sponsored by The Boston Foundation
CommonWealth Voices aims to be a beacon of robust discourse, offering a platform for analysis and advocacy on the challenges and aspirations of political life in Massachusetts.
The Boston Foundation is deeply committed to civic leadership, and essential to our work is the exchange of informed opinions. We are proud to partner on a platform that engages such a broad range of demographic and ideological viewpoints.
SUBMIT AN OPINION
We welcome informed commentary about local, state and national public policy. Please include the author’s contact information when submitting.
Massachusetts has an elder care crisis – and it’s about to get a lot worse
A dangerous demographic cliff lies just ahead: There’s been a lot of chatter about the vast demographic bulge that we call “baby boomers” passing 65; but the real news is that the oldest baby boomers will begin celebrating their 85th birthdays in 2031.
In Wellesley, a determined effort to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
What’s unfolding in the wealthy Boston suburb is not that different from other situations across the state when communities and leaders with the best of intentions lose their resolve.
Reviving the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board would set the agency back
Much of today’s investment is a direct response to years of deferred maintenance and staffing shortages—conditions that worsened under the austerity-driven approach of the T’s control board.
The ‘Right to Read’ bill must include teacher preparation
The state Legislature appears poised to pass the “Right to Read Act” — legislation that would require school districts to adopt evidence-based literacy curricula. With more than half of students across the state reading below grade level, the legislation serves as a significant step toward addressing Massachusetts’s literacy crisis. As a special education teacher at the Oliver Hazard Perry School in South Boston, I see every day how crucial evidence-based reading is for students’ success, and how preparing teachers for effective reading instruction is essential. For more than 10 years, I struggled to teach my students how to read. While…
In the face of efforts to erase parts of US history, Massachusetts must take a stand
As the federal government creates gaps in the record, we can support organizations filling the voids with voices from the past and present who speak to the core values of the Declaration of Independence — and its complicated legacy.
Applying for financial aid should be a Massachusetts high school graduation requirement
Making FAFSA completion a graduation requirement in Massachusetts isn’t about mandating college. It’s about removing barriers and expanding opportunities.
How Boston – of all places – offers lessons for the NFL on hiring diversity
Boston has learned, slowly and imperfectly, that inclusion doesn’t happen at the finish line. It comes from institutions and leaders who invest in pipelines and relationships long before that point.
Gov. Healey’s budget plan is spending Massachusetts into a corner
Tax revenues are slowing, costs are rising, and the Healey administration continues to grow state government as if the bill will never come due.
As Super Bowl fever — and betting — surge, Kayshon Boutte’s story highlights a growing risk for young people
WITH THE PATRIOTS heading back to the Super Bowl this Sunday after an improbable turnaround following two straight losing seasons, excitement across New England is reaching fever pitch. But the Super Bowl isn’t just the biggest football game of the year; it’s also the biggest single‑day betting event in American sports. That surge in wagering is part of the atmosphere young people now grow up in. Among the highlights of the Patriots’ playoff run was wide receiver Kayshon Boutte’s otherworldly, one‑handed touchdown catch in the divisional round victory over the Texans — a moment that showcased his extraordinary talent on…
Transparency in procurement can help close the racial wealth gap
Procurement transparency may sound technical. In reality, it goes to the heart of how wealth is built—or excluded—in the Commonwealth.
Canceling citizenship ceremonies at Faneuil Hall was an affront to its history
This wasn’t just a canceled ceremony; it was the quiet erasure of a tradition that once made American citizenship visible, contested, and public.
The MBTA Communities law was a good start. But it won’t deliver transit-oriented development – or solve our housing shortage.
The MBTA Communities law is better understood as a leveling up exercise, or a fair-share zoning law.
Proposals to remove dams unleash debate over which history to honor
Across Massachusetts, communities are confronting a centuries-old legacy that is now doing more harm than good. The preservation of an obsolete dam implicitly privileges colonial and industrial history over a river’s deeper history as living infrastructure.
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.