News

Community-based human services providers from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island held a virtual forum today to discuss the hiring crisis that is plaguing providers and forcing vulnerable populations to go without critical care, as well as to share their asks to state governments to help address the issue.

The final American Rescue Plan Act spending plan from the Legislature includes $16.5 million for a loan repayment program and $13.5 million for a grant program for human services organizations to support the retention and recruitment of human services workers.

The Boston Globe released its 14th annual list of the top places to work in Massachusetts today and three Providers’ Council members made the cut.

Providers’ Council President and CEO Michael Weekes was featured in a CommonWealth Magazine story on Monday about staffing woes plaguing mental health agencies and other human services organizations in Massachusetts.

The Council’s offices will be closed in observance of the holiday.

Providers’ Council President and CEO Michael Weekes and Massachusetts Nonprofit Network CEO Jim Klocke sent a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday urging her to push for the restoration, extension, and improvement of the Employee Retention Tax Credit in the Senate’s version of the Build Back Better Act.

Legal experts from Hirsch Roberts Weinstein, LLP will delve into the recent developments regarding OSHA’s ETS, which will require employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have unvaccinated workers produce weekly negative test results and wear face coverings at work, starting Jan. 4. 

Providers’ Council President/CEO Michael Weekes,  state legislators and executives from several member organizations testified in favor of the Council’s Fair Pay for Comparable Work bill on Monday during a hearing with the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.

The Providers’ Council has urged Massachusetts legislators to support a line item in the Senate version of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) spending plan that would allocate a combined $55 million to create a student loan repayment program for human services workers and a grant program designed to help human services organizations recruit and retain workers.

The Providers’ Council wishes to thank veterans across the United States for their honorable and valiant service to the country.