By Benjamin Forman and Lynn Sanders Small business development is a central strategy for growth and renewal in the Commonwealth’s former mill cities, but there are real reasons to be concerned that young companies have trouble obtaining the financing they need to grow. Even before the current financial crisis led to unprecedented credit-tightening, a decade […]
Ben Forman
Benjamin Forman is MassINC’s research director. He coordinates the development of the organization’s research agenda and oversees production of research reports. Ben has authored a number of MassINC publications and he speaks frequently to organizations and media across Massachusetts.
Posted inEducation, The Download
Can Gateway City innovations close the achievement gap?
Last month MassINC released a major research report examining changes in public education in the 15 years following passage of the landmark 1993 Education Reform Act. The report’s findings and conclusions place Gateway Cities at the center of the debate about what to do next. While the report did not set out to examine the […]
Posted inEconomy
Build to suit
early last year, MassINC released Reconnecting Massachusetts Gateway Cities, a report on how the state’s historic mill communities have been struggling to make the shift to the New Economy. It acknowledged the challenges holding these communities back — challenges that we all recognize — but more importantly, it revealed enormous opportunities, some of them hiding […]