A crowd gathers at an open house at the Plant Connector in downtown North Adams. Press photo by Kate Abbott

Jobs

Here are the Hill Country Observer’s articles about jobs, listed from newest to oldest. Questions about local economies surface in The Hill Country Observer as we follow movements in co-ops, small businesses, nonprofits and sustainable ways to make a living in our rural communities and support kinds of work that fulfill workers and local needs.

  • Issue:

    Strengthening a city in transition

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    Pittsfield project fosters new ties in ‘civic infrastructure’ Alisa Costa is the director of Working Cities Pittsfield, a grant-funded initiative that seeks to bring together local people from a wide range of backgrounds in helping the former industrial city to reinvent itself. Susan Sabino photo   By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass. When researchers for read more

    Strengthening a city in transition
  • Issue:

    Antiques that challenge assumptions

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    Boston artist plans local installation with a Berkshires theme Pat Falco’s “Campaign Headquarters,” set up in Boston’s Faneuil Hall in 2016, established the artist’s reputation for immersive installations that mess with viewers’ sense of reality. Falco will bring his taste for mischief to North Adams this month with a new show, “Antiquitacky,” at Installation Space. read more

    Antiques that challenge assumptions
  • Issue:

    An escape route from dairy farming’s crisis?

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    Some see hope in shift to organic production, but economic pressures remain Samantha and Chris Kemnah walk among the cows at Clover Bliss Farm, their 2-year-old organic, grass-fed dairy operation in Argyle, N.Y. Joan Lentini photos   By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer ARGYLE, N.Y. The name of Clover Bliss Farm refers to the contentment its abundant read more

    An escape route from dairy farming’s crisis?
  • Issue:

    A farm transformed by and for artists

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    At Salem Art Works, the attractions evolve with the growing creative cast The staff and artists in residence at Salem Art Works gather on the Mark DiSuvero sculpture “Ringer” (1987) with SAW founder Anthony Cafritz, right. The sculpture is one of many displayed at the 120-acre former dairy farm that was transformed into a working read more

    A farm transformed by and for artists
  • Issue:

    With goats and grit a new farmer finds joy

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    Leah Hennessy takes time out to pet Little Sister, one of her Alpine goats, at Moxie Ridge Farm & Creamery in Argyle, N.Y. Joan K. Lentini photo   By STACEY MORRISContributing writer ARGYLE, N.Y. Leah Hennessy made her way toward the barn at Moxie Ridge Farm, expertly dodging a hissing gander whose mission was to read more

    With goats and grit a new farmer finds joy
  • Issue:

    Saving a shantytown?

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    In old fishing shacks, links to Hudson’s past and an unclear future State officials have concluded that a group of 17 fishing shacks along the Hudson River are historically significant, but city officials in Hudson, N.Y., have yet to decide whether to preserve any of the structures as part of a proposal for a new read more

    Saving a shantytown?
  • Issue:

    Big projects, few workers

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    Anita Daly, vice president of Blue Spruce Nursery in Ballston Lake, shows off photos of some of the company’s landscaping projects. Blue Spruce has come to rely on foreign laborers in recent years and is seeking such 12 workers, about half its work force, this year through the federal H-2B program. Joan K. Lentini photos read more

    Big projects, few workers
  • Issue:

    Solar siting law faces first test in Bennington

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    Developer challenges Vermont’s effort to give towns more sway A large solar-power installation along Route 30 in Sudbury, Vt., is the first in a series planned or proposed around the state by Allco Renewable Energy Ltd. The company has gone to court to challenge a new state law intended to give towns more voice in read more

    Solar siting law faces first test in Bennington
  • Issue:

    Out of the tent, into the theater

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    New building lets PS21 expand season, host larger audiences The new theater building at PS21 will allow the performing arts venue, which previously hosted summer performances in a tent, to offer programming year-round. Courtesy photo   By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer CHATHAM, N.Y. After holding its events in a tent for 12 years, PS21 is about read more

    Out of the tent, into the theater
  • Issue:

    A new model of care

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    Region’s peer-respite homes offer alternative approach to mental health The weekly staff meeting at Alyssum, a peer-respite house in Rochester, Vt., is unlike any other gathering of its kind. The focus is on team building through an approach called “co-supervision.”Courtesy photo   By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   For many people in the grip of a read more

    A new model of care