In the Community

Moderator: Dr. Charlotte Kahn (Director, Boston Indicators Project)

Chief Ed Cronin (Fitchburg Police Chief)                               

Chief Cronin is a recognized leader in community policing. He served as a police officer in Fitchburg from 1980 to 1995 where he rose to the rank of Detective Sgt.  While working with the Fitchburg Police Department he co-instituted a grassroots law enforcement exchange program with Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.  This imitative resulted in bringing the first Russian Police Officers to the FBI National Academy in 1993.  This program was officially recognized by the U.S State Department and funded for several million dollars through a non-profit organization called Project Harmony.

Chief Cronin left the Fitchburg PD to become Chief of Police in Gardner, Massachusetts, from 1995 to 1998.  During his tenure at the Gardner Police Department, he applied for and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to institute a collaborative approach to fighting domestic violence in the Gardner community.

A Fitchburg native and Fitchburg High School graduate, Chief Edward Cronin earned his Associate Degree in Criminal Justice from Mount Wachusett Community.  He has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Lowell in Criminal Justice Studies a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Management from UMASS Lowell.

Chief Cronin is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Massachusetts Major City Association, The Society for Organizational Learning, Director for the Boys and Girls Club of North Central Massachusetts and Director of the Twin City Latino Coalition.

Marc Dohan (Executive Director, Twin Cities CDC)     

Marc Dohan is the executive director of the Twin Cities Community Development Corporation (CDC). The Twin Cities CDC is a membership organization led by the diverse resident and business communities of Fitchburg and Leominster. They invest in and organize residents to help our communities build assets such as quality housing, good jobs, strong business and effective leaders. The CDC envisions healthy neighborhoods where residents choose to live, work and invest, thereby forming a powerful unified community.

Dr. Lisa Fortuna (Harvard University)           

Lisa Fortuna, MD, MPH, is a double board-certified psychiatrist and child and adolescent psychiatrist. Originally from Puerto Rico, Dr. Fortuna has a long-standing interest in both clinical work and research with multicultural youth, community psychiatry and developing alternative models of mental health access for underserved adolescents and young adults. Currently, Dr. Fortuna is a clinician-teacher in the department of child ambulatory psychiatry and a health services researcher with the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research at Cambridge Health Alliance.

Kathleen McDermott (Executive Director, Montachusett Opportunity Council)    

Providing a regional overview of poverty in North Central Worcester County

Kathleen J. McDermott is the Executive Director of the Montachusett Opportunity Council, Inc. (MOC) a $15 million anti-poverty community action agency serving north central Massachusetts.  Prior to becoming Executive Director, she was the agency’s Director of Administration and Finance.  During her tenure the agency has developed many new initiatives.  MOC is known for addressing the changing needs of the community by planning strategically, using new approaches and collaborating with community partners to build a more vibrant community.  Programs the agency administer include Asset Development, ChildCare and Head Start, Youth Services, Education and Employment, Health Care, Energy Conservation, Housing, Nutrition and Elder Services and Neighborhood Development.

Ms. McDermott was instrumental in the establishment of the Community Health Connections Family Health Center a federally funded health center with sites in Fitchburg and Gardner.  She is also the Co-Project Director of the Oral Health Initiative of North Central Massachusetts, an initiative that has received over $2 million from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts to improve access to oral health for thousands in the region.

Her other affiliations include:

• Current Treasurer and Past President, Community Health Connections, Family Health Center
• Co-Chair, Joint Coalition on Health
• North Central Massachusetts Community Reinvestment Act Coalition Board of Directors
• Member, North Central Workforce Investment Board of Directors
• Vice President, Greater Gardner Community Development Corporation Board of Directors
• Co-Chair, North Central Mass Housing Coalition

Jeff McLynch (Deputy Director, Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center)

Jeff McLynch is the Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. He is the author of a variety of MBPC publications on tax policy and economic matters, including The Growing Gap: Income Inequality in Massachusetts, Four Key Questions on the Governor’s Tax Cut Proposal, Keeping It Real: The Effects of Increasing and Indexing the Massachusetts Minimum Wage, The State of Working Massachusetts, Measuring Up: Taxes and Spending in Massachusetts, and An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure, as well as a series of reports on the reform of the Commonwealth’s corporate excise tax.  Much of Jeff’s work on tax policy in Massachusetts has been reproduced in State Tax Notes, the country's leading journal for commentary and analysis on state and local taxation. Prior to joining the MBPC in 2002, Jeff was a member of the Democratic Staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, where he advised Democratic Members of Congress on Social Security. He also previously served as a Social Insurance Specialist in the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Social Security Administration. He holds two degrees from Georgetown University: a Bachelor of Science degree from the university's School of Foreign Service and a Master of Public Policy degree from its Public Policy Institute. He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Dr. Sergio Paez (Language Acquisitions Director, City of Leominster)    

Dr. Paez has a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University, and a Doctoral degree in school administration from Boston College. He has developed over the last seven years a successful model of language acquisition education K-12 combining leadership, clear goals and expectations, quality of teaching and strong consensus among school administrators to adequately educate English language Learners.

He is at the board of trustee’s at Mount Wachusett Community College, and in the board of directors at Center of Collaborative Education. He is very active in researching social issues and is devoted to improve current educational systems.