sponsored by The Boston Foundation
CommonWealth Voices aims to be a beacon of robust discourse, offering a platform for analysis and advocacy on the challenges and aspirations of political life in Massachusetts.
Explore Massachusetts’ vibrant political and civic landscape with incisive commentary from legislators, local activists, seasoned political analysts, and interested residents across the Bay State.
The Boston Foundation is deeply committed to civic leadership, and essential to our work is the exchange of informed opinions. We are proud to partner on a platform that engages such a broad range of demographic and ideological viewpoints.
In the fight for a more sustainable future, we can’t afford to leave underserved communities behind
Since Massachusetts wants to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, we can’t afford to leave any homeowners behind in pursuing clean energy improvements.
Should Massachusetts implement a program providing universal basic income?
The difference of opinion over UBI generally comes down to what’s valued most by either side of the argument: reducing the effects of poverty now or increasing self-sufficiency in the future.
Why I’ll always remember my Parker House breakfast with Phil Johnston
Phil understood that young people aren’t just the future of the party or the nation, they’re a vital part of our present.
Energy prices are soaring in Massachusetts. Trump’s tariffs are making it worse.
MASSACHUSETTS FAMILIES ARE facing skyrocketing energy bills, and the Trump administration’s reckless energy and trade policies are making it worse. Already, some Bay Staters are paying double what they did last year on their energy bills, largely thanks to an aging gas system struggling to respond to extreme weather fueled by climate change. And in…
Trump is making the challenges facing nonprofits even tougher
Society expects nonprofit staff—who make up 17 percent of the Massachusetts workforce—to sacrifice wages for the opportunity to advance altruistic causes.
Our towns in Western Mass. are getting shortchanged under the reimbursement formula for state-owned land
The report “Pursuing Equitable State-Owned Land Reimbursements for Municipalities” recommends a funding floor to address systemic inequity in the PILOT formula.
Federal nutrition budget cuts will cause real pain in Western Mass.
These cuts would deepen food insecurity across Western Massachusetts and further strain our already overburdened food assistance network.
Tariffs on Canada threaten our energy future and economic growth
THE IMPOSITION OF tariffs on energy imports from Canada jeopardizes both our climate targets and the economic security of millions of residents and businesses across New England and New York. President Trump has imposed broad 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports. It remains unclear whether these tariffs apply to electricity (the Trump administration issued no…
Kerry Healey was right: We should discuss senior ‘overhousing’
As a new state commission recommends policies, programs, and investments to expand the supply of housing for seniors, devising strategies to help older adults move into smaller homes should also be on their agenda.
DiZoglio misses chance to make her case by opting to tweet, not testify, on her quest to audit the Legislature
The Senate subcommittee hearing offers the auditor the opportunity to make the case that her demand of the Legislature is consistent with constitutional principles, but it seems that she has declined to take it.
In downtown Boston rezoning, let’s not repeat mistakes of the past
IN JANUARY, Boston planning officials unveiled a new zoning proposal for a large area of the city’s downtown, a proposal that would dramatically alter the size and scale of permissible buildings within one block of Boston Common and the Public Garden. Under this proposed new zoning, luxury residential towers as tall as 500 feet –…
With arrest of Rumeysa Ozturk, Trump is pulling out all the stops to divide us. It won’t work.
They know that the more that Americans are preoccupied by false enemies and straw men, the more vulnerable we will be to their campaign to dismantle our democracy, strip us of our rights and our privacy, and funnel wealth from everyday Americans to the billionaire class.
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