Hello Everyone,
I hope all of our students, teachers, and administrators had a great first few days back at school this week. The start of a new school year is always such an exciting time, I wish you all a successful year filled with learning and memorable moments!
Tomorrow is International Overdose Awareness Day, a day where we renew our commitment to fighting this absolutely devasting epidemic and an important time to remember all those we have lost to an overdose. I am heartbroken by the number of loved ones we continue to lose to this disease, and my heart goes out to every single family impacted by addiction.
Throughout this week I visited communities across the district that held vigils to remember the families and friends in our area that we have lost. I am incredibly grateful to all the community organizations that joined these gatherings to share harm reduction resources and provide hope that with tools like Narcan we can continue to reduce overdose deaths and help those until they are ready to begin their recovery journey.
This week I was excited to announce the historic funding that each of the nine municipalities in our district will be receiving for transportation infrastructure improvements through the Chapter 90 program and Fair Share Supplemental budget signed into law earlier this month. For those who might not be familiar with what the Chapter 90 program is, each year the Commonwealth distributes funding to all 351 municipalities based on criteria such as local road mileage, population, and employment. These funds help communities maintain the roads, sidewalks, and local bridges that we all rely on every day. I am especially grateful that this legislation set aside $100 million to be allocated to communities based solely on road mileage—a major step towards addressing the inequities in funding faced by Western Massachusetts communities for decades.
Next week there will be no community office hours however, never hesitate to stop into my office in Westfield. As always, please know I can be reached by email, john.velis@masenate.gov, by phone, (413) 572-3920, and you can find me online at senatorjohnvelis.com.  
I hope everyone enjoys the long Labor Day weekend!
Best,
John Velis