Business View Civil and Municipal | September 2022

132 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 them into the formal economy. A kind of rapid boot camp to get people aligned with what they needed and to get them set up correctly. As a result, the downtown district saw the creation of seven businesses – five of which are owned by women. In addition, three other businesses expanded. Housing is expanding in the city now, too. “It’s the focus of my administration from now until 2025,” LaChapelle notes. “We literally need housing across all sectors. We have a lot of families who want to move here. It’s a beautiful place. And so to get those folks a great place to live in Easthampton is really economic development. We have about a hundred housing units coming in the mill district. We have 19 apartments coming in the middle of downtown. We have another development that is starting that looks to be about 150 units in one of our opportunity zones.” But housing isn’t the only type of development. A recently renovated mill offers a campus of seven acres, with five buildings of mixed use You Belong at Baystate BaystateHealthJobs.com Learn more about careers at Baystate 