University of Massachusetts Amherst: UMass Participating in Western Mass Anchor Collaborative

UMass Amherst is participating in a new initiative, the Western Mass Anchor Collaborative (WMAC), founded by the Western Mass Economic Development Council, which has established multi-year targets to increase local procurement opportunities from women- and minority-owned businesses and to propel hiring and career pathways for BIPOC and marginalized populations.

WMAC was initiated to provide comprehensive, systemic and locally led solutions to regional business and workforce challenges. By being more intentional about doing business in the region, participating institutions seek to address inequities that have resulted from historic patterns of disinvestment and bias related to neighborhood, race, ethnicity, gender and socio-economic status in Western Massachusetts.

The collaborative includes some of the region’s largest businesses and employers, including UMass Amherst, Bay Path University, Baystate Health, Big Y Foods, Inc., Holyoke Community College, Springfield College, the City of Holyoke and the City of Springfield. These institutions have more than 18,000 employees, with nearly 3,000 residing in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Western Massachusetts.

The institutions serve as key place-based economic engines that leverage their own institutional sourcing, hiring and locally-focused investing in the region and create formal community impact commitments. Collectively, WMAC institutions currently spend over $2 billion in goods and services and have committed to increasing annually the percentage of spending toward local and diverse businesses. Data will be regularly collected and analyzed to monitor progress.