2021 Oscar® Nominated Short Films To Be Shown Online By The Park Theatre

Oscar® Shorts and new award-winning African film start April 2

JAFFREY, New Hampshire (March 30, 2021) It’s Oscar® awards season again, and year-after-year, one of the most exciting categories is short films. The Park Theatre in Jaffrey has presented the Oscar® short film nominees twice before at their River Street Theatre. Due to Covid-19, the 2021 Oscar® nominated short films will be shown via streamed on-demand rentals. Once again, The Park Theatre will present them starting Friday, April 2.

The nominees comprise three separate category programs: Live Action, Documentary, and Animated. Each category presentation costs $12 for a 3-day rental. A bundle of all three presentations costs $30.

The nominated Animated short films come almost entirely from the USA this year, with one coming from France. Live Action short film comes from Israel, Palestine, and the USA. Finally, Documentary nominated short films are from France, Germany, Norway, and the USA. Each category program includes bonus short films from the Academy Awards nominee shortlist as well as other noted short films from the past year.

The 93rd Academy Awards Oscar® telecast is set for Sunday evening, April 25 on the ABC television network.

On April 2, The Park Theatre also begins presenting a critically acclaimed film. Berlin-based Mosotho filmmaker Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese's devastating and hypnotic This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection is already one of the most esteemed African films ever to hit the international festival circuit, earning the Special Jury Prize for Visionary Filmmaking at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, before taking home Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Cinematography at Africa's Academy Awards. When her village is threatened with forced resettlement due to reservoir construction, an 80-year-old widow finds a new will to live and ignites the spirit of resilience within her community. On-demand tickets for the film are $10, and the rental lasts 72 hours.

Tickets for all programs can be purchased by going to theparktheatre.org, The Park Theatre Facebook page or by calling the box office (603) 532-8888.

CEDAC Approves $11 Million in Early Stage Financing to 25 Community Development Projects Across the Commonwealth

BOSTON (March 30, 2021) - The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) committed a total of just over $11 million in early stage financing for the production and preservation of affordable housing in communities across the Commonwealth during the first half of FY21, which closed on December 31st.

"It was encouraging to see community development projects moving forward in the first half of FY21, which represented some of the most difficult months of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Roger Herzog, CEDAC’s executive director. "CEDAC is determined to commit resources to support non-profit organizations serving communities as diverse as Dorchester to Mashpee, and we look forward to continued progress in addressing our state’s affordable housing challenges."

Included among the 25 projects that CEDAC supported are:

• Ayer – Ayer Commons, Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, Inc.: CEDAC approved $115,000 of predevelopment funds to construct 70 units of high-quality affordable housing. Ten of the units will serve extremely low-income households.
• Boston (Dorchester) – 9 Leyland Street, Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation: CEDAC provided $550,000 in predevelopment financing for new construction of housing for older adults in the Uphams Corner section of Dorchester. The 43-unit project will include 13 units of housing targeted to extremely low-income residents.
• Brockton – Rodeway Inn, Father Bill’s & MainSpring: CEDAC committed $4.3 million in acquisition funding to convert an underutilized motel in Brockton into 68 units of permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals. This project will allow Father Bill’s & MainSpring to deconcentrate its congregate shelter for homeless individuals.
• Cambridge – Broadway Park, Just-A-Start Corporation: CEDAC approved $100,000 in predevelopment funding to build 15 affordable condominiums, which will offer homeownership opportunities to first-time homebuyers in a very expensive housing market.
• Mashpee – 950 Falmouth Road, Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc.: CEDAC committed $300,000 in predevelopment funds to support the project by Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and Housing Assistance Corporation (HAC). The organizations will build 39 units of multifamily housing, eight of which will be reserved for extremely low-income families.
• Salem – The Lighthouses, North Shore Community Development Coalition: CEDAC committed $275,000 in predevelopment funding to the North Shore Community Development Coalition to create 46 new units of affordable housing on two sites in the Point neighborhood of Salem. More than a third of the units will be targeted to extremely low-income residents.
• Salem – New Point Acquisition, North Shore Community Development Coalition: CEDAC approved $137,000 in predevelopment financing to preserve 18 units of affordable housing across three buildings for extremely low and low-income residents.
• Wenham – Maple Woods, Harborlight Community Partners: CEDAC committed $447,500 of predevelopment funds for the construction of 45 units of affordable housing for older adults. Sixteen of the units will be restricted for extremely low-income households.
• Winchendon – Veterans Housing Winchendon, Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center: CEDAC committed $200,000 in predevelopment financing for the construction of 44 new units of affordable veterans housing, all of which will be reserved for extremely low-income residents. The project will also renovate and restore two historic school buildings in this Central Massachusetts community.

Tax Expenditure Review Commission Releases First Report

Commission to review every tax expenditure every five years

Boston, MA (March 26, 2021) - A commission created by the Legislature to examine the impact of state tax breaks for individuals and businesses has released its first report to the Legislature. Two members of the Tax Expenditure Review Commission (TERC) are excited by this first-ever review of the break’s beneficiaries and impacts. Commission members State Auditor Suzanne Bump and Senator Adam Hinds hope that the evaluation of 26 tax expenditure programs in the areas of commerce, energy, and research and development will help inform the policy debate about revenues and develop a discipline with which to analyze new tax proposals. They say that the Commission members pointed to a number of specific expenditures which did not justify the fiscal cost, were not claimed by intended beneficiaries, did not serve as a meaningful incentive, or were no longer relevant.

"Massachusetts spends billions of dollars each year in tax expenditures without the same scrutiny of a typical budget process," said Hinds. "This Commission is a critical part of adding transparency and accountability while ensuring hard-earned tax dollars are spent wisely."

"This report provides a literal dollars and cents analysis of 26 tax expenditures, enabling a much better understanding of who are the beneficiaries of these tax policies and of whether the Commonwealth as a whole benefits from their favorable tax treatment," said Bump. "This will facilitate tax policy that is more targeted toward specific economic and societal goals, offering the possibility of raising more revenue more fairly, without resort to increases in actual tax rates. This analysis, done by experts at the Department of Revenue and agreed upon by a bipartisan group of commissioners, sets it apart from work done by a prior commission charged with making recommendations relative to tax expenditures."

Among the tax expenditures flagged for legislative review in the report is the Capital Gains Deduction for Collectibles. According to DOR, 88% of the $2 million foregone state revenue benefitted 33 individuals with annual taxable incomes exceeding $1 million, saving them $1.8 million in taxes.

The report also highlights the Massachusetts Life Sciences tax credit, the Economic Incentive Development Program, and the Historic Rehabilitation credit as models for other tax expenditure programs. In these programs, the authorizing agencies have an annual budget amount which may be used to grant tax credits, and they have the necessary discretion and expertise to allocate the budgeted credit amounts to projects most beneficial to the Commonwealth, where the impact of the credit is likely to be the greatest. Senator Hinds has filed a bill that would establish this process for tax expenditures moving forward.

The majority of the 385-page report is made up of in-depth analysis of the 26 tax expenditures reviewed by the commission. For each expenditure, the report provides information about its goals, costs, benefits, and more. It is the most robust public analysis of these tax expenditures ever conducted.

The report follows a report released in 2012 that noted the lack of transparency and accountability related to these tax expenditures. Bump, who sat on the committee that produced the 2012 report, has consistently called for greater oversight of these tax expenditures. In 2011 testimony before the Legislature about her office’s attempts to analyze this spending, she noted, "Once a tax break gets passed, however, it goes into a black box."

The Tax Expenditure Review Commission was established under Chapter 207 of the Acts of 2018 to review each tax expenditure in the Tax Expenditure Budget every five years; to consider the purpose, goal, and effectiveness of each Tax Expenditure in this review; and to report its findings biennially to the Legislature. The TERC is chaired by the Commissioner of the Department of Revenue, and other members include the State Auditor; the State Treasurer; the chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means; the chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means; the House and Senate chairs of the Joint Committee on Revenue; the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; the Minority Leader of the Senate; and 3 members to be appointed by the governor, who have expertise in economics or tax policy.

The report from the Tax Expenditure Review Commission is available here (PDF).

Gobi Hits the Road with Meals on Wheels

HOLYOKE (March 25, 2021) - Senator Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) joined members of WestMass ElderCare on Tuesday to take part in their daily Meals on Wheels program offering home delivered meals to individuals in Holyoke, Chicopee, South Hadley, Ludlow, Belchertown, and Ware. WestMass ElderCare is a private, non-profit agency located in Holyoke that offers a full range of services for elders, their familes and caregivers, as well as persons with disabilities so that they can remain in their homes, and their daily meals program has continued to operate throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senator Gobi, co-chair of the Massachusetts Legislative Food Systems Caucus and a member of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, had this to say on the work of the program and her experience, "I enjoyed the day delivering healthy, nutritious meals to people in Ware. I am so appreciative of the great work Elder Care does in providing so many essential services. Every home we visited we were met with a kind word and expression of gratitude and I want to express my gratitude to the men and women who provide those services every day."

Founded in 1974 and funded in part by grants and contracts from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs, WestMass ElderCare utilizes a strong network of relationships with local and statewide organizations working to assist elders and persons with disabilities to maintain independence at home. The organization contracts with EOEA to provide a variety of state and federally funded programs, the largest being the Home Care Program and the Nutrition Program. The demand for home delivered meals has increased by nearly 30% during the pandemic and WMEC’s nutrition program has not missed a single day of service delivery, bringing over 450,000 meals to over 2,600 consumers.

For more information on the program and organization, please visit www.wmeldercare.org/.