Christy Torres
Christy Torres
Occupation: Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coordinator, Springfield Community Center
Christy has seen many obstacles in her life and overcome them all to set a shining example for her children and for the young people she works with every day. Christy grew up with a father who was in and out of jail and a mother who was a functioning alcoholic. Despite this instability at home, she states that she always saw college as her ultimate goal. She wanted to break the chain of poverty in which her family was held and provide a better life for her children. Unfortunately, finances kept her from pursuing her degree right after high school and she began working right away. She made her first attempt at college at Holyoke Community College, but, due to a lack of support at home, finances and a busy work schedule, she was forced to drop out. After having her children she tried again, but with children added to her already difficult situation, she was unable to keep up with the work and once again dropped out.
That would be it for most people, but Christy was determined. She was going to provide a better life for her children, she was going to set an example, she was going to graduate. A few years later she set herself to the task of applying to schools. She was all on her own and didn’t have anyone in her life who had been through the process before to ask for help. She says that that was perhaps the hardest part of re-enrolling in college: being an older student who didn’t know the first thing about applying to schools and especially how to find financial aid. She recalls that her uncle, who was more like a father to her, said that he wanted to see her graduate from college, chiding her, “I don’t ever want to see you drop out again. You’ve done that enough!” Unfortunately, he passed away prior to Christy receiving her Bachelor’s this past December. After a childhood of growing up in the projects, eating bread and butter sometimes because that’s all her mother could afford, she remembers looking out on the audience during her graduation day, seeing the smiles on the faces of her mom and children and feeling like, that day, she was worth a million bucks.
Christy loves children and teens especially, stating, “They are our leaders of tomorrow! If we don’t help them to develop into leaders we won’t have a world!” She lives this commitment in her work as a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coordinator at Springfield Community Center where she works with at-risk youth every day. There she serves as a role model, working with teens who are in the same position she once was, telling them, “If I can do it, you can too.” She enjoys working with them to plan for college and make career plans and sees ACCESS as an amazing organization and a wonderful – and much needed – resource for the young people of Springfield.
Kathy LeMay
Kathy LeMay
Occupation: Chief Executive Officer, Raising Change
Kathy is the author of the acclaimed The Generosity Plan, which helps individuals work within their means to make a difference in the world. She is the founder, president & CEO of Raising Change, a Northampton- based company that works with social change organizations and donors from all walks of life to empower women and girls and improve conditions around the globe. She has raised more than $100 million for women’s human rights, hunger, and poverty relief and has directed an additional $150 million in philanthropic dollars to social change organization. As a national and international social justice fundraiser and philanthropic expert, Kathy is using her global influence to bring to bring in 2012-2012 some of the leading philanthropic change agents to western MA, in support of the Women’s Fund of Western MA and women’s giving and philanthropy.
Kathy has spoken to a wide variety of civic organizations throughout Western MA and CT including the Aurora Foundation for Women & Girls, the YWCA of Hartford, Women in Philanthropy of Western MA, the Girl Scouts of Western and Central MA, and the Women’s Fund of western MA.
She also serves on the Advisory Board for Bay Path College’s Masters in Philanthropy Program.
In 2009, Kathy received the highest number of votes and was the winningest recipient of Business West’s 40 Under 40 Award.
University of Massachusetts, B.A. in History and Women’s Studies, Class of 1992
University of Seattle, 5th Year Women’s Studies, Class of 1993
Heriberto Flores
Heriberto Flores
Occupation: Executive Director, New England Farmworkers Council
An effective leader possesses qualities that make those around him have respect, loyalty, and dedication. He inspires others to listen because he is persuasive and knowledgeable and they realize that he has their best interest at heart. Heriberto Flores, Chairman/President/Executive Director of the New England Farm Workers’ Council, is an example of a strong leader in the community and someone that I greatly admire.
Mr. Flores, or Herbie as he prefers to be called, is a very influential person in the community because he wants to afford everyone the opportunity to be educated, grow economically, and contribute to the growth of their communities. He does this not only through the programs his organization, the New England Farm Workers’ Council provides, but through tirelessly advocating for the rights of citizens in his community.
After completing a tour of duty in Vietnam, Herbie completed his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Massachusetts -Amherst. He then became part of a team that was instrumental in putting together the idea of a community organization that would provide quality services to seasonal and migrant farm workers. Herbie advocated for education and health services for these workers and soon was able to start the New England Farm Workers’ Council. He went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has been awarded Doctor of Public Service degrees by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Westfield State University.
Herbie quickly realized that there were others in the community that needed a helping hand to achieve a better quality of life and had firsthand knowledge that education was the key. It wasn’t long thereafter that the New England Farm Workers’ Council started to grow and today, together with Corporation for Justice Management, Corporation for Public Management, and Partners for Community (which he also serves as Chairman/President/CEO), is an operation managing over $60 million with more than 250 staff providing needed services in communities throughout New England and Puerto Rico.
Herbie has high expectations of his staff and will not tolerate employees that are insensitive and arrogant. He meets regularly with his staff and has motivational conversations that make staff want to work even harder. This means he knows his staff by name and looks for leaders within the organization and encourages them to move forward in positions of leadership and provides the necessary support and training for these positions.
Mr. Flores is an effective leader who has earned the respect of many in the community. He does not look for glory but instead is determined to provide the assistance his community needs. He is tenacious, has chosen a strong team to lead his employees, respects his staff and community, and most importantly, is responsible. Herbie is an effective and strong community leader who leads by example and has the ability, education, and skills to inspire others to make the necessary changes to improve future outcomes.
Sen. Gale Candaras
Sen. Gale Candaras
Occupation: State Senator
For twenty years, Gale D. Candaras has been a stalwart and tireless champion of a myriad of programs and activities that are integral to the fabric of civic life in the greater Springfield area, and throughout the Commonwealth. As a local official, as a state representative, and as a state senator, Senator Candaras has fought for support for parks and libraries, for courthouses and for hospitals. She has worked to rein in drunk driving and curtail drag racing, and to obtain funding for programs serving the elderly and disabled. Education and schools have been a particular focus of Senator Candaras’s work, with emphasis on equalizing educational opportunities as the way to break the cycle of disadvantage holding many of our children back. From the first creation of the Springfield Promise program, Senator Candaras has advocated strongly for stable funding to help our youth access higher education and open a path to a positive future. She is always there for her constituents and for people who need a helping hand. No one has worked harder or more reliably to enrich the life of our community than Gale D. Candaras, which is why it is my pleasure and honor to nominate her to receive the Access First One award.
Fairleigh Dickinson University, B.S.
Western New England College School of Law
Steven Bradley
Steven Bradley
Occupation: Vice President, Government, Community Relations and Public Affairs, Baystate Health
In his role as Vice President of Government, Community Relations and Public Affairs, Steven is responsible for developing and implementing Baystate’s legislative and political strategy at the federal, state and city levels. He serves as Baystate’s day-to-day contact with local, state and federal elected officials, government agents and other interested parties. He also represents Baystate Health in the areas of Community Relations and Public Affairs by providing oversight to relationship building with community and neighborhood representatives and the local, regional and national media.
Steven has been with Baystate health over eight years. Prior to this, he was the State Chief of Staff for the Massachusetts State Senate Committee on Ways and Means. Steven also served as Regional Director of the Western Massachusetts State Department of Mental Retardation until 1996. In this capacity he established the departments first Regional Cultural Competency Initiative. He served as a Selectman for 9 years in the Town of Pelham.
Masters of Science Degree, University of Massachusetts, Amherst – 1977
Bachelor of Science Degree, University of Massachusetts, Amherst – Cum Laude – 1975
Bristol Community College, Fall River, Massachusetts – 1971
ACCESS Stories: Asia Medley, student
Asia Medley: ACCESS Last Dollar Scholarship Winner 2011. City on a Hill, Regis College Class of 2015.
My family is very proud of me, because most of my family started college but didn’t finish, or applied and didn’t go—it’s not a lot of pressure, because I know that I can do it, but it feels like a lot of pressure sometimes! I’ve wanted to be a lawyer for a very long time, so I knew that I had to go to college. I knew that I had to strap up and get ready for the ride of all this school ahead! But I see all the schooling as completely worth it once I get my J.D.
I first saw a brochure for ACCESS on our guidance counselor’s bulletin board. My guidance counselor was great, but she had so many students that I couldn’t always get all the help I needed, and so I had to find other people who could help me and who I could get support from. That’s where ACCESS came in. If I couldn’t meet with my guidance counselor, I’d immediately go set up a meeting with my ACCESS advisor, and they really helped me wade through all of the financial aid decisions I had to make. In the end, I got all the money I needed, which is a lot better than other people I’ve seen who haven’t worked with an advisor on financial aid. For students starting out, it’s important to remember that G.P.A.s and grades matter—but you also need to have a good sense of what you’d like to accomplish down the line after you’re done with school, so that the process of picking colleges won’t be as hard. Getting all the information from your parents at the end of your junior year, and making sure your parents know that they need to be a part of your financial aid process, really helps, too: it lets you avoid the last-minute scramble of trying to get your information together right before it’s due. Thinking ahead is a life-saver!
ACCESS Stories: Allyson Contreras-Chuga, student
Allyson Contreras-Chuga: Last Dollar Scholarship Winner 2011. Boston Community Leadership Academy, Bridgewater State University Class of 2015.
“I’m not just the first one to attend college in my family: I’m the first one to have completed middle school, to have graduated from high school. I’m the oldest, so I’m a role model for my younger siblings, since I know they’re watching me. Once I got into high school, it was assumed by all the people around me that the next step was automatically college, but I didn’t start thinking about the cost until my junior year. Being around other seniors when I was a junior, I noticed how often they talked about the money involved with college, and it got me scared! At one point I did definitely say, “If I don’t have the money, I’m not going to college,” since I really didn’t want to take out loans. From the beginning, once I realized that loans are practically mandatory, I still didn’t want to take on more than $5,000 a year. Talking to Holly, my school’s ACCESS advisor, definitely made things feel easier and made me less nervous. She helped a lot, but I was also on top of my forms and things—I didn’t want to mess up! I also became an ACCESS Ambassador, which meant I basically helped Holly with whatever she needed and reminded other students about the importance of meeting with their financial aid advisors. Putting myself out there with ACCESS and with other student programs, and being scared but not letting that stop me, definitely helped get me through high school. The first few award letters were scary, but I got a really good financial aid package in the end from Bridgewater, and after I went there for an orientation I really loved it.
A few months back, at the Boys and Girls Club that I went to after school, they made us fill out a New Year’s resolution, and I put down, ‘Go to college for free.’ And now, apart from my federal Pell grants, I’m not paying anything! It’s wonderful. I didn’t give up, and now I’m so excited to start.”
ACCESS Stories: Fernando Lora, student
Fernando Lora: former ACCESS Scholar, Williams College Class of 2014
Growing up in the Charlestown and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston, college wasn’t something that people in my community talked about. College isn’t really something that is often considered. Living in these neighborhoods, as the child of an immigrant single mother, I wasn’t expected to go to college. Now, although I’m not the oldest in my family, I was the first to graduate from high school and will be the first to graduate from college. Currently I attend Williams College in Western Massachusetts where I am going to be a rising sophomore.
Given the environment that I grew up in, television is what really sparked my interest in college. T.V. often provides a positive image of college life and professes the benefits of receiving a college education. I always saw college as the American Dream. As I got older, I realized that college was the only was to achieve the type of success that I wanted to achieve and viewed college as a way to become economically stable. With a college education I could have access to positions such as a teacher, doctor, or lawyer that would allow for this stability.
Fortunately, I went to an exam high school, where students are more heavily encouraged to apply to college than students at other public high schools. ACCESS was very encouraging as well. I applied early decision to Williams, despite having a list of about 15 colleges that I was planning to apply to. ACCESS was encouraging and supportive of this decision. They provided me with the information that I needed to know and the risks that I was undertaking by applying early decision.
Most students at my high school weren’t applying to colleges until December of senior year. Because I had to apply early, by November 1st, I began seriously considering financial aid a few weeks prior to that deadline. Ms. Ummah, who was my ACCESS advisor, was amazing. I think she is the best. I never believed that financial aid was going to be an issue because I knew I was going to be applying to competitive colleges and I knew how financial aid worked. ACCESS definitely did help clarify many of the details and help me to understand exactly what many of the different terms meant and what they implied for my situation.
When I first began at Williams, I realized how academically rigorous the school actually was. I was expecting the schoolwork to be difficult, but I didn’t know exactly what I was getting into and have had to work hard. My freshman year, around midterms and finals, I had to reapply for financial aid. Dealing with this process on top of the rigorous academics was a real pain.
I would advise students to begin the financial aid process as early as possible. Getting it done early on senior year will move the whole application process on much more smoothly. While in college, and it comes time to renew a financial aid package, I would advise students to get it done as soon as possible as well. Although one might be tempted to procrastinate, when midterms and finals come around, the last thing anyone wants to do is deal with financial aid paperwork. Being prepared and getting things done on time is the best way to improve chances at success.
It’s a great feeling and a great accomplishment to be the first in my family at college; I’m proud of it! I know I want to be successful in life, and that desire definitely plays into the dreams and aspirations that I have, and so that really motivated me to want to go to college. Working with ACCESS was definitely really helpful, because they helped me stay on top of my deadlines and keep organized, and I really think that’s important, because if you slip up or miss a deadline, things won’t go as well as you want them to! This year, I took on way more with sports—I did three sports and four extra-curriculars—and so it sometimes felt hard to balance thinking ahead towards college when I was so wrapped up in high school! But I had a great support system in place, which really helped. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten to go to college without financial aid—looking at the gaps that I had in my award letters in terms of what my family could reasonably pay, there was a lot of money I couldn’t cover! My advisor helped me through the appeals process, and when we got through it, we got way more money, so it was really exciting. Stay organized, make sure you meet your deadlines, and write everything down! If you’re on top of everything, it’ll really help things work out.
ACCESS Stories: Angel Mejia, Student
Angel Mejia: ACCESS Last Dollar Scholarship Winner 2011, Fenway High School. Wheaton College Class of 2015.
There’s a lot of talk about how in order to do anything nowadays, you need to go to college, and I felt that I did want to pursue a good career. The career that I’d like to pursue, psychology, you definitely need a college education for, and so that aspiration really sparked my interest. My ACCESS advisor really helped because I had no idea what to do with my FAFSA: they were asking for a lot of information, and they made it really difficult, which made it hard for me to figure out what I really needed. The ACCESS advisor who helped me told me what papers I needed to bring, and she helped me figure out what numbers I needed to put down and all of the exact information that I needed to fill in: it was a lot less scary, and a lot easier to follow through! Before I got my financial aid packages, I knew I didn’t have the funds available regularly in my family to attend college; there was a time before I got my aid packages when I felt that if I didn’t get enough money, then maybe I shouldn’t go to college. Financial aid made all the difference.
I’m the first generation in my family to go to college, which is a little bit harder, since I have to figure out on my own how I’m going to do the college process. I have an older brother who’s in college now, but I still figure out a lot of the things myself: my brother’s the one who reminds me about due dates and things, but I was pretty much alone in the process in terms of family support. I’d recommend that students seek guidance from a school counselor or a group like ACCESS as they figure out applying for college—otherwise the process is really confusing, and there’s a lot of parts that can feel pretty vague. Get help from someone who knows the college process, and who has been helping people get through it for a while, and definitely get everything done on time and meet all the deadlines!
