Understanding Boston Forum: The Transportation Dividend: Transit Investments & the Massachusetts Economy

Each year, the MBTA returns regional economic benefits worth more than five times what we, as a region and commonwealth, spend to operate it. We are benefiting now from investments in public transit begun a century ago, but the levels of growth expected in this region over the next quarter-century cannot be accommodated without bolstering that investment in a strategic and deliberate way.

This becomes clear in a new report prepared by A Better City with support from the Barr Foundation and the Boston Foundation, which assesses the current state and ideal future of a transit-centered economy, including challenges and strategies for sustainable growth.  Join The Boston Foundation for a presentation of these findings, along with a lively conversation about transit's elemental role in the life of a world-class region by a panel of diverse experts.
 

Welcome
Paul S. Grogan, President & CEO, The Boston Foundation

Opening Remarks
Luis Manuel Ramirez, General Manager & CEO, MBTA 

Presentation of Report Findings
Toni Horst, PhD, National Practice Leader, Transportation Economics, AECOM 
Alden S. Raine, PhD, National Practice Leader, Transit-Oriented Development, AECOM  

Panel Moderator
Jim Canales, President & Trustee, Barr Foundation

Panel Discussion
Chris Dempsey, Director, Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA)
Rick Dimino, President & CEO, A Better City 
Jarred Johnson, Real Estate Project Manager, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation & Board Member, TransitMatters
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Arbuckle Professor, Harvard Business School; Author of Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead
Michelle Wu, City Councilor At-Large, City of Boston
                 
                
UNDERSTANDING BOSTON is a series of forums, educational events and research sponsored by the Boston Foundation to provide information and insight into issues affecting Boston, its neighborhoods and the region. By working in collaboration with a wide range of partners, the Boston Foundation provides opportunities for people to come together to explore challenges facing our constantly changing community and to develop an informed civic agenda. All of the Boston Foundation's civic leadership activities are supported by the Civic Leadership Fund at the Boston Foundation. Visit www.tbf.org/civicleadership to learn more about this important fund. Visit www.tbf.org to learn more about the Boston Foundation and its activities.