Springfield-Holyoke Recompete Coalition says: “Let me walk in your shoes, let’s get you a job and help you keep it”
While enrolled in a training program for patient care technicians at Baystate Health, Diana Sanders had a conversation with her manager. Between experiencing domestic violence and losing her apartment, the mother of three faced real barriers to completing her program.
“I had to let her know I was homeless, because there were times I couldn’t make it on time. Not on purpose, but because I was running around getting my kids places. I didn’t want to lose the opportunity at Baystate, but it was also hard for me because we didn’t have a stable place to stay. She said she knew people who can help,” said Sanders, who was referred to the Springfield-Holyoke Recompete Pilot Program, and began working closely with Way Finders’ Recompete Case Manager Keritza Ostalaza. “Keritza became my go-to girl. I appreciate her so much because she helped me in so many ways. Mentally, financially, to be able to grow. She never gave up on me and helped me see different options.”
They worked together to seal an eviction record, insure her car, and improve her credit. Sanders completed the training program and landed a full-time job in 2025 with Baystate Health. In June 2026, Sanders and her children moved into an apartment after nearly two years of living in their car and staying with friends.
“Now after I get off work, I can actually go home and breathe, I can come home to my kids. It feels amazing to not drive around and try to figure out what you’re going to do. To finally feel stable and know that I won’t end up losing my home because I have a good, secure job,” said Sanders. “Recompete is definitely a great program. Everywhere I went prior, doors were just closing. It was the only program that actually opened doors for me and helped me with my job. It was a really hard process, but Keritza made sure I kept on track. She worked with me, hand in hand.”
Sanders was one of 40 participants across three cohorts of the Springfield-Holyoke Recompete Coalition’s eight-month pilot program, which launched in 2025. The results of which were presented at a May 2026 webinar led by Springfield-Holyoke Recompete Coalition Director Larry Dixon, Way Finders’ Senior Vice President of Housing Education Services Jodi Smith, and Ostalaza.
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- Recompete participant Natasha Coriano, who recently completed a course to be a certified nursing assistant.
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- “To be honest, I don’t know where I’d be right now without Keritza. She has been a really big support for me throughout my process,” said Natasha Coriano.
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- A gift from Natasha Coriano to Recompete Case Manager Keritza Ostalaza, aka “Difference Maker”
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- Natasha Coriano connected to the Recompete pilot via Holyoke Community College
Slide from the Springfield-Holyoke Recompete Coalition’s webinar, May 2026, showing 93% workforce retention
“The individuals we work with want to succeed. They want stable housing, employment, education, and a better future. What makes Recompete so different is that we don’t just hand participants a list of referrals and send them on their way. We walk alongside them,” said Ostalaza, who provided case management to all 40 participants. “While you’re in the midst of doing the work, you don’t realize how much you’ve done. So, when Larry started presenting the pilot results, showing 93 percent of workers retained employment, that surprised me! The typical retention rate is 50 percent.”
Origins and excitement
The coalition came together in mid-2023 to vie for a share of the $200 million available through the Economic Development Administration’s Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Project. The fiercely competitive program drew more than 550 applications from across the country, representing ways to promote job growth and retention in areas facing persistent economic challenges—to help areas regain their competitive edge and close the employment gap.
“There was a lot of excitement, I knew we had a good idea,” said Dixon, of learning in December 2023 that the coalition was among 22 phase-one finalists. “We received a $500,000 planning grant to pursue our integrated workforce stabilization model.”
The coalition held dozens of meetings with more than 100 entities and resident groups, including workforce development training partners, employers, service providers, municipal partners, and funders. Major coalition partners include Way Finders, Baystate Health, Springfield Technical Community College, Holyoke Community College, MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board, Tech Foundry, Holyoke Health Center, Trinity Health of New England, and the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts.
“Having a $20 million opportunity in front of you, it really changes the tenor of the discussion,” said Dixon. “It gave us space to envision, without funding restraints, the ‘Cadillac model’ for how to create an integrated system with residents that guides them, so they can become stabilized first, move into training, and get the support they need to get and stay employed. We have a lot of programs in the area, but no system that really considers the resident’s perspective and says, ‘Let me walk in your shoes, let’s understand your challenges and address them. Let’s get you a job and help you keep it.’”
The coalition’s big-picture goal: How to connect residents to quality jobs that bring lasting stability?
A quick visual for understanding the coalition’s goals: Imagine two puzzle pieces that just. Won’t. Fit.
One piece is the estimated 24,000 underemployed or unemployed adults in Holyoke and Springfield between the ages of 25 and 54, who face complex challenges to employment. These include barriers around housing, childcare, transportation, legal needs, domestic violence, or English language skills.
The other piece is the many employers in the area who need workers but struggle to keep them. The employer partners in the coalition, for example, each month look to fill 200 to 400 entry-level jobs. They hire people who then can’t show up and ultimately get fired—a painful cycle for all.
What would it take to get these pieces to fit? The coalition’s model aims to knit together just such a strategy—designed around coordination, accountability, and resident stability. And most definitely with employers at the table, per Dixon, who envisions future collaboration with industries beyond healthcare, including manufacturing, trades, and construction.
From the coalition’s cross-sector conversations, a realization crystalized: No single organization, program, employer, or service can solve the problem on its own. And each entity, operating in its own silo, is more focused on immediate outputs—get a person housed, get a person trained—than on lasting outcomes. With these being for people to get hired, retain their jobs, and advance in their careers. All of which help stem generational poverty and stabilize the region.
The coalition’s pilot, which launched in 2025, had 40 participants across three cohorts
“Navigating a maze of disconnected programs is exhausting for residents, especially at transitions, and people may fall through the cracks. The lack of coordination came up again and again, and how supports are not aligned with training and employers,” said Dixon. “For example, some training programs also provide case management. But when a person moves into a job, that case management ends. And employers are not equipped to help employees manage challenges they face.”
Recompete is not just another program, per Smith.
It’s a systems-change effort to better connect people to existing programs, rooted in understanding of how overwhelming it can be to go it alone. A key feature is the idea of “portable case management,” which goes with an individual along their journey to economic mobility, instead of being attached to a program.
“So instead of making five phone calls or walking through five doors, residents have a single point of entry. They have somebody walking alongside them, a guardian angel who knows how to navigate the landscape and can look out for the person when needed. Who can help carry the load,” said Smith. “Our coalition is working toward changing a system that has historically crated barriers for low-income residents in our communities.”
When the coalition learned in August 2024 that they did not receive the full $20 million in funding, they quickly pivoted to test out some key aspects of their strategy. The timing was just right for Sanders, who connected to the program via Baystate Health, a major coalition partner.
Resident Natasha Coriano connected with Recompete via Holyoke Community College, where she was enrolled in a culinary workforce training program—and experiencing a housing crisis. Ostalaza helped her get approved for emergency shelter in September 2025, after being denied three times, by involving legal aid. A few months later, Coriano moved into an apartment. And, in June 2026, she moved into permanent affordable housing.
“To be honest, I don’t know where I’d be right now without Keritza. She has been a really big support for me throughout my process,” said Coriano, who works full-time as a personal care attendant and recently completed a course to be a certified nursing assistant. “She truly cares about her clients. If I call her, she picks ups. Keritza helped me get out of a really dark space.”
“Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of watching Natasha completely transform,” said Ostalaza. “When we first met, she was overwhelmed and always on guard because she had faced so many obstacles and heard ‘no’ more times than anyone should. I understood why she felt that way. Today, that wall is gone. She’s more confident, hopeful, and believes in herself again. Being part of her Recompete journey has been an incredible honor.”
With such promising results from their pilot, the Springfield-Holyoke Recompete Coalition is eager to secure sustainable funding in order to scale up its integrated approach with more residents, partners, and employers. For example, training and employer partners in the coalition reported they could easily enroll an additional 500 participants. The current pilot will continue through March 2027, thanks to bridge funding from Tech Foundry, MassMutual Foundation, the Community Foundation of Western Mass, and Davis Foundations.