The Boston Foundation

"By aligning housing and transit policies, Greater Boston can stabilize housing costs, improve transit reliability, reduce car dependency, and make progress toward its climate goals. Pursuing transit-supportive density builds on the region’s strengths and lays the foundation for a more connected, equitable, and resilient future." Written in partnership by Boston Indicators and TransitMatters, Transit-Supportive Density in Greater Boston is a new report that explores the supportive relationship between housing density near effective transit, and highlights some of our region's opportunities to craft a stronger ecosystem. Read the report here: https://bit.ly/4hgqIzI

Tonight marks the annual homelessness census, conducted on one night each January across the country. This “point-in-time” count provides an annual snapshot of homelessness; its estimates provided the baseline for a report Boston Indicators released this past August, 'Homelessness in Greater Boston: Trends in the Context of Our Broader Housing Crisis.' To coincide with the annual homelessness census, today Boston Indicators released an update to this report using newly available data from January 2024, confirming what many had suspected—that homelessness had risen sharply into early 2024. Read the brief here: https://bit.ly/3CDeD8H

🏮✨Happy Lunar New Year from the Asian Community Fund✨🏮 🧧 We’ve compiled a list of ways you can support the AAPI community this Lunar New Year. This includes learning about different holiday traditions and customs, supporting AAPI-owned businesses, and joining local efforts to make Lunar New Year an observed school holiday. 🐍 We’re excited to see how you celebrate! #LunarNewYear

Accepting Applications: The Bruce J. Anderson Foundation Serving Cape Ann and Nashoba Valley, the Bruce J. Anderson Foundation provides grants for programs, direct services and new initiatives in the fields of mental health (treatment, research and suicide prevention, with a particular interest in mental health services supporting LGBTQIA young people), environmental protection, historic and archival preservation, and the arts. Application deadline: Feb. 26, 2025 Learn more and apply: https://bit.ly/3f9I7Mg

Looking at some of the strengths and challenges facing our region, Boston Indicators and TransitMatters have combined their expertise in housing and transit to explore transit-supportive density (TSD), offering a roadmap for creating more vibrant, sustainable, and equitable neighborhoods across Greater Boston. Join us on Thursday for this report release event, featuring a presentation from the authors followed by a panel discussion. When: Jan. 30th, 9:00 - 10:15 AM Register here: https://bit.ly/3E8bHBE

Congratulations to our colleagues at SkillWorks Boston on this exciting update! These efforts to expand access to vocational education across ESOL and close skills training gaps in MA reflect the hard work and dedication of the SkillWorks team alongside many dedicated partners and a promising start for these important proposals. We look forward to these proposals being passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor over the coming months.

To support neighborhood heat resilience and adaptability, solutions for climate resilience must embed equity and community-based action – and neighborhood-specific temperature data could be a helpful tool to inform our response. Yesterday A Better City , Boston University School of Public Health, the City of Boston’s Office of Climate Resilience, and TBF presented the results of the B-COOL initiative, a heat sensor pilot program to address the gaps in temperature data across Boston’s hotspot neighborhoods, which can be 10-15 degrees warmer than surrounding areas. The B-COOL initiative installed sensors at fifteen Boston sites to provide neighborhood-specific temperature data to better inform the city in declaring heat emergencies and advisories and in supporting vulnerable Bostonians. Read more about the project and its findings: https://bit.ly/40LqRW8

It's hard to believe it's already been two years since we celebrated the historic unveiling of The Embrace monument alongside friends and partners ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in 2023! Now a permanent beacon of Boston’s commitment to equity and justice, TBF is immensely proud to have been part of the work with Embrace Boston and others to bring The Embrace here, a symbol of love, community, and hope for our city and beyond. Today we reflect on the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King and the countless civil rights leaders they worked with right here in Boston in pursuit of their enduring dream - as we move forward toward the future they envisioned. For TBF, that means putting equity at the center of everything we do, engaging our civic leadership to advance justice and equity in Greater Boston and working to close gaps and open pathways for opportunity to build vital, prosperous and equitable communities. Reminder: You can join the 55th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Breakfast virtually today from 9 - 11:30AM! Gathering under the theme "Freedom Isn't Free," the event will feature keynote speaker Angela Davis. Watch the livestream here: https://bit.ly/40NfTjb

Looking to reflect and celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend? We compiled a few resources and events happening around Boston to commemorate MLK Weekend: - ICYMI from our earlier post, our friends at Embrace Boston are kicking off their "MLK Embrace Honors: Sneaker Gala" on Sunday 1/19 at 6:30. Embrace Boston president and CEO Imari K. Paris Jeffries shared more on NBC Boston: https://bit.ly/3Cf2uXC - Virtually join the 55th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Breakfast on Monday 1/20 from 9 - 11:30AM feat. keynote speaker Angela Davis. Register for the livestream: https://bit.ly/40NfTjb - The Bay State Banner's conversation with Elizabeth Tiblanc, VP of arts and culture at Embrace Boston, on how they're ‘pushing forward for change': https://bit.ly/3WjDoxC - The Boston Globe's Nine ways to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day around Boston: https://bit.ly/40ismcV And, of course, this weekend is a great time to visit The Embrace monument in the Boston Common for a moment of reflection.

Curious about how temperature monitoring might relate to your work? Over the summer, fifteen temperature sensors were deployed across heat island neighborhoods in Boston to help better understand neighborhood-specific temperature data and inform protocols, like more targeted heat emergency declarations. TBF, in partnership with A Better City, BU's School of Public Health and the City of Boston, invites you to join us on Jan. 22nd at 9AM to hear about our findings from the 2024 B-COOL heat temperature sensor pilot project. If you're interested in using temperature data or unsure where to start, we hope you'll join us for this conversation to learn and explore ideas collaboratively. Register here: https://bit.ly/40F3axJ