Our community of clients, staff members, Board of Directors, employer partners, funders, community partners, and Local 26 have led BEST to this moment. BEST began by offering one beginner level English class, one U.S. Citizenship preparation class, and the On-Call Banquet Server Program. By the end of the fiscal year we will have offered our Local 26 members 45 education classes and 56 skills training and certification classes. We will have served 108 job seekers through our housekeeping pre-apprenticeship & apprenticeship program and direct career coaching and placement services serving an additional 48. And that’s not all, as of April 2024, we are adding a Culinary Training Program to our menu of services.

So what is yet to come? So much! Partnerships, new program development, program expansion, and most exciting a new training center in the heart of Boston! By early next year, BEST along with other Local 26 benefit providers will be housed in the new Local 26 building in Bay Village. Think of it as a one-stop shop where Local 26 members can access any of their benefit providers, including BEST.

At BEST we love anniversaries and we are grateful to share this one with you. We love that they remind you where you’ve been and they give you great hope for the future. We love being in the company of the BEST hotel workers in the city. They are not only the future of BEST but of the industry. Please join us in celebrating them and the next twenty years. Cheers!

“In 1988, Local 26 President Dominic Bozzato pushed hotel employers hard to establish a training fund. He did this primarily because he saw how our membership was changing. With more and more first-generation immigrants entering the hotel workforce, the Union’s leadership saw a need for English-language training so our members could move up the ranks, better serve our guests, and most importantly understand our Union contract.

Over the years and many contracts, Local 26 negotiated more money into our training fund. The Union also realized that there was a demand for more kinds of training specific to our workforce and industry. This demand was so great and specialized that we needed to establish an independent training center with the needs of hotel workers at its core. In 2004, Local 26 President Janice Loux helped establish BEST as an organization dedicated to advancing the careers of our members in the hospitality industry. In the last 20 years BEST has grown in partnership with UNITE HERE Local 26, the hospitality industry, and city, state, and federal governments to become a best-in-class training center.

What I am most proud of when I think about BEST is that they think of our members and the workers in our industry as whole human beings, not just laborers for hotels. By offering classes like technology, U.S. Citizenship Preparation, English, and CPR, BEST helps our members and their families better themselves as citizens of our communities.” Carlos Aramayo, UNITE HERE Local 26 President