Summary:

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.”

Summary:

This report examines the advantages of a more regionalized approach to transportation financing that would give communities across Massachusetts the ability to invest in transportation infrastructure at levels consistent with their needs. The analysis quantifies the revenue generating potential of two regional financing mechanisms: a payroll tax and a tax on vehicle miles traveled.

Summary: MassINC is proud to release 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.

Summary:

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 a broad base of support and the public is not adequately informed about transportation infrastructure’s critical economic contribution. In response, the strategy paper offers a comprehensive plan that would set the stage for long-term stability.

Summary: The market for personal financial services in many Gateway City neighborhoods is awash with high-cost products that strip working families of hard-earned dollars they can ill afford to lose. This policy brief – the third in MassINC’s Going for Growth series – describes strategies to help families transition to lower-cost financial services and redirect their savings toward wealth building investments.

Summary:

This policy brief examines Massachusetts housing investment over the last decade and a half and finds that state housing programs designed primarily to increase affordability in strong markets have not been able to meet the needs of Gateway Cities. The second in our Going for Growth series, this paper explores new strategies to catalyze the reinvestment Gateway Cities need for vibrant residential neighborhoods.

Summary: Building for the Future analyzes Springfield's social and economic conditions as they relate to future growth and development. This report was prepared jointly by MassINC and the UMass Dartmouth Urban Initiative to inform dialogue around a comprehensive long-term growth strategy for the City of Springfield.

Summary: The spirited conversation sparked by MassINC’s 2007 report Reconnecting Massachusetts Gateway Cities has led many to ask how the state can provide greater support to these communities. Going for Growth is the first in a series of MassINC policy briefs looking at how the state can forge a productive partnership to reinvent and reinvigorate these older industrial cities. Each paper will provide an in depth review of related state policies in areas critical to Gateway City growth, ferreting out their impact on these communities, and proposing forward-thinking reforms and new directions.

Summary: Massachusetts has enjoyed one of the most successful economic transitions to a knowledge-based economy anywhere in the world over the last two decades. Statewide trends describe a solid economic turnaround, built on strong institutions, soaring educational attainment and the emergence of knowledge-based industries with high-paying jobs. Yet these broader trends obscure stark geographical variations within the state. On the one hand, Greater Boston has evolved into an even more dominant focal point of the Massachusetts economy than it was 30 years ago. On the other hand, only a few Massachusetts cities and regions are fully participating in the state’s economic reinvention, and the state’s traditional mill communities – the Gateway Cities –may actually be falling farther behind.