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          Level up your leadership and communication in this Boston Chamber workshop for professionals—gain essential skills in team alignment.

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The Power of Collaboration: How a New Partnership Will Transform Neighborhoods in Boston

October 30, 2020

When it comes to working together, Boston stands out.

A recent collaborative of Boston hospitals aimed at increasing access to affordable housing and job training programs lifted the city to the top of more than 150 proposals for JPMorgan Chase’s AdvancingCities Challenge, a $500 million initiative that combines the firm’s lending capital, philanthropic capital and expertise to invest in cities.

But it takes more than a willingness to collaborate in order to make a lasting impact. The formula for a winning proposal has three main components:

  1. A powerful vision for the future shaped by deep community engagement and a shared understanding of goals and priorities to ensure alignment across partners;
  2. Strong leadership and collaboration among a diverse set of actors with unique authority and resources to drive sustainable change; and
  3. Innovative approaches that are data-driven and evidence-based and that move beyond “business as usual” to change the trajectory of communities that are currently being left behind.

Boston Opportunity System (BOS) Collaborative checks all three boxes.

Jewish Vocational Services holds a certified nursing assistant skills training at Labouré College in October 2020. JPMorgan Chase’s AdvancingCities commitment will support job training programs through Jewish Vocational Services and other local organizations. Photo Credit: Sam Crimmins, The Boston Globe

Boston Medical Center is leading the BOS Collaborative along with Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Health Resources in Action. To ensure the investment is maximizing its impact for those most in need, the hospitals are teaming up with the city and community partners, the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, BlueHub Loan Fund, Action for Equity, and Jewish Vocational Service to help strengthen recovery efforts in some of Boston’s historically underinvested neighborhoods.

Hospitals partnering to address housing issues?

It’s a unique effort. But as the COVID-19 pandemic swings communities along a carousel of uncertainty, unique efforts like this may be just what is needed to address unique challenges.

JPMorgan Chase is committing $5 million over three years to the BOS Collaborative. The investment will establish neighborhood-based job training strategies for 1,100 residents of color, and fund 250 new and preserved affordable housing units. These efforts are strategically concentrated in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan.

“Safe, affordable housing and access to well-paying jobs are foundational to thriving communities, yet both are out of reach for many Bostonians,” said Peter Scher, Head of Corporate Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase & Co. “We’re proud to support the Boston Opportunity System Collaborative to help Boston’s underserved communities.”

Jewish Vocational Services holds a certified nursing assistant skills training at Labouré College in October 2020. JPMorgan Chase’s AdvancingCities commitment will support job training programs through Jewish Vocational Services and other local organizations. Photo Credit: Sam Crimmins, The Boston Globe.

As it turns out, the link between stable housing and health is much closer than it may seem on the surface.

“At Boston Medical Center, we see the consequences of unstable housing and a lack of economic opportunity reflected in the health of our patients on a daily basis,” said Kate Walsh, President and CEO of Boston Medical Center Health System. “The COVID-19 pandemic is only making these disparities worse. Through this collaboration between JPMorgan Chase, the City of Boston and community partners, we can bring new vitality to neighborhoods that have suffered through generations of inequity and disinvestment.”

In addition to the leadership from hospitals and community partners, sustainable change is not achieved without government leaders committing to work together to solve big challenges.

“I’m proud Boston is one of the cities being recognized as we work to champion equity across our neighborhoods,” said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “The BOS Collaborative receiving this grant from JPMorgan Chase will support the City’s work in advancing opportunities and creating resources for those who live and work along the Fairmount Corridor.

This local commitment runs parallel with JPMorgan Chase’s new $30 billion nationwide commitment to address key drivers of the racial wealth divide and provide economic opportunity to underserved communities, especially the Black and Latinx communities.  

Boston is writing a new chapter in its effort to create greater economic opportunity in historically underinvested neighborhoods – and it’s going to take more than one author to get it there.

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