Tony immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 14 years old. His parents, Manuel and Victoria, wanted their children to have greater opportunities and a better life in America. They spoke no English and didn’t have money or connections in the United States, but instilled in their children the value of education, hard-work, and civic responsibility.
H.505 An Act to promote inclusive entrepreneurship and economic justice.
This bill would require the administration’s 4-year strategic economic development policy and plan include an assessment of racial and ethnic disparities in employment and business ownership and analyze how the economic development initiatives contained in the plan contribute to reducing these disparities. It would also create a competitive grant program that provides matching grants to establish or strengthen business districts that serve communities of color, in addition to, smaller grants for any business district in the state to help entrepreneurs of color in their community expand their market. Finally, it would require all public boards and commission in the Commonwealth adopt policies and practices to increase racial and ethnic diversity of their membership.
H.281 An Act relative to neighborhood stabilization and economic development.
This bill would raise the MA Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) annual cap from $10 million to $30 million. It would include ‘neighborhood stabilization’ as a consideration under the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s enabling statute when designing and building schools. It would establish a “spot blight rehabilitation program” to streamline small-scale residential projects on problem properties. Finally, it would establish a commission to study how to best improve the housing stock in weak markets, as it relates to safety, accessibility, resiliency, and regional equity.