Joanna de Pena

This Week's Gateway Cities Leader

Cities are shaped by their citizens. From New Bedford to Pittsfield, passionate young leaders are spearheading innovative efforts to reinvent their communities for a new generation. The Gateway Cities Leaders series profiles their work and introduces their ideas, visions, and aspirations to the wider Gateway City world. Is there a young leader in your city

Our moment is now

The Gateway Cities Journal

With the 2015-2016 legislative session heating up, now is the time for Gateway City leaders to come together and talk through shared priorities. Next week we hope to stimulate this conversation with the release of a new report tracing the arc of state policy, starting in 2009, the beginning of our collaborative efforts, through the

Testimony on the Baker-Politio economic development bill from the Gateway City perspective

Benjamin Forman Testimony Regarding House Bill 3983

The Joint Committee for Economic Development & Emerging Technologies held a hearing on April 5th to review the Baker-Polito administration’s economic development bill. Filed in January, the $918 million package provides funding to implement the administration’s economic development strategy. MassINC Research Director Ben Forman submitted the written testimony below in support of Gateway City provisions

Urban Business Initiatives Support Gateway City Entrepreneurs

The Gateway Cities Journal

ICIC’s Urban Business Initiatives Support Gateway City Entrepreneurs  In Lawrence, creative public-private partnerships have driven the CEO of a children’s discovery museum, Imajine That, to contemplate growth not only in terms of revenue but also opportunity for local workers and families. Imajine That was named to the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)’s 2015 Inner City

New Opportunities for Urban Education

The Gateway Cities Journal

Last Monday, Gateway City leaders assembled at Clark University for an address by Senator Elizabeth Warren on the Every Child Succeeds Act. At the same institution where they met in 2013 to draft a shared vision for community-wide learning, Gateway City leaders joined a dialogue about opportunities in the new federal law to advance their

Providing a passport out of poverty

The Gateway Cities Journal

The front cover of last Sunday’s Boston Globe drew attention to how rising income inequality is leading to increasing segregation of residents by income. While this phenomenon raises many concerns, nowhere is the effect more problematic than in the classroom. As income disparities grow, increasing numbers of disadvantaged students are being asked to learn in

Creative thinking about transportation funding at State House forum

Leaders gather with transportation experts to highlight promise of local option ballot initiative legislation

Transportation for America, Mayor Kim Driscoll of Salem, and Senator Ben Downing of Pittsfield were joined by former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and transportation leaders at the State House to discuss legislation that would let Massachusetts municipalities and regions raise their own taxes for transportation improvements. An Act relative to regional transportation ballot initiatives (S1474/H2698) would

Nelson Roman

This Week's Gateway Cities Leader

Cities are shaped by their citizens. From New Bedford to Pittsfield, passionate young leaders are spearheading innovative efforts to reinvent their communities for a new generation. The Gateway Cities Leaders series profiles their work and introduces their ideas, visions, and aspirations to the wider Gateway City world. Is there a young leader in your city

The Gateway Cities Journal

Finding "leadership" on transportation to sustain economic growth

“Raising MBTA fares is not leadership” read the provocative title of an op-ed by Boston City Council President Michelle Wu and Newton Mayor Setti Warren published in The Boston Globe this week. Wu and Warren make some great points about the importance of the T and the negative impacts that raising fares would have, both on

The Gateway Cities Journal

Providing opportunities for all

Governor Baker introduced a major economic development package last week. Reading the tea leaves, one conclusion can be drawn for sure: the administration is serious about empowering its leaders to put forward bold ideas. Line by line, the legislation reflects the energy and insight for which Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash is

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