A decade ago, Lawrence became one of New England’s first “Working Cities,” joining several small Massachusetts cities with rich but faded industrial pasts in a new community development initiative. On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan M. Collins visited Lawrence, where the Bank has been involved since the Working Cities Challenge began in 2014. Some say the program sparked significant changes in the former mill city.
“It started with Working Cities Challenge, and that really got people together and catalyzed some efforts,” said Julie Thurlow, an executive committee member of the Lawrence Partnership, an economic development group started by local businesses and community leaders.
Thurlow is also president and CEO of Reading Cooperative Bank, which hosted a morning discussion about the city’s progress and prospects with Collins and representatives from the Lawrence Partnership at the bank’s Mill District branch.
Later, Collins attended a 10th anniversary celebration of the Partnership, at which she delivered a speech that included her national economic outlook. She also talked about how collaboration between people across different sectors in Lawrence has proven essential.
“Complex issues cannot be solved by one sector, one organization, or one person,” she said. “Successful collaboration requires attention to process. It requires new voices at the table to expand (insight).”
Lawrence, a city of about 88,000 near the New Hampshire border, was built on the economic power of its massive textile mills along the Merrimack River. Today, it’s a majority Hispanic/Latino community (82%).
The loss of its historical industrial base by the mid-20th century ushered in some tough decades for Lawrence, and it fit the profile of the kind of city targeted by the Working Cities Challenge (which is now part of the larger Working Places program).
The Working Places model focuses on cultivating partnerships in sectors that might not naturally interact – say business and social services. Then they tackle chronic local problems together.
In Lawrence, the Working Cities Challenge team focused on helping parents of public-school children find jobs with higher income potential.
Working Cities Challenge team leader Jessica Andors is also on the executive committee of the Lawrence Partnership, which represents a range of local interests – from families who own historic mills to relatively new businesses and immigrants. Andors said that kind of collaboration has always been a focus in Lawrence because it’s a community of immigrants that needs to work together.
“(Collaboration) really is the story of this city and this room,” she told Collins.
Collins’ speech at the Lawrence Partnership celebration focused partly on the Fed’s continuing efforts to control inflation, which she likened to “a tax that affects us all.” She said that while significant progress had been made by the Fed against inflation's stubborn persistence above its 2% target level recent data showed modest improvements.
“In my view, data suggest an economy with demand and supply coming into better balance which is what’s required to restore price stability,” she said. “But this process may just take more time than previously thought.”
Collins heard about inflation impacts during discussions with Lawrence entrepreneurs and small business owners after attending another meeting post-Lawrence Partnership event.
Alberto Nunez from Syramad Properties Inc., spoke about his concerns regarding living costs: “That tunnel for cost-of-living rent is dark for me," he said."I don’t know where we’re going."
Collins acknowledged similar worries around New England highlighting importance slowing down inflation creating stable economic environments emphasizing patience amid struggles: "It takes time patience hard when people are struggling," stated Collins
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