BRPC Awarded Grant to Launch Mental Health Program at PHS

10:31AM / Tuesday, October 21, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) announced it has been awarded a $10,000 Community Impact Grant from Fallon Health.

This one-time award will fund the pilot of the Active Minds Curriculum at Pittsfield High School.

"We're pleased to award grant funding to Berkshire Regional Planning and the SPARK initiative to help support early intervention programs for children and youth,” said Cheryl Schmaltz, Community Engagement Manager. “By focusing on teen mental health and substance use prevention, we can eliminate barriers to health care for this important population and enhance outcomes.""

The Active Minds Curriculum is a national peer-to-peer mental health program designed to foster mental health awareness among students by empowering them to connect and support one another. This initiative aligns with recent 2025 student data, which identifies increased mental health awareness as a critical factor in preventing substance use among youth, stated a press release.

Upon the completion of the 13-lesson curriculum, BRPC anticipates that at least 80 percent of the 19 participating students will serve as peer mental health supports for the Pittsfield High School student body.

"Our goal is to empower young people in our community with the knowledge and tools to support one another effectively, and to recognize when professional help is needed," Noe Gonzalez Ortiz, Public Health Planner with BRPC said.

The long-term goal is to establish an official national Active Minds chapter at Pittsfield High School by the end of the academic year, with plans to expand the model to Taconic High School .

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Berkshire Museum Explores Ancient Egypt With ‘Soulful Creatures’

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
11:33AM / Friday, October 09, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Following its multimillion-dollar renovation, the Berkshire Museum is welcoming an exhibition unlike any it has been able to host before.

Marking the museum's first major exhibition since its renovation, "Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt," opening Saturday, Oct. 10, thins the veil between the ever-evolving history of Egyptian culture and society and modern day people.

"The most important thing about history is recognizing people from the past as actual people. Ancient Egyptians are no different than us," said William Dore, the museum's chief curator. "They have different cultures and beliefs and different viewpoints, but you can say the same thing about people today."

When audiences experience the exhibit, they will see the humanity in the people of the past, which in turn helps them connect with different views and perspectives around the world today, he said.

Combining archeology with modern scientific imaging, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Museum curators Yekaterina Barbash and Edward Bleiberg designed an exhibit that works to uncover the mysteries behind these objects and the beliefs and rituals that surround them.

"I think something that people kind of misunderstand about history is none of it's ever settled. ... History is a science that is constantly questioned,” Dore said. "It only works if everyone's constantly rethinking things, learning new things ... which is for me super exciting because as much as we know a lot about the ancient Egyptians, there's a lot we don't know.”

The installation features dozens of artifacts on loan from the Brooklyn Museum that explores the practice of animal mummification and the role animals played in ancient Egyptian religion.

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