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Community Engagement in the Massachusetts Asset Development Commission

Community Engagement in the Massachusetts Asset Development Commission. Connecting people to policy in a demand-side model. What is Midas?.

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Community Engagement in the Massachusetts Asset Development Commission

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  1. Community Engagement in the Massachusetts Asset Development Commission Connecting people to policy in a demand-side model

  2. What is Midas? A statewide collaborative, currently comprised of 30 community-based, non-profit organizations devoted to developing, administering and promoting asset-building initiatives for low-income and minority residents, throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

  3. What does Midas do?‏ • Promotes asset development programs and policies in the state. • Provides back-office fiscal services, funding, & training for IDA programs. • Supports financial education through training, research, funding, and web coordination at www.MassSaves.org • Supports innovation in asset development; hosting meetings, briefings, and trainings.

  4. Asset Development Commission • Study current asset development programs. • Evaluate their effectiveness. • Make policy recommendations, using best practices. The Approach is: • Inclusive • Educational • Coordinated with national initiatives • Community and practitioner-tested • Built on existing infrastructure • Time-limited

  5. Members of the Commission • 4 Legislators • Administration Appointees from Housing, Finance, Education, HHS, Small Business. • 2 Financial institutions & Federal Reserve Bank • Research institution & state-wide think tank • Philanthropies; United Way & local foundation • Statewide non-profits: Midas, CDCs, CAPs, EITC Coalition, human services. • IDA program manager and participant

  6. Passing the Commission • State house visits, letters, calls • Coalition work with other statewide non-profits and labor; • Mass Association of CDCs • Mass Community Action (MassCap) • United Way • Mass Community & Banking Council • AFL-CIO • Housing and workforce development groups • Economic Stimulus Listening Tour turnout by program participants

  7. How do we make it inclusive? Working Groups Broader group of practitioners, advocates, and beneficiaries advise the Commission. Hearings & Web updates 3 public hearings are held throughout the state Website posts meetings, reports, contact info for members Midas’s Leadership Circles • Dialogue with community members for their context, analysis, and prescriptions. • Invitation to join the ongoing work in asset-development. • Feedback on proposed recommendations.

  8. Communication Flow

  9. Lawrence CommunityWorks Revitalizes Lawrence by creating a growing Network of residents and other stakeholders who are building family and community assets, providing each other with mutual support, developing leadership skills, and engaging in collective action to improve the physical, economic, social, and civic landscape of the City.

  10. Network Organizing • Creates Demand-side (vs. Supply-side) Solutions: we invest in resident capacity to produce and advance demand, by strengthening people-to-people connections, and providing abundant opportunities and space for people to meet and to articulate and act on their priorities. • Changes Culture: Residents create the network of relationships that support productive democratic deliberation and decision-making, and repeatedly practice this process at the institutional, neighborhood, and City level. This creates a civic and political environment where this practice begins to shape policy, service delivery and the community development agenda.

  11. Network Approach to Programs • Create choices • Establish many points of entry • Accommodate varying affiliation levels • Privilege and promote peer connections and “weak links” • Embrace provisionality and flexibility • Emphasize mutuality and value, not service delivery • Connect participants to other parts of the organization • Promote Leadership Institute and collective action and professional development opportunities within programs • Incorporate political / economic education in curricula

  12. IDA Programs • Cohorts of 12; some all-women; “high-touch” • Tailored: Welcome Home, Second Chance, Scholarship Clubs, employer-based • Peer support groups meet as often as financial literacy classes • Peer Leader component trains graduates to coordinate support meetings and alumni connections • Economic education and political awareness built in, along with fun • Participants recruited for Poder Leadership Institute, committee service, Board, issue campaigns and mobilization

  13. Asset Commission Engagement • Leadership Groups during Peer Support time to gather participant stories and insights • Hearing Prep: economic / policy education session • Individual prep-work with speakers • Field Trip! Turn-out to Asset Development Commission Hearings • Food and Reflection • Report-back on progress by staff

  14. Questions? Contacts: Margaret Miley, The Midas Collaborative MMiley@MassAssets.org617-787-3874 x214 Jessica Andors, Lawrence CommunityWorks JAndors@lcworks.org 978-685-3115

  15. Thank you to….

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