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10) Black Families Together convenes hundreds of Black people in Worcester, to address racism and the inequities existing for Black people. Priorities include business ownership and access to capital. 

The expectation I have seen from those who do not know me personally was daunting over the summer. I am a person behind the business with 22 other people with feelings and emotions with all going on in the world, too.

Earlier this year, before the coronavirus pandemic upended every corner of society and the economy, the COO of marketing agency Vision Advertising in Westborough had a regular checkup scheduled for March – one she nearly skipped.

With cases rising sharply again, hospital officials planning for the winter are hoping that low hospitalization and death rates will continue, as a consequence of both a better understanding of the pandemic and a much younger population getting sick.

In Worcester, a district still in its infancy was forced to abruptly shift from seeking a place-making consultant to helping to provide resources and advocacy for neighborhood stores.

Nearly nine months have passed since the DCU Center in Worcester was forced to cancel all of its events in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, and now with the state emergency field hospital restarting in the arena in December, a full-fledged reopening doesn’t seem any closer.

Colleges in New England were already on the lookout for an expected drop in high school-age graduates locally, and struggling in some cases to balance high costs with keeping education affordable for students.

Restaurants are bringing in far less money for food and drink during the coronavirus pandemic – and it’s showing both the hit the industry has taken this year as well as the financial toll declining tax revenue will have on cities and towns.

From the high-end Natick Mall to Solomon Pond Mall to the Mall at Whitney Field and elsewhere, retail plazas already struggling with closing chains are now facing an even more uncertain future because of the pandemic.

When it comes to main streets in Central Massachusetts, town officials uniformly agree: A healthy main street is where foot traffic is king.