MGM: ‘Renewed commitment’ to Springfield, WMass

As we look back at 2022, I am incredibly proud of the city of Springfield, the community and our dedicated team members, all of whom showed such resilience as we worked together to revitalize our community.

The pandemic presented every business with a unique and challenging set of uncharted circumstances. This was certainly true for our business — MGM Springfield lost more than $100 million in revenue directly due to the pandemic — and I know we were not alone.

But collectively we have all not only persevered but pulled together to come out on the other side with a renewed sense of optimism as we look forward to 2023. We are moving ahead with our primary focus centered on our guests and the continued renaissance of the city of Springfield, the Comeback City!

MGM Springfield recently celebrated the official launch of our BetMGM Sportsbook, which opened to great fanfare on Jan. 31. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, state Sen. Adam Gomez, state Rep. Carlos González and Boston hockey legend Ray Bourque placed the first bets in the state of Massachusetts, signifying a new era for the commonwealth.

We are incredibly grateful for the tireless work of our state delegation for pushing this historic bill over the finish line, paving the way for opening day.

It is exhilarating to see our downtown buzzing again!

MGM Springfield is a big part of that story, and we are committed to keeping foot traffic flowing through a variety of events this year, including Red Sox Winter Weekend, cheering on our own Springfield Thunderbirds (Go TBirds!) and other world-class performances in the lineup at the MassMutual Center, Symphony Hall, ROAR Comedy Club and MGM Springfield.

Giving back to our community is critically important to us at MGM Springfield.

To date we have given more than $600,000 in aid to local organizations and our team members have contributed thousands of volunteer hours. We are already off to a great start in 2023, with several impactful community and volunteer events on deck in the coming weeks.

The new year also brings with it a renewed commitment to growing our team, our amenities and expanding our dining and venue hours to meet demand.

MGM Springfield will continue to develop and thrive, supporting area businesses and the downtown economy, as the commonwealth emerges post pandemic.

We’re thrilled to see so many locals and out-of-town guests visiting us at MGM

Springfield, and we look forward to welcoming you in 2023. Thank you. Chris Kelley is president and chief operating officer of MGM Springfield. To learn more about MGM Springfield, go online to mgmspringfield. mgmresorts.com

Wydra

CONTINUES FROM PAGE M2 trip); the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau is still expecting to see many leisure visitors coming to Western Massachusetts in the year ahead.

Our region has long offered leisure travelers an enticing list of one-of-a-kind attractions, including Yankee Candle Village, MGM Springfield, Six Flags New England, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum, to name a few. Some large-scale events that are unique to Western Massachusetts include the Big E, Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the Brimfield Flea Markets and the Jazz & Roots Festival.

Add to all that our easy access from major Northeast feeder markets and abundant outdoor recreation options. None of these factors are going to change in 2023, and, taken together, they greatly strengthen our tourism offerings.

What is changing is that as we leave the pandemic behind, we’re seeing the payoff of our continued sports marketing efforts. Early in this year, we were hosting major events such as the Red Sox Winter Weekend and the Hoop Hall Classic, both of which took place in January, as well as AHL Springfield Thunderbirds hockey, local college sports and perennial winter shows such as the Camping and Outdoor and Sportsman’s shows at the Eastern States Exposition grounds.

Later, we’ll welcome large new events like Ironman 70.3 Western Mass on June 11 and Hooplandia June 23 through 25. We are increasingly using sports as a lure to create purpose-driven trips that we know will include pre- and post-event activities that benefit our other attractions, accommodations, and eateries as well and have a tremendous positive impact on our local economy.

We’re also finally seeing a renewed interest by business groups in hosting conventions in our region. This sector was the among the most hard-hit segments during the pandemic, with large gatherings effectively not allowed. Since mid-October 2022 we’ve fielded a rising number of inquiries from planners looking hard at Greater Springfield and Western Massachusetts. As a result, we have several new site inspections on our calendar, some of which will potentially turn into formal booked conventions with attendees coming here by the many thousands in future years.

A final factor that could play an as-yet unknown role in the 2023 visitor economy is the continuing tight labor market. The hospitality sector is traditionally a strong labor gateway, with many jobs not requiring degrees or advanced training. Despite this, many local hospitality businesses are experiencing challenges in recruiting and retaining workers. If these trends continue, employers may face difficulty in operating at full capacity, even if the demand from consumers is robust.

Since 1996, the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau has recognized the vital difference that dedicated, customer-service oriented employees can make in providing high-quality visitor outcomes and return trips. We celebrate these outstanding individuals each May as we present the Howdy Awards for Hospitality Excellence.

In 2019, Western Massachusetts enjoyed one of its strongest travel years on record before 2020 showed us how quickly everything can change. As we peer ahead now, we are anticipating potentially slower growth at the start of the year, with an accelerating recovery.

Our regional tourism businesses have learned much, developed greater resiliency and know how to pivot if conditions demand. But more than anything, they’re looking forward to rolling out the red carpet to welcome back visitors to Western Massachusetts in a big way!

Mary Kay Wydra is president of the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau. To learn more, go online to ExploreWesternMass. com.

For 40 years, community partnerships have demonstrated the essential role we all play in solving food insecurity when households face this grim and unjust reality. For many, this reality is temporary, for others it is chronic.

Morehouse

so many people live with food insecurity. I met a person the other day who described how he works two jobs to keep a roof over his head and pay essential bills, yet still needs food assistance to feed his family. Every day is a struggle for him, with no end in sight.

Only by opening our hearts and minds can we learn from the reality of people who live with food insecurity and hunger. Far too often it is easy to assume we know why they do and judge them accordingly. As with all things, life is more complicated and complex. While emergency food assistance may always be necessary at some level, our goal must be to end hunger and food insecurity. To achieve this goal, we must solve the systemic underlying causes of hunger, like low wages and the lack of affordable housing, transportation, child care and health care. Only through greater awareness of these and many more causes can public policy change the rules to create a level playing field, enabling everyone to lead a healthy and productive life with food security and economic stability.

Here’s a case in point: For decades the prevailing public sentiment was to blame the public welfare system and the households who rely on it for becoming trapped in a cycle of poverty. The response was to “reform” welfare by slashing public assistance and imposing work requirements. This sentiment lingers, even though we have learned this failed approach only exacerbates the cycle of poverty because it disincentivizes work.

Individuals who enter the workforce, get promoted with more hours or earn even a little more pay suddenly become ineligible for public assistance. They fall off a “cliff,” losing essential support to make it through this tenuous transition to gainful employment. Abruptly, these households confront having less, not more, income to keep a roof over their heads, pay for child care, and put food on the table. Facing the “cliff effect,” households often are forced to turn down work to survive. They become trapped in poverty.

Late last year, the commonwealth passed a firstof-its-kind national pilot program to demonstrate that a “glide path” rather than a cliff is a smarter and more cost-effective approach to supporting households who want to escape the poverty trap. A statewide coalition of businesses and nonprofit organizations led by the food bank and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts advocated for the successful passage of this pilot program.

The three-year pilot will utilize monetary support to provide 100 households throughout the commonwealth with benefits tailored to fill the gap created by the cliff effect as they work toward economic independence from public assistance. We are hopeful it will chart a new direction to strengthen families and communities.

In the meantime, high inflation is causing food insecurity to rise again. We must double down on our efforts and deepen our community partnerships, drawing from the hard lessons learned and the incredible creativity, adaptation and innovation of our region’s emergency food network over the last few years. At the food bank, we know we must be ready for the next crisis. For this reason, we are building our future, larger and greener food distribution center and headquarters in Chicopee to be able to carry out our mission for decades to come.

Together, we are building community for a common purpose — to create a Western Massachusetts where no one faces food insecurity and everyone has access to nutritious food.

Andrew Morehouse is executive director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. To learn more about the food bank and its work, go online to food bankwma.org