Building Vibrancy

Creative Placemaking Strategies for Gateway City Growth and Renewal

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

Rising to the Challenge

Assessing the Massachusetts Response to Climate Change

Ben Forman, Val Stori, soniahamel and warrenleon

MassINC is proud to present Rising to the Challenge, the first independent assessment of state action on climate change since the precedent-setting Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008. Climate change is the challenge of our age. For the obvious reason – failing to respond could alter the environment with profound and dire consequences – but read more

Topic(s): Government Accountability, Environment

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

MassINC’s Middle Class Index

Ben Forman, Steve Koczela, Caroline Koch and Robert David Sullivan

The first-of-its-kind Middle Class Index is designed to serve as a barometer of the status of middle class residents. Composed of 26 different indicators, the overall score for Massachusetts in 2010 was 97.4, down 2.6 points from the benchmark figure of 100 for the year 2000. Nationally, the index number was 94.2. The index number read more

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

Moving Forward with Funding

New strategies to support transportation and balanced regional economic growth

Ben Forman, Daniel Darcy and James Emilio

Difficult economic times have created a host of challenges for Massachusetts. Among them, the financial shortfalls of the state’s transportation agencies place high on the list. The MBTA is considering fare hikes and service cuts; even with these actions, real questions remain about how the agency will close gaps and keep the aging system operating read more

Topic(s): Economic Development, Transportation

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

The 80 Percent Challenge

A Survey of Climate Change Opinion and Action in Massachusetts

Steve Koczela, Ben Forman and Caroline Koch

This report, made possible with generous support from the Barr Foundation, represents the first in-depth look at how Massachusetts residents perceive the problem posed by global warming, as well as their willingness to embrace efforts to address this unprecedented challenge. With the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008, Massachusetts became one of the first states read more

Topic(s): Environment, Public Opinion

Next stop, Massachusetts

Strategies to Build the Bay State’s Transportation Future and Keep our Economy Moving

Ben Forman, John Schneider and Gordon Carr

Building from discussions at May’s National Transit Summit, a new strategy paper, Next Stop, Massachusetts focuses on state transportation policies fundamental to the Commonwealth’s long-term economic competitiveness. Despite years of independent reports sounding the alarm, the state’s inadequate transportation finances continue to place this critical infrastructure in jeopardy. This stubborn challenge persists because transportation lacks read more

Topic(s): Transportation

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

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