| Partners of the Rappaport Institute
The Rappaport Institute works closely with a number of academic, professional, and civic organizations in Greater Boston. Alfred A. Taubman Center for State and Local Government The Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government focuses on public policy and management in the U.S. federal system. Through research, participation in the Kennedy School’s graduate training and executive education programs, sponsorship of conferences and workshops, and interaction with policy makers and public managers, the Center’s affiliated faculty and researchers contribute to public deliberations about key domestic policy issues and the process of governance. While the Taubman Center has a particular concern with state and local institutions, it is broadly interested in domestic policy and intergovernmental relations, including the role of the federal government. The Center’s research program deals with a range of specific policy areas, including urban development and land use, transportation, environmental protection, education, labor-management relations and public finance. The Center is also concerned with issues of governance, political and institutional leadership, innovation, and applications of information and telecommunications technology to public management problems. The Center has also established an initiative to assist all levels of government in preparing for the threat of domestic terrorism. The Center makes its research and curriculum materials widely available through various publications, including book-length reports, research monographs, working papers, and case studies. In addition, the Taubman Center is affiliated with the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Institute for Government Innovation and sponsors several research programs. Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University The Arnold Arboretum is a research and educational institution based at Harvard University. As part of the City of Boston's park system, the Arboretum's Jamaica Plain site functions as an outdoor museum open to the public - a collection of hardy trees, shrubs, and vines located on 265 acres in Boston, Massachusetts and associated herbarium and library collections. The Arboretum also coordinates scholarly research and holds major public forums to engage scholarly and law communities in high-level discussions of landscape architecture and the environment. In collaboration with the Rappaport Institute, the Arboretum is sponsoring the Heart of the City study in the communities in and around the Arboretum, Franklin Park, and Boston Nature Center - a complex area located in the geographic center of the City of Boston. The Artery Business Committee (ABC) was created in 1988 in recognition of a mutual interest among major Boston-area businesses to focus corporate support and help manage the ongoing impact of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, the largest and most technically challenging infrastructure project ever undertaken in the United States. The ABC's mission is to provide a means for the Greater Boston business community to articulate its interests to the Central Artery Project's Management Team and ensure representation through the duration of the Project. The ABC participates in a proactive and constructive capacity in the planning, design and construction of the project. The ABC is sponsoring the Rappaport Institute's independent case study of the role of business involvement in the Central Artery project. The
Barr Foundation is a private foundation
committed to enhancing
the quality of life
for all of Boston’s
citizens. While our
primary areas of emphasis
are education and the
environment, we also
provide support to
arts and cultural activities.
Their work focuses
on three
critical challenges
to Boston: Providing
Quality Education especially
in the Boston Public
School
system, schools of
excellence, early education,
and after school programs;
Making Boston a More
Livable City concentrating
on increasing the
quality
and quantity of open
space and water resources,
developing environmental
citizenship, supporting
environmental justice,
as well as facilitating
regional development
planning and urban
design; and Enhancing
Cultural Vitality,
especially, cultural
projects that
enhance our educational
or environmental goals,
support major and mid-sized
institutions, promote
diversity, or foster
civic engagement and
community cohesion. Greater Boston's leading community foundation since 1915, The Boston Foundation is made up of hundreds of charitable funds totaling $646 million. In 2000, the Foundation made grants of some $50 million to nonprofit organizations. The Boston Foundation holds a growing number of Donor Advised Funds established by donors who actively participate in their philanthropy. It also encourages giving in Boston and plays a civic leadership role in the community. The Boston Foundation is the host of the conference on family leave policy co-sponsored by the Rappaport Institute and the Center for Women and Enterprise. Founded in 1984, Boston GreenSpace Alliance is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection, creation, care and use of Boston's parks and open spaces. The Alliance is the recognized leader on open space issues in Boston and serves as a "watchdog and voice" on policy and planning matters affecting open space in the City. Since its founding, Boston GreenSpace Alliance has worked with public and private groups to help create, manage, and maintain the City's parks, playgrounds, plazas and urban forestry. The Boston History Collaborative The Boston History Collaborative, established in mid-1997, is a not-for-profit alliance of five groups: senior historians from area universities; museums, historic sites and libraries; the Greater Boston tourism industry; city, state and federal government agencies; and downtown businesses. Its mission is to position Greater Boston as one of the world's primary destinations for historical tourism by offering visitors and residents educational and entertaining programs developed through collaboration. Boston Natural Areas Network, a city-wide organization, was founded in 1977 as Boston Natural Areas Fund. The organization was created by a small group of citizens who took up the challenge of a Boston Redevelopment Authority report entitled Boston Urban Wilds. In it, 143 Urban Wilds or unprotected sites of natural beauty and environmental significance in Boston neighborhoods were listed. Five years later, through working with and engaging residents with open spaces in their neighborhoods, began to protect Community Gardens threatened with development. Most recently, with major resources made available from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, BNAN began linking Urban Wilds and existing and proposed parkland into multi-mile Greenways in East Boston and along the Neponset River. Boston Parks 2004 Campaign Boston Parks 2004 is the springboard into a new century of renewed commitment to urban parks and open spaces. The campaign’s lasting effects include a coordinated parks constituency of 25,000 greenspace advocates, annual citywide park events, stronger park and open space groups, and increased funds for park planning, maintenance and capital projects resulting in improved quality of life for every citizen of Boston. The Boston Public Library, established in 1848, was the first publicly supported municipal library in America, and the first public library to allow people to borrow books and materials, a truly revolutionary concept at the time. Today, the Boston Public Library has more than 6 million books; serves more than 2 million people in its 27 branch libraries around the city; and is one of only two public libraries in the country that are members of the Association of Research Libraries. The Boston PUblic Library and all of its events are free and open to the public. The Rappaport Institute and the Boston Public Library collaborate on the annual Charter Day celebration. The Library also hosts occasional high-profile Rappaport Institute events such as the panel discussion on domestic terrorism of February 2002. The Boston Society of Architects (BSA) administers programs and provides resources that enhance the practice of architecture and the public and professional understanding of design. Since its establishment in 1867, this nonprofit professional service organization has been a committed advocate of excellence in the built environment and increased service of the profession to society. The BSA is the eastern Massachusetts regional association of approximately 4,000 public, professional and affiliate members and is the largest branch of the American Institute of Architects. Affiliate members include engineers, contractors, owners/clients, public officials, other allied professionals, students, and others interested in design and the built environment. The BSA has sister chapters in Central Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts -- the three chapters constitute AIA Massachusetts. Founded in 1881 to save the Old State House from being moved to Chicago, The Bostonian Society is the historical society for the city of Boston. Through library and museum collections which date from the 1630s to the 21st century, through exhibitions on the American Revolution and Boston's neighborhoods, and through programs for adults and children, the Society brings Boston history to life. The Bostonian Society sponsors the Charter Day events and many of our other public lectures and events. The National Center for Digital Government, established with support from the National Science Foundation, is the focus at the John F. Kennedy School of Government for research on information technology, institutions, and governance. The center's mission is to build global research capacity, to advance practice, and to strengthen the network of researchers and practitioners engaged in building and using technology and government. The goal of the Center is to apply and extend the social sciences for research at the intersection of governance, institutions and information technologies. The NCDG research group is central to this mission and includes Harvard faculty members, a wide range of affiliated scholars and policy practitioners, and a select group of research fellows. Center for Urban and Regional Policy The Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, founded in 1999, is a "think and do tank" - a place where faculty, staff, and students pool their expertise, resources, and commitment to address a wide range of issues facing cities, towns, and suburbs with particular emphasis on the Greater Boston region. CURP staff are involved in a wide array of projects, all aimed at helping policymakers and citizens better understand the dimensions of urban issues. Projects currently under way address housing, workforce development, community economic development, education, information access, and more. CURP now has 30 people on its staff, with 13 people as paid consultants. Center for Women and Enterprise The Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE) works to promote women's economic self-sufficiency and prosperity through entrepreneurship. CWE offers education, training, technical assistance, women's business enterprise certification and access to both debt and equity capital to entrepreneurs at every stage of business development. Their clients are drawn from a wide variety of racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, spanning the range from women living in public housing who may want to start home-based or small retail businesses to women running fast growth, multi-million dollar technology businesses. As a non-profit, charitable organization, CWE provides its services on a sliding-scale basis in order to serve all women, regardless of their ability to pay. Since its founding in 1995, CWE has served over 4100 entrepreneurs. The Children's Museum in Boston exists to help children understand and enjoy the world in which they live. The Museum wants children to grow up feeling secure and self-confident with respect for others and the natural world. It encourages imagination, curiosity, questioning and realism; it provides opportunities for new insights, involvement with the world and understanding of human differences. Central to its philosophy is the belief that real objects, direct experiences and enjoyment support learning. The Citistates Group is a network of journalists, speakers and civic leaders focused on building competitive, equitable and sustainable 21st century metropolitan regions. The Group's forte is communications -- using its journalistic, speaking and facilitation skills to stimulate active debate on the real-world choices facing 21st century American regions. Formed in 1995, the Citistates Group is an LLC (limited liability company) that functions in a virtual mode, with no central office or staff. Its principals are syndicated columnist and author Neal Peirce, government/civic leader and writer Curtis Johnson, and Farley Peters, a veteran government activist who serves as business manager and speaking agent. The Group offers one-stop access to its Associates -- a group of about 20 leading American thinkers with specific experience and insights on the forging of stronger, more coherent American regions. The Conservation Law Foundation is the oldest and largest regional environmental advocacy organization in the United States. We're based in New England, where our attorneys, scientists, economists, and policy experts work on the most significant threats to the natural environment of the region and its residents. We've been around since 1966, and maintain advocacy centers in Boston, Massachusetts; Concord, New Hampshire; Montpelier, Vermont; Providence, Rhode Island; and Rockland, Maine. The mission of the Ford Hall Forum is to promote and facilitate public involvement in the open exchange of ideas on issues of public interest through the presentation of free lecture programs that actively engage diverse audiences in discussion and debate. Since 1908, the Ford Hall Forum has presented such notable speakers as Maya Angelou, Clarence Darrow, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King, Jr., Henry Kissinger, Thurgood Marshall, Yitzhak Rabin, Ayn Rand, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, and Malcolm X. The Freedom Trail Foundation is a 50-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Boston's distinct historic character and its important role in the American Revolution. The Foundation conducts tours with spirited costumed historic characters who lead visitors along the red brick line. It promotes and helps to preserve the sixteen nationally significant historic sites along the red brick path, our country's cherished places where American patriotism and American democracy were born. Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University The Joint Center for Housing Studies is Harvard University's center for information and research on housing in the United States. The Joint Center analyzes the dynamic relationships between housing markets and economic, demographic, and social trends, providing leaders in government, business, and the non-profit sector with the knowledge needed to develop effective policies and strategies. Established in 1959, the Joint Center is a collaborative unit affiliated with the Harvard Design School and the Kennedy School of Government. Through its rich array of research, education, and public outreach programs, the Joint Center serves as a convener for informed discussion on a broad range of issues in the housing sector of the nation's economy. In doing so, it educates business leaders, government officials, policy makers, and the public on critical and emerging factors affecting housing and our communities. The world's premier center for legal education and research, Harvard Law School provides unparalleled opportunities to study law and related disciplines in an energetic and creative learning environment. A Harvard Law education prepares students for success in law practice, business, public service, and teaching. Through its faculty, students, and alumni, Harvard Law School is able to contribute solutions to the world's most complex legal and social challenges. Our students come from all 50 states and more than 100 countries around the world. Most are pursuing a J.D. (Juris Doctor) degree, while many others are earning an LL.M (Master of Laws) or the S.J.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science). Outside the classroom, there are a rich variety of student practice organizations, professional interest groups, social groups, and student journals, which allow students to pursue every possible interest. Harvard is home to the world's largest academic law library. Its collections, numbering nearly two million volumes, support the teaching and research activities of the School and serve as a resource for legal scholars throughout the world. Harvard Law School's outstanding faculty and extraordinarily gifted students and alumni, its big-city character and prodigious resources, and its location at the heart of Harvard University all contribute to its leadership role in American and international legal education. Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) is a major research library and manuscript repository. Its holdings encompass millions of rare and unique documents and artifacts vital to the study of American history, many of them irreplaceable national treasures. The MHS was a co-sponsor, with the Rappaport Institute, of the first Charter Day celebration on September 7, 2001. The event commemorated the formal creation of Boston and its designation as the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and featured a formal declaration of September 7 as Charter Day by Governor Jane M. Swift. A new consortium led by the Rappaport Institute and MHS will coordinate an expanded Charter Day celebration in 2002. Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC) The mission of the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC) is to develop a public agenda for Massachusetts that promotes the growth and vitality of the middle class. We envision a growing, dynamic middle class as the cornerstone of a new commonwealth in which every citizen can live the American Dream. Our governing philosophy is rooted in the ideals embodied by the American Dream: equality of opportunity, personal responsibility and a strong commonwealth. MassINC is a non-partisan, evidence-based organization. Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) is a regional planning agency representing 101 cities and towns in the metropolitan Boston area. Created by an act of the Legislature in 1963, it serves as a forum for state and local officials to address issues of regional importance. As one of 14 members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), MAPC has oversight responsibility for the region's federally funded transportation program. Council membership consists of community representatives, gubernatorial appointees and city and state agencies who collaborate in the development of comprehensive plans and recommendations in areas of population and employment, transportation, economic development, regional growth and the environment. The Council also provides technical assistance and advocacy to its member communities. MAPC works with its 101 cities and towns through eight subregional organizations. Each subregion has members appointed by chief elected officials and planning boards. The Council supports the subregions by providing planning information, organizational experience and technical expertise to foster project development. The subregions develop an annual work plan with the assistance of an MAPC staff person who serves as subregional coordinator. The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world. Today's park system includes areas of historical as well as scenic and scientific importance. New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston The New England Public Policy Center, a new venture of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, opened its doors on January 1, 2005. The Center will be dedicated to improving the quality of analysis on the economic and policy issues that affect the region, such as state and state and local public finance, economic development, housing and land use, health care, and regional economic conditions. The Old North Church was built in 1723 in the Georgian style following Christopher Wren. In this rare and beautiful building, still an active Episcopal church, art, history and faith meet in a special way. It was from the steeple of the Old North Church that the two lanterns closely associated with Paul Revere were hung by Robert Newman, Church sexton, on April 18, 1775, igniting the War for Independence and leading to the birth of our nation. The Old North Church is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Since 1729, Bostonians have gathered at the Old South Meeting House for debates, discussion, revolution, and celebration. Today this museum and historic site is a living symbol of our country’s quest for freedom and justice. The Old South Meeting House is a National Historic Landmark that is an important resource for more than 85,000 children, parents, teachers, visitors, and citizens each year. Twice a year, the Old South Meeting House hosts the Rappaport Public Service Lecture. Partnership of Historic Bostons The Partnership of Historic Bostons links Boston, Massachusetts, with Boston, Lincolnshire, in England. The original Boston supplied us with our name and sent 10% of its population to Massachusetts in the 1630s. The Partnership is a non-political, non-profit organization established in 1999 to recognize and celebrate the unique historical connection between the two Bostons. Our mission is to enrich the lives of the people of Greater Boston, Massachusetts, by creating and presenting educational and cultural programs and events to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of the common, enduring legacies of the two Bostons. We propose, plan, initiate, and establish projects that support the Partnership's mission. We are supported by gifts from friends; grants from corporations, foundations and trusts; and donations from participants at specially arranged events. Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research The Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research is one of the Commonwealth's most influential public policy think tanks. Founded by current Rappaport Institute board member Charles Baker, the Pioneer Institute provides a market-oriented approach to public policy that searches for the most appropriate ways to engage government. The Pioneer Institute focuses its research and forum agenda on what it calls the "Four E's" - educational excellence, effective public management, economic opportunity, and emerging issues. The Rappaport Institute and Pioneer Institute co-sponsored a major panel discussion on the threats of terrorism in Massachusetts. The two institutes are also collaborating on a major study of housing regulation in Greater Boston. Program on Education Policy and Governance A joint initiative of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and Harvard's Center for American Political Studies, the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) brings together experts on elementary and secondary education with specialists in governance and public management to examine strategies for educational reform and evaluate important educational experiments. PEPG also publishes a major journal on education policy and reform called Education Next. In October 2001, PEPG and the Rappaport Institute co-sponsored a major conference on high-stakes testing in Massachusetts and the U.S. The "Testing Testing" conference featured keynote remarks James Peyser, the chief education advisor to Massachusetts Governor Jane M. Swift. Other scholars also participated in the event, which saw the release of a comprehensive overview of the issue in the Commonwealth. Rappaport Honors Program in Law and Public Service at Suffolk University Law School The Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston enjoys an ongoing association with the Rappaport Honors Program in Law and Public Service at Suffolk University Law School. The Rappaport Honors Program was established to train a cadre of highly-qualified law students from Boston-area schools to work towards the betterment of civic life in the Greater Boston region. Law students from the Rappaport Honors Program and students from the Rappaport Institute meet as a group for discussions, lectures, and other enrichment events. This unique relationship between the two programs and universities provides for a rich learning environment. The Rappaport Honors Program welcomes applications from eligible students at Boston College Law School, Boston University School of Law, Harvard University Law School, New England School of Law, Northeastern University School of Law and Suffolk University Law School. The mission of the Trustees of Reservations is to preserve, for public use and enjoyment, properties of exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value in Massachusetts. Founded in 1891 as one of the nation's first conservation organizations, the Trustees of Reservations is a nonprofit organization funded entirely by visitors, supporters, and members. From the Berkshire mountains to the beaches of Cape Cod and the Islands, it has worked to protect more than 48,000 acres of land across the state.
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