PITTSFIELD, Mass. Mar. 9, 2015–Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, through the Office for Nutrition, Health and Safety Programs has awarded Hillcrest Educational Centers a $17,797 School Nutrition Equipment Assistance Grant for High Need Districts for the Center School.  The grant is to encourage schools to increase their capacity to serve healthier meals that meet the 2014-2015 USDA meal pattern as part of participating in the National School Lunch Program.  The Center school will purchase a new walk-in cooler /dry storage unit to replace the outdated, inefficient smaller unit.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Jan. 26, 2015 – The Massachusetts Bankers Association (MBA) Charitable Foundation has awarded Hillcrest Educational Centers (HEC) a $5,000 unrestricted grant during its annual year-end community grant season.

The MBA awarded deserving social service agencies 37 grants in 2014 totaling a record amount of $152,500. Their foundation has given a lifetime total of $1.9 million over its 18-year history. Its membership consists of 170 Massachusetts and New England banks.

The grant awarded to Hillcrest will be used for their 2015 Annual Campaign.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Jan. 12, 2015– Hillcrest Educational Centers is celebrating 30 years of providing therapeutic treatment and special education to children and adolescents with unique psychological and learning needs.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Jan. 13, 2015—Hillcrest Dental Care (HDC) has been awarded an $1,813 grant from The Central Berkshire Fund of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation to provide free, in school, oral health education to elementary school and day care children in Berkshire County. The educational program began in 2011 and Hillcrest Dental Care is committed to educating children while they are young and excited to learn proper oral health care and good nutrition.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Jan. 14, 2015– Hillcrest Educational Centers launches Summer
Internship Program. The program first began in the summer of 2014.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Dec. 15, 2014– Hillcrest Educational Centers holds annual meeting.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Hillcrest Educational Centers is seeking financial contributions toward its holiday gift drive.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Dec. 02, 2014– Hillcrest Educational Centers and Endicott College’s Van Loan School have partnered to offer a local graduate program.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Nov. 21, 2014—Hillcrest Dental Care promotes Tricia Hunt to the new position of Director of Dental Operations. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Nov. 17, 2014- Hillcrest Educational Centers (HEC) has been awarded a Worksite Wellness Stipend by Health New England.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Nov. 17, 2014– Hillcrest Educational Centers' 2014 Holiday Wish Program is now underway.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Oct. 28, 2014 - With lead support from MountainOne, Hillcrest Educational Centers’ 2014 Fall Golf Classic benefit raised over $60,000 from tournament sponsorships and silent auction and raffle sales. The event was held on Friday, September 26, at Wahconah Country Club in Dalton, Mass.

The presenting sponsor for the Fall Classic was MountainOne. Additional lead sponsors included: The Kraft Group and the New England Patriots, Barry Architects, Inc., Graphic Impact Signs, Inc., Commercial Distributing, Inc., Restorations, Inc., Haddad Dealerships, NDS Electronics, Berkshire Bank, Pignatelli Electrical Contractors, Reliable Yarwards, Inc., The Nichols Family and Climate Heating and Cooling, Inc.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Aug. 18, 2014 – Hillcrest Educational Centers, Inc. (HEC) hires Todd Castine, Director of Autism Services to work on Autism Spectrum Disorder program development and expansion.

Todd Castine is a native of the Northern New York with over 25 years of experience working with children and adults having a variety of handicapping conditions. He is also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Aug. 13, 2014 – Hillcrest Educational Centers, Inc. (HEC) has been awarded $5,000 from The Pittsfield Cooperative to purchase iPads and speech and language applications for the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Residential Program to help ASD children learn and communicate with teachers, staff, family members, peers and conventional students and to reduce the self-injurious behaviors exhibited due to frustration.

New applications for the iPads are being developed everyday for nonverbal people. A few of the new applications are Grace Picture Exchange for Non-Verbal People and iAssist Communicator. Grace Picture Exchange for Non-Verbal People is a simple picture exchange system developed by and for non-verbal people allowing the user to communicate their needs by building sentences from relevant images. The app can be customized by the individual using their picture and photo vocabulary by taking and saving pictures independently to the app.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Aug. 11, 2014 – Hillcrest Educational Centers, Inc. (HEC) has been awarded $4,000 by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America to begin a culinary pre-vocational program at the Housatonic Academy campus. A pre-vocational culinary program will enhance both independent living and pre-vocational skills for students at the Housatonic Academy.

Four Hillcrest staff will become ServSafe Food Safety Managers and will be certified as exam proctors, so they may instruct students in the culinary pre-vocational program and certify them in food safety and sanitation, as required by the Massachusetts Food Code.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Aug. 6, 2014 – Hillcrest Educational Centers, Inc. (HEC) has been awarded $5,418 from Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation to purchase assistive technology, specifically laptop computers and safe desks, for the ASD classrooms at the Housatonic Academy.

This grant will give Housatonic Academy the digital media resources needed to help ASD students understand concepts, practice new skills, and engage in exciting, authentic learning experiences.