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Access to Clean Energy Jobs: Expanding Opportunities

August 31, 2023

Significant growth in clean energy jobs is expected from the energy transition, especially given recent climate-centered federal policies. Meeting this job demand will require a strong, strategic, well-resourced workforce development ecosystem and a focus on creating equitable, high-road job opportunities that people of color and women can plentifully access. To better understand these needs, Barr's Climate Program commissioned an analysis from Emerald City Collaborative—with partners Browning the Green Space, nomada Consulting, and Ponder Analytics—and BW Research.Through this research, Barr seeks to provide data to inform a field-wide conversation and to engage other foundations on this topic. We hope that the resulting report helps foster constructive dialogue between clean energy and workforce leaders, and that it inspires additional philanthropy in our region. For additional supporting materials from the research project, please visit: barrfoundation.org/ceworkforcedev

Divided by Design

July 31, 2023

Low-income communities and communities of color have been and continue to be disproportionately harmed by our approach to transportation in the United States. This damage has come in many forms, but most egregiously through the manner in which the U.S. constructed of the Interstate Highway System. A growing understanding of this reality helped lead to the creation of new provisions and programs aimed at undoing some of this damage in the November 2021 infrastructure bill. But these steps were modest and policy interventions continue to focus largely on past harms or small, insufficient reforms, ultimately failing to grapple with the reality that the fundamental approach of our current transportation program creates and exacerbates inequities.Past decisions, including routing the Interstate Highway System through communities of color, dividing and often demolishing them in the process, still shape our built environment. And most importantly, the foundation of the modern transportation program was built on models, measures and standards that have their roots in this era. Without a fundamental change to the overall approach to transportation, today's leaders and transportation professionals, no matter their intent, will perpetuate and exacerbate the damage.

Poll: More than three-quarters of Massachusetts residents support boosting funding for regional bus service

April 18, 2023

Results of a survey of 1401 Massachusetts residents, including 967 living in communities served by the state's 15 Regional Transit Authorities. The survey found majority support for increased funding for the RTAs. It also asked riders and non-riders about barriers to bus ridership and what factors would make the biggest differences in getting them to ride. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the Regional Transit Authority Advocates Coalition and was sponsored by the Barr Foundation.

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.

All Aboard: Financing a Fare-Free WRTA

March 10, 2023

The Worcester Regional Transit Authority Advisory Board has suspended fares at the agency since March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent emergency. It has been extended several times, and the latest extension is set to end at the end of June 2023 unless the Advisory Board adopts a budget that will extend fare-free for a longer period of time. The Worcester Regional Research Bureau previously released two reports: In May 2019, The Implications of a Fare-Free WRTA and in November 2020, Bureau Brief—Addendum to "The Implications of a Fare-Free WRTA." Both reports analyses found a strong argument in favor of a fare-free program at the WRTA. This report on finances serves as an update to those reports after three years of fare-free service.The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is consistently the largest source of revenues used for operating expenses, followed by, in FY22, the Federal Government, and then WRTA member community assessments.According to a 2018 survey of riders, 65% of riders had an income of less than $24,999.Collecting fares, whether fixed or variable, will entail costs of its own that may mitigate the revenues collected by restarting fares.A thought experiment of what different fare collection revenues could look like, including the possibility of discounting fares by income.The Massachusetts' Legislature and the new gubernatorial administration have expressed interest in increasing transportation funding across the state. Moreover, the Regional Transit Authority Caucus in the legislature has begun to put forward bills to raise statewide RTA funding to $150 million a year, nearly $55 million more than funding for FY23. Governor Healey's initial FY24 budget includes $96.8 million for RTAs, in addition to $6 million for operating expenses from a new $25 million grant.The Federal Government will be increasing its transportation funding until 2026.The WRTA experienced a rapid ridership recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and FY23 ridership is expected to increase. While this report reviews WRTA finances relative to sustaining a fare-free policy, please look forward to a forthcoming report on WRTA ridership from The Research Bureau. It is evident that a fare-free policy at the WRTA has had significant impact, particularly on ridership.

Measuring Quick and Creative Street Projects: An evaluation toolkit for practitioners and partners

February 1, 2023

Cities and towns across Massachusetts are implementing innovations on their streets. Quick and creative projects that prioritize people are having big impacts.These changes are mostly simple: making space for chairs and tables for neighbors to sit and chat, slowing down traffic via cones so kids can play and bike to school, and painting bus lanes for people to travel faster.This toolkit provides practitioners and partners with guidance on carrying forward the important work of measuring projects using low-cost and repeatable evaluation methods. The report includes links to sample templates and surveys to support these efforts.

Impacts of COVID-19 and work from home on regional transit ridership and individuals' travel behaviors

December 22, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered personal mobility choices. During the pandemic, there has been a major shift towards work from home (WFH) arrangements, and travel behaviors and patterns have also undergone profound changes. Effective vaccines, new anti-viral medications and general population fatigue associated with the pandemic have combined to gradually shift larger numbers of people toward more regular daily routines. It is now particularly useful to understand to what degree the behavioral shifts that occurred during the COVID-19 period will continue as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, and society gradually returns to pre-pandemic activity patterns, or adopts new patterns. We take two approaches to understand people's travel behavior changes due to the pandemic disruption: (1) we quantify the impact of remote work on public transit ridership at the national level; and (2) we examine the change of Massachusetts residents' travel attitudes and behaviors in the fall of 2021 compared to the pre-pandemic situation.

Baseline Findings from the Racial Equity Organizational Self-Assessments of Barr Foundation Climate Program Grantees

September 30, 2022

In 2021, the Barr Climate Program partnered with Community Centered Evaluation and Research (Community CER) to design and implement a Racial Equity Organizational Self-Assessment. The goals of the self-assessment were to provide Climate grantees with an organizational profile that allowed them to review their organization's progress in adopting and implementing racial equity practices and to help the Climate Program better understand organizations' efforts and how to target resources. This report is a summary of the findings of the Climate grantees as a group. The appendix includes the full survey used in the self-assessment.Access the full report by clicking the cover below

Green Power at Lower Cost: Municipal Aggregation is a Huge Success in Massachusetts

July 2, 2022

This report chronicles the impact of green municipal aggregation programs in Massachusetts. This program allows cities and towns in Massachusetts to procure energy for their residents and businesses at prices competitive with utility-provided electricity. In many cases, cities have been able to procure cleaner electricity than utilities at a cheaper rate. The Green Energy Consumer Alliance's report chronicles the progress of these programs.

New K-12 Parent Poll: Student mental health, academics pose challenge to Massachusetts schools COVID recovery plans

May 22, 2022

This poll surveys Massachusetts parents regarding their views about students' safety and academic preparedness related to COVID-19 and the state's COVID recovery plans. The pandemic brought long lasting academic and mental health concerns, which parents say remain serious challenges today. 

Climate resilience for health care and communities: Strategies and case studies

March 4, 2022

This report provides a strategic framework for building truly climate-resilient health systems and communities, and explores how health care institutions can leverage investments to support equitable decarbonization and build community resilience, health, and wealth. Through case studies, this paper outlines actions health systems can take to improve their ability to adapt and recover from climate-driven service impacts, strengthen long-term sustainability, and support health and equity in the communities they serve.

Climate Resilience Analysis: A Rubric to Measure Climate Resilience in Greater Boston

February 28, 2022

The Barr Foundation Climate Program initiated this Climate Resilience Analysis to establish a framework and methodology for analyzing progress towards climate resilience in the Greater Boston metro region. The goals of this project are to:Establish a rubric to measure progress on policies and practices forclimate resilience in Greater Boston, aligned with the BarrFoundation's goals for climate resilience.Identify the gains the Greater Boston region has made to becomemore climate resilient.Understand the changing landscape/context in Massachusetts onclimate resilience.Stantec, as the Barr Foundation's consultant, led the effort to create a survey to assess current policies and practices related to resilience at the municipal and regional level in Greater Boston. Responses to the survey have informed a qualitative resilience rubric that measures climate resilience in the region and identifies opportunities to strengthen it. The Barr Foundation Climate Program intends to utilize this assessment to shape its funding programs to meet the greatest areas of need.