 |
 |
||||||
 |
|||||||
 |
|||||||
 |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Reports
Blueprint for Action | The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2005-2006 | Sustaining the Mass Economy: Housing Costs, Population Dynamics, and Employment | On the Right Track | Revenue Sharing and the Future of the Massachusetts Economy | The Massachusetts Housing Challenge | The Greater Boston Housing Challenge | The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2004 | Chapter 40R School Cost Analysis and Proposed Smart Growth School Cost Insurance Supplement | The Rebirth of Older Industrial Cities: Exciting Opportunities for Private Sector Investment | Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2003 | Weston Housing Survey | Building on our Heritage: A Housing Strategy for Smart Growth and Economic Development | University/Community Housing Partnership Study | The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2002 | Cambridge Linkage Study | CEOs for Cities | WCHC Progress Report: Cumulative Through June 2002 | Boston City Council Ways & Means Report | WCHC First Year Progress Report | TeleCom City Housing Impact Study | Minority Vendor Contracting report | "A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston" | Community College Career Ladders report
Blueprint for Action
March 2007
As a central part of the University's new School of Social Science, Urban Affairs, and Public Policy, CURP led the way in developing a new brochure for the School, titled Blueprint for Action. CURP Director Barry Bluestone serves as the Dean of this groundbreaking new venture, and is quoted on the first page of the brochure: "The new school is daring in its goal to bring together the best in social science theory, empirical analysis, and public policy research to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching...and most importantly to address through its "think and do" philosophy the critical 21st century challenges facing Greater Boston, the commonwealth, and the nation.”
To download the brochure, click here. To learn more about the new School, and stay up-to-date on its news, events, and growth, visit www.policyschool.neu.edu.
The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2005-2006
September 2006
On September 27, 2006 CURP Director Barry Bluestone and Senior Research Fellow Bonnie Heudorfer presented The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2005-2006 to community and business leaders at a forum hosted by the Boston Foundation. This is the fourth such annual report that CURP has prepared for the Boston Foundation and Citizens' Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA). The Report Card is a diagnostic tool that provides an annual assessment of the region's progress toward providing housing opportunities for all of its citizens. It focuses on housing production in 161 cities and towns including and surrounding Boston and examines trends in housing prices and rents, the preservation of affordable housing, and state and federal funding levels for subsidized housing.
Housing production goals for the region had been established in an earlier CURP report commissioned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. Issued in September 2000, A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston warned that high housing costs and inadequate inventory were threatening the region's economic competitiveness. The authors and sponsors called for an ambitious social compact to increase the supply of housing by more than 80 percent over existing production levels. The New Paradigm projected that 15,660 units of housing were needed annually in the Boston PMSA to meet housing needs and moderate the escalation in rents and home prices. Existing production was generating only about 8,500 units a year, of which an estimated 1,300 were designated for occupancy by low or moderate income households. To achieve the required production would mean increasing existing production levels by about 7,200 units per year. The equivalent number of units required for the somewhat larger region generally considered "Greater Boston" was estimated to be about 18,000 units.
CURP has since re-evaluated this estimate in light of the poor economic conditions that have prevailed since 2001, but its conclusion remains that the region needs to increase housing production to that level. The 2004 Housing Report Card acknowledged increased production levels, but noted that there continued to be a mismatch between the types of units being produced – luxury rentals and condominiums in multifamily buildings, age restricted housing, and large expensive single family homes – and the type of housing that would be attractive, affordable, and accessible to a growing workforce.
The sponsors of The New Paradigm report also called for an objective system by which to measure the progress the region was making toward meeting its housing needs, and the Report Card was designed to do that by annually performing the following tasks:
- Assessing economic trends and market conditions that affect current and projected housing needs;
- Collecting, consolidating, and reporting housing data from various public and private sources that can be used to assess the adequacy of production levels;
- Improving accessibility and utility of information so that policymakers, housing advocates, community leaders, realtors, housing developers, and others can evaluate performance;
- Measuring progress in key areas of housing development, including production of new housing and rehabilitation of the existing stock, housing affordability, and government support for housing.
What distinguishes The Greater Boston Housing Report Card from the many other excellent housing reports that this region generates is this annual monitoring of housing activity by type, location and price point. By identifying trends early on, and clarifying their impact, the Report Card has helped galvanize private and public support for meeting the housing challenges faced by the Greater Boston region.
This year's report will is the first since the market began to soften in mid-2005. To learn more about this year's findings, download the report by clicking here.
Sustaining the Mass Economy: Housing Costs, Population Dynamics, and Employment
May 2006
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's New England Public Policy Center and The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government will be hosting "Housing and the Economy: Trends, Impacts, and Potential Responses" on May 22, 2006 in Boston.
CURP Director Barry Bluestone will be presenting Sustaining the Mass Economy: Housing Costs, Population Dynamics, and Employment. Following is an excerpt from the executive summary:
"We now know a number of basic facts about the Massachusetts economy. Employment is down by over 160,000 since 2001; the population has fallen for the past two years in a row, mostly as a result of rapidly rising out-migration to places like New Hampshire, Arizona, and North Carolina; and the loss of population is disproportionately among young workers and their families. We also know that housing prices skyrocketed by 144 percent in Greater Boston between 1995 and 2004 so that the median single family home sold for $376,000 at the end of this period. Meanwhile, Class A apartment rents in the Boston metro region were the most expensive in the country, save those in New York City. Price and rents have stabilized in the past two years, but they remain among the highest in the country.
"There is also a great deal of conjecture and an increasingly amount of survey data that link these phenomena together. Housing costs, it is argued, have risen to the point where they are forcing young workers and their families out-of-state while firms are failing to invest in new jobs in Massachusetts because it is increasingly difficult to find workers and when they are located, the firms need to pay premium wages to cover the high costs of living in the region. When asked in a recent Boston Globe poll of randomly selected former Massachusetts residents why they left the state, the answer came back that lack of employment opportunity followed by housing costs were the top reasons for leaving.
"This report attempts to use statistical methods to test whether or not this conjecture about the adverse economic development effects of housing costs is valid and whether the survey responses of former state residents represent a real trend."
Click here to download Sustaining the Mass Economy: Housing Costs, Population Dynamics, and Employment.
Click here to download the executive summary.
Click here to download the accompanying figures and tables.
On the Right Track
Meeting Greater Boston's Transit and Land Use Challenges
May 2006
This report and recommendations from the Urban Land Institute Boston District Council – with support from the Center for Urban and Regional Policy and The Boston Foundation – outlines the challenges and opportunities facing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and proposes a series of steps and an investment plan towards long-term regional sustainability.
"On the Right Track," which was authored by CURP Senior Research Associate Stephanie Pollack, acknowledges that "the MBTA transit system is a regional asset and critical piece of economic development infrastructure that anchors regional efforts to increase housing production, create jobs, grow smart and embrace diversity and inclusion."
Therefore, investment in the system’s future is crucial.
According to the report: "Although transit ridership has declined in recent years, this report highlights two trends that point toward a future of growing demand for high quality transit. First, residents are reconsidering the 'housing-transportation cost trade-off' that has driven many to live farther from Boston's urban core in order to find affordable housing. Second, demographic changes – including the aging of the Commonwealth's population – are driving demand for housing in walkable, mixed-use communities near transit and generating a growing number of such 'transit-oriented development' projects throughout the region.
"The MBTA will not, however, be able to focus on these opportunities without immediate debt relief to close a growing operating deficit and stabilize the Authority's finances. Only then will the T be able to redefine its mission from that of operating its trains and buses to that of filling those trains and buses with satisfied, paying customers. Working together, cities and towns, developers and the MBTA can catalyze transit-oriented development, thereby increasing the number of potential transit riders. The T must then develop aggressive ridership growth strategies and provide excellent service to transform these potential riders into regular transit users."
Click here to download "On the Right Track".
Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation of the findings.
Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation of the findings
given on May 19, 2006 to Move Massachusetts.
Revenue Sharing and the Future of the Massachusetts Economy
January 2006
“Revenue Sharing and the Future of the Massachusetts Economy” determines that the future economic prosperity of Massachusetts is dependent on increasing the fiscal capacity of cities and towns.
The report acknowledges that certain variables, such as cost of living and climate, will continue to disadvantage the Commonwealth in its competition for workers and business investment. But this can be addressed by recognizing that economic development turns increasingly on the ability of local communities to compete in the regional, national and global economy by offering vital public services and high-quality public amenities.
It concludes that Massachusetts must re-craft the fiscal partnership between the state and local governments if municipalities are to play their critical role in economic development, and recommends three steps towards achieving this goal:
The report was authored by CURP Director Barry Bluestone, CURP Associate Director David Soule, and CURP Senior Research Fellow Alan Clayton-Matthews for the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
Click here to download "Revenue Sharing and the Future of the Massachusetts Economy".
The Massachusetts Housing Challenge
December 2005
This PowerPoint presentation was given by CURP Director Barry Bluestone at a conference of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board in Framingham, MA on December 7, 2005. The presentation concluded that Massachusetts is facing an economic crisis, due in significant part to the high cost of housing in the state:
Click here to download "The Massachusetts Housing Challenge".
The Greater Boston Housing Challenge
October 2005
“The Greater Boston Housing Challenge” is a PowerPoint presentation on the economic and demographic challenges facing Greater Boston and the Commonwealth with particular reference to the housing crisis. The presentation was given at a WBZ business breakfast titled “Attaining the American Dream" on October 27, 2005 by CURP Director Barry Bluestone.
Click here to download "The Greater Boston Housing Challenge".
The Greater Boston Housing
Report Card 2004
September 2005
"The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2004" is the third in a series of annual assessments designed to measure the progress the region is making toward providing housing opportunities for all of its citizens. This report, like its predecessors, has been prepared by the Center for Urban and Regional Policy in collaboration with The Boston Foundation and Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA).
In 2004, for the second year in a row, the region made modest progress toward increasing the production of housing. However, total production remains below what is ultimately needed to bring housing costs into line with household incomes. Moreover, the types of housing being produced – age-restricted housing, luxury condominiums and rentals, and single family housing for affluent households – do not address the shortage of moderately priced housing suitable to attract and retain a young workforce. Thus, much more is required to reduce barriers to housing production and to support the construction and preservation of housing that will contribute to the state’s economic competitiveness. Click here to download "The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2004". Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation of the findings.
Chapter 40R School Cost Analysis and Proposed Smart Growth School Cost Insurance Supplement
May 2005
As currently enacted in 2005, Chapter 40R is unlikely to result in appreciable progress toward the construction of sufficient new housing to moderate the excessive home price inflation that has characterized Massachusetts for over 20 years.
This report – researched and written by Ted Carman, President of Concord Square Development Company along with Eleanor White, President of Housing Partners, Inc., and Barry Bluestone, Director of CURP – recommends that the provisions of Chapter 70 be amended to provide for a Smart Growth School Cost Insurance Supplement to be paid to communities which pass Chapter 40R Smart Growth Districts. It has provided the basis for another new law, Chapter 40S, which has passed the Massachusetts Senate and is awaiting action in the Massachusetts house. The new law is expected to be passed by the House before it adjourns on November 18, 2005.
To download "Chapter 40R School Cost Analysis and Proposed Smart Growth School Cost Insurance Supplement" click here.
The Rebirth of Older Industrial Cities: Exciting Opportunities for Private Sector Investment
April 2004
This project, funded in part by the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), aims to identify impediments or "deal breakers" to development in five designated urban areas in Massachusetts. The research focused on sites identified by officials in Boston, Chelsea, Holyoke, Lawrence, and New Bedford, and on six key industrial sectors, all identified as strategic by the state government: health care/life sciences, biotechnology, information technology, financial services, traditional manufacturing, and travel and tourism. More than 50 business leaders and commercial real estate professionals were interviewed in order to determine the factors most important in location decisions. CURP focused in particular on firms that had an existing or recently established urban presence in one of the study cities to determine what factors contributed to the decision to locate, expand, or remain in these urban locations.
CURP senior research fellow David Soule spearheaded this project, with assistance from director Barry Bluestone, and associate director Joan Fitzgerald. Three research associates, Jennifer Cabrera from the Harvard Law School, Shelley McDonough from the Sociology Department and Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Mark Melnik from the Sociology Department at Northeastern University also worked on this report.
To download the Executive Summary of "The Rebirth of Older Industrial Cities: Exciting Opportunities for Private Sector Investment," click here.
To download the full report, "The Rebirth of Older Industrial Cities: Exciting Opportunities for Private Sector Investment," click here.
Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2003
April 2004
CURP's second annual Greater Boston Housing Report Card follows up where the 2002 Report Card left off. CURP senior fellow Bonnie Heudorfer, director Barry Bluestone, and research associate Stein Helmrich led the research on the project, which was done in collaboration with The Boston Foundation and the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA).
This report evaluates how the Greater Boston housing market performed during 2003. It looks specifically at:
Click here to download the Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2003.
Click here to download the Power Point presentation of the findings.
Weston Housing Survey
January 2004
Under this grant from the Town of Weston, CURP conducted a mail survey of all town employees in Weston and all METCO parents in the Weston School district in order to ascertain the extent to which there is a desire among employees and school parents to live in the Town of Weston, if affordable housing were made available.
Bonnie Heudorder, an independent consultant to CURP, led the project, with assistance from Stein Helmrich, CURP research associate and Barry Bluestone, CURP director.
Click here to download the Weston Housing Survey.
Building on our Heritage: A Housing Strategy for Smart Growth and Economic Development
October 2003
This report was developed at CURP for the Commonwealth Housing Task Force, an ad hoc group of housing advocates, developers, business and civic leaders, and academics, who began meeting in 2001 to develop solutions to the housing problem in Massachusetts. In this report, the Task Force makes two recommendations:
1. The state provide financial and other incentives to local communities that pass Smart Growth Overlay Zoning Districts that allow the building of single-family homes on smaller lots and the construction of apartments for families at all income levels.2. The state increase its commitment to fund affordable housing for families of low- and moderate-income.
Barry Bluestone, director of CURP, worked with Eleanor White, an associate at CURP and president of Housing Partners, Inc. and Ted Carmen, president of the Concord Square Development Company, Inc., to craft this proposal. This team, along with many others from the business, academic, and non-profit world, presented the proposal to the Massachusetts State Legislature's housing committees in late November. The proposal was passed into state law in 2004.
Click here to read the full report, "Building on our Heritage: A Housing Strategy for Smart Growth and Economic Development."
Click here to read the Executive Summary.
University/Community Housing Partnership Study
May 2003
Under this small research grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, CURP prepared a report that reviews university/community partnerships designed to help produce housing for students, university employees, and city residents. Such examples as Davenport Commons at Northeastern are highlighted in the project.Click here to view the final report, "A Primer on University-Community Housing Partnerships".
The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2002
October 2002
In October 2002, CURP released its first Greater Boston Housing Report Card to an audience of more than 200 planners, community activists, government officials and developers, among others, gathered at the Boston Foundation.
A breakdown of the report, which was created through the collaboration of CURP, the Boston Indicators Project at the Boston Foundation, and Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), was presented by CURP director Barry Bluestone and followed up by a panel discussion moderated by Tom Hollister, chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and president of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts. In addition to Bluestone, three CURP staff members also worked on the project: Ryan Allen, Bonnie Huedorfer, and Gretchen Weismann.
The Housing Report Card is a follow up to the comprehensive report released by CURP and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston two years ago, A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston. The report outlines goals that would need to be met in order to assure decent housing at affordable prices for all Greater Boston households.
Click here to read a story on the release of the Boston Housing Report Card 2002.
Download the Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2002.
Download Appendix 1
Download Appendix 2
Download Appendix 3
Download Appendix 4
Download Appendix 5
Download Barry Bluestone's Power Point Presentation on the Report Card
Cambridge Linkage Study
July 2002
The City of Cambridge is in many ways a model of the New Economy. Its explosive growth in high technology industries has generated a prodigious number of new jobs. But its very success has put enormous pressure on the city's housing stock. As a result, home prices and rents have soared. Longtime Cambridge residents are being priced out of their own community, reducing the economic and social diversity of the city. Cambridge asked CURP to help update its "linkage program" - the fee the city charges commercial developers per square foot of new construction in order to fund an affordable housing trust fund. The ideal linkage fee is a rate that allows Cambridge to continue to attract commercial development projects while also providing revenues for increasing the supply of affordable housing.
The Cambridge Linkage study had two purposes. The first was to examine the philosophical, legal, and real-world issues surrounding city-imposed linkage fees. The second was to conduct a survey of employees in Cambridge enterprises to establish how many relocated to Cambridge specifically to take new jobs in the city. Based on this survey, as well as a review of linkage fees charged in other competing jurisdictions, CURP recalculated the square foot linkage fee for the city to reflect the impact of new commercial development on housing prices and the need to construct new housing supply to mitigate rising housing prices.
Click here to download "The Impact of Cambridge Office Development on Cambridge Housing Prices."
Click below to download the referenced appendices:
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Appendix 6
CEOs for Cities project
CURP and the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago were commissioned by CEOs for Cities, a national bipartisan organization, to work on a project titled, "The New Metropolitan Alliances: Regional Collaboration for Economic Development." After exploring more than 100 examples of development-focused alliances throughout the country, the team selected five cases to illustrate the key ingredients in the formation of regional alliances.
The economic development initiatives included in the report were presented at a CEOs for Cities conference in Chicago in May 2002. Discussants included Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago and Mayor John Norquist of Milwaukee. The research will be used by members of CEOs for Cities to guide their future economic development efforts. Click here to read "The New Metropolitan Alliances."
WCHC Progress Report: Cumulative Through June 2002
June 2002
CURP proudly released its second report chronicling the work done by the World Class Housing Collaborative (WCHC) in July. The Collaborative, which was established in 2001, exists to help meet the needs for new housing in Greater Boston by offering pro bono expert assistance to neighborhood residents who are looking to turn their community dreams into realities.
Since the last report, which was released in December 2001, the fully staffed Collaborative has made headway in its outreach to Boston political leaders and to community and neighborhood organizations; established strong relationships with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Department of Neighborhood Development; completed the Grove Hall Gateway Affordability Project for the 2002 Federal Home Loan Bank/CHAPA Competition; and worked in conjunction with Fairs Foods and ABCD sites at the Holland School Campus, with the Veterans Benefit Clearinghouse Development Corporation on developing "missing teeth" sites in the Washington/Bowdoin/Geneva neighborhood and helped the Codman Academy Charter School in its search for a permanent home.
Download the WCHC Progress Report.
Boston City Council Ways & Means Report
June 2002
The study for Boston City Council's Ways & Means Committee includes the results of the Boston City Budget Survey, as well as case studies detailing how other city goverments have attempted to confront challenges similar to those faced in Boston today.
Included are parking fines, parking fees, and zoning board fees across a spectrum of American cities and a series of best practice programs that outline what other cities and regions have done to govern more effectively and efficiently.
Download the Ways & Means Report.
WCHC First Year Progress Report
December 2001
In its first year of operations, the World Class Housing Collaborative (WCHC) accomplished all of the tasks identified by the Collaborative in its initial proposal to the Fannie Mae Foundation and FleetBoston Financial. Indeed, it has gone beyond the original first year plan to begin a number of important initiatives. Through scores of meetings with community leaders, neighborhood associations, community development corporations, and city agency personnel, the Collaborative has generated enormous enthusiasm for the services it is now offering all of these groups.
The WCHC First Year Progress Report details the major completed and ongoing activities of the WCHC in its first year and beyond.
TeleCom City Housing Impact Study
July 2001
When complete, Telecom City will provide the region with 5,000-7,500 additional new jobs in high tech industry on its 207-acre site in Everett, Malden, and Medford, just north of Boston. The project will likely have a significant impact on housing in the region and beyond. To review the potential impact of TeleCom City on the tri-city housing market, the Mystic Valley Development Commission contracted with CURP to conduct a comprehensive housing analysis for the area. With CURP's research and analysis in hand, TeleCom City planners are now able to develop the appropriate housing strategies and policies before construction begins.
Using a sophisticated evaluation technique developed at the Center, CURP estimated the number and type of new housing units needed to accommodate the expected new demand as well as meet the existing housing shortfall. An important finding of the study is that even without the new jobs TeleCom City will bring, the pressure of the overburdened housing market as is will continue to escalate as individuals and families choose to locate in the Tri-city area as an alternative to more costly housing in Cambridge, Somerville, and elsewhere.
Download the TeleCom City report.
Minority Vendor Contracting report
May 2001
The Minority Vendor Contracting project was the Community Enterprise Technical Assistance Collaborative's first project, which culminated in the report "Economic Anchors and Vendor Contracting: New Barriers (and Potential New Opportunities) for Small Minority Business in the New Economy." The report highlights the impact of the changing economy on purchasing operations and determines that current trends may significantly reduce the access to supply contracts for small minority businesses. (The firms being studied are ones that supply to universities, banks, insurance companies, and hospitals everything from toner cartridges and food service to interior painting and window replacement.)
In interviews with local purchasing managers in health care, education, and finance/insurance industries, several barriers to minority supply businesses become clear. First, mergers in health care and banking along with corporate efforts to reduce costs through economies of scale have resulted in an expansion in the scope of individual purchasing orders; small business face constraints of capacity and of pricing in meeting the expanded orders. Second, techno-savvy corporate businesses are increasingly demanding corresponding e-commerce capabilities of vendors, leaving many small businesses on the wrong side of the digital divide.
The report studies changes in corporate purchasing and the implications for small minority businesses. A detailed analysis of the merger barrier and the e-commerce barrier lead to articulation of a set of challenges for Greater Boston's major corporations, minority businesses, and the public sector to create an economically inclusive city. The findings of the Minority Vendor Contracting report are now being expanded upon in a large survey project within CETAC.
Download the Minority Vendor Contracting report.
"A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston"
February 2001
The housing crisis in Greater Boston was reaching epic proportions with no end in site in December of 1999 when Cardinal Bernard Law issued his challenge encouraging policymakers to work together to develop a "new paradigm" for housing in Greater Boston. The Cardinal asked CURP to prepare a detailed report that could lead the way in responding to the housing crisis by bringing together a large task force of Boston community leaders, housing experts, government officials, business executives, and concerned citizens. The result of this massive collaboration was "A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston." This report blew the lid off the old ways of thinking about housing and brought forth new ideas for how to increase the region's housing stock to meet demand and moderate market prices. Using methods developed at CURP, the report identified the need for constructing 36,000 additional new units of housing in Greater Boston over the next five years.
CURP not only detailed what kind of new units of housing would be required but created a plan devising how the new housing units could be built by a collaboration of private developers, government agencies, community and civic groups, businesses, and universities. The plan details how each group can contribute to meeting the region's housing goals by overcoming the social, political, and economic barriers to the production of owner-occupied and rental housing. The highly regarded and well-publicized Cardinal's Report has helped to galvanize development in Boston and throughout the region.
The report was the centerpiece for the Cardinal's conference on housing in September 2000 attended by over 300 community, business, and government leaders including the Massachusetts Governor, representatives of the Boston Mayor's office, and members of the State Legislature. Later in the year, the report was presented by CURP director Barry Bluestone and Cardinal Law before the entire Massachusetts Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. The final version of the report was completed in February 2001.
Download "A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston."
Community Colleges Career Ladders report
October 2000
As a piece of the Career Ladders project, community colleges are studied as effective career ladders and their specific wage progression strategies are given consideration. The Community Colleges Career Ladders report sees community colleges as a uniquely positioned - and often overlooked - bridge to the New Economy for many of today's working poor. The need for low-wage workers to continuously upgrade their skills to match today's job market needs is more crucial than ever, and community college vocational programs increasingly provide the training and support many of these workers need.
For community colleges to have broader success in career ladder programs, increased state funding for skills upgrading is necessary to allow community colleges to expand existing programs or implement new ones. Skills upgrading includes training for those making the transition from welfare-to-work and incumbent worker training for low-wage workers. Also, the sectoral strategy approach - local labor market intermediaries making the connections between supply and demand - is needed.
Download the Community Colleges Career Ladders report.