About the Webinar

Join us for a free webinar exploring the unique challenges and strengths of rural communities across Western Massachusetts. We’ll explore key insights from the newly released report, Rural Realities: Financial Insecurity and Health Inequities in Our Rural Communities, alongside findings from recent Community Health Needs Assessments. Learn about a few local strategies to address rural health issues in Berkshire and Franklin Counties, and discover ongoing efforts to bring more resources to our region.  

This webinar is for public health professionals, community leaders, policymakers, and anyone interested in advancing equity in rural communities. 

Speakers: 

• State Senator Jo Comerford, Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester District 
• Laura Kittross, Public Health Program Manager, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission 
• Lisa Ranghelli, Director of Assessment and Capacity Building, Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts 
• Phoebe Walker, Director of Community Health, Franklin Regional Council of Governments 

Moderator:

• Andrea Freeman, Policy Director, Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts

Want to learn more about rural health equity?

Check our recent report, Rural Realities: Financial Insecurity and Health Inequities in Our Rural Communities.

Featured Speakers:

Senator Jo Comerford has served the people of western Massachusetts long before she took public office in January 2019, elected to serve the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district in the Massachusetts State Senate. She is the first woman to hold the seat. 

Her district comprises 25 cities and towns stretching from Northampton to Ashburnham, encompassing the Connecticut River in Hampshire and Franklin Counties and nearly circling the entire Quabbin Reservoir. 

Jo has previously chaired the Joint Committee on Public Health and the Joint Committee on COVID-19, Emergency Preparedness and Management and currently chairs the Joint Committee on Higher Education, while also serving as Vice Chair of Senate Ways and Means. 

Laura Kittross is the Public Health Program Manager at Berkshire Regional Planning Commission overseeing multiple projects and program areas including the Berkshire Public Health Alliance, the Berkshire Hampden-Training Hub, Youth Prevention, Overdose Prevention/Harm Reduction, Public Health Emergency Preparedness, Community Health, and more. She represents western Mass on the Coalition for Local Public Health (CLPH) and was a member of the Special Commission on Local and Regional Health. 

Lisa Ranghelli, MRP, is the Director of Assessment and Capacity Building for the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts. Lisa conducts research and evaluation for anchor institutions, collaboratives and community-based organizations that are striving to advance health equity in the region. Currently she manages the Community Health Needs Assessment process for The Coalition of Western Massachusetts hospitals and insurer. Lisa also provides evaluation technical assistance for grassroots groups that receive funding through Baystate Health’s Better Together program and Health New England’s Where Health Matters. Lisa has more than two decades of experience supporting community change efforts as an organizer, advocate, policy guru, researcher, evaluator, facilitator, coalition builder and strategic planner. Most recently, she spent 13 years at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, helping grantmakers more effectively build power, share power, and wield power for equity and justice. Lisa has a BA from Wesleyan University and a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University. Lisa is a proud member of Offbeat Womyn’s Drumming Ensemble and is co-board chair of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.

Phoebe Walker is the Director of Community Health at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG).  Ms. Walker has worked on regional public health collaborations, substance use disorder prevention and intervention, chronic disease prevention, and a wide variety of municipal governmental policy and staffing issues in the Commonwealth’s most rural county. She co-Chairs the local hospital Community Benefits Committee, is the Vice President of the Board of the Community Health Center of Franklin County, and facilitates the region’s coordinated Community Health Improvement Planning (CHIP) Network.  

Ms. Walker was a founding member of the Massachusetts Public Health Regionalization Working Group, and served as a member of the Patrick Administration’s Regionalization Advisory Commission subcommittees on Libraries and Public Health. Ms. Walker was appointed by Governor Baker to the 2016-2019 Special Commission on Local and Regional Public Health, the Massachusetts COVID Vaccine Advisory Group and the Food Policy Council. She sits on the Steering Committee of the Coalition for Local Public Health, as a representative of the Western MA Public Health Association.   

In 2022 Phoebe was awarded the Massachusetts Public Health Association’s inaugural Local Public Health Hero Award. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration from UMass Amherst.  

Phoebe lives in Buckland, Massachusetts with a husband and two sons, and serves as the elected Moderator in the town.