We are the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth
Founded in 1996, MassINC’s mission is to make Massachusetts a place of civic vitality and inclusive economic opportunity by providing residents with the nonpartisan research, reporting, analysis, and civic engagement necessary to understand policy choices, inform decision making, and hold the government accountable.
Non-partisan
Policy center
The nonprofit Massinc Policy Center produces rigorous, nonpartisan research and collaborates with civic leaders to find solutions to complex social and economic challenges.
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Non-profit
Civic journal
CommonWealth publishes in-depth, balanced, and independent journalism. It covers politics, policy, ideas, and civic life, with an emphasis on investigative reporting, in-depth analysis, and political mapping.
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Independent
Polling group
The MassINC Polling Group is a full-service survey opinion research company offering public opinion research to public, private, and social sector clients.
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Latest articles
Event Recap | Tapping The Power of Health Pathways in Early College
On Tuesday, May 23, 2023, we gathered for Tapping The Power of Health Pathways in Early College at Mass General Hospital’s Simches Research Center. While we all acknowledged how difficult it will be to realize Early College’s potential to put students on faster and firmer pathways to clinical health careers, we were buoyed by the
The Senate makes bold investment in regional transit
The Gateway Cities Journal
Inadequate public transportation has long been a shared concern for Gateway City leaders across the state. Many of their residents are simply trapped on nights and weekends, when bus service is either extremely infrequent or entirely unavailable. This has serious implications for individual health and wellbeing. It also reduces the available workforce, and regional economic
New Poll: BPS parents voice concerns about children’s emotional well-being, physical safety
68% say they are at least somewhat concerned with their children’s physical safety
A new poll of parents of Boston Public Schools students finds parents remain concerned about their children’s physical safety and emotional well-being while at school. In all, 68% say they are at least somewhat concerned with their children’s physical safety (see chart). Parents of color express greater concern about physical safety than do white parents.
Amendment to House budget seeks to untap Gateway City housing reservoir
The Gateway Cities Journal
The House Ways & Means Committee unveiled its FY24 budget and an accompanying tax package last week. The pair of bills call for investing more than $1 billion to respond to the state’s housing crisis. This is roughly double the state’s annual housing spend pre-COVID. Unfortunately, the House departed from the Healey administration and left
Poll: More than three-quarters of Massachusetts residents support boosting funding for regional bus service
79% of Massachusetts residents support increasing funding for the state’s 15 Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs)
As lawmakers on Beacon Hill dig in on this year’s state budget, 79% of Massachusetts residents support increasing funding for the state’s 15 Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs), which provide local bus and paratransit service beyond the reaches of MBTA bus and subway service. Nearly as many (74%) support using some of the new voter-approved surtax
K.I.S.S Early College and HDIP
The Gateway Cities Journal
Economic development strategies are most likely to succeed when their logic is clear and simple, so that communities embrace the plan, and pursue it with laser focus long enough for it to work. This is playing out with Early College and HDIP. Gateway City leaders have spent years working to operationalize these programs. In March,
Playing matchmaker for MassINC
By Scot Lehigh, Globe Columnist
March 16, 2023 If I worked in the matchmaking industry and were writing a personal ad on behalf of today’s column subject, it would go something like this: Effervescent, energetic 27-year-old overachiever who loves in-depth conversation and fact-based analysis and is passionate about problem-solving seeks a high-spirited philanthropist (or two or three) for mutually pleasing
Governor Healey’s budget invests in Gateway Cities
The Gateway Cities Journal
Our last journal offered thoughts on how Governor Healey can position Gateway Cities to thrive in this post-pandemic era by increasing the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP), investing in regional transit, and lowering commuter rail fares. Now that the administration has unveiled its first budget, our readers will want to know, how did they do?
CommonWealth’s A Little Goes a Long Way Campaign
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Massachusetts has a plan to increase affordable housing — now it needs the budget
Gateway City mayors and managers’ opinion piece in the Boston Globe
The Housing Development Incentive Program is a powerful tool to jump-start additional housing development that contains a mix of market-rate and affordable units based on project agreements negotiated by local government. With families scrambling for homes and prices at record levels, one might wonder why Massachusetts continues to produce just a fraction of the housing
Did you know?
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Massachusetts can increase the impact of Early College by lengthening academic pathways and enhancing their career development components. This will make the challenge more enticing to underserved high school students, and help ensure that these programs build their career self-efficacy. Learn more in our latest report.
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Tweets by MassINC - MassINC is a key partner to the Boston Foundation, and all of us who are seeking to advance the regional conversation around economic opportunity and a strong quality of life for all. MassINC's robust, nonpartisan research is exactly what our citizens and leaders need to make good decisions.
Paul Grogan, Former President of The Boston Foundation
- I watch my inbox for CommonWealth magazine’s Daily Download. I can count on the newsletter to tell me succinctly what’s happening in politics and public policy. The magazine itself always delivers in-depth news, analysis and commentary. It's simply outstanding, quality journalism. I am happy to support unbiased reporting through my participation in Citizens Circle.
Helen Chin Schlichte Former Public Administrator; President Emeritus, South Cove Manor at Quincy Point
- MassINC's long-term dedication to Gateway Cities makes them a valuable resource to all of our communities. They are a true thought partner. They go the distance to help others appreciate our unique opportunities, needs, and perspectives.
Tim McGourthy Chief Financial Officer, City of Worcester
- MassINC serves as a credible, thoughtful resource for all of us who are invested in the future of the Commonwealth. Its emphasis on careful analysis that is grounded in data, research, and polling makes an important contribution to and helps elevate the conversation about the challenges and opportunities facing the region.
Trevor Pollack, Manager of Special Projects for the Barr Foundation
- The potential of Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities is limitless. MassINC’s dedicated work in promoting these cities has been, and will continue to be, instrumental in their individual and collective success.
Jay Ash
Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development and former chair of the Gateway Cities Innovation Institute - MassINC has always provided research showing the detrimental impact of the state’s unforgiving criminal justice system on our communities. Their polling confirmed that the public understood the need for change in our system. That criminal justice reform is at the forefront of bipartisan local and national debates today is in no small measure due to MassINC’s persistent and fair commitment to the issue.
Juliette Kayyem Faculty Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Founder Kayyem Solutions LLC
- Through my partnership with MassINC, the Building On What Works Coalition is working to unite a diverse collection of civic leaders around an urgent call to encourage the state to act on the progress that has been made ensuring all children in Massachusetts have a true chance to succeed in the state’s economy. MassINC’s research and commitment to data driven public policy are helping to give the children of Massachusetts a better education.
Kim Driscoll Mayor of Salem
- MassINC's work with the Gateway Cities is unmatched. As Eastern Bank strives to help businesses in these communities thrive, MassINC has been a tremendous partner, providing data-driven research and affirming that these cities are full of opportunities.
Bob Rivers Chairman and CEO of Eastern Bank
- When MassINC speaks, it’s well worth listening. After all, the nonpartisan think tank has established itself as a thoughtful, careful, credible voice on public policy in Massachusetts.
Scot Lehigh Boston Globe Op-Ed Columnist
- Few organizations in the country have better understood the important role of governance reform and accountability in education policy and economic development than MassINC.
Bruce Katz Former Vice President and Founding Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution
- [MassINC's] understanding of the complexity of the challenges facing the state’s older cities, its belief in the opportunities that present themselves in those communities, and its advocacy of the role that public higher education can and should play in them, has added to the understanding that policy makers need to have as they move our state toward the future.
Jean MacCormack
Why support massinc?
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We enjoy what we do.
Whether it’s planning events, conducting research, or analyzing the news, our team works on projects that we’re passionate about. -
We develop leaders.
Former MassINC employees have gone on to work at reputable organizations like Harvard University, Boston University, City Year, EnerNOC, and Governor Baker’s office. -
We stick with it.
Our work on transformative development, which uses public and private funding for projects to revitalize an entire downtown or urban neighborhood, began as Policy Center research report in 2013. A year later, the state legislature passed a bill funding transformative development projects across Massachusetts. -
We are nonpartisan.
Our Board of Directors includes prominent Massachusetts Democrats and Republicans. We are interested people’s ideas, not which side of the aisle they sit on. -
We have a complete toolbox.
We aren’t just a think tank. We bring nonpartisan research, civic engagement, journalism, and independent polling together under one roof. -
We have state-wide reach.
We know that Beacon Hill isn’t the only place to make progress. We’re on the ground in cities across the state working with local leaders. -
We have unique networks.
We use our connections to bring together a cross-section of diverse leaders to solve problems. Our networks include mayors, economic development directors, superintendents, business people, newspaper editors, arts leaders, and regional transit officials.
