Serious Fun for All!

Celebrating 20 Years

Serious Fun for All! Thank you for joining us on December 1 to celebrate MassINC and CommonWealth magazine’s 20th Anniversary. For those of you who were unable to attend, it was a wonderful gathering of MassINC friends, old and new, and you can now see the photos from the evening and share the videos (below) with anyone

BNN News Interviews MassINC Research Director, Ben Forman

To discuss latest research on the Geography of Incarceration

On Wednesday, November 16th MassINC Research Director, Ben Forman sat down with Christopher Lovett on Network Neighborhood News to discuss a new report from MassINC on the “geography of incarceration,” tracing its disproportionate effect on certain Boston neighborhoods and populations.

Mapping incarceration in Boston

Study finds minority neighborhoods burdened by high jail rates

A SWATH OF mostly minority Boston neighborhoods is so heavily affected by the criminal justice system that nearly every street has a resident who has spent time in jail, a concentration of incarceration that is costing millions of dollars and threatening the social fabric of neighborhoods already struggling with high rates of poverty and other

Checking the pulse on criminal justice reform

The MassCJRC Journal

 One after another last week the Sentencing Commission held a public hearing to gather input on ideas discussed in a closed session over the past year, the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) working group met to review the latest CSG analysis, and Justice Gants delivered his third state of the judiciary address. This burst of activity

Gants launches study of racial disparities in incarceration

Chief justice also "encouraged" by progress on wider criminal justice policy review

THE STATE MUST confront racial disparities in imprisonment rates and move to “reimagine” a flawed criminal justice system to focus less on incarceration and more on lowering recidivism, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants said on Thursday. Delivering his third annual address on the state of the judiciary since becoming the Commonwealth’s top judge,

Bringing community corrections into focus

The MassCJRC Journal

Over the summer months, we spent time with grassroots organizations working in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by incarceration. These groups try their best to support justice-involved individuals and their families, but with very modest resources they only reach a small fraction of those who need services. A key consideration for the Justice Reinvestment conversation is how

The charter funding debate

Lots of the conflict is over short-term vs. long-term picture

IN THE HIGH-STAKES battle over charter school expansion, the impact of charters on school finances has come front and center. Supporters of Question 2, which would allow up to 12 new charter schools or expansion of 12 existing schools per year, argue that the funding formula for charter schools holds districts harmless when students move

Celebrating Gateway Cities

The Gateway Cities Journal

Gathering the links below has become one of my favorite parts of the job. It’s a window into the collective work of Gateway City leaders—whether they’re finding solutions to the Commonwealth’s most pressing problems or advancing bold, ambitious visions that reflect optimism for their communities and unwillingness to settle for projects that sell their cities

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