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Great Migration to Global Immigration: A Profile of Black Boston

April 7, 2023

Symbolized by the unveiling of The Embrace - the memorial to Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King and dozens of other Boston civil rights leaders - new efforts have blossomed to help realize the unfulfilled promise of racial equity in our region. Recent political organizing has generated a new class of Black elected leadership. And the public discourse has shifted, with more people newly open to considering policy steps to repair past harms and build systems that are truly inclusive and welcoming. But there remains work to be done.With this backdrop, Great Migration to Global Immigration: A Profile of Black Boston analyzes the region's unique and growing intra-Black diversity, explores how the growing Black middle-class has helped revitalize cities and towns outside of Boston's inner core, and details how disparities by income and wealth manifest across Black communities.

Expanding Social and Emotional Learning Beyond the School Walls in Boston: One of Six Case Studies of Schools and Out-of-School-Time Program Partners

September 15, 2022

This case study is one of a series detailing how schools and out-of-school-time (OST) programs in six communities have collaborated to build students' social and emotional skills. The communities are participants in Wallace's Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative, which has brought together school districts and their OST partners to develop and implement mutually reinforcing social and emotional learning (SEL) activities and instruction across learning settings.This case study features the Russell Elementary School in Boston and its OST partner, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester. The two collaborated to expand Russell students' access to enrichment by using the Clubs' ample facilities and linking the enrichment activities to the school-day curriculum through a shared focus on SEL. The goal was to provide students with important enrichment activities that they otherwise would not get in their normal school day as well as the opportunity to learn social-emotional skills in new settings and contexts.The case study details how the partnership overcame challenges, including early financial obstacles and disruptions to the learning schedule in both settings. For example, consistent communication between the principal and the OST program director helped to solve problems as they arose and to develop the partnership at the leadership level. Providing formal and informal opportunities for program staff members and Russell teachers to collaborate and see each other's work built trust and strengthened relationships, increasing staff and teacher buy-in to the effort.

Strengthening Students’ Social and Emotional Skills: Lessons from Six Case Studies of Schools and Their Out-of-School-Time Program Partners

September 15, 2022

This report presents cross-cutting lessons from a set of case studies detailing how schools and out-of-school-time (OST) programs in six communities have worked together to build students' social and emotional (SEL) skills. The communities are participants in a Wallace initiative that has supported elementary schools and their OST partners in incorporating SEL activities and instruction into both the school and OST parts of the day.For five of the case studies, researchers selected a partnership in each community that has done an exemplary job of addressing one of a series of challenges widely shared by participants in the initiative. In one of the cases, the partnership between the school and its OST programs was in an early stage of development, so the researchers focused on what took place during the school day.The case studies explore:developing a brand-new school-OST partnership focusing on SEL (Boston),developing an effective SEL committee that includes a school and OST partner (Dallas),finding and jointly prioritizing time for SEL in the school and afterschool schedules (Denver),engaging teachers, staff members and parents in SEL (Palm Beach County, Fla.),incorporating equity into SEL (Tacoma), andfocusing on adult SEL first (Tulsa). The report summarizes the case studies and discusses nine factors that facilitated progress in carrying out SEL programs and practices, each of which was common to at least two of the cases:Committed school/OST program leaders were the foundation on which SEL work was built.SEL committees guided and supported implementation.Prioritizing time for SEL in school and OST schedules was important to making implementation routine.Starting the efforts by building adults' social and emotional skills proved central.Short SEL rituals were often the first and most widely adopted strategy, setting the stage for more extended SEL instruction.Establishing trusting relationships enhanced the collaboration on SEL in school-OST program partnerships.Formal, written SEL resources facilitated a consistent approach within and across settings.Distributing "ownership" of SEL across staff members and students increased people's buy-in to the effort and its sustainability.Experience with SEL before the pandemic helped schools and OST programs adapt to COVID-19 disruptions.

Gaps and Opportunities: Supporting Boston’s BIPOC Small Businesses

July 20, 2022

Small businesses play a central role in cities: they foster growth and innovation in local economies, provide critical jobs for residents, contribute to the vibrancy of urban corridors, and help to anchor neighborhoods. However, over the last two years, the pandemic has devastated the small business community, forcing many to shutter their doors. Nationally, the number of active business owners fell by 22 percent from February to April 2020. Black-owned businesses closed at almost twice the rate of other businesses, experiencing a 41 percent drop during that time.Against this more recent backdrop, the racial wealth gap continues to persist, as systemic bias contributes to white households both earning more and having more — and more valuable — assets on average than households of color. These gaps not only manifest in personal and household wealth, but in small business creation and operation as well. Boston has the potential to be a model for other cities by moving aggressively and intentionally to close these gaps, including by addressing biases that limit the opportunities of small business owners and entrepreneurs of color.Based on in-depth, structured, qualitative interviews with leaders across 30 nonprofits, community-based organizations, city agencies, and others, this report seeks to:reveal the strengths and weaknesses of Boston's ecosystem of small business advocates, funders, and technical assistance providerscapture their views on the challenges confronting our region's BIPOC small business owners and entrepreneurs, andcollect their ideas for changes in the future. It endeavors to provide new intelligence and insights, not just for Boston but for other cities.

Riding Toward Opportunities: Communities Need Better MBTA Service to Access Jobs

December 1, 2021

*For Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese translations of the executive summary please click 'Download' > 'via Publisher' to visit Conservation Law Foundation's website*This report documents the access to jobs provided by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in Eastern Massachusetts and how chronic delays reduce that access. It also shows that delays disproportionately undercut economic opportunity for communities of color, low-income communities, and limited English proficient residents compared to white, wealthier, and English-speaking populations.As the MBTA plans to adjust service on buses, trains, and ferries following winter and spring 2021 service cuts and plans to address anticipated budget shortfalls for future fiscal years, access to jobs could be undermined even more. This will have the greatest impact on those riders already hardest hit by delays.

Understanding vaccine hesitancy through communities of place

November 19, 2021

This UK-US collaborative study examining vaccine engagement highlights the importance of tapping into local knowledge and leadership in efforts to improve Covid-19 vaccine take-up. It explores levels of vaccine engagement in four locations: Oldham and Tower Hamlets in the UK, and the cities of Boston and Hartford in the US.

L'Arche Project Impact Reports

November 1, 2021

During 2020 and 2021, six L'Arche communities from across the United States participated in an evaluation capacity building experience called Project Impact, facilitated by the team at Dialogues In Action. Project Impact is a participatory, empowerment approach to evaluation. The approach is a self-generated, reflexive practice grounded in curiosity. The first cohort of three communities (Greater Washington D.C., Jacksonville, and Spokane) during 2020 and the second cohort of three communities (Boston North, Cleveland, and Tahoma) during 2021 gathered teams from their communities to engage in the project. Each of the six communities implemented a mixed-methods self-study of the impact of L'Arche in the lives of its members.The initial phase of the project was focused on developing the ideas of intention. This included the formulation of an impact framework including impacts, indicators, and principles of change. The second phase of the project was focused on designing data collection methodologies and implementing both a qualitative approach using in-depth interviews and a quantitative approach using an outcomes survey. The third phase of the project involved the application of the findings from the data for responses and strategies going forward.After each community implemented their own self-studies, the team leaders convened to consider the intersection of their learning in meta-themes, those insights that are shared among the six communities as a sample of the L'Arche communities throughout the United States. The combined report is presented in this chapter and is followed by reports from each individual community

15-Minute Neighborhoods: Repairing Regional Harms and Building Vibrant Neighborhoods For All

September 1, 2021

In this paper, we use the "15-minute city" model as a jumping off point. This can feel like yet another urban planning buzzword, but we find it powerful for articulating a vision of what Greater Boston could become. Designed by Carlos Moreno and popularized by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, the 15-minute city model aims to build vibrant, mixed-use neighborhoods where all residents can reach their daily needs within a 15-minute walk of their home. Our vision for Greater Boston is distinct because we add a few extra points of emphasis. First, we worry that a hyper-local focus can lead to a few, disconnected, amenity-rich islands of privilege, so we've designed our vision to be regional in nature, moving toward an interconnected network of 15-minute neighborhoods across Greater Boston.Second, we emphasize high-quality public transit and bike options as supplements to improved walkability. Third, we believe that 15 minute neighborhoods should reflect our region's racial and socioeconomic diversity, and any comprehensive regional planning initiative should be a means to reverse the entrenched patterns of racial and economic segregation. To accomplish this, the planning, creation, and stewardship of 15-minute neighborhoods must truly center the voices and needs of those who have historically been left on the margins, including Black, Indigenous and other residents of color, low-wealth residents, new immigrants, and those with disabilities.

Get it Rolling: A brief guide to mobilize bus improvements in Greater Boston

June 21, 2021

This guide lays out a recipe to help local staff members, leaders, and advocates identify the right ingredients to launch successful bus improvements in high ridership, high delay corridors in their communities. These projects can seem daunting in their complexity, but they are important tools in achieving climate, equity, and transit goals, as well as improving quality of life for the thousands of people in our region.The guide identifies crucial stakeholders and project milestones. It offers examples of successful strategies, and it distills lessons learned. We identified six bus priority projects that started turning the wheels of change in the region. These projects were the first to involve quick, temporary, and easy to change elements in order to influence the permanent design.The information this guide sets forth was drawn from over thirty in-depth interviews with stakeholders involved in the six different projects we identify below:Everett's inbound bus lane on BroadwayBoston's inbound bus lane on Washington Street in RoslindaleArlington's inbound bus lane on Massachusetts AvenueCambridge and Watertown's inbound bus lane on Mount Auburn StreetBoston's inbound bus lane on Brighton Avenue in BrightonSomerville's inbound and outbound bus lanes on BroadwayThese six projects are described in detail in the individual case studies found after the workbook. You'll find examples from these projects throughout this guide that illustrate the different strategies municipal staff and their partners have used to accomplish progressive bus improvements.Every project's recipe will be different, and will require different ingredients, as well as different amounts of each. The projects showcased in this guide may not be directly applicable to your community, but they offer a framework for considering strategies to improve bus transit. With the ingredients presented in this document, we encourage you to innovate and experiment. Not all will apply to your situation, and not all will follow the same order as we have them listed here. This guide is not prescriptive, but instead offers direction based on the experience of people involved in the six local bus improvement projects that were studied.

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2021 Pandemic Housing Policy: From Progress to Permanence

June 1, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic brought so many intense social, economic and public health challenges it is easy to think that the pandemic has "changed everything" with respect to housing. This year's edition of the Greater Boston Housing Report Card suggests the opposite: The region's most difficult long-term housing challenges are not only still with us, but have been compounded by recent events, and bold federal, state and local policy changes are as badly needed as ever.This report includes extensive economic and housing data from the five counties that comprise the Greater Boston region and includes analysis and policy recommendations in three general areas: economic health, housing stability, and housing supply and sustainability.

Health Starts at Home: Final Evaluation Report

June 1, 2021

Health Starts at Home was a multi-partner collaboration to improve child and family health for low-income families experiencing housing instability. The Boston Foundation funded four entities, each a partnership of at least one health-care and one housing organization, to design and implement programs to improve service delivery and reduce housing instability for participating families. The evaluators—Health Resources in Action and Urban Institute—tracked changes in these families' housing status, economic well-being, health status and health-care use for the caregivers and enrolled children at baseline, six-month, and 12-month follow-up surveys. The goal of the evaluation was to determine whether improvements in housing stability (achieved through delivery of the four Health Starts at Home program interventions) were associated with improvements in health-related outcomes. Survey data was supplemented by administrative data from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) on the use of shelters and state rental assistance programs. 

The Boston Opportunity Agenda: Ninth Annual Report Card

May 19, 2021

Our annual report card is a key vehicle for reporting on our success and challenges at the system and student level across the educational pipeline, and we are pleased to share with you this Ninth Annual Report Card. Due to the pandemic, we did not issue a report card last year in 2020 and many of the indicators that we traditionally track, including MCAS, are not available this year. As students return to school and our systems work to close the learning gaps created by more than a year of disrupted learning, it is critical that all stakeholders understand previous trends and baselines for each of our measures of success. It is equally critical that we report on measures that focus on where the systemic shortfalls are as, together, we seek to create the necessary prerequisites for students to experience success. This year's report card is designed to do just that.  As Boston students return to in-person learning across all settings, it is more important than ever to ensure we highlight the gaps that need to be addressed so that all students regardless of their race, ethnicity or socio-economic status are able to participate fully in our world-class city and economy.