The Wellspring Initiative, the Springfield economic development project led by the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) and the Center for Popular Economics (CPE), has received a $12,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.
This is the third award the initiative has received so far this academic year. The funding will pay for the research and planning needed to move the initiative from a concept into a reality.
Wellspring is coordinating with the region’s largest employers to identify key areas where the purchase of goods and services could be shifted to new worker-owned businesses in Springfield neighborhoods. These businesses would provide entry-level jobs and valuable skills to unemployed and underemployed city residents. Worker-owned businesses would not only offer inner-city residents the opportunity of steady employment; they would also help revitalize Springfield, one of the poorest cities in the United States.
This winter, Wellspring partners plan to identify the first of three business models to pursue. The Community Foundation grant will support Wellspring’s market research into the type of cooperative businesses that would be most likely to succeed in Springfield.
The Wellspring Initiative was one of 86 projects to receive funding from the Community Foundation in 2011. This award comes through the Community Foundation from the Eugene A. Dexter Charitable Fund administered by Bank of America, Trustee.
CPPA is the hub of interdisciplinary public policy research, teaching and engagement at UMass Amherst. Its faculty and alumni are effective policy leaders, from the local to the global levels, in addressing topics such as family and care policy, environmental issues, emerging technologies, social inequalities and governance. The CPPA program is the 2011 recipient of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration’s Social Equity Award, created to honor a public administration, affairs or policy program with a comprehensive approach to integrating social equity into its academic and practical work.