MakeIT Haverhill Job Fair March 28 to Connect Job Seekers with Additional Employers

MakeIT Haverhill’s latest job fair showcases new offerings from such employers as Revise Energy, Anna Jaques Hospital, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, among many others. Revise Energy is looking for weatherization technicians, canvassers and HVAC service technicians. Anna Jaques has job openings across all departments, including housekeeping, food services and clinical positions and Greater Lawrence Family Health Center seeks call center and patient services representatives, pharmacy techs in training, medical assistants, nurses and community health workers. Other employers include Waystone Health & Human Services, Lawrence General Hospital, Penacook Place and Mary Immaculate, Opportunity Works, Whittier Health Network, Multicultural Home Care, Hilltop School and Amazon’s North Andover center. The free job fair, which allows job seekers to meet with local employers and learn about available openings, takes place Thursday, March 28, from 4-6 p.m., at 301 Washington St., Haverhill.

Haverhill Taking Applications for Youth Activities and Mental Health Fund Through April 12

For the third year in a row, Haverhill is accepting applications for its Youth Activities and Mental Health Fund. Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, who helped launch the program in 2021 while serving as a city councilor, said $750,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act money is earmarked for the program with $250,000 dedicated exclusively to mental health-specific programs. Speaking before city councilors last month, Barrett said federal money comes with many more strings attached than local funds. “It is much more cumbersome.  Even [for] the school department, who got a lot of the money last round, I believe [ARPA Manager Kathleen Lambert] has been chasing people down because you have to have the documentation so we don’t get the ding in the end that we have to pay the federal government back because we didn’t do something right.”

As WHAV first reported, Barrett and councilors acknowledged federal money runs out this year and the city is looking to continue the program operating with grants and other money. The program was created in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the grant application, “The isolation and disconnections caused by the pandemic have led to learning losses, emotional distress and an increase in behavioral issues, substance abuse and clinical mental health episodes.”

The city seeks proposals to address the educational, social, physical well- being and mental health needs of Haverhill’s youth through educational options, socialization, enrichment and recreation activities, employment skills training and other youth development opportunities.

Buttonwoods Researchers Uncover Haverhill’s Black History, Reflect on Well-Attended February Lecture

After she finished presenting on the history of Haverhill’s Black residents at the public library late last month, an audience member approached Claire Brady, a grant research intern at the Buttonwoods Museum. She told Brady her great-great grandfather was Robert Brothers. Brady recognized the name. Going through records, she learned he moved to Haverhill from Nova Scotia in the late 1800s. The Canadian province was the end point for the underground railroad, a series of safe houses that allowed enslaved people to flee the American South.

Haverhill Seeks Applicants for Both of its Seats on Whittier Tech School Committee by Monday

With one term already scheduled to end this month and another term cut short by a new Haverhill School Committee policy, the city is seeking applicants for both of its seats on the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School Committee. The three-year appointment of longtime member Richard P. Early Jr. ends March 31 and the term of Scott W. Wood Jr. was to have ended in two years. The Haverhill School Committee, however, voted last week to implement a new policy that cut Wood’s term short. The policy declares, “If a Haverhill School Committee member is appointed to the Whittier Tech School Committee and chooses not to run for reelection or is not reelected before the end of their three-year term the position shall be considered vacated, and the appointee must reapply to the Haverhill School Committee if they want to finish their term on the Whittier Tech School Committee.”

Haverhill is asking those who wish to serve to send letters of intent by next Monday, March 25,  to Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, chairperson, and School Committee Vice Chair Paul A. Magliocchetti. Applicants must reside in the city and are asked to outline their motivation for serving and vision for Whittier Tech.

April Fools Fandango Costume Ball Set for March 29

Newly organized Spaghetti Factory is having its first April Fools Fandango Costume Ball featuring, what the group calls, a “fun and funky night of costumes, dancing and prizes.”

Spaghetti Factory is asking participants to develop their own costume themes and compete for prizes in such categories as best overall, most creative and most foolish. There will also be dancing to the music of DJ Lo. The party takes place Friday, March 29, from 8-11 p.m., at AmVet’s 147, 576 Primrose St., Haverhill. There is a $10 cover charge. Registration is through Eventbrite.

Greater Haverhill Arts Association Spring Art Exhibit Runs Through May 18

The Greater Haverhill Arts Association is presenting a Spring Art Exhibit featuring members’ works in oil, acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, digital art and stained glass. The display is the latest in the second year of an ongoing series of quarterly exhibits of favorite artworks from the studios of members. Art is on display to the public through Saturday, May 18, during regular hours in the main floor hallway at Penacook Place, 150 Water St., Haverhill.

Councilors Approve Eight Haverhill Apartments After Weighing Parking and Trash Removal Concerns

Haverhill city councilors last night greenlighted a plan to restore an historic downtown building with eight apartments on the upper two floors. Representing developer Rob Landry of Four Points Property Management, attorney Robert D. Harb said plans for the Adams Building, 38-42 Washington St., include two affordable apartments and is allowed by right. “The outside work will meet—and has met—historic district requirements. We’ve got the approval. Number two, all that work is inside an existing building and it will all meet code and will all meet all of the requirements of the city departments.

Some Say Haverhill Overbuilt, Filling Schools; Planner Says Student Numbers Actually Dropping

(Additional photograph below.)

Part 2 of an occasional series. State officials report a housing shortage as demand far outstrips supply. In Haverhill, some residents wonder where they fall in the city’s priorities after development has increased in recent years. In light of a contentious zoning board meeting in January, a WHAV series explores concerns raised about impacts on the environment, overdevelopment with insufficient infrastructure and the character of long-settled neighborhoods changing. A group of longtime residents walked through their neighborhood, the Wood School area, on a beautiful February day, stopping every so often to point out, in their eyes, yet another infrastructure eyesore—improperly installed gas lines, large cracks in the road from improper drainage, and neighbors’ yards and basements that flood when it rains.