The Center for Policy Analysis (CFPA) at UMass-Dartmouth quietly celebrated its 30th anniversary last month and this was appropriate for a “blue collar” research center whose core value is “no excuses, just get it done.” The Center for Policy Analysis was established on Dec. 15, 1983, by a unanimous vote of the former Southeastern Massachusetts University board of trustees “to stimulate and promote inter-disciplinary studies of all facets of the social, political, and economic conditions of Southeastern Massachusetts” and to “bridge the gap between social science and social policy.” While in recent years, the CFPA has become closely identified with our Northeastern Casino Gaming Research Project, I often have to remind people that casino research may generate 90 percent of the CFPA’s media presence, but gaming research is only 10 percent of our day-to-day work, which is rarely considered “newsworthy” by editors or reporters.
We are particularly proud of the fact that the CFPA has remained committed to its original mission of being “a flexible research organization responding on a timely basis to the problems and issues identified by client agencies.” Since 1993, when the CFPA re-launched its operations with a fiscal and economic impact analysis of the Fall River Combined Sewer Overflow project, the CFPA has worked with an extensive list of clients to produce 320 applied research reports for state and local government agencies, non-profit organizations, school departments, labor unions, and private businesses.
The research and technical assistance projects conducted by the CFPA have directly facilitated at least $2.6 billion in new capital investment in the state and in Southeastern Massachusetts, and its research support has assisted government and private entities generate approximately 13,600 construction jobs and 20,200 direct permanent jobs in marine science and technology, health care, education, retail, arts and crafts, wholesale distribution, high technology, and aviation, to name a few.
In addition, the center’s staff routinely answers inquiries from government and nonprofit agencies for information that assists in grant writing, report preparation, and public presentations, which in turn lead to additional investment in the commonwealth’s intellectual infrastructure, social service networks, and critical and emerging industries.
The Importance Of Partnerships
For example, following the 2000-2001 recession, and at the beginning of what came to be known as the “jobless recovery,” the CFPA began a long-term partnership with the Massachusetts Cultural Council to promote “cultural economic development” in distressed communities before the terms “creative economy” and “gateway cities” had been invented by policy wonks. We have conducted program evaluation workshops for MCC staff and local program directors, assisted in the development of a long-term strategic plan, and conducted 28 program evaluation and economic impact analyses of cultural economic development projects from western Massachusetts to Provincetown. New Bedford’s ArtsHistoryArchitecture! Program is a striking example of how such work has helped to revitalize a formerly distressed urban downtown district.
Similarly, in 2002, former Mayor Edward M. Lambert retained the CFPA to assist the Fall River Master School Building Oversight Committee in devising a plan to spend $52 million on rehabilitating a crumbling network of public school buildings. At the time, Fall River’s “newest” school was more than 50 years old and one school had literally been constructed when Andrew Johnson was president of the United States.
Rather than spend millions of dollars to make non-functional facilities marginally habitable, the CFPA proposed a plan that allowed Fall River to take advantage of the newly funded School Building Assistant Program. By managing to get “first in line,” Fall River leveraged its limited funds to secure nearly $400 million in state matching funds, which allowed it to build 10 new state-of-the-art elementary and middle schools, while selling off dilapidated properties for taxable redevelopment as medical facilities, artist’s lofts, and residential housing.
Over the years, the CFPA has worked with public housing authorities in Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton to evaluate community policing, drug elimination, and on-site learning programs. The CFPA has developed strategic plans and workforce development blueprints for Workforce Investment Boards across Southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod.
Its research has documented market feasibility, answered regulatory and permitting issues, and provided legislative support on a variety of economic development projects, including the opening of a new industrial park in Fall River, the expansion of New Bedford Regional Airport, funding for marine science and technology facilities, and the construction of new health care facilities. More recently, the CFPA has strengthened its involvement in regional health care planning with an economic impact assessment of the health care industry in Southeastern Massachusetts, which has led to mapping health care assets in the region, research to support expanded health care access, smoking prevention, and wellness programs in an underserved part of the state.
However, there are rumblings in certain quarters of the UMass system that the miniscule budget devoted to these types of projects is “a one-sided flow of resources into the community.” This is an odd claim for a state-supported institution of higher education. In fact, this type of community outreach and its impact on the life and work of taxpaying citizens is one of the fundamental rationales for a public university in the 21st century.
Clyde W. Barrow is director of the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass-Dartmouth.
