Calling all Gateway City Leaders

An action Guide to Workforce Development Transformation in Massachusetts

In Gateway City regions with an aging and under-skilled labor force, workforce development is an essential ingredient for future economic growth. This new “action guide” provides a helpful playbook for local leaders looking to engage in efforts to transform these systems. In plain English, the report breaks down workforce development to give municipal leaders a read more

Topic(s): Jobs and Economic Security, Strong Communities, Economic Development, Gateway Cities, Research

Rebuilding Renewal

An Analysis of State Investment in Gateway Cities and a Work Plan for Delivering Transformative Development

Ben Forman, Dan Hodge, Ian Jakus and Matthew O'Brien

Over the last decade, Massachusetts has fundamentally shifted its understanding of the needs and opportunities of small-to-medium-sized cities anchoring the Commonwealth’s regional economies. The state now places considerable priority on efforts to make these so-called Gateway Cities stronger drivers of growth. But, despite this focus, economic conditions in Gateway Cities remain fundamentally weak. As recent read more

Topic(s): Economic Development, Gateway Cities, Research

Leading Together

Building Private Nonprofit Economic Development Organizations for Gateway City Growth & Renewal

Gordon Carr and Ben Forman

Tackling 21st century economic development challenges requires robust private sector engagement. Fostering the growth of nonprofit economic development organizations is a promising strategy to build partnerships with the private sector in Gateway Cities. Through these entities, business leaders work collaboratively to help fashion economic development projects, initiatives, and policy advocacy. While these groups are generally read more

Topic(s): Strong Communities, Economic Development, Gateway Cities

Going for Growth

Enhancing the Economic Impact of Public Transit in Gateway Cities with Comprehensive Service Planning

Ben Forman, Megan Aki, Mary Ebeling and Rich Parr

This new policy brief examines how best practices in transit planning can benefit Massachusetts’s Regional Transit Authorities. Massachusetts’s Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs) have an opportunity to improve their existing service and make the case for more funding from the state by making the most of a new planning requirement from the legislature. That’s the key read more

Topic(s): Strong Communities, Economic Development, Transportation, Gateway Cities

Going for Growth

Promoting Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Massachusetts Gateway Cities

Ben Forman and Sandra Larson

This policy brief explores opportunities to leverage the energy immigrant-owned businesses bring to Gateway Cities as an economic development strategy. Immigrant-owned shops are already revitalizing downtowns in Gateway Cities across the state. These small storefront businesses could become launching pads to larger enterprises, providing an even greater contribution to local and regional economic development. But read more

Topic(s): Jobs and Economic Security, Strong Communities, Economic Development, Gateway Cities

Reinventing Transit

A Blueprint for Investing in Regional Transportation Authorities for Strong Gateway City Economies

Ben Forman and Catherine Tumber

Transportation networks provide the backbone for economic development in regions across the state. Public transit is an important component of these networks, increasing access to jobs, housing, and services. Leaders on Beacon Hill are considering transportation investments with the potential to shape the Commonwealth’s physical and economic landscape for generations to come. State funding for read more

Topic(s): Economic Development, Transportation, Gateway Cities

Transformative Redevelopment

Strategic State Policy for Gateway City Growth and Renewal

Alan Mallach, Ben Forman and Margaret Keaveny

Transformative redevelopment describes public and private financial support for projects that catalyze significant follow-on private investment, leading over time to the transformation of an entire downtown or urban neighborhood. This approach seeks to repair weak real estate markets where development costs outweigh returns, creating a gap that impedes the flow of private investment; it contrasts read more

Topic(s): Jobs and Economic Security, Strong Communities, Economic Development, Gateway Cities

Building Vibrancy

Creative Placemaking Strategies for Gateway City Growth and Renewal

Ben Forman and Tyler Creighton

The struggle Gateway Cities have endured in recent years obscures their untapped potential in an economy that increasingly puts a premium on attractive, authentic, and livable communities. This has not been lost on a new generation of artists and cultural entrepreneurs, who are finding inspired ways to reinvent our Gateway Cities through creative placemaking. At read more

Topic(s): Economic Development, Gateway Cities, Creative Placemaking

Recapturing the American Dream

Meeting the Challenges of the Bay State's Lost Decade

Andy Sum, Mykhaylo Trub'skyy, Ishwar Khatiwada, Sheila Palma and Joseph McLaughlin

This joint project with the Center for Labor Market Studies was made possible by the generous support of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Partners Health Care. More so than any previous report, this research sheds light on the economic well-being of workers at a moment when public attention is hyper-focused on policymaking to read more

Topic(s): Education, Jobs and Economic Security, Economic Development

Creative Places

Public Perceptions of Arts, Culture, and Economic Development in Gateway Cities

John Schneider and Steve Koczela

This poll was commissioned by MassINC as part of a newly-funded initiative to create a leadership network around the role of the arts in the economic revitalization of Gateway Cities, a strategy the National Endowment for the Arts calls “creative placemaking.” The survey, given to 600 registered voters among the eleven Gateway Cities, informs that read more

Topic(s): Economic Development, Gateway Cities, Creative Placemaking, Public Opinion

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