Economy Innovations

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Boston Metro Innovations

Crosstown Center
City Fresh Foods
New Entry Farming
Skill Works
Boston's Back Streets
Biomedical Research
Nanotechnology
Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust

National/International Innovations

Kalundborg Industrial Symbiosis
Glasgow's Telecommunications Economy
Time Banking
ACCIÓN International: Microlending
One Economy Corporation
Upwardly Global
WorldWIT (Women.Insights.Technology)
o.s.Earth

Economy -- Boston Metro     

In 2003, Crosstown Developers LLC and the Boston Redevelopment Authority won the "Brownfields Project of the Year Award and the Environment Justice Award," presented by the Environmental Business Council of New England (EBC), for their work on Crosstown Center.  Crosstown Center is a hotel, restaurant and retail project on the site of a former lead paint factory in Roxbury. In reclaiming a "brownfield", or contaminated real estate site, the Crosstown project had to overcome many social, economic, technical and institutional challenges imposed by the reuse of brownfields. The $65 million project created 200 new permanent jobs and other economic opportunities for residents of Boston, with 93% of hotel employees people of color and 43% women. Crosstown consists of:

• 10-story, 175-room boutique hotel
• 22,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space
• 650-space parking garage

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Economy -- Boston Metro      

City Fresh Foods staff

Through a focus on local hiring and environmental sensibility, City Fresh Foods is demonstrating how businesses can make a positive impact in underserved communities.

City Fresh Foods, a catering company that makes and delivers meals to schools and senior nutrition programs, has developed a successful business model that promotes community and economic development. Headquartered in the Four Corners neighborhood of Dorchester, a community historically bypassed by business investors, the company has made efforts to spur community development and reduce its environmental impact. City Fresh Foods only employs local residents and has built relationships with neighborhood schools to expose youth to careers in the culinary arts.

• Uses a zero-emission truck for deliveries
• Purchases all its produce from local organic farmers
• Named one of the top 100 inner city businesses by Inc. Magazine

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Economy -- Boston Metro    

Vang Mee Yang with the first veggie roll customer at
Brookline Farmer's Market

A coalition of sustainable agriculture advocates founded the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project to help beginning farmers (primarily Hmong and Cambodian immigrants) in the Lowell area to access land and obtain skills needed to grow and market produce. The program places immigrants with mentor farmers who lease them land.  Immigrant farmers share machinery, irrigation, and chores to minimize operating costs. Workshops and videos on sustainable vegetable management, with translators, are offered. By growing plants native to their homelands, the farmers in this program have found a strong market for "exotic" Asian produce in restaurants, high-end stores, and Asian grocery stores.

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Economy -- Boston Metro      

Skill Works, the largest workforce development effort in Boston history, is a national model of public/private collaboration to address the needs of workers and employers.

Skill Works' goal is to effect systemic change on Boston's workforce development system. Formally the Boston Workforce Development Initiative, it is a five-year public/private partnership to train workers, supply employers with trained staffs, and offer thousands of low-income workers family-supporting wages. This ambitious effort on the part of philanthropic groups, government agencies, community organizations, unions, and employers has two major goals: to help low-skill and low-income workers move to family-sustaining jobs, and to help employers find and retain skilled employees. The initiative was founded in September 2003 by public and private organizations that pledged $15 million over a five year period.

• Expects to help over 2,000 low-income workers advance in their careers over the next 3 years
• Filed Workforce Solutions Act in December 2004 to create a Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund in MA
• Major partners are Jobs for the Future, Boston Private Industry Council, and Management Consulting Services

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Economy -- Boston Metro      

The Boston Back Streets Program helps support local small and medium-sized commercial services and manufacturing companies, creating jobs and stimulating the economy.

Boston's nationally recognized Back Streets Program focuses on small and medium-sized commercial services and manufacturing companies located in the "back streets" of the city. Research conducted in 2001 by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and the Boston Consulting Group found more than 4,000 such businesses operating in Boston, many of them family businesses that had passed from generation to generation. With most employing fewer than 20 workers, collectively they represent 100,000 jobs, or about 20% of the total jobs in the city. Boston's support ranges from solving space problems to helping businesses navigate through the city's licensing and permitting procedures.

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Economy -- Boston Metro    

proposed design for the new Broad Institute building
(courtesy of Boston Properties)

The Broad Institute is a partnership between MIT, Harvard and its affiliated hospitals, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Its mission is to create the tools for genomic medicine, to make them freely available to the world and to pioneer their application for the study and treatment of disease. By fostering collaboration with hospitals, the Institute also works to apply these tools of genomic medicine in order to propel the understanding and treatment of disease.

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Economy -- Boston Metro    

A recent report by the Nano Science and Technology Institute and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative shows that  Massachusetts is experiencing a surge in nanoscale technology research and economic development. The report found that universities in the state lead the country in nanoscale technologies research and development, and that Massachusetts companies using or developing nanotechnology attract more funding than those from any state but California.  The Boston metro area is also home to two federally-funded nanotechnology research centers: Harvard University's Center for the Science of Nanoscale Systems and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• Nearly 100 MA firms using or developing nanoscale technologies
• Over half these firms are in the health care and electronics industries
• Attracted over $120 million in venture capital in 2003, second only to CA

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Economy -- Boston Metro    

The Renewable Energy Trust is one of the nation's leading examples of state support for the renewable energy industry. As of 2004, only three states had larger commitments to utility-scale renewable projects. The Renewable Energy Trust seeks to maximize environmental and economic benefits for the Commonwealth's citizens by pioneering and promoting clean energy technologies and fostering the emergence of sustainable markets for electricity generated from renewable sources. Trust programs include:

• Clean Energy Program
• Green Buildings and Infrastructure Program
• Industrial Support Program

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Economy -- National/International      

Glasgow Science Centre
(courtesy of Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley Tourist Board)

Glasgow has become the focal point of regional and national policy initiatives by Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Executive to develop a broad-based knowledge economy for Scotland and obtain the maximum economic and social advantages from telecommunication technologies.  Scottish Enterprise's strategic framework for Glasgow exploits the benefits of broadband technology, as this is the key to harnessing a skilled population, a healthy community and a competitive business base.  Its use of state-of-the-art telecommunications technology to promote economic growth has made the city a major e-commerce hub in the UK.  Glasgow will continue to develop innovative ways of using new technologies to drive economic growth for the benefit of its citizens and the Scottish economy. 

• Glasgow's unemployment rates dropped from 16.8% in 1996 to 6.9% in 2000
• British Telecom plans to build the largest Data Hosting facility in the UK in Glasgow
• Will become one of the first European cities to build a 3G wireless service 
• Recognized as world's "Intelligent Community of the Year" in 2004

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Economy -- National/International

The concept of Time Banking was developed over 25 years ago by Dr. Edgar Cahn to change the way social service agencies and their clients interact. It replaces one-sided giving with a mutual exchange of services where everyone involved contributes and benefits. Time Banking relies on a new medium of exchange: Time Dollars^TM. One hour of helping others is equivalent to one Time Dollar, which can be redeemed for aid from a local social service network. Participants earn the help they receive from service agencies by helping others. Time Banking has made substantial positive changes in American and international communities where it has been adopted. In Massachusetts, Somerville is working with Tufts University and Elder Services to begin a Time Banking program, while the city of Lynn already has a Time Dollar Exchange in operation.

• Central coordinator records and supervises service exchanges
• Pilot program in Brooklyn has resulted in measurable health improvement and lower health costs
• Participating countries include Canada, Great Britain, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain and Portugal

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Economy -- National/Internatinoal    

ACCIÓN International is fighting poverty in the developing world and the United States by  providing  "micro" loans and business training to poor women and men who start their own businesses.

The mission of ACCIÓN International is to give people the tools they need to work their way out of poverty. By providing "micro" loans and business training to poor women and men who start their own businesses, ACCIÓN's partner lending organizations help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride. With capital, people can grow their own businesses. They can earn enough to afford basics like running water, better food and schooling for their children.

• ACCIÓN affiliated programs have made $7.6 billion in microloans
• Served over 4.7 million people (65 percent women)
• Historical repayment rate of over 97 percent.
• Active in 21 countries

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Economy -- National/Internatinoal    

Improving economic opportunities for affordable housing residents through expanded broadband access and online financial services.

One Economy Corporation is dedicated to expanding economic opportunities for low-income people by expanding access to high-speed Internet.  The organization installs low-cost broadband Internet in affordable housing units, providing services and products for free or for significantly below market rates.  Since 2001, One Economy Corporation's outreach website, The Beehive, has connected low-income people to resources on money management, asset building, job opportunities, training programs and other social services.  Users can also sign up for a free bilingual e-mail service, BeeMail.

• Free computer training and discounted computers for low-income people
• Over 500,000 unique visitors to The Beehive per month
• Bring IT Home Campaign advocates for high-speed Internet access for all

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Economy -- National/Internatinoal    

The premier professional network and resource center connecting skilled immigrants with progressive employers.

Upwardly Global connects professional immigrants with employers committed to hiring a diverse workforce.  Immigrants with undergraduate degrees or higher can join the network to gain access to job postings by participating employers.  Upwardly Global also offers immigrant professionals workshops on writing resumes, networking, interviewing and workplace etiquette.  Employers that join the network gain access to a resume database of highly qualified job candidates and training on how to recruit, evaluate and integrate immigrant professionals into the workplace.

• One-time registration fee of $40 for refugees and $100 for immigrants
• Developed ongoing relationships with over 70 employers
• Coached job-seekers from over 50 developing countries

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Economy -- National/Internatinoal    

The leading global network for professional women, offering a unique blend of networking, resources and advice.

WorldWIT is the world's largest online networking organization for profesional women in business, formed for women to share advice and ideas with other women eager to connect.  It reaches over 40,000 women globally via moderated local e-mail discussion groups, like MassWIT (Boston) and ChicWIT (Chicago), and through local events and activities in 4 countries and 80 cities around the world.  The membership is free and is comprised of women who range from corporate CEOs to home-based consultants and entrepreneurs.

• Over 40,000 members in 24 countries
• Founded by popular columnist, speaker, and "at work issues" expert Liz Ryan
• Winner of the 2004 SteveT Award for Women's Business Association of the Year

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