Winter 2011
Complete Issue

Contents (each article available in PDF)

• School Readiness: Learning through Play
  by Carol M. Rubin, Parent-Child Home Program
  A national organization’s skilled home visitors work with parents and toddlers twice a week for two years teaching play activities that boost school readiness. The author describes the Massachusetts program.
• Somalis in Maine: Collaborating on Gardens and Nutrition
  by Kirsten Walter, St. Mary’s Health System
  The community gardens in Lewiston, Maine, help longtime residents and Somali refugees become acquainted while learning how to grow food and improve nutrition. The author shows how the benefits are spreading beyond Maine.
• Tribal Recognition in Vermont: The Role of Federal Standards
  by Kesha Ram, Vermont State Representative
  As the Abenaki continue to strive for tribal recognition by Vermont, new legislation establishes a process to ensure fairness and make arts and crafts designation at the federal level more attainable.
• Credit or Debit: How Do Lower-Income Consumers Pay?
  by Benjamin Levinger and Michael A. Zabek, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
  Among several surprises in The 2008 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice are data showing that lower-income consumers prefer to use debit cards and rate them higher than credit cards on most characteristics.
• Limiting Immigration Detention and Promoting Access to Counsel
  by Sharon Bradford Franklin and Karen S. Bloom, The Constitution Project
  Immigration detention isn’t like going to prison. Prisoners have rights, including paid access to counsel. Detainees don’t. A bipartisan group addresses the overuse of detention and suggests remedies.
• Anticipating Change in the Massachusetts Teacher Workforce
  by Antoniya Owens
  A recent Rappaport Fellow presents the replicable approach she devised to help the Massachusetts Department of Education assess how many new teachers would be needed in school districts through 2020.
• Using Mediation to Stem Foreclosures in Maine
  by Carla Dickstein, Coastal Enterprises Inc.
  A new Maine law enables court-supervised mediation for qualified owner-occupied residential mortgages at risk of foreclosure. As researchers await more data in 2011, the increased transparency is already proving beneficial.
• Poverty in New England—It’s a Suburban Thing
  by Elizabeth Kneebone, The Brookings Institution
  With poverty increasingly found in the suburbs, the poor may be cut off from jobs and transportation, and towns may struggle to address unfamiliar needs. The author considers the policy implications.
• Immigration and the Fortune of New England Cities (Revisited)
  by Daniel McCue and Eric S. Belsky, Harvard University
  The authors return to New England’s “comeback cities” (smaller postindustrial cities) to analyze how they are faring, the role of immigration in their growth, and paths to economic improvement.
• Mapping New England: Unemployment Gender Gap
  by Ana Patricia Muñoz, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
  In July 2010, the unemployment rate for men was 10.4 percent nationwide versus 8.5 percent for women. The gap is even more pronounced in New England counties with traditionally male-dominated industries.
• Letters to the Editor

Articles may be reprinted if Communities & Banking and the author are credited and the following disclaimer is used: "The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston or the Federal Reserve System. Information about organizations and upcoming events is strictly informational and not an endorsement."  

Stay Connected