City of Newton, MA
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Newton’s Economic Stability/Mobility Initiative:
A Partnership with EMPath
When we received $63.5 million in unprecedented one-time federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), we decided to strategically seed initiatives that help our community not just stabilize and recover, but permanently be more resilient, more livable, more vibrant, more inclusive and more sustainable. One key priority is to use the funds to help those hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, we want to provide under-resourced families disproportionately impacted by the pandemic with individual, intensive support for economic stability and mobility.
With the help of a terrific group of residents and people working in this field who provided me with their unanimous recommendation, we have decided to partner with the Boston-based nonprofit Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath for short) on this Economic Stability / Mobility Initiative.
EMPath’s mission is to transform people’s lives by helping them move out of poverty. They are a national leader in economic mobility, offering a unique combination of direct service, a learning exchange of 150+ organizations nationwide, research and advocacy. EMPath has directly served thousands of low-income families in the Greater Boston region and helped them increase their wages.
In Newton, EMPath will support fifty low-income Newton families with intensive one-to-one Economic Mobility Coaching over the course of two years. The priority clients for this program are low-income Newton families who are at or below 50% of the area median income (AMI), have children under 18 years old (or are pregnant), and who are interested in working and increasing their income. We will purposefully seek to serve families or individuals most impacted by the pandemic with an emphasis on people of color who were disproportionately harmed as well as those who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness, living in subsidized housing, or who are otherwise struggling.
EMPath‘s coaching model, called Mobility Mentoring, has a proven track record of achieving results. The organization has a commitment to evaluation and making data-driven adaptations to their models. Led by Kim Janey, EMPath’s approach is client-centered, strengths-based, comprehensive, and coordinated.
EMPath focuses on addressing five critical pillars: family stability, well-being, education and training, financial management, and employment & career management.
Over the life of the Newton program, one mentor will be fully engaged with each participant to support them as they set and work toward individual goals related to each pillar. Mentors will be available for mentoring sessions six days per week and in the evenings. After the two-year program concludes, participants will have the opportunity for longer-term support by moving to EMPath’s “flagship” program which continues for up to five years.
In addition to the tailored coaching, EMPath will provide each family with a monthly cash incentive ($250) for active participation in the program. This monthly guaranteed cash payment will provide participants with greater economic stability as they receive economic mobility coaching. The cash will serve as an incentive to continue with the coaching, while providing participants with some essential breathing room necessary to take on their bigger goals.
EMPath will recruit Newton families in the late spring and the program will launch in the summer. They will be selecting the staff, developing recruitment materials, launching an outreach and recruitment plan, and working closely with our City’s Health and Human Services and Planning staff. EMPath will also work with our partners at the UMAss Donahue Institute to develop a monitoring and reporting timeline, define outcome measures, and implement a data collection plan.
I am extremely excited for this initiative to begin and very grateful to the 10-member Advisory Committee that helped make this effort a reality.
Mayor Ruthanne Fuller
To learn more about Newton Thrive, the EMPath program in Newton, visit empathways.org/Newton.
Newton Thrive Progress Report (09.24.24)
Newton Thrive Evaluation Report (07.16.24)
Economic Stability / Mobility Initiative:
RFP Process
To download the Economic Stability / Mobility Initiative Request for Proposals (RFP), click here. Proposals were due by Dec. 1, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. The City received three proposals from the following non-profit organizations:
$1.75 million of the City of Newton’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds have been allocated to support the economic stability and mobility of individuals and families with limited resources who were hurt most by the pandemic, disproportionately persons of color. The Newton Community Needs Assessment identified this as a critical need.
In the Spring of 2022, the City brought on the UMass Donahue Institute’s Senior Research Manager Christina Citino to work with the City’s Health & Human Services and Housing staff to project manage this effort. Christina has vast experience managing projects of this type. She specializes in health and human services evaluation and research work and has more than 20 years’ experience providing state agencies, community-based organizations, and private entities with program development, needs assessment, and program evaluation services.
The City also formed an Advisory Committee of residents, issue experts, people with lived experience, and City staff to partner with Ms. Citino to design, implement, and monitor an Economic Stability / Mobility Initiative aimed at supporting the economic mobility of residents with low- to moderate-incomes across Newton.
The Advisory Committee members included:
- India Arnold – Community Engagement & Youth Services Coordinator, Newton Community Development Foundation (NCDF); former preschool teacher and a Newton resident
- Amanda Berman - Director of Housing & Community Development, City of Newton
- Nikia Bodden – Manager, Housing & Stabilization, The Second Step; over 10 years’ experience serving homeless survivors of domestic and sexual violence
- Rebecca Camargo – Director of Resident Services, Newton Housing Authority; LICSW; former Crisis Intervention Clinician with Eliot Community Human Services; and former Program Manager at the Cambridge Shelter
- Barney Heath - Director of Planning & Development Department, City of Newton
- Meghan Kennedy – Director of Social Services, City of Newton and a Newton resident
- Keith Mahoney - Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, The Boston Foundation and a Newton resident
- Marva Serotkin - Member of the Newton Housing Partnership; former President and CEO of The Boston Home; a consultant specializing in long-term care, affordable housing, and not-for-profit management and a Newton resident
- Linda Walsh – Commissioner, Health & Human Services, City of Newton
- Deborah Youngblood – Executive Director, Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast; former Commissioner of Health & Human Services for the City of Newton; former Vice President of Research and Innovation at EMPath, Economic Mobilities Pathways; and a Newton resident
On Thursday, September 15th at 6:00 pm, the City held an Information Session. Ms. Citino shared information about the process and the Advisory Committee’s work to date. Following a short presentation about the status of the initiative and next steps, participants had an opportunity to ask questions and provide comments. Click here to view the presentation.
Community Needs Assessment
Our Health and Human Services Department contracted with CGR (Community Government Research) to conduct a community needs assessment specifically focused on hearing from our low-income residents regarding their needs and ideas for becoming economically stable. CGR is a nonprofit consulting firm whose mission is to drive positive community change through the highest quality research, analysis, data insights and collaboration. The needs assessment will utilize existing data as well as surveys and focus groups specifically designed to amplify the voices of lower resourced residents.
View the Community Needs Assessment here.