Six Months of Data Show ‘The First’ Serving Hundreds and Building a Sense of Community

Almost nine months after opening its doors in downtown Pittsfield, The First has become something its organizers hoped for but couldn’t guarantee: a place where people want to be.

Jim, a 52-year-old Pittsfield native who once owned a successful business but is now experiencing homelessness, said The First offers the practical necessities: a shower, laundry, a locker, and a place to charge his devices. But the connections he has made with staff and other guests also provide something less tangible.

“This is the best resource in town,” he said. “It’s a good place for me at this time, with my turbulence. It’s a little bit of the home that I don’t have anymore. It makes my situation a little bit more bearable.”

Jim isn’t alone. A collaboration between ServiceNet, Hearthway, Zion Lutheran Church, and the City of Pittsfield, The First is a daytime resource center for people experiencing homelessness. It opened Feb. 3 and now serves about 40 people a day. From February through June, 371 different people visited the center, taking 2,077 showers and washing 1,749 loads of laundry. All 36 of its lockers have been in daily use since March.

The numbers have exceeded expectations.

“I don’t think I had it in my head that 60 people would be coming through here,” said Erin Forbush, ServiceNet’s senior director of shelter and housing, noting the center has reached that many visitors on its busiest days.

Located in the lower level of Zion Lutheran Church, The First is open seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Visitors can shower, do laundry, make phone calls, store belongings, have coffee, charge devices, and simply spend time somewhere safe, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. A caseworker visits daily, and the center has begun to bring in outside services, including a twice-monthly wellness clinic.

Demand for even the simplest resources has grown as people have discovered the center. Use of its phone, for example, rose from 72 calls in February to 168 in June.

Forbush says those amenities are only one part of The First’s purpose.

“The ultimate goal is to create community,” she said. “The part that people can forget about as a need is the community piece.”

That philosophy can be seen in the center itself. Staff offices are integrated into the main space, where people gather on couches, watch television, play cards, and talk. The program is meant to be easy to join and is designed to remove barriers rather than create new ones.

Forbush, who chats easily with participants as they pass through the large common area — joking with one, offering encouragement to another — said the approach comes down largely to relationships: engaging people sincerely and treating them as equals.

“I always tell people, just say hello,” she said. “You never know the impact of that moment. None of us do anything by ourselves. We need community. And if we’re not helping people connect to that, we’re missing something.”

Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti said The First has had a substantial impact.

“Providing a community space where people can feel valued really seems to work,” Marchetti said. “If people feel connected, they feel worthy, they feel part of the community, and I think that’s happening at The First.”

Participants at The First have also found ways to contribute to the community around them. Through an Ambassador program involving ServiceNet and community partners, people who have experienced homelessness help clean and maintain public spaces. Participants from The First tend the neighboring park known as The Common, while another team works along Pittsfield’s North Street. Together, they help care for downtown Pittsfield six days a week.

The First also gives guests a direct voice in decisions that affect them. Mayor Marchetti visits monthly for coffee and conversation, hearing directly from participants about issues ranging from housing and sidewalk safety to public safety and city events.

Those conversations are part of what Marchetti sees as The First’s broader contribution: giving people a place where they can decide for themselves what they need at a particular moment. That flexibility, he said, allows the center to meet people where they are.

For Sean, another regular visitor at The First, the space is a respite from the outdoors. “It’s nice to have a destination,” he said. “It keeps me off the street for at least eight hours a day. Otherwise, I’m homeless. I have nowhere to go.”

And the benefits go beyond simply having somewhere to spend the day.

“It’s a place where you’re welcome,” he said. “On rainy days, it’s a godsend.”

To learn more about ServiceNet’s shelter and housing services, visit https://www.servicenet.org/services/shelter-and-housing/. To donate, visit https://www.servicenet.org/donate/.