "Office of Equity, Access and Opportunity" was approved on Tuesday.

This also merges the Human Rights Commission and Affirmative Action Committee into an "Equity, Access and Opportunity Commission."

"Everything that I've done so far for being mayor, what it comes back to is, ‘Well, if you can solve poverty, you can solve all the rest of the problems.' Well, here's our opportunity to begin that process," Marchetti said.

"I'm really now regretting not asking the former city solicitors to get the job done, because I don't know that we'd be even having this conversation if this ordinance was put forward two years ago."

The meeting adjourned just before 10 p.m., when councilors would have needed to take a vote to extend it for an hour, a limit that was put into place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Basic facts about the Office of Equity, Access and Opportunity:

Upon adoption of the article, the chief diversity officer became the chief equity officer, and the budget and personnel of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion were assigned and transferred to the Office of Equity, Access and Opportunity.
The Office of Equity, Access and Opportunity will develop and implement policies, programs, and initiatives related to equity, access and opportunity.
The chief equity officer will:
- Outline equity and engagement objectives for the next year, opine and provide input on city ordinances, rules, and policies upon the request of the mayor, city council, or department head.
- Be responsible for posting information regarding equal employment opportunity and nondiscrimination laws.
- Act as a liaison with employment sources and organizations serving protected groups.
- Share resources, reporting, and best practices with the Pittsfield Public Schools.
The chief equity officer will annually file a written progress report with the commission, mayor, and the City Council, indicating the progress toward achieving equity and engagement objectives.
Discrimination complaints can be filed with the chief equity officer or the director of human resources; the chief equity officer or mayor's designee will investigate the allegation.
This also established the "Equity, Access and Opportunity Commission."
One training per year is mandatory for all city employees.

The Ordinance and Rules Subcommittee supported the changes in August; in September, Ward 2 Councilor Cameron Cunningham delayed the vote with a charter objection, wanting more data and proof of impact.

The rename passed on Tuesday with Ward 7 Councilor Katherine Moody, Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren, Ward 3 Councilor Matthew Wrinn, and Cunningham in opposition. Fourteen community members took the open microphone stand to speak in support of DEI.

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