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星期二, 5月 21, 2024
MAYOR WU ANNOUNCES CITY’S PLAN FOR A SAFE, HEALTHY AND ACTIVE SUMMER IN BOSTON
MassDems Statement on President Biden’s Visit to Boston
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星期一, 5月 20, 2024
麻州 7 項支持性房屋計畫將得到4600萬元資助
Healey-Driscoll Administration Announces Support for Seven
Supportive Housing Projects for Families and Seniors
$46M in funding will produce or preserve supportive housing
for vulnerable Massachusetts residents
GLOUCESTER - Today, Lieutenant
Governor Kim Driscoll and Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus
announced seven supportive housing projects will receive $7.4 million in low-income
housing tax credits and $38.5 million in subsidy funds for a total commitment
of $46 million. The seven projects will produce or preserve 280 units of
supportive housing for families, seniors, chronically homeless individuals, and
other vulnerable residents. The awardees are located in Boston, Gloucester,
Lowell, Quincy, Revere, Rowley and Somerville.
Supportive housing is
housing that has easy access to services, such as health care, mental health or
addiction treatment to help support older adults, those transitioning out of
chronic homelessness or other vulnerable people.
“These seven housing
projects will help hundreds of Massachusetts seniors and families access
affordable housing that supports their full range of needs, such as health
care, community resources, prepared meals, social activities and overall, a
sense of stability and community,” said Governor Healey. “Our
administration is proud to support projects like these through our Affordable
Homes Act and last year’s tax cuts package.”
Today’s announcement took
place in Gloucester at City Hall, right around the corner from the historic
Pattillo Building project, an award recipient. Last fall, as part of a $1
billion tax relief signed by the governor, the Administration raised the Low-Income
Housing Tax Credit to $60 million annually – a $20 million increase over the
previous year. The increase has created the opportunity to build more housing
and a more affordable and equitable Massachusetts.
“We are expanding housing
opportunities so more people can be housed, and get the services they need to
stay housed,” said Lieutenant Governor Driscoll. “The Healey-Driscoll
Administration is committed to creating housing opportunities for people at all
income levels.”
Coupled with
Administration’s historic $4.1 billion Affordable Homes Act housing bond bill
which will establish the first-ever Supportive Housing Pool Fund to fund the
wrap-around services associated with supportive housing, the Healey-Driscoll
administration is committed to providing support services to our residents who
need it most.
“Supportive housing is a
powerful force to lift up our most vulnerable residents and give them the tools
they need to not just survive but to thrive,” said Housing and Livable
Communities Secretary Ed Augustus. “We look forward to seeing the
Affordable Homes Act across the finish line this year and create even more
much-needed supportive housing opportunities.”
Of the 280 units, 256 will
be affordable to residents earning less than 60% of AMI. One hundred forty-nine
units will be further restricted for residents earning less than 30% of AMI and, in some cases,
transitioning from homelessness.
Today’s announcement was
part of the administration’s statewide Housing Campaign to call attention to the
urgent need to lower housing costs throughout Massachusetts. Events last week
included highlighting the MBTA’s efforts to support transit-oriented
development and celebrating our community developers. Prior events focused on
identifying housing solutions with the business
industry, ending veteran homelessness, the impact of housing on health
care, the importance of investing in the
state’s public housing and the Healey-Driscoll
Administration’s partnership with cities and towns
to find housing solutions.
The awardees
include:
Pattillo Building in
Gloucester is a historic adaptive re-use project located near the
main business district. When rehabilitation work is completed, the project will
offer 29 total units for individuals. Twenty-eight of the units will
be restricted for individuals earning less than 30% of AMI and, in some cases,
transitioning from homelessness.
New Hope 4 in Lowell is a new construction
addition to an existing family homeless shelter. When completed, New Hope 4 will offer eight two-bedroom and
three-bedroom units for homeless families.
Midwinter Apartments in
Quincy is a demolition/new construction project. When completed, the
project will feature 34 new studios for homeless individuals.
110 Ocean in Revere is a new construction
project. When completed, the project will offer affordable units for families
as well as group-home units for clients of the state Department of Mental
Health. In total, the project will include 56 units.
Windward Senior Supportive
in Rowley is a new construction project. When completed, the project
will offer 20 affordable one-bedroom units, as well as supportive
services for seniors. All 20 units will be income-restricted for
seniors.
259 Lowell Street in
Somerville is a preservation/rehabilitation project for seniors. The
project includes 97 units of senior housing, of which 73 units will be
income-restricted for seniors.
McDevitt Senior Homes in
South Boston is an adaptive re-use/new construction project. The
project will feature 36 affordable one-bedroom units, with supportive services, for
seniors.
Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to Lead Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition
Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to Lead Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition
Coalition to focus on
addressing the needs of caregivers as a talent attract and retention strategy
in Massachusetts
Boston, MA – The
Healey-Driscoll Administration announced today that the Executive Office of
Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) will lead the “Massachusetts Caregiver
Coalition,” a public-private partnership of diverse business and worker
advocates with a focus on elevating the needs of family caregivers as a talent
attraction and retention strategy in Massachusetts. Secretary Jones of EOLWD
made the announcement at a panel entitled, People, Caregiving and the
Economy: How the Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition brings it all
together.
Today’s announcement
marks a transition for the Coalition, first launched in 2019, to align with and
build on the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s workforce agenda. The mission of
the Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition is to support and build creative solutions
that allow family caregivers to continue to thrive in the workplace while also
caring for family at home.
“Family caregivers are
the backbone of our long-term care system, both nationally and in
Massachusetts, and they play a pivotal role in our communities, workforce, and
economy,” said Governor Maura Healey. “It’s vital that government,
business, academia, and labor work together to provide and build supportive
workplaces for our caregivers. Our administration is proud to take a leading
role in the Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition to advance this important work.”
“Caring for a loved one
while also working full or part-time can have an impact on the mental,
emotional, and physical well-being of the caregiver,” said Lieutenant
Governor Kim Driscoll. “With this transition, the Massachusetts Caregiver
Coalition will work with many partners to create, promote, and enable a support
system for our family caregivers and reduce their burden to increase
opportunities for our talent to thrive both at work and home.”
In Massachusetts, there
are more than one million residents providing care to family, friends, and
neighbors and who are critical to the health, safety, and emotional wellbeing
of the state and nation. The Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition will promote and
share best practices and resources to increase productivity for caregivers at
work and home, attract untapped talent managing caregiving responsibilities,
and retain existing talent navigating work-life balance in the workplace.
“As caregiving remains a
critical infrastructure to attract and retain a strong workforce, we also have
to acknowledge the many workers across all industries who take on the
responsibility as a family caregiver,” said Secretary Lauren Jones of
Labor and Workforce Development. “The Healey-Driscoll Administration
looks forward to this next chapter of the Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition as
we promote best practices and share resources to support existing and future
workers as caregivers in the workplace.”
“Over the past five
years, MassTech has been convening the Caregiver Coalition to promote the needs
of caregivers across our state and highlight the economic impact that
caregiving can have on employers,” said Carolyn Kirk, CEO, MassTech.
“While MassTech will continue to be an active public partner in the Coalition,
having the leadership and reach of EOLWD will further elevate the needs of
caregivers as a talent attraction and retention strategy in the state.”
Caregiving has been a
focus area for the Healey-Driscoll Administration. In the recently
released Massachusetts
Workforce Agenda: Meeting the Moment to Attract, Retain, and Develop a Future
Workforce, the Healey-Driscoll Administration highlighted the
importance of supporting workers, including the cost of caregiving and a
“whole-of-government” approach to caregiving.
In addition to
transitioning leadership of the Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition from the
Massachusetts Tech Collaborative to EOLWD, the Administration’s efforts include
cross-secretariat collaboration to ensure affordable, high-quality child care
in Massachusetts, as outlined in an Executive
Order signed by Governor Healey January 2024 and building a
workforce to support both child care and senior care.
The Coalition aims to
partner with, encourage, and challenge Massachusetts employers wherever they
are in their progress of supporting employee caregivers by: Illuminating the
needs of employee caregivers and their economic impact; Identifying, sharing, and
leveraging best practices inclusive of all employer sizes, locations and types
of workforce; Championing employee caregiver policies; and Enabling culture
change for caregivers across all sectors of the economy.
In addition to EOLWD,
other founding members of the Coalition include ARCHANGELS, Care.com, Cigna,
EMD Serono, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech), Massachusetts
Business Roundtable, and Careforth (aka Seniorlink).
“The Caregiver Coalition
will serve as an engaging platform to help build awareness of existing
caregiver resources, highlight employer best practices, and strengthen worker
supports,” said Undersecretary Josh Cutler of Labor and Workforce
Development. “We appreciate all the work that has gone into establishing
and building the Coalition and now look forward to expanding on those efforts
with this transition.”
Nearly 500 Harvard faculty and staff urge Harvard President to stand by his word, allow peaceful protestors to graduate
Nearly 500 Harvard faculty and staff urge Harvard President to stand by his word, allow peaceful protestors to graduate
Cambridge MA - As Harvard Commencement approaches, over 350 Harvard professors and over 100 staff have signed a letter urging the University to allow “students, who engaged in peaceful protest, be allowed to graduate with the degrees they have earned,” on Thursday, May 23. Harvard has threatened to withhold the degrees of at least 12 graduating seniors, including multiple Rhodes Scholars, breaking with over 50 years of precedent and a written agreement proposed by President Alan Garber to students via email, based upon which students chose to end their encampment on May 14.
The letter was sponsored by a rapidly forming coalition of faculty and staff and garnered nearly 500 signatures in 24 hours. Signatories endorsed alarm that, “Harvard undergraduate students who engaged in peaceful protest are being sanctioned in an unprecedented, disproportionate, and arbitrary manner compared to students engaging in similar acts of civil disobedience in Harvard’s history,” and expressed that the “sanctions undermine trust,” would “unduly harm these students’ future employment and current livelihood” and “create further division on campus at a time when we should come together to honor our graduates.”
Harvard History Professor Alison F. Johnson and Latin American Studies Professor Steven Levitsky, interviewed alumni and reviewed Harvard student newspaper archives, concluding in a recent Crimson article that, “Such disproportionate penalties for relatively minor rule violations break sharply with more than 50 years of Harvard practice. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this is an instance of “the Palestine exception”— a markedly lower tolerance for pro-Palestinian speech than for other speech.”
“The students in the encampment—many of them Jewish—were upholding the biblical principle that we cannot stand by while our neighbor’s blood is shed, and Harvard‘s disproportionate and unprecedented punishment of them not only violates its own rules, but our own Jewish values,” said Harvard Medical School Lecturer and Harvard Jewish alumnus Aaron Shakow. "Protesting genocide--anywhere and everywhere-- is not antisemitic. Suggesting that all Jews support Israel, regardless of its actions, is. Buoyed by thousands of years of Jewish ethical tradition, we join the students calling for peace, dignity, and self-determination for Palestinians. As alums, we are appalled by the university's suppression of free speech on campus, and demand that all sanctions against protesters be lifted."
Signatories hailed from departments and faculties throughout the university and included notable figures such as:
Tracy K. Smith, Professor of English & African and African American Studies, FAS
Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value, English Department, FAS
Diana Eck, Former faculty dean of Lowell House and Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Divinity School,
David R. Williams, Norman Professor & Chair of Dept of Soc & Behav Sci, Chan School of Public Health
Vincent Brown, Charles Warren Professor of American History, History/Harvard University
Laurence Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus, Harvard Law School
Jacqueline Bhabha, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, GHP/HSPH/FAS
Lizabeth Cohen, former Dean of the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study and Howard Mumford Jones, Professor of History, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Mary T. Bassett, Former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Nancy Krieger, Professor of Social Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public health
麻州長、波士頓市長聯袂簽署氣候變遷韌性星球行動
Governor Healey, Mayor Wu and UMass Boston Chancellor Suárez-Orozco Sign Planetary Action for Climate Change Resilience
Commitment to take global and local approach to climate mitigation, adaptation and societal transformation also signed by Pope Francis at Vatican Climate Summit
VATICAN CITY – Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey, Boston Mayor Michele Wu and University of Massachusetts Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco last week joined Pope Francis, Mayors and Governors across the world in signing the Planetary Action for Climate Change Resilience. The document, which was authored in part by Chancellor Suárez-Orozco and Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer, is a result of a three-day global summit entitled “From Climate Change to Climate Resilience.”
Governor Healey was the first Governor to sign the Planetary Action, and Mayor Wu was the first Mayor to sign.
“Climate change impacts the entire world, and it is essential that we work together with the urgency that this challenge demands to build resiliency in all of our communities,” said Governor Healey. “I was grateful to join the Vatican Climate Summit this week and learn from so many of my colleagues in government, as well as scientists, academics and faith leaders, about the policies and strategies that can be most impactful for protecting our environment and driving the transition to a clean energy economy.”
“Over the course of this convening, leaders around the world highlighted the ways that each of our communities are experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change and taking action to mitigate and adapt, said Mayor Wu. “After hearing so many inspiring examples of community organizing, technological advances, and local innovation for sustainability, now is the time for collective action to amplify and multiply our progress. I’m proud for Boston to be among the original signatories of this global commitment to make each community a home for everyone and for our planet—our common home—to be healthy, connected, and prosperous for generations to come.”
“Under Governor Healey’s statewide leadership and Mayor Wu’s leadership in Boston, we are an international climate resilience model, which is why when I convened this summit under the guidance of His Holiness Pope Francis, I wanted our best practices shared with the world,” said Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. “As Chancellor of Boston’s premier public university, I am proud we will continue to be at the forefront of developing innovative solutions for addressing our climate crisis.”
“We had an inspiring experience at the Vatican Climate Summit as we’ve learned from esteemed leaders from across the globe about best practices to reduce emissions and strengthen resiliency in our communities,” said Chief Hoffer. “We also shared the ways in which Massachusetts is a global leader in this work and committed to future collaboration to meet this unprecedented moment in human history. This protocol articulates science-based principals and reflects our shared commitment to rapidly bend the warming curve, accelerate adaptation, protect our communities and build a strong clean energy economy.”
The Planetary Action reads in part: The need for a profound societal transformation across the global population is immediate and critical. Our aim is to enlighten and galvanize societies worldwide into prompt, unified action against climate change and for climate resilience. Our strategy is comprehensive, spanning policy shifts, education, and behavioral changes under the banner of MAST [Mitigation, Adaptation and Societal Transformation]. This is a pivotal moment that calls for unwavering commitment and immediate action. We must capture this moment and transition to a benevolent era with no one left behind.
During an audience with summit participants, Pope Francis emphasized the urgent need to “act to protect people and nature.” He called for a universal approach to addressing climate change, swift action to lower emissions and embrace decarbonization, safeguarding natural resources, and develop new financial architecture to respond to climate catastrophes.
Participants also committed to follow up on the global summit by hosting state and city summits to develop locally relevant resilience plans. Governor Healey announced that she will work with Chancellor Suarez-Orozco to host a summit in Massachusetts this fall with local leaders from across the state to coordinate adaptation, transformation, and financing plans.