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Revitalizing New England Cities Eric S. Rosengren President & CEO Federal Reserve Bank of Boston April 10, 2018 The Governor’s Academy Tenth Annual Boston Business Leaders Luncheon Boston, Massachusetts bostonfed.org Figure 1: Median Family Income Relative to U.S. Median Family Income for Massachusetts Smaller Cities with the Lowest Median Family Income 110 Percent of U.S. Median Family Income 100 90 80 Fitchburg New Bedford 70 Fall River Chelsea 60 Springfield Holyoke Lawrence 50 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 2008 - 2010 Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Decennial Census 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, American Community Survey (2008 - 2010, Three-Year Estimates) 2 What is the Working Cities Challenge? Key Features ► ► ► ► ► ► Based on Fed research showing economic resurgence for smaller post-industrial cities possible; key elements: collaboration and leadership on shared economic vision Eligible to compete: struggling smaller post-industrial cities Proposals must be ambitious and ► unite public, private, non-profit sectors and community members, ► focus on improving lives of low-income people and diverse residents, and ► create systems change One proposal per city: must create shared vision and team to carry out effort Merit based: Winners chosen by independent, expert Jury based on public criteria (Fed not on Jury) Three-year efforts supported by extensive technical assistance and independent evaluation 3 Working Cities in New England ▶ Competition for three-year grant funds. Grants are modest in size ($400 $475k) and contributed by private, public and philanthropic partners (no funds from Federal Reserve) ▶ Over $10 million in award funds contributed by 63 funders to date ▶ State by state model. Current states: Massachusetts (2 rounds), Rhode Island, and Connecticut ▶ Expansion to Northern New England states (VT, NH, ME) currently in planning with adaptations for rural areas Massachusetts Round 1 Lawrence Fitchburg Chelsea Holyoke Rhode Island Connecticut Providence Newport Cranston Danbury East Hartford Hartford Middletown Waterbury Round 2 Haverhill Lowell Springfield Pittsfield 4 Lawrence Working Families Initiative: Round 1 Lawrence: a largely immigrant and Latino city with great strengths and challenges ► Historic Opportunity: Turnaround in Lawrence Public Schools (LPS) following receivership ► Key Challenges: High levels of poverty and unemployment among families of LPS students, coupled with low levels of student graduation and achievement ► Mayor, school district, businesses, community college, and workforce service providers unite to support school system turnaround effort (responding to receivership), with focus on parent economic stability, jobs and parent engagement ► 10-Year Goal: 15% increase in real income for LPS families, with related student gains due to increased economic stability Lawrence Lawrence Partnership 5 Lawrence Working Families Initiative: Round 1(Continued) Progress highlights and focus on systems change ► WCC process catalyzes new CEO economic development group: Lawrence Partnership. Lawrence WCC effort and Partnership together tackle city-wide local hiring campaign ► Major new family support system created for schools has counseled, referred and trained nearly 1,000 parents to date. Job placements >200, another 200 in training and education ► Launched the state’s first Pay-for-Success immigrant jobs effort outside of Boston ► New parent engagement model piloted with 600 parents, now being adopted across school system (9,500 families) ► School turnaround successful so far – significantly moving the needle on graduation rate ► WCC implementation grant leverages more than $1.6 million in direct philanthropic and public-sector funds 6 Impact Highlights ► First round of Winning Cities has leveraged $1.6 million in award funds into $8.5 million in follow-on funds. Cities adjusting spending to support winning initiatives ► Needles moving on 10-year goals. For example: jobs and school outcomes improved in Lawrence, crime down in Chelsea ► Substantial systems change in Round 1 Winning Cities, including permanent changes to school systems, city hall ► Major new CEO and anchor institution engagement in most cities ► Application process creates important new work and capacity in cities that win and cities that do not win ► Better targeting of statewide policy toward smaller cities ► Increased national and local philanthropic interest/investment in smaller cities 7 Sustainability of Cross-Sector Collaboratives Empirical research has shown that the following factors are key to sustainability of cross-sector collaborative efforts: Strong lead organization and dedicated staff support Active participation from local partners Community buy-in and involvement Flexible funding from multiple sources Action-oriented sustainability plan in place early on in the process (year 2) 8
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