American Politics Commons^™

Support Strategies For Asian American Women Leaders In Massachusetts, Lisa Wong

Support Strategies for Asian American Women Leaders in Massachusetts

The election and appointment of Asian American women to positions in Massachusetts and on the federal level suggest that the face of public leadership is changing. Recent successes for Asian American women in electoral politics provide a unique opportunity to build the pipeline of Asian American women in Massachusetts politics. This research project aimed to identify strategies to increase the number of Asian American women elected to political office in Massachusetts.

Western Massachusetts And Campaigns: Women Of Color Running For Office [Presentation], Gladys Lebrón-Martínez

Western Massachusetts and Campaigns: Women of Color Running for Office

While attending a Women’s Pipeline for Change event in Boston during the summer of 2011, Gladys was inspired by the large number of women of color who came out to support other women of color in politics. This prompted her to document and analyze the resources that exist and are utilized by women of color, especially Latinas, running for elected office in Western Massachusetts.

This is a presentation by Lebrón-Martínez on her research process and project findings.

Political Motivations Of Women Of Color Leaders: Existing Challenges [Presentation], Martina Cruz

Political Motivations of Women of Color Leaders: Existing Challenges

Women of color are underrepresented in political office at multiple levels of government, from school committees to governorships nationwide. Women of color who are active in their communities have important qualities, perspectives, and experiences that are necessary in public policymaking settings that affect their communities. Yet many women of color who are well-known and respected in their communities do not seek elective office.

Martina sought to better understand factors that discourage women of color leaders from running for political office. Her project is important as it seeks to inform strategies to encourage more women of color in Massachusetts to run …

Civically Engaged Mothers Of Color And The Challenges Of Political Leadership [Presentation], Sheneal Parker

Civically Engaged Mothers of Color and the Challenges of Political Leadership

While the ranks of women serving in public office and other political leadership positions are growing, women of color continue to represent a relatively small proportion of elected and other public officials in the United States. Sheneal centered her study on civically engaged mothers of color given that there is limited scholarship available on women of color who are mothers and politically active in their communities. Sheneal wanted to deepen our understanding of the barriers mothers of color face in entering and sustaining a political career.

This is a presentation by Parker on her research process and project findings.

Civically Engaged Mothers Of Color And The Challenges Of Political Leadership, Sheneal Parker

Civically Engaged Mothers of Color and the Challenges of Political Leadership

While the ranks of women serving in public office and other political leadership positions are growing, women of color continue to represent a relatively small proportion of elected and other public officials in the United States. Sheneal centered her study on civically engaged mothers of color given that there is limited scholarship available on women of color who are mothers and politically active in their communities. Sheneal wanted to deepen our understanding of the barriers mothers of color face in entering and sustaining a political career.

Her study sought to better understand and analyze:

• How civically engaged mothers of color …

Western Massachusetts And Campaigns: Women Of Color Running For Office, Gladys Lebrón-Martínez

Western Massachusetts and Campaigns: Women of Color Running for Office

While attending a Women’s Pipeline for Change event in Boston during the summer of 2011, Gladys was inspired by the large number of women of color who came out to support other women of color in politics. This prompted her to document and analyze the resources that exist and are utilized by women of color, especially Latinas, running for elected office in Western Massachusetts.

Latina Pathways To Political Leadership In Massachusetts [Presentation], Elizabeth Cardona

Latina Pathways to Political Leadership

Elizabeth’s research aimed to explore pathways to leadership for Latinas who are change agents residing in Western Massachusetts. Recognizing the significance of culture, family and community in her own personal journey, Elizabeth wanted to document and analyze key factors that helped Latina leaders find a voice and play a political role in their communities.

This is a presentation by Cardona on her research process and project findings.

Latina Pathways To Political Leadership, Elizabeth Cardona

Latina Pathways to Political Leadership

Elizabeth’s research aimed to explore pathways to leadership for Latinas who are change agents residing in Western Massachusetts. Recognizing the significance of culture, family and community in her own personal journey, Elizabeth wanted to document and analyze key factors that helped Latina leaders find a voice and play a political role in their communities.

Political Motivations Of Women Of Color Leaders: Existing Challenges, Martina Cruz

Political Motivations of Women of Color Leaders: Existing Challenges

Women of color are underrepresented in political office at multiple levels of government, from school committees to governorships nationwide. Women of color who are active in their communities have important qualities, perspectives, and experiences that are necessary in public policymaking settings that affect their communities. Yet many women of color who are well-known and respected in their communities do not seek elective office.

Martina sought to better understand factors that discourage women of color leaders from running for political office. Her project is important as it seeks to inform strategies to encourage more women of color in Massachusetts to run …

Struggling Recovery And Economic Policy Uncertainty: Testimony Before The Joint Revenue Hearing, House And Senate Ways And Means Committees, Massachusetts State House, Boston, Ma, Christian Weller

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

The U.S. economy is in the fourth year of a recovery that started in June 2009. The fact that the economy is in recovery, even modestly, is something of a miracle given how stacked the deck is against it.

This is absolutely unique in American economic history: There has never been a recovery without the housing market expanding substantially as well; There has never been a recovery with state and local governments shrinking for three years in a row; There has never been a recovery with households owing, on average, well more than 100 percent of their after-tax income in …

The Asian American Electorate In 2012: Estimates Of Voter Registration In Eleven Massachusetts Cities And Towns, Paul Watanabe, Michael Liu

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

Massachusetts’ Asian American community continues to grow rapidly and accordingly Asian American electoral participation increases in importance. Voting is a vehicle to expand opportunities and to enhance their role in the selection of public officials and influencing public policies. This participation, however, does not come easily for some groups and especially for those with a large immigrant component such as the Asian American populations. To be eligible to vote, adult residents must be United States citizens by birth or naturalization, but that is not enough — citizens must also be registered to vote.

This report provides detailed estimates of voter …

Will Women Gain Seats?: The 2012 Election And The Representation Of Women In The Massachusetts Legislature, Paige Ransford, Meryl Thomson

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston released this fact sheet just prior to the November 2012 general election. Currently, just less than one quarter (24.5%) of Massachusetts legislators are female, putting Massachusetts behind all other New England states when it comes to the election of women to state legislative office. Vermont has the highest percentage (38.9%) of women in its legislature in the New England region.

Women’S Political Leadership In Massachusetts, Paige Ransford, Meryl Thomson, Sarah Healey

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP) at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies has been tracking the election of women at the municipal level in Massachusetts since 1996. In 2003, the Project expanded to include all New England states. CWPPP remains the only research center in the United States that regularly tracks women’s political representation at the local level.

Teaching And Service Partnerships At The Center For Community Democracy And Democratic Literacy, Judith Kurland, Center For Community Democracy And Democratic Literacy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The initial work of this McCormack Graduate School center focuses on the seven major placed-based initiatives within Boston, creating a Community of Practice to extend and expand best practices throughout the city; and provides expert strategic, design, policy and program advice in the creation of the Boston Promise Initiative led by the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), one of the initial twenty-one projects in the nation awarded by the Obama administration.

Civility And American Democracy: A National Forum, Barbara L. Graceffa, Center For Civil Discourse, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

At a time when political discourse seems to be on the path to paralysis, this forum brought together prominent humanities scholars, political thinkers, and journalists to explore the meaning of civility and its role in American democracy. The forum holds the following sessions: Civility in American History; Civility and Morality; Civility and Culture; Civility, Politics, and the Media.

Introduction, Barbara Lewis

Trotter Review

What is the political valence of blackness at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century; has it waxed or waned? Is it headed to greater potency or back into the dark days of the past when complexion determined the worth of character? Major political advances have been achieved nationally in the last ten years, most significantly in the election of the nation’s first African American president. Yet a resistant status quo remains. The push to unseat President Obama is virulent, and it is hard to imagine that all of the motivation to do so is tied only …

Governor Deval Patrick And The Representation Of Massachusetts’ Black Interests, Ravi K. Perry

Trotter Review

This article examines the rhetorical strategies and legislative initiatives of Deval Patrick and his efforts to represent black interests in Massachusetts. Utilizing speech content analysis, census data, interview data, and archives of executive and legislative actions, the article identifies that Massachusetts’ only black governor has been able to advance policies and programs designed to represent black interests. The results indicate that when black interest policy actions are framed utilizing a targeted universalistic rhetorical strategy, Patrick advanced black interests as he detailed how his proposed initiatives benefited all citizens. At the state level, the finding exposes the limits of the deracialization …

Considered A Foreign Policy Neophyte, Barack Obama Emerges As One Of The Nation’S Most Competent Commanders In Chief, Howard Manly

Trotter Review

During the 2008 presidential campaign, the main criticism against Barack Obama was that he was too green to lead America’s foreign policy and military.

It was a charge that Republican conservatives made against Democratic candidates with predictable frequency and had become a proven winning strategy after Ronald Reagan steamrolled perceived military bumbler Jimmy Carter in 1980. Conventional wisdom suggested that strategy would work even better against Obama.

In a move that foreshadowed his military decision-making, Obama authorized within the first four months of his administration the military rescue of Richard Phillips, the American sea captain taken hostage by pirates in …

Commentary: Creating A Pipeline For A More Inclusive Democracy, Joyce Ferriabough

Trotter Review

After the 2010 elections, the number of women holding elective office in Massachusetts plummeted to 1998 levels, with women comprising only 24 percent of all officeholders and 20 percent of local elected officials.

The figures for women of color who were officeholders were even starker: They held only 2 percent of elected offices, despite people of color comprising more than 20 percent of the state’s population. Women of color who are current officeholders in Massachusetts are typically the “first and only.” In the state senate, there is one woman of color, Sonia Chang-Diaz. She is the first Latina woman to …

Denver And Boston: Why One City Elects Black Mayors And The Other Has Not, Kenneth J. Cooper

Trotter Review

Denver’s population is only 10 percent black, and has never been above 12 percent in any Census, yet in July 2011 the city elected a black mayor. Michael Hancock, a former city councilman, is actually the second African-American mayor of Denver. Wellington Webb served the limit of three terms through 2003. Three of the city’s last four mayors have been of color. Federico Peña, a Mexican American, became the first in 1983.

At 24 percent, Boston’s black population is twice as large as Denver’s and has been so throughout the three decades during which Denver has sent two African Americans …

Commentary, Kenneth J. Cooper

Trotter Review

Barack Obama has made history by dispatching to the dustbin another usage for the tiresome phrase “first black.” As president, he is also going to make the future, both during his term and long after. The country’s racial-ethnic landscape, with its dangerous crevices and sheer mountains, is about to change in monumental ways.

His presence in the White House will promote more interracial dialogue, for one, and for the good of the country. This will not be a small change. The novelist Richard Wright once explained that he chose exile in Paris in the 1940s because he could not have …

Performance Management Recommendations For The New Administration, Shelley H. Metzenbaum

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

Two simple tools—goals and measurement—are among the most powerful leadership mechanisms available to a President for influencing the vast scope of federal agencies. Goals and measurement are useless, however, unless used. They must be used not just to comply with mandated reporting requirements, but to communicate priorities and problems, to motivate through attention and feedback, and to illuminate where, when, and why performance changes. The President and his leadership team must focus their discussions to deliver results around specific goals and discuss progress and problems relative to them. Otherwise, the goals agencies articulate in written plans are likely to be …

Democracy In Practice: Lessons From New England, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kevin Dye

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

Political decision-making by elites require some form of civilian participation to regain legitimacy. Increasingly groups of Citizens do not trust in political elites and are increasingly frustrated by their behavior. When faced with the problem of diversity, even established democracies face problems of managing diversity. In the global context differences of opinion, culture, religion etc has defined many of the New Wars (Kaldor 1999). In the United States many non-state and semi-governmental organizations have developed programs to increase public knowledge of the legislature and its decision-making processes. The ultimate purpose of this is to exercise some control over state power. …

Women Of Talent: Gender And Government Appointments In Massachusetts, 2002–2007, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Kacie Kelly

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Despite the high educational and occupational attainment—and considerable talent—of women in Massachusetts, the state ranks just 22nd in the nation on women's overall share of top executive, legislative, and judicial posts, compared to their share of the population. The goals of this study were to (1) calculate the percentage of women holding senior-level positions in state government at these four points in time; (2) analyze the distribution of appointments by type of position and executive office; (3) provide possible explanations for the status of women’s representation in these positions; and (4) offer recommendations that will serve to promote the appointment …

The Voting Rights Act And The Election Of Nonwhite Officials, Pei-Te Lien, Dianne M. Pinderhughes, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Christine M. Sierra

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most important—if not the most important—public policies developed over the last half century to increase access to the U.S. political system for people of color. The VRA also provides an important context for understanding the ascension of nonwhite groups into the elected leadership of the nation (Browning, Marshall, and Tabb 1984; Davidson and Grofman 1994; Menifield 2001; Mc-Clain and Stewart 2002; Segura and Bowler 2005; Bositis 2006). This essay assesses the present-day significance of the VRA for the political representation of communities of color by examining the implications of majority-minority districts and …

A Benchmark Report On Diversity In State And Local Government, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Pipeline to Public Service Initiative asked the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston to ascertain the racial diversity in state and local government. The project had the following three goals:

--To identify the race (and gender) of those holding top-level positions filled through gubernatorial appointments, e.g., secretaries, commissioners, directors, deputy commissioners/directors, and undersecretaries, in the Commonwealth’s executive offices and major departments.

--To compile the same information for members of the most influential boards and commissions in the Commonwealth filled through gubernatorial appointments.

--To assess the diversity of elected …

“As Tough As It Gets”: Women In Boston Politics, 1921-2004, Kristen A. Petersen, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd, Karla Armenoff

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

This study seeks to answer the question: Given the wealth of talent and resources women possess—and the state offers—why is it so tough for women to gain representation in Boston City Hall? To answer this question, and to document the efforts women have made over almost 100 years, we examine the history of women who have run for and won—or lost—election to the Boston City Council in the 20th century. How does the structure and culture of a given urban political arena (i.e., “Boston politics”) affect women’s opportunities as elected officials? What is women’s political culture and how has it …

Political Contributions By Asian Americans: An Analysis Of The 2002 Massachusetts Gubernatorial Campaign, Paul Watanabe, Gregory Kim-Ju

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

The Institute for Asian American Studies has analyzed and chronicled, often for the first time, the involvement of Asian Americans in the daily life of the Commonwealth. Over the last few decades Massachusetts has experienced a remarkably rapid growth in its Asian American population. Between 1990 and 2000, for example, this population grew by 67.5% to 238,124. Asian Americans now constitute just under 4% of the state’s population

Plebiscites And The Public Purse: U.S. Experience With Direct Democracy, Arthur A. Goldsmith

College of Management Working Papers and Reports

The United States is a distinctive case for studying the way extensive direct democracy can affect fiscal policy. Every state in the Union allows voters to decide certain ballot questions about how to raise and spend public revenue. The U.S. record shows that large‐scale plebiscites fail to produce reliably “pro‐poor” government finance. Direct citizen involvement in fiscal policy has not led to uniformly equitable or financially sustainable state budgets. Nor has it mobilized low‐income groups to express and defend their economic interests. When called upon to make decisions about the amounts and purposes of statewide government spending, the electorate is …

Women Creating Social Capital And Social Change, Marilyn Gittell, Isolda Ortega-Bustamante, Tracey Steffy

Trotter Review

As Community Development Organizations (CDOs) are the primary vehicle for development in low-income neighborhoods, scholars have begun to examine them in terms of the degree to which they increase citizen participation, increase civic capacity, as well as stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods through the creation of social capital. According to Putnam, civic action requires the existence of social capital; he defines social capital as "norms, trust, and networks." As Gittell and Vidal note, there has been a "virtual industry of interest and action created around the implication of Putnam's findings for the development of low-income communities."

This article is an excerpt …