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Adult and Community Learning Services

Massachusetts Adult Basic Education Regions

The five broad regions used by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in planning and delivering professional development services for Adult Basic Education programs have been defined to coincide, to the maximum extent practical, with the Commonwealth's Workforce Investment Board (WIB) regions, as defined by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

All Adult Learning Centers (ALCs) funded by the Department are assigned to one of the five SABES Program and Staff Development Regional Support Centers (RSCs), based on the community(ies) in which the ALC is located.

All RSCs are expected to be flexible and open to negotiation with contiguous RSCs about serving programs and practitioners from neighboring communities, based on transportation convenience and program preference -- as resources allow.

For example, Quincy is directly connected to Boston via the MBTA's Red Line; yet because it is in the South Coastal WIB region, it is technically in the Southeast ABE region. Although staff members from Quincy programs have tended to use the Regional Support Center currently located in Fall River, the Greater Boston Regional Support Center would be expected to serve programs and practitioners from Quincy, as needed.

• The West ABE Region encompasses all of the cities and towns in the Berkshire County, Franklin-Hampshire, and Hampden County WIB regions.

• The Central ABE Region encompasses all of the cities and towns in the North Central Massachusetts, Central Massachusetts and Metro Southwest WIB regions, with the exception of Brookline (see the Greater Boston ABE Region below).

• The Southeast ABE Region encompasses all of the cities and towns in the Bristol, Greater Brockton, Cape and Islands, Greater New Bedford, and South Coastal WIB regions.

• The Northeast ABE Region encompasses all of the cities and towns in the Merrimack Valley, North Shore and Northern Middlesex WIB regions, as well as most of the communities in Metro North (see the Greater Boston ABE Region for exceptions).

• The Greater Boston ABE Region includes the City of Boston as well as Belmont, Cambridge, Somerville and Watertown (located in Metro North), and Brookline (located in Metro Southwest).

See the following pages for a list of the cities and towns in each WIB region.

Massachusetts Towns and Cities Located in Each Workforce Investment Board Region

Berkshire
Includes: Adams, Alford, Becket, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Dalton, Egremont, Florida, Great Barrington, Hancock, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Ashford, New Marlborough, North Adams, Otis, Peru, Pittsfield, Richmond, Sandisfield, Savoy Sheffield, Stockbridge, Tyringham, Washington, West Stockbridge, Williamstown, Windsor

Boston
Includes: Boston

Bristol
Includes: Attleboro, Berkley, Dighton, Fall River, Mansfield, North Attleboro, Norton, Raynham, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Somerset, Swansea, Taunton, Westport.

Greater Brockton
Includes: Abington, Avon, Bridgewater, Brockton, East Bridgewater, Easton Hanson, Stoughton, Whitman.

Cape and Islands
Includes: Aquinnah, Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Chilmark, Dennis, Eastham, Edgartown, Falmouth, Gay Head, Gosnold, Harwich, Mashpee, Nantucket, Oak Bluffs, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Tisbury, Truro, Wellfleet, West Tisbury, Yarmouth.

Franklin/Hampshire
Includes: Amherst, Ashfield, Athol, Belchertown, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Chesterfield, Colrain, Conway, Cummington, Deerfield, Easthampton, Erving, Gill, Goshen, Granby, Greenfield, Hadley, Hatfield, Hawley, Heath, Huntington, Leverett, Leyden, Middlefield, Monroe, Montague, New Salem, Northampton, Northfield, Orange, Pelham, Petersham, Phillipston, Plainfield, Rowe, Royalston, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Southampton, South Hadley, Sunderland, Ware, Warwick, Wendell, Westhampton, Whately, Williamsburg, Worthington.

Hampden
Includes: Agawam, Blanford, Brimfield, Chester, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Granville, Hampden, Holland, Holyoke, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Monson, Montgomery, Palmer, Russell, Southwick, Springfield, Tolland, Wales, Westfield, West Springfield, Wilbraham.

Lower Merrimack Valley
Includes: Amesbury, Andover, Boxford, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Merrimack, Methuen, Newbury, Newburyport, North Andover, Rowley, Salisbury, West Newbury.

Metro North
Includes: Arlington, Belmont, Burlington, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Revere, Somerville, Stoneham, Wakefield, Watertown, Wilmington, Winchester, Winthrop, Woburn

Metro Southwest
Includes: Acton, Ashland, Bedford, Bellingham, Boxborough, Brookline, Canton, Carlisle, Concord, Dedham, Dover, Foxborough, Framingham, Franklin, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Lexington, Lincoln, Littleton, Marlborough, Maynard, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Natick, Needham, Newton, Norfolk, Norwood, Plainville, Sharon, Sherborn, Southborough, Stow, Sudbury, Walpole, Waltham, Wayland, Wellesley, Weston, Westwood, Wrentham.

Greater New Bedford
Includes: Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, Rochester, Wareham.

North Shore
Includes: Beverly, Danvers, Essex, Gloucester, Hamilton, Ipswich, Lynn, Lynnfield, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Marblehead, Middletown, Nahant, Peabody, Rockport, Salem, Saugus, Swampscott, Topsfield, Wenham.

Greater Lowell
Includes: Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford.

North Central-Massachusetts
Includes: Ashburnham, Ashby, Ayer, Barre, Berlin, Bolton, Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Groton, Harvard, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Leominster, Lunenburg, Pepperell, Princeton, Shirley, Sterling, Templeton, Townsend, Westminster, Winchendon.

South Coastal
Includes: Braintree, Carver, Cohasset, Duxbury, Halifax, Hanover, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Kingston, Marshfield, Middleborough, Milton, Norwell, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton, Quincy, Randolph, Rockland, Scituate, Weymouth.

Central Massachusetts
Includes: Auburn, Blackstone, Boylston, Brookfield, Charlton, Douglas, Dudley, East Brookfield, Grafton, Hardwick, Holden, Hopedale, Leicester, Mendon, Milbury, Milford, Millville, New Braintree, Northborough, Northbridge, North Brookfield, Oakham, Oxford, Paxton, Rutland, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, Spencer, Sturbridge, Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, Warren, Webster, West Boylston, West Brookfield, Westborough, Worcester.