A program devoted to helping former inmates and others is opening a new office in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The downtown site joins a suite of support efforts that moved into the same building in December – designed to provide easier access to those who need it most.
For almost 30 years, the “All Inclusive Support Service” program run by the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office has been assisting the formerly incarcerated as they re-enter society.
Based out of Springfield, the program has provided mental health and addiction treatment services, training classes and more – becoming a hub for not only the 1,500 “justice-involved individuals” it serves annually, but anyone in need as of 2019, when AISS started offering programming to the general public.
The problem, officials say, is that transportation has been a hurdle for many seeking support.
It’s an issue the program’s new satellite office in Holyoke is designed to address, says Sheriff Nick Cocchi.
“Why is this building so important? It has eliminated the transportation issues for people returning back to the city of Holyoke - they shouldn't have to get on a bus or get into a car to go to Springfield for services,” he explained.
Cocchi, Mayor Joshua Garcia and dozens of support staff, officers and others filled a freshly-painted office suite in the city’s War Memorial Building on Appleton Street Wednesday, July 9.
The spot will be staffed with bilingual case managers, providing in-demand services at what’s being dubbed a “mini-hub” for the program.
"AISS: it's about filling the gaps for the people who need support, whether it's one mistake, ten mistakes - doesn't matter," Cocchi noted. "It's about giving people an avenue and an opportunity to walk through a door, put their hand up and say 'I need help.'"
According to the sheriff, plans to bring the office to Holyoke have been in the works for at least a year.
Garcia says the addition builds on ongoing efforts to bring more support services to the city’s center – Holyoke being a place, he says, that works to give second chances to those who need them.
“I believe empathy is our fundamental strength here in the city of Holyoke and everyone, I'm sure, has heard me say this before - we're a compassionate city,” Garcia said. “We're a place that helps our residents [with] first, second, third, fourth, sometimes fifth chances until you get it right!”
A hub of community support services
The satellite location joins a suite of other support services that moved into War Memorial Building in December, meaning members of the city’s Overdose Response Team and Street Outreach program are located just down the hall.
Outreach Coordinator Jackeline Estevez Quinones tells WAMC her team of Gandara Center staffers has seen no shortage people seeking help.
“It's a lot of people. Usually we work with them constantly - it's continuous work with each one of them - but I will say … we can work with 15-20 people daily between all of us, easy,” she said. “That's the slowest day.”
Standing among desks sporting packages of Narcan and sheets with phone numbers for numerous help lines and offices, recovery coach Cali Brennan says these offices specialize in connecting those who have experienced an overdose or are battling addiction with help they likely could not find on their own.
That includes connecting them with long-term recovery coaches, setting up goals or just getting treatment.
“The opposite of addiction is connection, and that's the most important part, that we can't do it alone,” Brennan says. “… to have the support and the guidance from people who have lived experience and educational experience to help just guide them and support them is, I think, the most important thing.”
At the facility, police officers work alongside support staff while also responding to overdoses in the city. As Detective Joseph Emitario tells WAMC, it’s a responsibility the department embraces, being among the first to treat someone suffering from an overdose, but also speak with family members or loved ones of the victim, some of the toughest parts of the job.
“There is help out there for everyone involved,” he says. “It is not an easy thing when speaking with a family member and … they are realizing that their loved one is actively using drugs. There's a lot that goes through someone's head, especially when officers are at the scene, in someone's house or apartment and there's emergency personnel and their loved one is there being treated by EMTs - there's a lot of worry.”
Grappling with high overdose case numbers
After a rise in “opioid-related incidents” from 2022 to 2023 -- going from 402 to 486 -- Holyoke has seen some progress, according to state data citing cases reported by EMS.
In 2024, there were 385 total cases, and during the first quarter of 2025 alone, Holyoke saw 41, down from last year's 88 over the same span of time.
Holyoke City Councilor At-Large Israel Rivera says having outreach staff based in the heart of downtown means the city is a big deal for the city as it gets closer to building a “cohesive unit” for connecting residents with vital services.
Bringing the AISS downtown is a big boost as well, he adds. Formerly incarcerated on drug-related charges, Rivera recalls having to take as many as three buses to get to Springfield for services – the kind of strain that could prove too much for someone already struggling with coming back into public life.
He says the city also still has plenty of work to do to meet the needs of its residents. A more grassroots approach would go a long way, he believes – one involving those who have been through the justice system and have insight and perspective that can make a difference when helping other formerly incarcerated folks get back on their feet.
“I myself am formerly incarcerated - I dealt with a lot of the situations and circumstances. Some of my former cellmates are the ones that are out there, asking for money, or if not, asking me … for help, to get connected to services, and I think that it's more of a visceral feel for me than it is for others and I think that if we're getting more people included in the process that have gone through it, it makes it a lot easier,” he says. “It’s a more connected conversation…”
Rivera says as he earns a master’s degree in public administration at Westfield State University, the ongoing efforts at the War Memorial Building figure into his capstone work.
Building up a "community response division"
Wednesday’s event also featured the city detailing a new “community response advocate” position, part of a “a newly created division of the City of Holyoke providing guidance, referrals, support services, and answers to individuals with quality of life concerns questions or difficulties,” according to a press release, funded in-part by federal grant funds and opioid settlement funds.
Holyoke Community Development Director Alicia Zoeller says the role comes at a time when the city’s seeing some of its highest levels of unsheltered individuals (at least 80, according to a count in January), a steady stream of residents in crisis looking for help at city hall and a sense that municipalities are going to be handling more of such cases in the near-future as programs such as rental assistance likely decrease.
“We're really concerned the changes at both the state and federal level have a lot of the responsibilities for housing, shelter services being pushed down to the local level,” Zoeller said Wednesday. “At this point, we feel like not just opening this building today, but also implementing this new position will position us moving forward as those sort of services get pushed down to our desks.”
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