Located along the banks of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts, Holyoke is an urban village surrounded by some of the richest loam in the nation. Its community is a culturally and ethnically diverse mix of Irish, Polish and French-Canadian immigrants who first settled the city and, proportionally, has one of the largest Puerto Rican populations living in the United States. Once a booming, industrial paper mill town, Holyoke is now one of the poorest cities in the state. Challenged by a post-industrial shifting economy and encroaching development on its fertile agricultural land, Holyoke is still proud and vibrant but struggling to find its economic future.