Brockton, Haverhill, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Pittsfield, Revere, Salem, Springfield, and Worcester to receive grants

Boston, Mass. - (November 5, 2015) Today at the Massachusetts State House, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President and CEO Eric Rosengren, along with Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, and public and private funders, officially recognized ten $15,000 design grant awards as part of a second round of the Working Cities Challenge in Massachusetts. The Challenge is a grant competition that is designed to support cross-sector, collaborative leadership and ambitious work to improve the lives of low-income people in the Commonwealth's smaller cities.

The ten cities-Brockton, Haverhill, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Pittsfield, Revere, Salem, Springfield, and Worcester-were selected by an independent jury that does not include a Federal Reserve representative to receive these design grant awards.

Funding for these grants and the broader competition is provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Living Cities, the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, NeighborWorks America, the Smith Family Foundation, and MassDevelopment. Representatives from these organizations attended today's State House announcement.

"We are very pleased to launch a second round of the Working Cities Challenge in Massachusetts and are grateful to Governor Baker, Massachusetts legislators, and our partners for their continued support," President Rosengren said. "Just as we ask teams to lead collaboratively, so too must the Fed in order to make the Challenge work-that is why we have adapted the process to include a design grant phase, which offers necessary resources to city teams as they build their proposals for implementation. We look forward to seeing the teams' progress as they work toward submitting proposals for implementation awards."

"We are excited about the next round of the Working Cities Challenge in Massachusetts and the model of collaborative, cross-sector leadership it contributes to the Commonwealth," said Governor Baker. "We look forward to pursuing the mutual goals and potential that programs like these and our administration's Urban Agenda can create and contribute to the economic development of cities and towns throughout Massachusetts."

"The expansion of Working Cities shows that new ways of solving complex problems facing the economic future of low-income people are gaining traction," said Ben Hecht, president and CEO of Living Cities. "The public, private and philanthropic resources committed to Round 2 reflect the types of collaborations required for local communities to make real change."

About the Working Cities Challenge

The Working Cities Challenge, launched in 2013 in Massachusetts, builds on Boston Fed research that identified cross-sector collaboration and leadership as the key ingredients in resurgent smaller cities across the country. As part of the first round in Massachusetts, six Massachusetts cities received $1.8 million in funding for projects to address issues impacting low-income communities. Funding was provided by the state, private sector, and local and national philanthropic organizations, and cities were selected on merit by an independent jury not comprised of Boston Fed representatives. Four of those cities from the first round won multiyear grant awards and continue to make progress expanding their efforts and improving the lives of low-income residents in their communities. The Boston Fed recently announced that the Challenge would expand to Rhode Island in 2016.

For more on the Working Cities Challenge, visit http://bostonfed.org/workingcities/