State Sen. Jo Comerford.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
NORTHAMPTON — State Sen. Jo Comerford’s accomplishments were highlighted last month through two different awards recognizing her work to support early education and care access as well as the work of the Center for Human Development.
Comerford (D-Northampton) told Reminder Publishing she was moved by the honors and was happy the work was recognized. She added her team’s focus of working with constituents has always been key in finding success.
“Any time I am lucky to receive something like this I really do want to make it clear I do nothing alone. I work with the greatest team in the state house, so I am very grateful to be able to do this with them,” said Comerford.
The first honor came on Nov. 12 as Comerford received the Ascent Award for Government Partnership from CHD in recognition of her hands-on advocacy to secure support for the organization’s programs and initiatives.
“Again and again, CHD has risen to meet our community’s need for shelter, food, healthcare and early intervention,” said Comerford. “I have been proud to join them in this work to serve our community and I am honored to be recognized by CHD for this effective partnership.”
Comerford explained she has worked closely with CHD over the last year advocating for and supporting their work around early intervention. She credited the organization for their work on its emergency assistance shelter and their efforts helping newcomers adjust to the region.
“I think their work around both has been exemplary and it was really my honor to get to learn more about it and support it as best I could,” Comerford added.
Comerford reiterated working closely with constituents specifically helps form a relationship with good communication which is critical to her being able to establish priorities for her role.
“I try to get as close to people doing work in our district as I can and that means showing up at meetings, being available, building relationships, so folks know how to find our team, engage our team, and I know enough to tune in and be fluent and be hands on,” Comerford said. “Every day I want to work better and smarter and harder for the people that I represent so in these instances it was good to do some work and I think these awards represent the work my team and I did to be an ally to these organizations.”
The second honor came on Nov. 20 as Comerford received the Legislative Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Association of Early Education & Care for her Senate leadership and advocacy for early childcare policy advancements and funding.
“The commonwealth must make childcare more affordable and improve wages for those who serve the youngest among us,” said Comerford. “I am deeply grateful to the Massachusetts Association of Early Education & Care for its steadfast advocacy for early education and humbled by this Legislative Achievement Award.”
Comerford said she has been a consistent advocate for early education and care receiving the necessary funding and that with the state’s new Fair Share Amendment,, also known as the “Millionaire’s Tax,” she has been able continue those efforts in securing much needed and now more available funding.
“I have great early education care providers in the region, and they’ve let me know forever and made me smarter about the challenges facing early education and care. Now that we have this surtax revenue, my job is to make sure that it gets to education,” Comerford said. “I was happy, and I will remain happy to fight for early education and care to get as much of a robust piece of that revenue as possible.”
Comerford added this was a sector she believed to be “wildly underfunded” and that the pandemic put a spotlight on how fragile services could become.
“This was one of those sectors were many people told us for a very long time we need to do better, and I was glad to be a part of the doing better,” Comerford said.
