| The
Nest Egg: Tax-Time Savings Innovations for Lower-Income
Households
by Jeff Zinsmeyer, D2D Fund
Recognizing how hard it is for low-income workers to
save, D2D Fund develops, tests, and rolls out asset-building
innovations nationwide. One promising approach makes
it easier for people to save part of their tax refund.
Immigrants
and the Massachusetts Health-Care Workforce
by Marcia Hohn, The Immigrant
Learning Center Inc.
Health-care job openings are growing twice as fast as
the average for all industries in
Massachusetts, and immigrants are eager to acquire health-industry
skills. The author describes local training programs
and recommends immigrant-friendly improvements.
Vermont
Sustainable Jobs Fund: Vermont’s Green Economy
Speeds Up
by Bruce Seifer, City of Burlington,
Vermont
In Vermont, a “sustainable” job is one that
not only can endure but can boost environmental protection,
social justice, and economic equity. Today business
competitors collaborating on
sustainable goals are doing well by doing good.
Gift
Card Value when Issuers Go Bankrupt
by Cristin Frederick, Federal
Reserve Bank of Boston
What value does a prepaid gift card retain when the
company where it can be spent files for bankruptcy?
A legal intern looks at the law and recent cases and
offers advice to consumers.
Needed
Skills Versus Available Skills: An Assessment Tool Is
Launched
by Mark Melnik, Boston Redevelopment
Authority; Barry Bluestone, Northeastern University;
and Alan Clayton-Matthews, University of Massachusetts,
Boston
Economic development often founders on a mismatch between
available workforce skills and companies’ needs.
A tool that analyzes critical sets of labor market data
not previously considered in tandem can help local governments
improve planning. |
Poverty
and Health
First Person with Anne Perry,
Maine State Representative, Washington County
A nurse practitioner in one of New England’s poorest
areas, Perry knows that bad health
outcomes are often tied to poverty. One goal of her
initiative to tackle sickness and poverty together is
the creation of a statewide model.
New
England’s Foreign-Born Population Today
by Ross Gittell and Timothy
Lord, University of New Hampshire
Since the 1600s, immigrants have been drawn to New England,
and even now parts of the region would be losing population
and economic vitality if not for the foreign-born population.
UNH’s Carsey Institute analyzes the demographics.
Addressing
Concentrated Poverty in America
by DeAnna Green, Federal Reserve
Bank of Boston
The Federal Reserve/Brookings
Institution study of concentrated poverty in America
has been
released. To help policymakers plan interventions, the
author summarizes the similarities and differences among
communities where poverty is 40 percent or higher.
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