Unlocking our shared potential: Helping Hillcrest deliver hope

Unlocking our shared potential:
Helping Hillcrest deliver hope


David (top photo) is 19 and has lived in state custody since he was 3. He arrived at Hillcrest Educational Centers, Inc. two years ago with severe psychiatric challenges and very little schooling. His aggressive behavior required one-on-one supervision.
 
Today, with patience and guidance from Hillcrest staff, he’s finally found a sense of family. Remarkably, he is also set to earn his high school diploma. “I had learned to expect people to give up on me or leave,” David said. “Hillcrest helped me believe in myself.”
 
A REASON FOR HOPE
 
Hillcrest provides a range of clinical, psychological and special education services for children, adolescents and families in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and across the Northeast. It employs more than 500 people in Berkshire County.
 
Demand for Hillcrest’s services frequently outpace available resources, so the agency turned to Berkshire Bank to refinance its entire business twice over the past 10 years to help give more people like David a reason for hope.
 
INVESTING IN A BETTER FUTURE
 
Funds that resulted from Berkshire’s refinancing efforts allowed Hillcrest to modernize and more than double the size of the school building at its Highpoint residential program campus in Lenox, Massachusetts, with the addition of 7,500 square feet of academic space.
 
“We’re a large nonprofit with complex financial needs,” said Shaun Cusson, Hillcrest’s president and CEO. “We have a great relationship with many financial institutions, but Berkshire Bank was the only local bank with the size and scope to refinance our business. It’s always been there for us.”
 
Where you bank matters.