UMass Boston

Policy-Relevant and Action-Oriented

The center conducts policy-relevant and action-oriented research to inform policymaking and initiatives to ensure equity, well-being, and justice for all of those who identify as female. The center also examines political representation with an emphasis on the public leadership of women of color to help strengthen diverse forms of women’s leadership. Building on its long-term commitment to explore the combined impacts of gender, race/ethnicity, and class on policymaking and politics, the center prioritizes the experiences of underrepresented, low-income, and marginalized women across its research portfolio.

The center’s research team is actively engaged in the following projects, several of which are collaborative and multidisciplinary:

UMass Boston Early Ed Cost and Usage Simulator Project (CUSP)

Co-led with the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation, this project produces current, relevant, accurate, and responsive estimates about the key impacts of proposed legislation to expand access to affordable, quality child care and early education. In October 2023, the project team issued its first research brief aimed to provide essential information to guide policymaking on child care and early education affordability, quality, and access in Massachusetts. 

Check out our initial research brief and executive summary.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism (DEIA) services for Massachusetts municipalities

The center is working in partnership with UMass Boston’s Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management to offer expertise to Massachusetts towns and cities seeking to utilize best practices to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism (DEIA) in proactive, systematic, and meaningful ways.

Projects include:

• An initiative in the City of Revere to better understand the demographic characteristics of workforce and standardize demographic data collection across city departments, boards, and commissions
• Preparation of recommendations to help guide the Town of Dedham’s goal of building a positive and equitable work environment for all and ensuring that its workforce and boards/committees/commissions reflect a range of diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-racism (DEIA) Services for Massachusetts Municipalities

The center is working in partnership with UMass Boston’s Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management to offer expertise to Massachusetts towns and cities seeking to utilize best practices to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism (DEIA) in proactive, systematic, and meaningful ways.

Projects include:

• An initiative in the City of Revere to better understand the demographic characteristics of workforce and standardize demographic data collection across city departments, boards, and commissions.
• Preparation of recommendations to help guide the Town of Dedham’s goal of building a positive and equitable work environment for all and ensuring that its workforce and boards/committees/commissions reflect a range of diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

The Massachusetts Representation Project: Diverse Leadership for a Diverse Commonwealth

While there is growing attention to diversity in political representation in Massachusetts and across the country, there is a notable absence of an accessible hub for up-to-date and credible data about the gender, racial, and ethnic backgrounds of elected officials serving in the Commonwealth—from school committees to Congress. Without public access to this information, it’s hard to assess how closely political leadership does or does not mirror the demographics of a community or district. This is why the center is collecting data to develop an interactive web portal for essential information on electoral leadership, such as trends in each municipality and region of the state, gaps in representation based on community profiles, and opportunities for achieving inclusive and diverse leadership.

Working in collaboration with UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture, Institute for Asian American Studies, and Institute for New England Native American Studies, the center, and partner institutes look forward to making the data public in the future.

Contact

For more information about the center’s research agenda, activities, and/or publications, please contact Christa Kelleher, Research and Policy Director, at 617.287.5530 or christa.kelleher@umb.edu.