• Gateway Cities Project Update •

Gateway City Mayors & City Managers Celebrate Key Provisions
in the State's Recently Passed Economic Development Bill

Read the Official Press Release

Download a Copy of the Legislation

About the UMass Dartmouth Urban Initiative

Mission Statement

Recognizing the unique role that public higher education can play in revitalizing our state’s urban cities, Chancellor Jean MacCormack created the UMass Dartmouth Urban Initiative in November of 2007 for the purpose of involving UMass Dartmouth, to a greater extent, in the movement to provide additional assistance to the Commonwealth’s older, urban centers. UMass Dartmouth serves a region which contains four such cities (Fall River, New Bedford, Taunton, and Brockton) and some towns (Wareham, for example) where urban settings present various policy challenges that can limit progress toward achieving a high quality of life for residents.

The presence of these challenges and the opportunities that exist within these older, urban centers, in concert with the Chancellor’s overall desire to have UMass Dartmouth engaged and embedded in the communities we serve, led to the creation of the Urban Initiative. Its affiliation with the Center for Policy Analysis, a well-established research unit of UMass Dartmouth, is in keeping with the Center’s long-held desire to bring a greater focus on urban issues to their own policy work. This affiliation has benefited the Urban Initiative by providing support and an infrastructure as it begins its work in the region and across the state.

The Urban Initiative has as its mission, among other things, the performance of research, project development and implementation, technical assistance, and policy analysis to benefit municipalities, state and local agencies, private/non-profit entities, or any other organization or association whose work relates to leadership, education and policy issues in urban settings. We seek to accomplish our goals by engaging policy makers, issuing research reports, working on projects in partnership with others, fostering community and state-wide dialogue on important issues through the use of media and the promotion and hosting of events and conferences, offering technical assistance and training to policy leaders, encouraging civic participation, and linking university resources to the region and beyond.

Fields of Focus

Economic Development

While research shows that the Massachusetts economy continues to flourish, many older, urban cities throughout the Commonwealth continue to fall behind while they undergo difficult transitions from economies rooted in manufacturing toward more knowledge-based industries. Consequently, there are numerous challenges that promise to threaten not only the success of these transitions but also each city’s overall economic development. Acknowledging the need for a statewide recognition of and a corresponding statewide response to this critical issue, the Urban Initiative is committed to pursuing projects that will raise awareness of these challenges and advocate for efforts to promote economic development policies that will support not only expanded employment and business opportunities, but also key areas concerning quality of life for residents.

Urban Education

Believing that no effective statewide urban agenda can survive or grow without equivalent investments in education that address the specific and unique needs and demands of today’s urban school districts, the Urban Initiative vows to engage in efforts that will place the spotlight on the serious challenges (such as dropout and graduation rates) and tremendous potential (such as expanded learning time initiatives) that exist for urban education in the Commonwealth.

Workforce Development

Investing in effective economic development opportunities can be hollow if appropriate steps are not taken to invest in the skilled workforce that has called many of the Commonwealth’s older mill cities home for several decades. Supporting the educational and vocational needs of a blue-collar workforce that, after enduring the heartbreaking effects of outsourcing, stands ready and willing to improve their literacy and skills to meet the demands of the 21st Century will be a key element of any future economic development policy and a critical part of the Urban Initiative’s efforts to craft and support a statewide urban agenda.

Municipal Organization and Finances

With over 30 years of first-hand experience in state and local government, the staff of the Urban Initiative stands ready to assist communities and their leaders with developing effective and cost-efficient organizational structures that can promote improved service delivery while meeting the needs of personnel and the constituents they serve.

Urban Policy

The Commonwealth’s urban centers have unique and pressing needs that if allowed to go on neglected and forgotten will have disastrous effects not only upon the individual communities and their residents, but upon the Commonwealth as a whole. While the make up of our state legislature continues to reflect a growing trend toward focus on the concerns of suburban communities, the Urban Initiative is committed to working with its partner agencies, municipal leaders, and state officials to demand a fair look at strategies to promote change and rebuild an economic and social atmosphere that sustains the vitality of not only the inner cities themselves, but the surrounding suburban communities. To that end, the Urban Initiative together with the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC) have launched a Gateway Cities Project aimed at bringing together these eleven communities and their leaders in a concerted effort to develop a new statewide urban agenda and give one voice to their common concerns and shared aspirations.

Civic Engagement

The Urban Initiative recognizes the unique and important role that the citizenry play in public policy debate and development and acknowledges that their participation is the lifeblood of our democracy. As such, the Initiative works to sponsor and promote projects and events that pull together elected leaders, the business community, service-oriented organizations, higher education, research groups, the media, and the general public in order to raise awareness of vital issues and rally collective action on common causes.

Leadership

Achieving goals and affecting proactive change in our communities and state takes leadership that can effectively inspire and unite others toward cooperation and action. Working in concert with other organizations and municipalities throughout the state, the Urban Initiative plans to pursue programs and provide genuine support that not only builds leadership skills, but brings together the many individuals (both elected and non-elected) who have chosen the path of service to their community in order to pursue a new style of collective leadership that can achieve mutual goals.