Center for Urban and Regional Policy, CURP Partners

Partners

Boston Redevelopment Authority

The BRA is the City of Boston's planning and development agency, with responsibiltiy for a broad range of projects such as clearing land for the new convention center, neighborhood development, zoning, community-based planning, and job training. The BRA has worked with CURP on a number of projects, including the Boston 400 planning initiative and internship and cooperative education programs for students. The BRA also works with CURP on its Community Enterprise Technical Collaborative project to survey minority businesses in the area. See the BRA's website at www.ci.boston.ma.us/bra.

Boston Society of Architects

The Boston Society of Architects administers programs and provides resources that enhance the practice of architecture and the public and professional understanding of design throughout the region. The BSA often serves as a catalyst to facilitate public dialogue about the role that the built environment plays in the economic health and vitality of New England. The BSA is the sponsor of Build Boston, the premier tradeshow for the building industry in the Northeast, and "How We Live: A Civic Initiative for a Livable New England," a series of conferences and charrettes designed to deter sprawl in the region. CURP and the BSA collaborated on the "How We Live" regional charrette hosted by Northeastern University in April 2001. (For more information on this charrette, take a look at the "Spotlight" section in CURP's Site Archive.) The BSA is also working with CURP on the Blue Hill Ave. Mainstreet program in an effort to bring commercial and housing development to Roxbury. See the BSA's website at www.architects.org.

Bridgeline

Bridgeline is a technologically advanced internet web development firm offering quality Internet solutions. Bridgeline works with CURP on its FMCS project and is developing the FMCS resource kit. Visit Bridgeline's website at: www.bridge-line.com.

Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

The Archdiocese's Planning Office for Urban Affairs funded and coordinated a major study of creative approaches for addressing the housing crisis in Greater Boston. Coordinated by CURP's Gretchen Weismann, A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston identified a full range of strategic policies that can be used to address a wide range of housing needs in Greater Boston. The strategic policies are aimed at strengthening all levels of the Greater Boston housing market to build what Howard Husock calls the "ladder" of housing opportunities, with rungs for all income levels, household compositions, stages of life-cycle, and communities. These strategic plans identify specific challenges, the range of "best practices" that have been used in Boston and elsewhere to address these challenges, and specific strategies for bringing together specific agencies and organizations to implement these practices. In addition to a report, the Archdiocese's John Moynihan coordinated a number of activities that led to a two-day conference co-sponsored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on September 13 and 14, 2000. Those activities include the convening of special task forces, a blue-ribbon commission, and interviews with housing experts. See the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston's website at www.rcab.org

The Century Foundation

Formerly known as the Twentieth Century Fund, The Century Foundation is a research organization that undertakes timely and critical analyses of major economic, political, and social institutions and issues. The Century Foundatioon is the publisher of "Growing Prosperity: The Battle for Growth With Equity in the Twenty-first Century," by CURP Director Barry Bluestone and the late Bennett Harrison (December 1999). The Foundation was founded in 1919 and endowed by Edward A. Filene. See the Foundation's website at www.tcf.org.

Community Development Department, City of Cambridge

CURP works with the City of Cambridge through the Community Development Department. Most recently the Center worked on the Cambridge linkage study. The study focused on mitigating the adverse affects of economic development and new office construction on the local housing market in Cambridge. For more information or to download the Cambridge housing linkage study, see CURP Projects and "This Week at CURP" in the Site Archive. See the CDD's website at www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/~CDD.

Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston

As Boston's housing development agency, DND works with organizations across the city to devise strategies for increasing the supply of housing and insuring that housing development reinforces other community development efforts. Under the leadership of its director, Charlotte Golar Richie, DND has moved aggressively to meet Mayor Thomas M. Menino's housing construction goals. DND is also working to develop a broader housing policy that would meet the long-term housing development needs of neighborhoods all over the city. DND is a partner with CURP's World Class Housing Collaborative in its Blue Hill Ave. Mainstreets program and in the project with the Dorchester Housing and Open Space Action Team, which does its work along Geneva Ave. The department's website is located at www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/default.asp.

Fannie Mae

The nation's leading secondary market housing lender, Fannie Mae worked with CURP to establish the World-Class Housing Collaborative. See Fannie Mae's website at www.fanniemae.com.

Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston

The mission of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is to facilitate and enhance the availability of credit for housing and economic growth, including the housing-finance and neighborhood-development needs of low- and moderate-income families in communities throughout New England. CURP was a sponsor of a team in the FHLB's affordable housing competition. (For more about the competition, see "This Week at CURP" in the Site Archive. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston's website is located at www.fhlbboston.com.

Federal Mediation Conciliation Service

The Federal Mediation Conciliation Service is an independent agency housed at the U.S. Department of Labor that promotes sound and stable labor-management relations. CURP has conducted a major study of management-labor mediation with FMCS that included case studies involving the Quaker Mills plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Children's Health East Hospitals in Minneapolis, Minn.; and Cesar Chavez High School in Albuquerque, N.M. CURP is continuing its work with FMCS to create a resource kit that will disseminate the findings of the case studies. See the FMCS website at: www.fmcs.gov.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

The regional branch of the Federal Reserve Bank is the lead partner in the creation of the New England Economic Adventure. As part of the Adventure program, lively interactive exhibits and games are used to explain the process of economic growth, with New England serving as a case study. Complementing and supplementing the games and exhibits are three additional components: a website, computer-equipped education laboratory, and changing exhibits. The target audience for the Adventure is middle- and secondary-school students, but it will also be open to the general public on scheduled occasions. CURP is collaborating with the Fed on this program, including it as part of its proposed Greater Boston Info Central project. The purpose of this collaboration is to join together and share institution-specific skill-sets based on an overlapping interest in increasing student contact and comfort using data to support an opinion. In the past, CURP staff published an article in the Fed Boston's Communities and Banking journal, "How Local Regulations can Help Meet our Housing Needs." Visit the Fed's Boston site at www.bos.frb.org.

Fleet Bank

Fleet Bank is a sponsor of CURP's World Class Housing Collaborative. With Fleet Bank as one of its partners, CURP published A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston, a report providing recommendations to alleviate the housing crisis in the region. The Fleet Bank website is located at: www.fleetbank.com/about_home.asp.

The Ford Foundation

For almost half a century, the Ford Foundation has provided programs and funding to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. The Ford Foundation was one of the underwriters of the international study of unemployment based at CURP and is a sponsor of the Community Enterprise Technical Assistance Collaborative. Founded in 1936, the Foundation operated as a local philanthropy in the state of Michigan until 1950, when it expanded to become a national and international foundation. Over that period, the foundation has provided more than $9.3 billion in grants and loans. See the foundation's website at www.fordfound.org.

Housing Partners, Inc.

Housing Partners is a nationally-renowned consulting group dedicated to improving housing opportunities in urban areas. Led by Marvin Siflinger and Eleanor White, who both have decades of experience in federal and state housing agencies, Housing Partners provides a broad range services for housing, financing, programming, community participation, social services, design, and planning. White and Siflinger are founding partners of CURP's World Class Housing Collaborative. See the Housing Partners website at: www.housingpartnersinc.com.

Metropolitan Area Planning Council

The MAPC is the regional planning agency representing 101 cities and towns in the Boston metropolitan area. Created by the state Legislature in 1963, the MAPC provides a forum for state and city agencies to collaborate in the development of comprehensive plans and recommendations in the areas of population and employment, transportation, economic development, regional growth, and the environment. The MAPC is a leading voice for better public transportation, community planning, and economic development. The MAPC worked with CURP on the Metropolitan Indicators Project. The organization's website is at: www.mapc.org.

Mt. Auburn Associates

Mt. Auburn Associates provides a full range of consulting services in the field of economic development analysis and strategy. Working with a variety of public and private organizations, the firm creates effective economic development policies and programs that promote economic growth and stability, job generation, and the improved functioning of capital markets. Mt. Auburn Associates worked with CURP on the Third Tier Cities project, a workforce training and placement initiative in Lawrence and Holyoke, MA. See their website at: www.mtauburnassociates.com.

Mystic Valley Development Commission

The cities of Malden, Medford, and Everett, in conjunction with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, formed the Mystic Valley Development Commission to implement a project called TeleCom City. TeleCom City is a regional technology development initiative to build a telecommunications research and development park on 200 acres of industrial land within the three cities, along the Malden River, approximately five miles north of Boston. An important aspect of the project is the creation of approximately 7,500 jobs at TeleCom City. MVDC contracted with CURP to conduct a comprehensive housing analysis of Everett, Malden, and Medford as the cities prepare for the construction of TeleCom City. By compiling research and analysis before the construction, the three cities will be able to develop appropriate housing strategies and policies before TeleCom City brings new employees and their families to the region. Read CURP's final report at: TeleCom City Housing Impact Study. Visit the TeleCom City website at: www.telecomcitymass.com.

National Association of Industrial and Office Properties

The Massachusetts Chapter of NAIOP (National Association of Industrial and Office Properties) is the Forum for Commercial Real Estate representing the industry through its strong legislative affairs efforts, exceptional educational programs, and its continual research into critical issues of business development. NAIOP is the leading voice for commercial real estate in the state and represents the interests of companies involved with the development, ownership, management and financing of commercial and retail properties as well as those companies providing services to this industry. NAIOP is partnering with CURP on an Urban Initiative focused on identifying the opportunities for urban development and analyzing the impediments to development in these areas. Visit the Massachusetts NAIOP web site at: www.naiopma.org.

NSTAR

NSTAR (formerly Boston Edison) has long played a critical role in setting the economic development agenda for the City of Boston and points beyond. NSTAR has assisted the CURP by providing a $10,000 grant to help establish the Community Enterprise Technical Assistance Collaborative, which is working with community and business leaders in Roxbury to create a mixed-use industrial park along Melnea Cass Boulevard. Under the leadership of Donald Walsh, its director of economic development, NSTAR has been working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to write an economic development strategy. This strategy will be the basis for community development projects that receive state grants. NSTAR worked with City Councilor Maureen Feeney to establish a "charrette" process to identify manufacturing and other development projects for Dorchester. NSTAR's website is located at: www.nstaronline.com.

Nommos

A private consulting firm, Nommos develops innovative strategies to create better management-labor relations. Nommos has worked with major automakers and the United Auto Workers, as well as school districts and the National Education Association. CURP is working with Nommos on a research project dealing with some of the most innovative approaches to management-labor relations as part of a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Visit the Nommos website at: www.nommos.com.

Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston

The Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston is an enterprise of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; its mission is to contribute to improved governance and public policy in the Greater Boston region. Its executive director, Charles Euchner, was formerly the Associate Director at the Center for Urban and Regional Policy. CURP and the Rappaport Institute are currently working together on the completion of the Heart of the City database. The Rappaport Institute's website is at: www.ksg.harvard.edu/rappaport.

The Rockefeller Foundation

A philanthropic organization endowed by John D. Rockefeller and chartered in 1913, the Rockefeller Foundation seeks to develop broad and creative strategies for addressing the causes of human suffering and need across the world. The Rockefeller Foundation is an underwriter of the multi-national study of unemployment that is housed at CURP. In 1998, Foundation programs were organized around eight core strategies that help define a path toward environmentally sustainable development consistent with individual rights and a more equitable sharing of the world's resources. The Foundation can be located on the Internet at www.rockfound.org.

Roxbury Gateway Corporation

A newly incorporated grassroots firm, RGC offers a vehicle for development of a mixed-use industrial park on Melnea Cass Boulevard in the Lower Roxbury section of Boston. RGC officers include Joseph Warren, Doris Bunte, and Archie Williams. The goal is to provide a strategy for development of businesses and jobs that serve the immediate population of Roxbury and strengthen the overall character of Melnea Cass Boulevard, which stretches from Northeastern University on the east to the Boston Medical Center on the west. The RGC is working with CURP's Community Enterprise Technical Assistance Collaborative to identify services that would be provided at the center to "incubate" new businesses. The RGC has met officials from the City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts to identify strategies for the revitalization of the whole Melnea Cass corridor. Working with Northeastern University purchasing officials, the RGC also hopes to encourage universities and medical institutions in the area to seek minority vendors for goods and services.

Russell Sage Foundation

The principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences, is the publisher of a major study of the fortunes of four major metropolitan regions in the United States � Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles. One of those studies � Greater Boston in Transition: Race and Ethnicity in a Renaissance Region � was directed by CURP's Barry Bluestone and Mary Huff Stevenson of the University of Massachusetts at Boston and culminated in the book The Boston Renaissance: Race, Space, and Economic Change in an American Metropolis. (A summary of the original four-region study can be found at www.russellsage.org/special_interest/mcsui_points.htm.) the Russell Sage Foundation has also provided full funding for the Boston Renaissance Resource Kit. See the Sage website at: www.russellsage.org.

Seedco

Founded in 1986 with money from the Ford Foundation, the New York-based Seedco is a nonprofit organization that provides technical and financial support for community-based organizations and local anchor institutions that are working to revitalize low-asset communities. Seedco has provided $10,000 in startup funds for CURP's Community Enterprise Technical Assistance Collaborative. Seedco has also offered technical and logistical support to CETAC and the Roxbury Gateway Corporation as they develop strategies to develop mixed-use industrial center along Melnea Cass Boulevard in the Lower Roxbury section of Boston. Seedco's executive director, William Grinker, is nationally known for his expertise in guiding grassroots efforts to improve local business development, housing, and other efforts to improve cities and towns. Grinker has assigned two high-level staff members � Roland Anglin and Kristin Scheyder � to work with CETAC and members of the Roxbury Gateway Development Corporation. Seedco's website is located at www.seedco.org.

U.S. Department of Labor

CURP has worked with the U.S. Department of Labor on a number of research projects. Besides CURP's involvement with FMCS (described above), the Labor Department was a major funder of the Third Tier Cities project, a workforce training and development initiative in Lawrence and Holyoke, MA. The Labor Department's web site is www.dol.gov.

Urban Affairs Association

The Urban Affairs Association is the international professional organization for urban scholars, researchers, and public service providers. CURP was proud to be the official host of the March 2002 UAA Conference, which was held in Boston. The 32nd annual meeting of UAA had the theme "What's Right About Cities and an Urban Way of Life" and took place March 20-23, 2002. The UAA website can be found at: www.udel.edu/uaa.

University of Massachusetts Boston

The Center for Survey Research, one of the nation's premier survey organizations is working with CURP and other institutions in Greater Boston to develop an annual survey of attitudes toward a wide variety of political, social, economic, and community issues. This survey would be included in a biennial book on the challenges of public policy in Boston, tentatively titled The State of the Region: Challenges and Opportunities for Greater Boston. The CSR work would build on the efforts of grassroots planning and benchmarking efforts such as Boston 400, the City's comprehensive planning initiative, and the Boston Indicators Initiative, a joint venture of Sustainable Boston and the Boston Foundation. The Center's web site is www.umb.edu/research/centers/Survey/Survey.html.

Youth Tech Entrepreneurs

Youth Tech Entrepreneurs develops student leaders who use their academic, information technology, and business skills to build stronger communities. Youth Tech is working with CURP on the Boston Renaissance Resource Kit. Youth Tech will guide the dissemination of the kit into Boston-area schools, testing its various uses and guiding its implementation. Visit the YTE website at: www.yte.org.