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

The Gateway Cities Vision for Dynamic Community-Wide Learning Systems

Ben Forman, Julianne Viola and Caroline Koch
Developed collaboratively with Gateway City mayors, managers, and education leaders, this vision highlights effective new models to prepare students for the changing economy and ensure an adequate supply of skilled workers for growing regional economies across the Commonwealth. The Vision also calls for strategies that leverage the educational assets of our urban centers so that read more
Topic(s): Education, 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

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

Going for Growth: New Education-Housing Partnerships to Stabilize Families and Boost Student Achievement

Ben Forman and Caroline Koch
Going for Growth: New Education-Housing Partnerships to Stabilize Families and Boost Student Achievement, the fourth brief in a series exploring policy innovations to spur reinvestment and renewal in the state’s key regional cities. Extensive research documents the negative consequences that student mobility – the churn of youth entering and exiting classrooms during the school year read more
Topic(s): Education, Strong Communities, Gateway Cities

Going for Growth

Promoting Access to Wealth Building Financial Services in Massachusetts Gateway Cities

Ben Forman
This paper examines the market for personal financial services and finds that many Gateway City residents do not have bank accounts, which leaves them dependent on high-cost services like check cashers. Without bank accounts, families have difficulty developing the credit history needed to qualify for low-interest loans. They turn instead to pawnshops, rent-to-own stores, and read more
Topic(s): Jobs and Economic Security, Gateway Cities

Going for Growth

Promoting Residential Reinvestment in Massachusetts Gateway Cities

Benjamin Forman
Promoting Residential Reinvestment in Massachusetts Gateway Cities, the second brief in a series exploring evidence-based policy innovations to spur reinvestment and renewal in the state’s key regional cities. This paper examines state housing spending over the last 15 years and finds that programs designed primarily to increase affordability in strong markets have not been able read more
Topic(s): Jobs and Economic Security, Economic Development, Gateway Cities
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