Baker-Polito Administration Unveils Urban Agenda Grant Winners

Baker-Polito Administration Unveils Urban Agenda Grant Winners

Grants will empower local communities to meet local needs

Boston – Today, Governor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito announcedthe inaugural round of awards from the Commonwealth’s Urban Agenda Grant Program, a new grant program that seeks to unlock community-driven responses to local economic opportunities through partnership-building, problem-solving, and shared accountability. The awards, totaling $3 million in grant funding, will fund 16 economic development, planning, and housing development initiatives, across 13 communities.

“The focus of our urban agenda is community empowerment across the Commonwealth, to meet local needs with locally driven solutions,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “The partnerships that have formed in response to this new program will be essential to building leadership, collaboration, and capacity, while creating economic opportunities in the short term, and building a foundation for long-lasting economic development in our urban communities.”

“Urban Agenda grants build on our administration’s commitment to empowering communities,” said Lieutenant Governor Polito. “By supporting community-driven responses to local economic opportunities, this grant program will help transform urban neighborhoods.”

“By engaging cities and community-based organizations around local economic assets, urban agenda grants will help communities unlock dynamic growth,” said Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash.

“Multi-family housing development strengthens communities,” said Housing and Community Development Undersecretary Chrystal Kornegay. “By funding hard-to-finance soft costs, Urban Agenda Housing Program grants support the revitalization of vacant and underutilized publicly-owned land, and advance our mission to create vibrant communities.”

The Commonwealth’s Urban Agenda promotes economic vitality and cultivates safer, stronger urban neighborhoods and communities throughout Massachusetts. The Urban Agenda grant program seeks to advance vibrant communities, and unlock economic mobility for residents, through community-based partnerships that address workforce development, entrepreneurship, and mixed-income housing development. The inaugural round of the grant program received 54 applications, requesting a total of $12.7 million in funding, from both Gateway Cities and non-Gateway communities of varying sizes. The grant program made awards to three types of projects: economic development implementation grants, economic development planning grants, and housing grants.

Urban Agenda Economic Development Implementation grants will empower urban communities to advance employment and economic opportunity by providing flexible grant funding that supports creative local partnerships and capitalizes on local economic opportunities. The Urban Agenda Economic Development Implementation grant program challenged urban neighborhoods across Massachusetts to form partnerships that leverage existing economic assets, target specific workforce populations, define their economic development and quality of life goals, and then deliver on those goals.

Urban Agenda Planning and Technical Assistance grants will be used by communities to bring residents and other stakeholders together for a facilitated process to identify opportunities for shared work on quality-of-life issues, and to build coalitions and social capital within the community.

Urban Agenda Housing Program grants will assist municipalities in expanding housing opportunities by supporting predevelopment and soft costs related to the construction of multi-family housing, with a particular emphasis on housing opportunities that leverage vacant or under-utilized publicly-owned land.

2016 URBAN AGENDA GRANT AWARD WINNERS

Urban Agenda Economic Development Implementation Grants:

Boston - $225,000

Madison Park Development Corporation will partner with Boston Education, Skills & Training (BEST) Corp., a nonprofit workforce development organization focused on training Boston residents for jobs in the hospitality industry, to create a new hospitality training facility in Dudley Square.

Boston - $200,000

The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative will partner with CommonWealth Kitchen, Project Hope, and the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund (LEAF) to launch a local food manufacturing initiative that will grow small businesses and create food manufacturing jobs in Dorchester and Roxbury.

Framingham - $125,000

The South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC), in partnership with SMOC Financial Services, the Town of Framingham, Framingham Downtown Renaissance,Framingham State University, MetroWest Legal Services, Middlesex Savings Bank,MutualOne Bank, MassBay Community College, the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, and the Brazil New England Chamber of Commerce, will launch a one-stop microenterprise center that will boost entrepreneurship and the growth of startups by low- and moderate-income Framingham residents.

Greenfield and North Adams - $200,000

The communities of Greenfield and North Adams will spur downtown revitalization and deepen community-based entrepreneurship through a coordinated program of small business training, mentorship, business succession planning, and capital access. The grant will implement priority opportunities outlined in the Sustainable Berkshires and Sustainable Franklin County regional plans.

Holyoke - $250,000

The Greater Holyoke Chamber Centennial Foundation will partner with the City of Holyoke, the Holyoke Public Library, Nuestras Raices, SCORE, and Holyoke Works to deepen Holyoke’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by facilitating the development of affordable workspaces for entrepreneurs, expand the city’s SPARK entrepreneurship program, and facilitate the streamlining of Holyoke’s local business permitting processes. Holyoke’s Urban Agenda program will be targeted at building entrepreneurship among Latino residents, and builds off existing economic development partnerships through the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Working Cities Challenge, and MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative.

Lawrence - $250,000

The Lawrence Working Families Initiative will scale up an existing Working Cities Challenge partnership aimed at long-term building prosperity among low-income Latino parents of Lawrence Public Schools students, by operationalizing Lawrence employers’ local hiring and commitments, implementing new job recruitment and internal promotion programs, and extending job coaching, skills training, job placement, and professional mentorship supports to low-income residents. The Initiative’s partners are Lawrence Community Works, the Lawrence Partnership, theLawrence Public Schools, the City of Lawrence, ValleyWorks Career Center, The Community Group, Northern Essex Community College, Notre Dame Education Center, the Adult Learning Center, the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, and the Family and Community Resource Center of Family Services, Inc.

New Bedford - $200,000

The New Bedford Housing Authority and PACE YouthBuild New Bedford will partner to create a vocational skills center that will provide career assessment, educational opportunities, and vocational training to residents of the city’s public housing. The program aims to address chronic unemployment and underemployment among city residents by equipping them with the skills necessary to enter and advance in the workforce.

Somerville - $200,000

The City of Somerville and the Somerville Public Schools, in collaboration withSprout & Co., TechHub Boston, the Artisan’s Asylum, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Fab Foundation, will launch a fabrication laboratory at Somerville High School. The “fab lab” will host a vocational-technical fabrication academy, an evening adult workforce development program, and a youth entrepreneurship and mentorship program that will connect lower-income youth to the innovation economy. The project builds off the city’s previous work, through the Working Cities Challenge, to create economic mobility for lower-income residents.

Worcester - $200,000

The Downtown Worcester Access to Employment Partnership will create a new employment training and support program, aimed at creating employment pipelines in the health care, transportation, and food service sectors. The partnership will reduce barriers to employment for low-income families, veterans, and unemployed and under-employed youth. The Partnership will be led by the Central Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board, the City of Worcester, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, Quinsigamond Community College, the Worcester Community Connections Coalition, the WMCA of Central Massachusetts, theWorcester Youth Center, the Worcester Community Action Council, Veterans Inc., and Ascentria Care Alliance.

Urban Agenda Economic Development Planning Grants:

Brockton - $50,000

Brockton’s Urban Agenda planning grant will fund feasibility studies and business plan development for three downtown entrepreneurship projects: a restaurant incubator, a community kitchen and food incubator, and a co-work space. The planning grant builds on previous downtown redevelopment planning by the City and MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative.

Springfield - $50,000

Springfield’s Urban Agenda planning grant will fund a collaborative planning process in the City’s North End neighborhood. The planning process will address quality-of-life issues for North End residents, support the work of the North End Campus Coalition, and build neighborhood social capital to promote economic and workforce development.

Winthrop - $50,000

Winthrop’s Urban Agenda planning grant will fund a comprehensive master planning process for the Town’s main commercial district, and a reuse plan for a former middle school parcel that will unlock future economic development in the Town.

Urban Agenda Housing Program Grants:

Boston - $300,000

The City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development will utilize a $300,000 Urban Agenda Housing Program grant to advance the redevelopment of the Indigo Block, an under-utilized city-owned parcel in Uphams Corner. Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, Boston Capital, and Escazu Developmentwill transform the site into 88 new housing units for low-, moderate-, and middle-income residents, and 20,000 square feet of light industrial space. The grant will finance a range of predevelopment activities at the project site.

Boston - $300,000

The Boston Housing Authority will utilize a $300,000 Urban Agenda Housing Program grant to advance the redevelopment of the BHA’s Amory Street Apartments site. TheJamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, Urban Edge, and The Community Builders are constructing 294 units of new mixed-income housing on the 6-acre site, and rehabilitating 215 units of existing housing for elderly and disabled residents. The grant will finance a range of predevelopment activities at the project site.

Holyoke - $150,000

The Holyoke Redevelopment Authority will utilize a $150,000 Urban Agenda Housing Program grant to advance the redevelopment of 1.5 acres of vacant and underutilized city-owned real estate in South Holyoke. The grant will finance a range of predevelopment activities at the project site, as the Redevelopment Authority engages a qualified master developer.

Lynn - $250,000

The Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development (LHAND) will utilize a $250,000 Urban Agenda Housing Program grant to advance the second phase of the City’s Washington Street Gateway redevelopment. The grant will finance a range of predevelopment activities that will enable the construction of 20 new market-rate housing units.

The Harvard Art Museums Present Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia

The Harvard Art Museums Present Everywhen: The
Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia

The Harvard Art Museums present Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia, on display in the museums’ Special Exhibitions Gallery from February 5 through September 18, 2016.
The exhibition has been guest curated for the Harvard Art Museums by Indigenous Australian Stephen Gilchrist, of the Yamatji people of the Inggarda language group of Western Australia. Gilchrist has shaped the exhibition to ensure that it centers around the authentic perspectives and experiences of Indigenous people from Australia. The exhibition takes its title from the concept of “the Everywhen,” a term coined by Australian anthropologist William Stanner in the 1960s to describe his comprehension of Indigenous people’s understanding of time, which is conceptualized as part of a cyclical and circular

Cambridge, MA

order where past, present, and future are intertwined. As explained by Pitjantjatjara artist Tommy Watson, whose work Wipu Rockhole (2004) is included in the exhibition, “Our paintings are our memories for the future relatives.”
“The central idea of the exhibition is time,” said Gilchrist, the Australian Studies Visiting Curator at the Harvard Art Museums and associate lecturer in art history at the University of Sydney, Australia. “Everyone can relate to time; artists across the globe and across centuries have responded to the task of thinking about time and its promise, presentness, and passing. But this exhibition asks people to think about time from an Indigenous perspective, to consider how it is marked, observed, and sensed.”
While Indigenous art has at times been viewed by the international community as a relic of the past, the exhibition argues that Indigenous art and culture is equally invested in the past, present, and future. The exhibition asks visitors to consider Indigenous art as sophisticated, contemporary, and “of our time.” The exhibition also asks visitors to explore the underlying issues and experiences of the artists. While art has served as a customary medium for Indigenous people to pass on cultural practices, it has also provided a crucial public platform for Indigenous people. Through their works, Indigenous artists visualize ancient narratives, and also their experiences with colonial oppression, philosophies of ecological sustainability, interventions within museum collections, and the necessity of engaged political activism.
The exhibition features more than 70 works of varying scale and media, with the majority produced over the past 40 years. Drawn from public and private collections in Australia and the United States, many of the works have never been seen outside Australia. The exhibition is organized around four interrelated themes—Seasonality, Transformation, Performance, and Remembrance—all of which are central to Indigenous art and culture.
Works by some of the most significant contemporary Indigenous artists will be on view, including Rover Thomas (c. 1926–1998) and Emily Kam Kngwarray (c. 1910–1996), who both exhibited at the Venice Biennale; Judy Watson (b. 1959), recipient of the 2006 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award; Doreen Reid Nakamarra (c. 1955–2009), who participated in dOCUMENTA (13); Vernon Ah Kee (b. 1967), who has also exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and most recently, the Istanbul Biennial; and the visual and performance artist Christian Thompson (b. 1978), who was recently mentored by Marina Abramović in Australia.

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“Everywhen asks important and nuanced questions about the agency of contemporary Indigenous artists and how their works are situated within today’s global society,” said Deborah Martin Kao, the Landon and Lavinia Clay Chief Curator and interim co-director of the Harvard Art Museums.
In addition to the extraordinary works of contemporary art, which are realized in a wide array of media, from paintings on bark to video, the exhibition also makes a place for historical objects from Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The inclusion of these customary objects, such as coolamons (multipurpose carrying vessels, sometimes used to cradle babies), baskets for food gathering, and larrakitj (hollow log coffins), is to demonstrate how a life is lived, measured and made meaningful through cultural objects. While the names of the makers of these objects were rarely recorded by collectors, they nonetheless possess the tangible, human residue of their makers. The exhibition invites audiences to consider the histories of erasure in past museum displays and collecting practices that have marginalized, silenced, and dehumanized Indigenous people. The exhibition also speaks to the new politics of display that are symbolically reuniting objects to their source communities where possible.
“By including these objects, we are also trying to break down the divisions between art history and anthropology,” said Gilchrist. “For Indigenous people, art and culture are both software and hardware; they need to be seen and understood together.”
Works on Display
Approximately 10 to 15 works of art will be showcased in each of the four thematic sections that make up the exhibition.
Seasonality: Forty thousand years of living culture on the continent of Australia has provided Indigenous people from Australia with a sensitive understanding of ecological patterns and celestial movements. In many parts of Australia, the solar year is regularly divided into six to eight discrete seasons, with these punctuating changes often understood as manifestations of ancestral presence. Works of art in this section explore what it means to be responsive to the natural world. They invite the viewer to observe environmental transitions and consider larger issues that shape the current cultural landscape: how we have denaturalized our relationship to the natural world, the impact of global climate change, and the ways we can re-energize our interconnectedness with the world around us. Works on display include two examples of Wanjina (c. 1980) by Alec Mingelmanganu (1905–1981); Yari country (1989), a painting by Rover Thomas (c. 1926–1998); Emily Kam Kngwarray’s (c. 1910–1996) four- panel painting Anwerlarr angerr (Big Yam) from 1996; Judy Watson’s (b. 1959) painting bunya, from

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2011; as well as three contemporary wood larrakitj, or hollow log coffins, by Yolngu artists Djambawa Marawili (b. 1953), Yumutjin Wunungmurra (b. 1953), and Djirrirra Wunungmurra (b. 1968), on loan from the Hood Museum of Art.
Transformation: The narratives told and retold by Indigenous people explain the origins of the natural world and often feature the travels of shape-shifting ancestors who metamorphosed into features of the landscape, vesting them with their sacred power. Indigenous artists create and re-create these narratives, and the sacred and significant sites associated with them, to canonize their spiritual ancestors and to re-energize their personal and cultural connection to them. The theme of transformation also applies more broadly to Indigenous art and culture, which is reimagined and reconstituted by those who create and live it. While many people erroneously associate Indigenous art and culture as being about the past, the works in this section emphasize that Indigenous people have always and continue to embrace adaptive and innovative practices. Works on display include Tommy Watson’s (born c. 1932) painting Wipu Rockhole (2004); Ronnie Tjampitjinpa’s (born c. 1932) Two Women Dreaming (1990); and Manydjarri Ganambarr’s (born c. 1952) poetic bark painting Djambarrpuyngu märna (1996).
Performance: The ceremonies that Indigenous people attend and participate in are used by some Indigenous artists as the source iconography in their art. While Indigenous people continue to face ongoing challenges relating to the maintenance of cultural practice, ceremonial practices are often invoked in part by artists in the creation of their art. In a sense, art making has become a new medium of performance and the rhythm of ceremony resonates in sculptures, painted objects, and photographs. Works on display in this section include Doreen Reid Nakamarra’s (c. 1955–2009) large painting Untitled (2007), composed of thousands of small dots evoking the innumerable grains of sand that make up her desert country, as well as the rhythm and mindfulness of ceremonial performance; The Burala Rite (1972), a bark painting by Tom Djawa (1905–1980); and two woven baskets on loan from Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Remembrance: Creating works of art that resonate with cultural memory, the artists in this section critically reflect on history and how it configures the present. The works invite visitors to consider what we choose to remember and what, and who, we are forced to forget. Serving the exhibition’s interest in the multilayered concept of the Everywhen, these works of art highlight how we carry the past within. Through artistic excursions into the past, personal memories, national histories, and practices captured in the collections of museums can be confronted, interrogated, and sometimes laid to rest. Works on display include Vernon Ah Kee’s (b. 1967) many lies (2004), a text-based vinyl work applied directly to

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the gallery wall; Julie Gough’s (b. 1965) Dark Valley, Van Diemen’s Land (2008), a “necklace” that hangs in the shape of Tasmania and is composed of Tasmanian coal; and three photographs from Christian Thompson’s (b. 1978) We Bury Our Own series from 2012, his response to the Australian photographic collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.
The artists in this exhibition demonstrate how Indigenous people can be both couriers and keepers of what has been, what is, and what will be. Their compelling visual statements condense a wealth of cultural, ritual, ecological, and historical information that undermines the discourse that relegates Indigenous people to history. The themes of the exhibition—Seasonality, Transformation, Performance, and Remembrance—reflect an experience of time that is active, abiding, and expansive. The Everywhen can show us that Indigenous art and culture do not merely represent the time before time, but in fact awaken us to the fullness of it.
Conservation Research
As part of the research and preparation for the exhibition, conservation scientists in the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies launched the first ever large-scale technical examination of Indigenous Australian bark paintings, including historic objects that served as short-term shelters in wet weather. It was commonly thought that Indigenous artists would not have used binders, but after three years, two hundred samples, and analysis of fifty paintings, there is scientific evidence to challenge that view. The team found the first conclusive evidence that orchid juice was used as a binder in two of the oldest known bark paintings, dating to the late 19th century.
“For the first time, we are able to provide physical evidence to support or challenge theories from the past about the type and presence of binders in bark paintings,” said Australian Narayan Khandekar, senior conservation scientist and director of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies.
Khandekar and his team also uncovered more information about where Indigenous artists sourced their pigments. Traditional bark painting from Arnhem Land in the far north of Australia uses only four colors—yellow, white, red, and black—derived primarily from minerals. The team analyzed and mapped the elemental composition of pigments from historic bark paintings and then compared those pigments to ochres (earthen pigments) that the team had collected while visiting Indigenous art centers in Australia and conducting artist interviews. These findings will be added to an informal “atlas” of all Australian pigment sources, contributing to a greater understanding of the extensive ochre trade among Indigenous Australians. On Groote Eylandt, an area with abundant manganese deposits, they found

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that the artists used naturally occurring black as well as black from dry cell batteries and from charcoal, indicating a nuanced choice of material.
About the Curator
Stephen Gilchrist, from the Yamatji people of the Inggarda language group from Western Australia, has curated exhibitions in Australia and the United States and has written extensively on Indigenous art from Australia. He is a leading voice in Indigenous modes of curation as a form of social practice and cultural activism. Gilchrist is currently the Australian Studies Visiting Curator at the Harvard Art Museums and associate lecturer in art history at the University of Sydney, Australia.
Over the past decade, Gilchrist has made significant contributions to the field through his work with the Indigenous Australian collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the British Museum, London; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. He has written and contributed to important publications about Aboriginal art, including Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art (2012) and Crossing Cultures: The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art at the Hood Museum of Art (2011). In addition, Gilchrist is on the international advisory board acting as an attaché for the 2016 Sydney Biennale.
Programming
Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia will open with a free public celebration on Thursday, February 4, 2016. This event features a discussion at 6pm about the exhibition’s central themes between curator Stephen Gilchrist and Vernon Ah Kee, one of the artists featured in the exhibition, and includes open hours in the exhibition and in all other museum galleries beginning at 5pm. A celebratory reception in the Calderwood Courtyard follows the discussion.
During the course of the exhibition, there will be lectures, including one on March 23, 2016, by Michael D. Jackson, Distinguished Visiting Professor of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. Jackson will discuss the work of Paddy Nelson Jupurrula, one of the preeminent Warlpiri artists of the Western Desert painting movement. Christian Thompson, a Bidjara artist from Queensland featured in the exhibition, will also give a lecture in the spring (details forthcoming). Events also include dance and music performances, weekly film screenings, biweekly gallery talks, and Materials Lab workshops on earth-based pigments and clay. There will also be public conversations on curatorial practice and indigeneity, as well as programmatic collaborations with Harvard University campus organizations,

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academic departments, and research centers. Detailed information about programs can be found at harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar.
Catalogue
The exhibition catalogue, published by the Harvard Art Museums and distributed by Yale University Press, will be available in February 2016. Including images of the works on display and six essays by distinguished scholars, the publication delves more deeply into the concepts proposed in the exhibition, offering a lasting look at Indigenous Australian art and paying homage to the particular traditions of specific regions of Australia. Edited by Stephen Gilchrist, the catalogue features essays by Gilchrist; Hetti Perkins, one of Australia’s most respected curators of Aboriginal art and daughter of Indigenous activist Charles Perkins; Henry F. Skerritt, a doctoral candidate in the history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh; and Fred Myers, professor of anthropology at New York University, among others. The catalogue will be available for purchase in the Harvard Art Museums shop, located adjacent to the Calderwood Courtyard on Level 1. To inquire about ordering, visit shop.harvardartmuseums.org, call 617-495-1440, or email am_shop@harvard.edu. To request a copy for review, contact Jennifer Aubin in the museums’ Communications Division at jennifer_aubin@harvard.edu or 617-496-5331.
Acknowledgments and Credits
In Australia, special events are often opened with a Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country statement to show respect to the traditional custodians of the land. To reflect that tradition here in the United States, the Harvard Art Museums, in opening this exhibition, recognize the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), along with the Nipmuc Nation and the Massachusett people, on whose land the museums stand today.
Lead support for Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia and related research has been provided by the Harvard Committee on Australian Studies. The exhibition is supported by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Consulate-General, New York. Additional support for the exhibition, catalogue, and related research has been provided by the Robert Lehman Foundation, John and Barbara Wilkerson, the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Debra and Dennis Scholl, the William E. Teel African and Oceanic Arts Endowment, the Dimitri Hadzi Memorial Fund for Modern Art, and the Harvard Art Museums Mellon Publication Funds, including the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.

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Lenders include: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Lyn and Rob Backwell, Melbourne; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Milani Gallery, Brisbane; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; National Museum of Australia, Canberra; Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; John and Barbara Wilkerson; and two anonymous lenders. 

DA’s Photo Exhibit to Receive National Exposure

DA’s Photo Exhibit to Receive National Exposure

BOSTON, Jan. 15, 2016— Members of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office will present an online training seminar focused on the office’s groundbreaking photo exhibit, “Now You See: A Celebration of Courageous Kids,” recognizing the courage of child abuse survivors and encouraging others to speak, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

The upcoming training webinar, hosted by the National Criminal Justice Training Center, will take place from 2:00 to 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 20.  Conley’s director of youth safety and outreach and forensic interviewer, Jacquelyn Lamont, who created the photo exhibit, will lead the webinar alongside Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Keeley, chief of the DA’s Human Trafficking Unit, who prosecuted several of the cases featured in the project.

Inspired by a single survivor’s story, “Now You See: A Celebration of Courageous Kids” aims to celebrate the bravery of survivors of child physical and sexual abuse.  Each image in the growing collection depicts the eyes of a survivor of child sexual or physical abuse and their caretakers or family members, along with the person’s own words of encouragement and strength to other children and families who have suffered abuse.  More than 100 survivors and caretakers have taken part in the project, including survivors of child exploitation and human trafficking.

The webinar aims to educate prosecutors, advocates, and others who work with young victims about the challenges that children face during the course of their abuser’s prosecution and to encourage other law enforcement agencies to create similar initiatives celebrating the bravery of survivors who come forward.  Lamont was asked to present on the project after a representative of the National Criminal Justice Training Center viewed it at an event in Boston last July.

The photo exhibit, which Lamont created with the assistance of graphic designer Mattie DiCola of Conley’s Multimedia Unit, is currently on display at the Connolly Branch of the Boston Public Library in Jamaica Plain through Feb. 29.  An informational event discussing the project and the prevalence and signs of child abuse will take place Feb. 22 at 6:00 p.m.  The current exhibit and event are being sponsored by Violence Transformed.

“Our criminal justice system is, by design, centered on the person accused of a crime rather than on the victim. ‘Now You See’ helps us shift our focus to these victims, who have found the courage to speak up in order to hold their abusers accountable,” Conley said.  “These children and adult survivors deserve recognition for their bravery and resilience.”

More information on “Now You See” and a selection of photos from the exhibit can be found here:http://www.suffolkdistrictattorney.com/now-you-see/

波士頓最創新 貧富差距也大

波士頓地區的128公路擠出一條贏過矽谷的勝利路。彭博社（Bloomberg）的美國最創新州排名，描繪出大專院校能夠如何有利於地方經濟。

根據彭博社整理的資料，麻州是最創新州，緊接於後是加州，以及華盛頓州，新澤西州，康乃狄克州。創新程度最低的三州是，密西西比州，西維琴尼亞州，以及南達科他州。

麻州勒星頓（Lexington,）鎮HIS公司的首席經濟學家Nariman Behravesh表示，再培養出一些非常，非常有質量的聰明人上，麻州有這些主要的世界級機構扮演了很重要的角色。

Nariman Behravesh說，他的母校，麻省理工學院（MIT）就是其中一個這樣的機構，給地方經濟帶來漣漪效應。麻省理工畢業生在過去幾十年中已創辦了大約400家初創企業，包括座落於麻州傅萊明罕鎮的電子製造商Bose公司。該公司促成的強勁商業環境吸引來花團錦簇般的大大小小公司，也帶動了人力市場及地方成長。

他說，創新通常會導致創造出工作機會，尤其是高科技工作機會。但也有其他的工作機會跟著一起來，例如，在人力成長時，他們需要剪頭髮，需要景觀師等等，所以確實和其他經濟有關聯。

麻州僅以0.03的積分把加州擠下創新第一寶座，有一部分原因也許是因為高科技密集度是以公司數目來計算，而不是市場資本。那意味著，全世界最有價值的公司，座落於加州庫珀蒂諾的蘋果公司，無法把加州抬上最高位置。

然而，排名第四十的北達科他州展現出，當經濟成長集中在單一產業時會是什麼情況。油價的下跌使得該州步履闌珊，企業環境惡化，要不然該州可以從其他產業吸引更多公司。不過創新排名最底的州，並不是鐵定就成長衰弱，缺乏經濟活力。

Nariman Behravesh說，州政府能做某些事，來使他們的州對研發更具吸引力，包括研發抵稅優惠。如果州政府能小心地針對自己有競爭優勢的領域來做，也一樣能環繞著他們的大學，發展出一個企業圈。

彭博美國創新指數以0到100的比例，根據六項份量相等指標來為50州打分，包括研發密集度，生產力，高科技密集度，科學集中度，科技，工程及數學（STEM）就業程度，持有科學及工程學位人數，專利活動等。

該數據也顯示在衡量健康創新上有限度。例如，人才跨洲移動很難衡量，而且諸如要透過美國人口統計局取得的數據，經常很遲才拿得到。

布魯金斯學會（Brookings Institution）日前發表的報告，把波士頓評為貧富差距最大地區，收入最高的那5%人群和收入最低的那20%人群，26萬6000元約等於1萬4900元的18倍。波士頓對教育程度高，持有技術個人來說是全美最好的地方，對那些缺乏教育和訓練的人來說，卻是最糟糕的地方。

麻州增撥兩百萬元鼓勵民眾買電動車

Baker-Polito Administration Increases Funding for Electric Vehicle Rebate Program by $2 Million

麻州能源資源局（DOER）局長Judith Judson15日在新英格蘭國際汽車展宣佈，查理貝克政府將增撥兩百萬元給該局的電動車折扣項目。

麻州州長查理貝克（Charlie Baker）表示，電動車是麻州在交通環節致力減少溫室瓦斯排放，承諾實施“全球暖化解決方案法”上的一個重要部份。電動車購買折扣項目已證明是人們購買時做決定的非常重要因素，也使清潔交通對更多麻州居民來說，是財務上可做到的事。

麻州從2014年6月起，實施麻州為電動汽車提供折扣（MOR-EV）方案，發出約380萬元給1,606輛汽車，讓麻州的溫室瓦斯排放量每年約減少了4,554噸。MOR-EV方案提供的折扣，依汽車種類及電池能量區分，約在750元到2,500元之間。

根據麻州能源資源局的燃油經濟對比資料，零及低排放汽車可讓駕駛在燃油和維修上節省金錢。和使用汽油發動機小型車輛的人相比，一名購買小型電池電動車的駕駛人，在五年內約可節省3,750元加油錢。

BOSTON – January 15, 2016 – Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Commissioner Judith Judson announced today at the New England International Auto Show that the Baker-Polito Administration is adding $2 million in funding to DOER’s electric vehicle (EV) rebate program.

“Electric vehicles are a vital component of our Global Warming Solutions Act commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “These rebates have proven to be important in buyers’ decisions to go electric and make clean transportation financially achievable for more Massachusetts residents.”

“In addition to saving drivers money, zero emission vehicles reduce air pollution, which improves the health of our communities and families,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. “The Baker-Polito Administration is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum use by aiding the transition to cleaner, more efficient vehicles for Massachusetts residents.”

Since June 2014, the Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles (MOR-EV) program has issued nearly $3.8 million for 1,606 vehicles, cutting the state’s greenhouse gas emissions output by an estimated 4,554 tons annually. MOR-EV provides rebates ranging from $750 to $2,500 based on vehicle category and battery capacity.

Zero and low-emission vehicles save drivers money on fuel and maintenance costs, according to the DOER’s Fuel Economy side-by-side comparison. For example, a driver purchasing a compact battery electric vehicle can save $3,750 dollars on fuel over five years, compared to the same vehicle with a gasoline engine.

“The MOR-EV program’s success reflects Massachusetts drivers’ excitement about electric vehicles and their commitment to reducing environmental impact,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton. “By getting more electric vehicles on the road, we can reduce emissions and reliance on foreign oil, boost use of new technology and meet our commitment to a cleaner future for the Commonwealth.”

Today, at the New England International Auto Show, DOER Commissioner Judith Judson announced that DOER and the Clean Cities Coalition will partner with the Massachusetts Auto Dealers Association to provide training for new “EV Specialists” for dealerships and provide recognition opportunities to Massachusetts dealers.

“Zero emission vehicles are a critical part of the clean transportation future and we are committed to helping Massachusetts auto dealers educate their customers on the benefits of driving zero emission vehicles,” said DOER Commissioner Judith Judson.

According to the Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE), the MOR-EV program administrator, about 65 percent of MOR-EV rebates were for purchase or lease of battery electric vehicles, while the remaining were for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.  Nearly three-quarters of recent MOR-EV recipients who participated in a survey indicated the MOR-EV rebate was an important factor in their decision to buy an electric vehicle.

“The Town of Plymouth has been proactive in the last several years promoting electric cars with plug-in stations throughout the community,”said State Representative Mathew J. Muratore (R-Plymouth).  “This is not only great for the environment but also good news for our local economy and we thank the Baker-Polito Administration for the funding and leadership in this area.”

"I applaud the Baker-Polito Administration for expanding on the Commonwealth's commitment to greening our transportation sector,” said State Representative Jonathan Hecht (D-Watertown). As a result of programs like MOR-EV and effective collaboration between the public and private sectors, electric vehicles are rapidly becoming a practical option in Massachusetts."

“Electric vehicles are not only beneficial to the environment, but they are beneficial to your bank account,” said State Representative Brad Hill (R-Ipswich). ‘This electric vehicle rebate (MOR-EV) offered by the Department of Energy Resources is a major incentive for the public to help do their part in protecting our environment and promoting cleaner, healthier communities.”

“Transportation emissions are the biggest driver of climate change in Massachusetts, yet marketing of electric vehicles by auto dealers isn’t where it should be,” said State Senator Mike Barrett (D-Lexington). “This will help.”

This funding is financed by Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) auction proceeds, and aims to help reduce reliance on foreign oil and meet Massachusetts’ goals under the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector 7.6 percent by 2020.

For complete rebate program information and other details, go to www.MOR-EV.org.

波市帶動公校學生減緩氣候變化 一學年節省4萬餘元

 More than 200 ninth-grade students at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School will hear from Carl Spector, the City of Boston’s Commissioner of Environment, about what Boston and Boston Public Schools (BPS) are doing to help mitigate climate change. Alliance for Climate Education, BPS’s climate education partner, will facilitate an award-winning assembly that will combine science with pop culture entertainment to create an unforgettable experience.

The event is a result of Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s co-sponsored resolution from last summer’s United States Conference of Mayors, titled, “Supporting the Implementation of Climate Education in High Schools Across the United States.”

Madison Park is engaging its students and staff in many green initiatives, including recycling, composting and energy conservation. They are competing in the City’s 2^nd Annual Energy Conservation Challenge with the goal of reducing their electricity consumption by at least 5% by turning off lights, unplugging appliances and powering down classrooms and offices over the weekends. In the 2014-15 school year, 19 Boston public schools that participated in this competition saved the district $42,572 in just three months and kept 50% of the savings for building improvement projects. If Madison Park reaches its 5% electric savings goal, it would mean more than $20,000 in savings for just the three-month competition period.