Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | February 22, 2021 | wbjournal.com You go the extra mile for your clients. NMLS #422081 888-744-4272 | clintonsavings.com Does your bank do the same for you? At Clinton Savings Bank, providing your business with state-of-the-art lending products and business services, combined with senior-level know-how, is how we go beyond banking every day. See what Go Beyond Banking ™ truly means for your business. T H E T I C K E R 20 Number of teams in the new Triple A East league, the baseball league the Worcester Red Sox will be competing in, up from 14 in the previous International League. Source: Worcester Red Sox 1,961 Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health Number of new coronavirus cases in Worcester County for the week ending Feb. 11, the lowest number of new cases since last spring's peak. Number of nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital that voted to authorize a strike, citing workplace conditions allegedly jeopardizing safety of staff and patients during the pandemic. 800 Source: Massachusetts Nurses Association Central Mass. communities – Fitchburg, Framingham, Leominster, Worcester – in a statewide COVID vaccine program targeting underserved populations. Four Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health B R I E FS territory for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic, according to index results released Tuesday reflecting a survey of more than 140 employers. Associated Industries of Massachu- setts reported a 52.4 reading on its confidence index, with readings above 50 reflecting mostly optimistic views. Employers are encouraged by reports of economic growth and the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, but AIM says they are also mindful of stark disparities. "We are really looking at two econo- mies – one dominated by finance, manu- facturing and technology that continues to grow and a second made up of travel, tourism and other public-facing indus- tries that are likely to struggle for some time to come," Raymond Torto, chair of the AIM Board of Economic Advisors (BEA), said. BEA member Edward Pendergast of Dunn Rush & Co. said one of the group's findings reflects a "strong signal about the potential for economic recovery": the outlook for conditions in six months is eight points higher than the assessment of current conditions. Worcester Planning Board approves Creative Hub e long-planned Creative Hub Worcester arts and performance space was approved by the Worcester Planning Board on Feb. 10. e Creative Hub Worcester project is slated to turn the former Worcester Boys Club on Ionic Av- enue into an artist, education and events space, along with a daycare center run by Worcester nonprofit Guild of St. Agnes. e proposal, for a site just off Main Street, was envision by the nonprofit organization founded in 2015 and first set eyes on opening in 2018. e Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston bought the site for Creative Hub Worces- ter in 2017 for $1.3 million. Continued from Page 5 A rendering of Creative Hub Worcester

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