Co-Sponsored by: The Housing Network of Rhode Island and Roger Williams University

Date: Wednesday April 20^th 2011
Location: The Law School Room #262 - Roger Williams University, Bristol Campus
Time: 6:30 pm

Dr. Dennis Littky will speak about the local impact on communities and the critical role that schools play in revitalization. Community development practitioners, educators and economic development specialists are focusing on the link between education and the creation of “creative cities” as an economic development strategy that translates into creative economic outcomes in the form of new ideas, new high-tech businesses and regional growth.

Dr. Littky is the co-founder and co-director of The Big Picture Company, The Met School and College Unbound. He is nationally known for his work in secondary education in urban, suburban and rural settings, spanning over 40 years. He has helped develop an innovative, replicable model for schools that has led to the creation of a network of 75 schools in 20 cities, nationally, and 20 abroad. In addition, Littky and Big Picture were asked to lead the Gates Foundation’s Alternative High School Initiative, for youth at risk of “falling through the cracks”.

The Partnership for Community Development was initiated in Fall 2008 by the Housing Network of RI and Roger Williams University, to raise the level of discourse about community development issues, to strengthen the professional skills of Rhode Island’s housing and community development industry, and to attract a new generation of professionals to the field.

Roger Williams University is a pilot site for College Unbound and a number of the students have chosen Community Development as their concentration.

There is NO charge for this event, RSVP to Maria Andrade mandrade@housingnetworkri.org or 401-521-1461 for planning purposes.

www.rwu.edu/academics/schools/scs/admission/commdev.htm

www.housingnetworkri.org

www.bigpicture.org

Presented by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Spring 2011

Collective Bargains:
Rebuilding and Repairing Public Sector Labor Relations in Difficult Times

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street

Thomas A. Kochan, George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management; Professor of Engineering Systems; and Co-director, Institute for Work and Employment Research at MIT Sloan School of Management

Commentary by

Jeffrey Mullen, Secretary and CEO, Massachusetts Department of Transportation
State Representative Martin J. Walsh, President, Boston Building Trades Council

Do heated disputes on such issues as drug testing for Boston’s firefighters, reducing the cost of providing health insurance for public employees, and changing the ways that teachers are paid suggest that we need to rethink, revisit, and revise the basic structure of public-sector labor relations? If so, how might public-sector unions, key officials, and civic leaders work together to find equitable and politically acceptable ways to make those changes? Drawing on his research and activities (which included helping resolve the disputes about the Boston firefighters contract and mediating the integration various workforces and unions at MassDOT), Professor Kochan will offer his thoughts on how to update policies and organizational practices in the public sector to bring them into closer alignment with changes in the nature of work, the workforce, and the economy that already have reshaped private-sector employment and unions.

This event is co-sponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

Managing Through Crisis:
Public Transit in New York

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street

Jay Walder, Chairman and CEO, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), and Harvard Kennedy School MPP ’83

Confronted with significant budget problems not long after he became head of the MTA in late 2009, Jay Walder has overseen the most aggressive cost-cutting initiative in the history of the organization, with cumulative savings expected to reach nearly $4 billion by 2014. At the same time, he has pursued long-overdue service improvements and maintained focus on critical capital investments. Despite these efforts, the MTA’s long-term operating and capital budgets remain fragile with significant out-year deficits. Achieving fiscal stability for New York’s vital transit system – without dramatic increases in government aid – may require fundamental changes in the agency’s cost structure. Issues to be addressed include spiraling pension and health care costs, as well as the need to tie wage increases to productivity gains. How this issue is resolved not only will have significant implications for the nation’s other transit agencies but also for other parts of the public sector as well.

This event is co-sponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, the Mossavar-Rahmini Center for Business and Government, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

Staying on Track:
Running – and Hopefully Improving – Public Transit in Tough Fiscal Times

Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street

Richard A. Davey, General Manager, MBTA and Rail and Transit Administrator, Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Since his appointment as General Manager of the MBTA in March 2010, Richard Davey has had to address a variety of problems, including (but not limited to) a structural budget deficit, underfunding for important safety-related projects, challenging weather, contentious labor relations, and pressures to expand and improve service. How has the T addressed these issues and what will it take to sustain those efforts?

This event is co-sponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

Public Services Through Careers in Real Estate

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.
Bell Hall, 5th floor, Belfer Building, Corner of JFK and Eliot Streets

Joseph Flatley, President and CEO, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, MCRP ’73
Evelyn Friedman, Director, Department of Neighborhood Development and Chief of Housing, City of Boston
Chrystal Kornegay, President and CEO, Urban Edge, HKS Achieving Excellence in Community Development Executive Education Program, ’12, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member
Others TBA

Moderated by Ed Marchant, Adjunct Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Graduate School of Design

How can individuals working in the non-profit, for-profit, and public sectors use the development and management of financially viable real estate projects to advance the public good?

This event is co-sponsored by the Office of Career Advancement, the Real Estate Professional Interest Council, the Joint Center for Housing Studies, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. This event is part of City Week: Helping Urban Areas Thrive, a week-long series of urban-oriented events and activities from March 23- 30 that will bring together students, practitioners, and scholars. More information about City Week is available at http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/oca/students-alumni/connect/highlighted-oca-events-and-oca-calendar.

Innovations in City Budgeting:
Opportunities and Challenges in Difficult Times

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.
Starr Auditorium, Belfer Building, Corner of JFK and Eliot Streets

Lisa Calise, CFO, Perkins School for the Blind, former Director of Administration and Finance for the City of Boston
Anthony Williams, Bloomberg Lecturer in Public Management, Harvard Kennedy School and former Mayor of Washington, DC, MPP ’87 and JD ’87 at Harvard Law School
Others TBA

Moderated by Linda Bilmes, Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Can key officials in our cities find innovative ways to provide key services in this era of enormous fiscal stress?

This event is co-sponsored by the Office of Career Advancement, the Urban Policy Professional Interest Council, Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. This event is part of City Week: Helping Urban Areas Thrive, a week-long series of urban-oriented events and activities from March 23- 30 that will bring together students, practitioners, and scholars. More information about City Week is available at http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/oca/students-alumni/connect/highlighted-oca-events-and-oca-calendar.

The Fiscal Crisis of State and Local Government Pension System

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street

Joshua Rauh, Associate Professor of Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Commentary by Jay Gonzalez, Secretary of Administration and Finance, Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance and others to be announced.

Fiscally strapped state and local governments have more than $3.5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities, according to analyses presented in a series of papers by Rauh and Robert Novy-Marx. This figure is higher than what those entities have reported, they argue, because states and localities use flawed accounting procedures that misrepresent the value of pension liabilities by discounting at expected returns on assets. Many pension plans — including those run by the states of Louisiana, Illinois, New Jersey, and Connecticut and local pension plans in such cities as Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Jacksonville and St. Paul — do not have assets in place to pay for already-promised benefits beyond 2020. Unless public pension systems are changed in fundamental ways, these looming problems could require substantial increases in taxes or large-scale cuts in public services.

This event is co-sponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, the Mossavar-Rahmini Center for Business and Government, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

The Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership at the Boston University School of Management is currently accepting applications for the class of 2012. The Institute’s nine month Certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership provides a blend of coursework, experiential learning, mentoring, and peer support and is designed to meet the needs of working nonprofit executive directors and senior managers.  Equally exciting is the powerful and ongoing network of alumni who continue to meet and support one another long after the formal program concludes.

Now completing its fourth year, INML has grown from an inaugural class of 14 to our current roster of 80 richly diverse executive directors and senior managers drawn from the equally diverse nonprofit sector in metropolitan Boston and Eastern Massachusetts.  Participants are talented leaders and managers who have generally learned their trade through effort and experimentation and yearn for a better grounding in the art and science of management.   In 2011 the institute plans to enroll 80 students in two locations, at Boston University and at our Lowell/Merrimack Valley site.

Participants meet weekly, investing their time equally in skill-based seminars and small-group seminars focused on live cases that students bring from their organizations. The program also features a mentoring program and a range of supplemental online resources.

Today the INML network is a strong community of 400 leaders, faculty, mentors and advisors. Our faculty and mentors are dedicated to the success of each participant and draw from decades of exceptional, hands on experience in the field. INML’s growth is good news for the nonprofit sector: as the Institute strengthens, so do participating organizations.

In these hard times, management skills, partnerships and support are more important than ever. INML is specifically designed to address those needs. If you or someone you know may be interested in applying for the Certificate program for 2011-2012, please visit the institute  website at http://bu.edu.inml or register for an upcoming information session on February 23^rd or March 10^th, at 6:30pm at:

http://management.bu.edu/exec/elc/INML/index.shtml

Friday, October 15, 2010

Immigrant Workers and Students and the American Dream
Speaker: Kent Wong, Director, UCLA Labor Center; Carlos Amador, UCLA graduate student
Time: 12:00pm–2:00pm
Location: 32-141
Urban Studies and Planning Departmental Speaker Series

The debate on immigration has intensified nationally, including state legislation in Arizona and the recent debate on the DREAM Act in the U.S. Senate. This lecture will focus on the role of immigrant workers in revitalizing the American labor movement, and the emerging immigrant youth movement to pass the DREAM Act. Kent Wong is the director of the UCLA Labor Center and a labor attorney who has worked as a scholar and activist with immigrant workers and undocumented students. He will be joined by Carlos Amador, a UCLA graduate student and DREAM Act advocate.

Friday, October 22, 2010

“Inequality in Historical Perspective” (Special Gateway Lectures: Addressing Inequalities)
Speaker: Emma Rothschild, Professor, History, Harvard University
Time: 12:00p–2:00p
Location: 32-141
Urban Studies and Planning Departmental Speaker Series

Emma Rothschild is the Jeremy and Jane Knowles Professor of History at Harvard University and Director of the Joint Center for History and Economics. Her most recent book, The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth-Century History, will be published by Princeton University Press in 2011. Recent publications include “The Archives of Universal History” (Journal of World History, September 2008), “A Horrible Tragedy in the French Atlantic” (Past and Present, August 2006), and Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet and the Enlightenment (Harvard University Press, 2001). She is also currently involved in a collaborative research project, at the University of Cambridge and at Harvard on “Exchanges of Economic, Legal and Political Ideas.”

Professor Rothschild studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University, and then moved to MIT, where she was a Kennedy Scholar in Economics. She is a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. She has chaired the Executive Committee of the United Nations Foundation Board and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning

For more information, contact:

Ezra Glenn

617-253-2024

eglenn@mit.edu

Partial match funding is also available for applicants receiving AmeriCorps grants.

Deadline for applicants is December 15, 2010

For additional information, please contact:
Irwin Nesoff
Department of Leadership and Policy
Wheelock College
inesoff@wheelock.edu
617-879-2170

This fall, the Rappaport Institute’s Boston 101 speakers’ series will focus on some of the key challenges facing the victors of November’s statewide elections. The Institute is also pleased to announce the release of two working papers on key issues as well. Details on the events, the working papers, and other Institute-related news follows.

Fall 2010 Boston 101 Events

- New Urban Mechanics:
How “Peer-Produced” Government Can Help Fill Potholes, Save Cities, and Maybe Even Rescue Democracy
Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 5:30 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street

Mitchell Weiss, Chief of Staff, Office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino, City of Boston

Commentary by Robert Behn, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Over the past decade, leaders of many cities, including Boston, have used technologies to identify and improve operational problems in their basic operations. While these efforts have produced many noteworthy successes, today the city of Boston (like a few other cities) is going further and is trying to use new technologies to better connect people with city government and, in doing so, to get them more involved and engaged as well. As the new chief of staff to Thomas Menino, the city’s five-term mayor, Mitch Weiss oversees the city’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, which is working with departments to develop new ways to address a variety of age-old problems.

This event is co-sponsored by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government.

- High School Success Stories:
How Did Some Exemplary High Schools in Greater Boston Raise Achievement and Narrow Test-Score Gaps?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 5:30 p.m.
Nye AB, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street
Ronald Ferguson, Faculty Co-chair and Director, Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University and Co-author “How High Schools Become Exemplary: Ways that Leadership Raises Achievement and Narrows Gaps by Improving Instruction in 15 Public High Schools”

Commentary by Mary Skipper, Chief Education Officer, TechBoston Academy Upper and Lower and
Sharon Wolder, Associate Principal, Brockton High School

This event is co-sponsored by the Achievement Gap Initiative, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, and the Program on Education Policy and Governance.

- Making the Case for Housing: Can We Balance Regional Needs and Local Concerns?
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 5:00 p.m.

Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street
Tina Brooks, Undersecretary, Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

Commentary by Alexander von Hoffman, Senior Fellow, Joint Center for Housing Studies and author “To Preserve and Protect: Land Use Regulations in Weston, Massachusetts”

Moderated by Edward Glaeser, Director, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government

This event is co-sponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

- Increased Solvability or Increased Intrusion?
The Use of Familial DNA in Criminal Investigations

Monday, October 25, 2010 at 5:30 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street
David Lazer, Associate Professor of Political Science and Computer Science, Northeastern University and Director, Program on Networked Governance, Harvard Kennedy School

Other panelists to be announced.

This event is co-sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government.

- Protecting the Safety Net in Hard Times:
Lessons from Catholic Charities of Boston

Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 5:30 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street
Tiziana Dearing, CEO, Boston Rising and former President, Catholic Charities of Boston

Commentary by Mary Jo Bane, Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Management and Academic Dean, Harvard Kennedy School

The current economic downturn has created two great problems for those who fund and offer key social services for those most in need. On the one hand, the downturn has greatly increased the demand for services. At the same time, it also has greatly reduced public and charitable funding for those services. Dearing will discuss how one major provider in Boston responded to these pressures and discuss how that experience informs her work as the new head of Boston Rising, a new non-profit focused on fighting poverty in Boston.

This event is co-sponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations.

- Sustaining Health Care Reform in Massachusetts (and Beyond)

Monday, November 15, 2010 at 5:30 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street
Jon Kingsdale, former Executive Director, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector

Commentary by David Cutler, Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Harvard University and Senior Health Care Advisor to the Obama campaign

While Massachusetts’ groundbreaking health-care reform law greatly reduced the number of uninsured people in the state and provided a model for national health-care reform, many key challenges must still be addressed at both the state and national levels. Most notably, the state’s efforts to revamp payment systems in ways that might restrain the growth in health-care costs have stalled while premiums for health insurance have continued to rise, particularly for small businesses. Looking forward, what can the state do to address these issues and what does the state’s experience suggest about national health-care reform as well?

This event is co-sponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy.

This summer Roger Williams University will offer the flagship core course-Elements and Issues in Community Development- in an on-line format. Previously all course work was done in-class and this summer they are launching an on-line version to be more convenient for our local students and to introduce the program to those at a greater distance.

Roger Williams University has a strong tradition of distance learning and the course will be taught by Kathy Dorgan AIA who has piloted the course in-class for several semesters: in 2009 she received the RWU Outstanding Instructor of the Year award.

Elements and Issues in Community Development covers a brief history of the profession and selected classical theories of community development.  Examples of problems faced by community development practitioners as well as opportunities, and novel approaches being tested in the profession, and a survey of best practices.

The Partnership for Community Development was initiated in Fall 2008 by the Housing Network of RI and Roger Williams University, to raise the level of discourse about community development issues, to strengthen the professional skills of Rhode Island’s housing and community development industry, and to attract a new generation of professionals to the field.

Certificate and Bachelor of General Studies: The Partnership offers both a five-course Housing, Economic and Community Development Certificate program (including coursework in community development, non-profit management, economic development, and housing development) and the concentration in Community Development in the Bachelor of General Studies.

ENROLL FOR SUMMER 2010 COURSES NOW!!! In addition to Elements and Issues there is a wide array of electives including Accounting, Strategic Planning, Human Resource Development, Public Administration, Public Policy, City Management and more.

Registration: Contact Pam Downey, pdowney@rwu.edu Director of Advisement and Student Services to register -she is the advisor for every student participating in the program. Application (new students only) and registration (for all) by May 18th 2010.

Scholarship: Scholarships may be available to Housing Network members and staff in related organizations, as well as, to Municipal and State of Rhode Island staff.

Please contact Maria Semedo-Andrade mandrade@housingnetworkri.org or 401-521-1461.

Information Session

Date:  May 7 & 12, 2010
Time:
11:45am – 1:00pm (5/7)
8:45am – 10:00am (5/12)
Location:  State Street Corporation (1 Lincoln Street, Boston)

The Emerging Leadership Program (ELP), now in its 9th year, is an executive leadership training and development program where participants have an opportunity to:

• Meet with current leaders in Boston
• Develop individual leadership skills
• Work on real team projects that will have an impact in the greater Boston region

Attend an information session to find out how to join the network of 400 young professionals who have completed the program.

For additional information, please visit:  www.leaders.umb.edu

LeadBoston
Since 1991 LeadBoston has been developing leaders who are connected across sectors, knowledgeable about diversity, aware of neighborhood realties, and committed to social responsibility.

LeadBoston creates changemakers.

For questions about the program, please contact:
Todd Fry, Program Director
617-451-5010 x12
TFry@BostonCCJ.org
Apply Now

Inlt
Delegates return from the summer “Intl Immersion Week” with plans for action as a delegation of leaders – and also with plans for their own personal growth and leadership.  Throughout the school year they strengthen their understanding of prejudice, their leadership skills, and their commitment to act.

Intl leaders advance diversity and social justice in their schools and communities.

For questions about the program, please contact:
Ruben Ortiz, Youth Programs Manager
617-451-5010 x13
OOrtiz@BostonCCJ.org
Apply Now

http://www.bostonccj.org/