Click below to watch PFP’s panel discussion about our RCT study on increasing Black voter turnout in Boston's municipal elections. In the conversation, PFP released its findings on a cost-effective, replicable strategy to boost turnout and discussed its new policy paper in conversation with Steph Domond, lead author on the study; Lauren Harper, co-founder of WelcomePAC; and Peter de Guzman, associate researcher at Tufts University's Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Click below to watch PFP’s conversation with Danielle Allen, Harvard professor and former candidate for Governor of Massachusetts; Will Keyser, political communications expert and president of Keyser Public Strategies; and Steve Koczela, President of the MassINC Polling Group. We discuss how well democracy functioned in these elections, what trends they have seen in the polls, and what role “Charlie Baker Democrats” will play in the coming (likely) Democratic trifecta.

Thursday, June 16th at the UMass Club (1 Beacon St, 32nd Floor, Boston, MA)

• 4:00pm: Discussion with experts on the evidence-based, politically possible policy ideas that can move our Commonwealth forward

 • 5:30pm: Social hour (and a half) with drinks and appetizers

Featuring Steve Koczela (President, MassINC Polling Group). Slides available here.

Research has shown that providing low-income families with personalized services, like landlord engagement or financing for a security deposit, improves their success when using housing vouchers in higher-cost areas. Breaking down housing barriers is one of the best public investments we can make, economic research has shown. In addition to the greater opportunities afforded to low-income children, housing mobility programs might be one tool to encourage more diverse and vibrant neighborhoods and schools here in the Commonwealth.  

Join Policy for Progress for a discussion on May 24th at 10:00 AM about an exciting new program: Supporting Neighborhood Opportunity in Massachusetts (SNO Mass). SNO Mass was expanded state-wide in the late Fall of 2020.

Featuring:

• A SNO Mass participating family about their experience

• Program administrator at the Department of Housing and Community Development.

• Experts in housing mobility

Turnout in Boston’s local elections is abysmal – only 16.5% of the voting-age population cast a ballot in the city’s 2019 city council contest. To make matters worse, these voters were significantly whiter and wealthier than Boston as a whole. The problem is fairly straightforward: Boston, like many other American cities, holds its local elections in odd-numbered years, or “off-cycle.”

Featuring:

• Sarah Anzia (Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley)

• Jonathan Collins (Professor of Education and Political Science, Brown University)

Featuring Eitan Hersh (Author, “Politics is for Power: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change”)

Featuring:

• Rep. Chynah Tyler (D-Roxbury, 7th Suffolk District)

• Stefan Lallinger (Director, The Bridges Collaborative)

• Hardin L.K. Coleman, Ph.D (Dean Emeritus, Boston University Wheelock College; Boston School Committee Member)

• Ben Forman (Research Director, MASSINC)

• Turahn Dorsey (Foundation Fellow, Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation)

Register here