Advancing low-income fares beyond Boston

The Gateway Cities Journal

Since 2017, the FMCB has been pushing hard on the agency to provide discounts to low-income riders. In one of their final votes, they choose to instruct agency staff to prepare scenarios for a pilot program. On the one hand, this last-ditch effort makes sense. However, from the Gateway City perspective, the board’s actions are disappointing and a bit perplexing.

Budget Update: What Gateway Cities Need to Know

The Gateway Cities Journal

This week the FY 2022 budget moves to the Senate for debate. MassINC is tracking several amendments that are critically important for Gateway Cities, including funding for Early College expansion, neighborhood stabilization, small business assistance, and Regional Transit Authorities.

Regional Transit Authorities Win Funding Victory in House Budget

The Gateway Cities Journal

Public transportation service for over half the state’s population — the half not served by the MBTA — won a precedent-setting victory last week during the House budget debate. As Jim Kolesar from Berkshire Interfaith Organizing says, “Full funding for the RTAs, including our Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, seems the minimum that we should be

Who Will Rescue the Student Opportunity Act?

The Gateway Cities Journal

The problem in a nutshell: The Legislature hasn’t provided certainty that the state will make good on its promise to deliver the funds in equal increments over the law’s seven-year phase-in period. Lacking confidence that they will see these scheduled increases in Chapter 70 aid, school districts have been hesitant to develop plans to deploy the new funds strategically.

FY21 budget offers a beacon for Justice Reinvestment

The Gateway Cities Journal

The FY21 budget, which passed both branches last week, goes even further by creating a true “Justice Reinvestment” fund and capitalizing it with a $15 million appropriation. From job training and transitional employment to housing stabilization, a wide range of community-based programs are eligible for these resources.

Gateway Cities can’t afford cuts to MBTA service

The Gateway Cities Journal

By the time we emerge from the pandemic and turn the economy back on, we will be winding down the transportation networks central to an equitable recovery. But an affordable, accessible, and reliable public transit is especially vital to Gateway City revitalization.
|<< 4 5 6 7 8 >>|

Our sponsors