State Awards $250,000 to ServiceNet’s Prospect Meadow Farm

HEALTHCARE NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

NORTHAMPTON — The Healey-Driscoll administration has awarded a $250,000 grant to ServiceNet’s Prospect Meadow Farm as part of the Executive Office of Economic Development (EOED) Social Enterprise Capital Grant Program.

Prospect Meadow Farm is a therapeutic, vocational training program that provides meaningful employment and daily activities for individuals with intellectual disabilities or autism, many of whom also have mental-health challenges. Since ServiceNet launched its first farm in Hatfield in 2011, Prospect Meadow has grown to three locations, now spanning a total of 60 acres and serving more than 120 participants daily.

The grant funding will specifically support renovation and expansion work being done at the farm’s newest location in Pittsfield. This site, which is the former home of Jodi’s Seasonal, covers 16 acres and includes several year-round greenhouses.

“We are incredibly thankful to the Executive Office of Economic Development for their generous support,” said Shawn Robinson, vice president of Vocational Services for ServiceNet. “This grant will allow us to strengthen and expand our offerings at Prospect Meadow Farm in Pittsfield, enhance the work we’re already doing in the community, continue to grow our proven model, and create even more opportunities for the individuals we serve in Berkshire County.”

In 2023, Prospect Meadow Farm was granted $600,000 from the Social Enterprise Capital Grant Program to fund the bulk of a renovation project at its original Hatfield location, which included a new commercial kitchen and carpentry workshop to further expand the program’s vocational offerings.

Robinson, who helped ServiceNet establish Prospect Meadow Farm in 2011, was recognized in 2023 as the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s Person of the Year, and he received the Black Excellence on the Hill Award from the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus.