Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

People And Place: Understanding The Processes, Outcomes And Impacts Of Interventions Of The Fairmount Corridor Initiative, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Through a 5 year grant, the Center for Social Policy (CSP) serves as a strategic learning and evaluation partner to The Boston Foundation (TBF). TBF’s investment and people and place-based initiatives seek to make sustainable, positive change through community and economic development in neighborhoods along the Fairmount-Indigo transit line in Boston. From 2010-2012, the Center team worked closely with Mattapan United and Millennium 10 (in Codman Square/Four Corners) to identify community priorities for neighborhood change. From 2013-2015, the Center team is evaluating these neighborhood change efforts, as well as other initiatives aimed at increasing economic well-being for neighborhood residents. The …

Aging In Hingham: A Community Affair, Jan Mutchler, Caitlin Coyle, Hayley Gravette

Gerontology Institute Publications

The purpose of this needs assessment is to investigate the needs, interests, and opinions of mature residents of Hingham, Massachusetts, relating to their aging experiences and needs for age-related services. This assessment was undertaken by the Gerontology Institute of the McCormack Graduate School at UMass Boston on behalf of the Town of Hingham Department of Elder Services (hereinafter referred to as the Department of Elder Services). The focus of this report is on Hingham residents aged 60+ (referred to here as “Seniors”) and residents aged 45-59 (referred to here as “Boomers”). Information about these two age groups was obtained both …

Town Of Cohasset Senior Center Study, Jan Mutchler, Hayley Gravette, Caitlin Coyle

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Town of Cohasset is considering the construction of a new Senior Center that will provide the opportunity for expanded programming within a dedicated building. In support of planning efforts by the Town of Cohasset, a study was conducted by the Gerontology Institute of the McCormack Graduate School at UMass Boston. The study addresses the need for, and probable utilization of, a new Senior Center, and includes consideration of the recreational, educational and health-related programs that are likely to be offered through the new Center. Results of the study presented in this report respond to three questions: First, what are …

The Transitional Museum As Urban Parasitism, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

In a recent talk at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, I presented to the public an initial approach to the concept of the Transitional Museum, one that I have developed over time in collaboration with Mauricio Rodriguez-Anza and Vivianne Falco. This concept grew out of our efforts at defining the main features and goals of the new Anza Falco Museum of Art and Design, and particularly out of our struggle with the word "alternative" as an all-embracing, defining category with the necessary components to project to the world a unique and interdisciplinary style both in its architectural form …

The Feasibility Of Establishing The Mosaic Partnerships Program In The City Of Boston, Deb Devenne, Maia Germain, Marsha Inniss-Mitchell, Kyle Reilly, John Sieracki

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

Six years ago, Rochester, NY Mayor William A. Johnson contracted with the consulting firm Idea Connection Systems (ICS) to create a program then called Biracial Partnerships for Community Progress. Since that time over 400 leaders from all areas of the Rochester community have participated. ICS has established this program, since renamed the Mosaic Partnerships Program, in several cities. Through the UMASS Boston - Center for Collaborative Leadership, Emerging Leaders Program (ELP), the Mosaic Partnerships Program was introduced as a way to bridge race relations in Boston and be a catalyst for change. Can the Mosaic Partnerships Program provide positive results …

Immigrant Entrepreneurs And Neighborhood Revitalization: Studies Of The Allston Village, East Boston And Fields Corner Neighborhoods In Boston, Ramon Borges-Mendez, Michael Liu, Paul Watanabe

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

Although somewhat later than other major urban areas, Boston has been experiencing fundamental demographic changes. The 2000 Census reported that for the first time non-Hispanic whites constitute a minority of the city’s population. Subsequent Census estimates confirm an even stronger trend toward a rapidly diversifying population.

Immigration has been a major factor in this growth and diversification. A recent report shows that over the last 15 years more than 22,000 new immigrants have annually settled in Massachusetts. The foreign-born as a percentage of the population has grown from 9.4 percent in 1980 to 14.3 percent in 2004.

Asian Americans In Metro Boston: Growth, Diversity, And Complexity, Paul Watanabe, Michael Liu, Shauna Lo

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This report provides an overview of Asian Americans in the Metro Boston area using 2000 U.S. Census data.

Looking At Participatory Planning In Cuba… Through An Art Deco Window, Marie Kennedy, Lorna Rivera, Chris Tilly

Women’s and Gender Studies Faculty Publication Series

Last January we sat with about thirty Cubans in a community arts center in Boyeros, on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. The group included artists, teachers, social workers, government officials, architects, engineers and health professionals, all working in Boyeros. We were leading a three-day participatory planning workshop to help this group identify ways that the 1930s Art Deco arts center, currently under renovation, could be used to spark broader community development. As the first day drew to a close, we felt good about the day’s work. We had turned the Cubans loose in a small group exercise that used art …

The Development Of Boston's Seaport District: Employment Opportunities And Community Strategies, O. Steven Quimby

Gastón Institute Publications

The development of Boston's Seaport District will create thousands of full-time employment opportunities over the next decade. To ensure equitable access to these opportunities for Boston's communities of color, it is imperative that organizations offering employment-training programs begin to take these opportunities into account now in their training efforts. The Center for Community Economic Development (CCED) at the University of Massachusetts Boston has prepared this report, The Development of Boston's Seaport District: Employment Opportunities and Community Strategies, as a step in becoming informed about these opportunities.

This study examines employment opportunities to be created in three industries projected to be …

The Struggle Over Parcel C: How Boston’S Chinatown Won A Victory In The Fight Against Institutional Expansionism And Environmental Racism, Andrew Leong

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

For the last fifty years, Boston’s Chinatown has been a shrinking community. Squeezed in by highways on two sides, its land is being gradually consumed by two medical institutions, Tufts University Medical School and New England Medical Center. During the last few decades, these two medical institutions have swallowed up nearly one third of the land in Boston’s Chinatown. Despite this, both medical institutions want more. In its latest attempt at institutional expansion, New England Medical Center made an offer to the City of Boston in early 1993 to acquire a small plot of land in Chinatown called Parcel C, …

Closing The Growth And Equity Policy Divide: Rethinking The Role Of The Federal Government When Promoting Economic Development In Distressed Urban Communities, Edwin Melendez

Gastón Institute Publications

The objectives of this policy briefing memorandum are two-fold: first, to review the historical record concerning economic growth policies, particularly those overseen by the Economic Development Administration (EDA), and the experience with block grants for urban economic development; and, second, to discuss new roles the federal government might play in promoting the convergence of these two broad policy areas.

Black And White Perceptions Of Quality Of Life In Boston, Floyd J. Fowler Jr.

Center for Survey Research Publications

It is difficult, probably impossible, to compare objectively the seriousness of racial problems and tensions in Boston with those in other cities. However, there can be little doubt that there is a widespread perception that relationships between blacks and whites in Boston constitute a serious problem. Specifically, one image is that Boston is a community in which blacks are not welcome and in which they are treated with unusual hostility and abuse. Another image is that whites in Boston are unfairly maligned as racists and bigots.

In 1980, following several race-related incidents, The Boston Committee was formed. The purpose of …