Tripp Jones, Co-Founder of MassINC and Former Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at The MENTOR Network
It is often said that MassINC filled a void. How so?
In two principal ways. First, we chose to make MassINC's mission to develop a public agenda that would promote the growth and vitality of the middle-class. Having spent years in and around politics and government, we who were putting the organization together were frustrated that while there were many capable organizations in our communities representing more narrow constituencies or so-called "interest groups" as well as the ideological or partisan political perspectives, there were no established organization that that was concerned about the interests of the broadly-defined middle-class - - the backbone of our society and the American experiment. The significant challenges facing the middle class motivated us. For the first time in our country’s history, our generation was not confident it would do better than the one prior. We were deeply concerned about the emerging consensus that the middle-class was in a state of decline, or worse, disappearing; that the middle-class was being divided into two groups: those with educational attainment levels or 21st century skills that could help them get ahead, and those who had neither and would fall further and further behind. The implications of this for our country were profound and we felt there was an opportunity for a different kind of organization to examine what was driving this change and how it might be addressed.
Second, we decided that in order for MassINC to have the maximum impact in shaping our public discourse and policy-making, we would make the organization indisputably nonpartisan. Massachusetts has always been seen as a very partisan place. In our public-policy debates people often start by labeling the parties involved rather than focusing on the substance of the issues being debated. Our decision to be genuinely non-partisan meant committing ourselves to doing a number of things, including having a bi-partisan board of directors and staff; challenging the conventional wisdom in choosing the topics we would look into and the questions we would ask regarding those topics; contracting with policy experts and consultants who had the respect of opinion leaders across the political spectrum; letting the data drive our analysis of issues; and choosing professional journalists to edit our magazine, CommonWealth.
What is it about Massachusetts that made it the right location for this kind of think tank to take root?
We live in a community where we have access to many of the world’s premier policy resources. We thought that there had to be a better way of engaging this rich policy community in our kind of evidence-based, non-partisan policy work. Massachusetts has a progressive mindset that makes us want to explore and try new things. We are a very reform-minded, independent-thinking place. If we can’t do this here, then where else are we going to do it?
How do you feel looking back after 15 years?
On one level I feel very good about the fact that MassINC is still around and pursuing its original mission. Not only have many of the original supporters and sponsors remained engaged, but we have significantly diversified the mix of people and organizations supporting MassINC's work. It is a great thing that the organization is on its third round of leadership.
There are many aspects of MassINC's work that make me very proud: The track record of first-rate research and policy work; the degree to which that work has shaped the agendas of Democratic and Republican candidates and administrations as well as non-profit and business organizations; the success of CommonWealth magazine - - the respect opinion leaders have for the journalism, the caliber of those individuals who work and write for the magazine, the circulation of the publication and the advertising/sponsorship support it gets; and MassINC's civic engagement efforts - - the many and varied policy events that are held, the evolution of our online community, the types of people that participate in this activity. I could go on and on. Perhaps the aspect of MassINC's work that I am most proud of is the special nature of the individuals who have become engaged in the organization's work - - they are the lifeblood of the organization. We can't keep count of the number of chefs in the kitchen! The quality of these people and their commitment to our community is exceptional.
If I regret anything it is that we are not making enough progress in strengthening the middle-class. The so-called Great Recession has only made things worse. The decline of the middle-class has been decades in the making and we won't turn it around quickly. But here in Massachusetts we have had some notable successes - - education reform, for example - - and I am confident that we can achieve much more toward the goal of building a stronger and more vibrant middle-class. MassINC is as well positioned as it has ever been to continue to play a leading role in this effort.