Ben Forman Research Director, MassINC
Benjamin Forman is MassINC’s research director. He coordinates the development of the organization’s research agenda and oversees production of research reports. Ben has authored a number of MassINC publications and he speaks frequently to organizations and media across Massachusetts. With a background in urban revitalization and sustainable growth and development, he is uniquely suited to the organization’s focus on strong communities and economic security.
Prior to joining MassINC in 2008, Ben oversaw strategic planning for the District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation, a large agency providing critical services to youth and families in neighborhoods throughout the city. He also worked as a research assistant at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program in Washington, DC and Nathan Associates, a global economic development consulting firm.
As a graduate student, Ben was awarded a Rappaport Public Policy Fellowship and served in the City of New Bedford’s planning department. He also worked as a graduate research assistant on a multi-year longitudinal analysis measuring the impact of new information technologies on neighborhood social networks.
Ben graduated from Trinity College, Hartford in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. In 2004, he completed his master’s degree in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives in Boston with his wife Anne and two daughters, Eloise and Cecily.
ARTICLES By Ben Forman
A Gateway Cities Strategy for the Healey–Driscoll Administration
Transition Briefing Memorandum
- SHARE
Social Infrastructure: Towards More Walkable, Resilient, and Inclusive Gateway Cities
State laws to blame for lack of minority contracting
Ben Forman featured in CommonWealth Magazine
- SHARE
Empowering Cities to Accelerate Equitable Growth
A State Policy Blueprint for Inclusive Municipal Contracting
- SHARE
Connecting Communities through Digital Equity
An Action Plan for State, Community, and Private and Institutional Partners
- SHARE
Sizing Up Massachusetts’ Looming Skilled-Worker Shortage
- SHARE
Investing in Success
Findings From a Cost–Benefit Analysis of Massachusetts Community Colleges
- SHARE
What to do with the state’s half-empty prison system
Ben Forman featured in CommonWealth Magazine
- SHARE
Gateway Cities are Part of Solution to Mass. Segregation
Ben Forman featured in Banker & Tradesman
- SHARE