These new small business grants won't go very far
Gov. Charlie Baker unveiled two new small business grant programs this week. The grants are modeled on a program Baker says were "a life saver and game changer” for hundreds of small businesses last year. He's right they were. And this week's announcement was good news. Here’s the less good news:
Greg Reibman
Helping our restaurants ... and those in need
Gov. Charlie Baker is scheduled to make an announcement at 10 a.m. today about a new round of small business grants to be once again administered by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation. Unlike the program run by MGCC last year, which provided millions in support to hundreds of small businesses, the grant pool this year will be smaller and more limited in scope.
Greg Reibman
No news is very bad news
Local news operations serve as our government watchdog. They help us make informed decisions at the ballot box. They tell the stories of the people, the places, the businesses, the nonprofits, the decisions, the indecisions, and the events that define who we are. And now, it seems, the Newton Tab, Needham Times, Wellesley Townsman and Watertown Tab & Press along with dozens of other weekly news operations, may be taking a final step away from what remained “wicked local” about them.
Greg Reibman
This Needham CEO is not done yet
This morning the Globe published an exit interview of sorts with Steve Kaufer, the outgoing CEO and cofounder at Tripadvisor, who is stepping down 22 years after starting the company above Kosta's Pizza & Seafood in Needham. The article looks back at how Kaufer built Tripadvisor and reinvented how we make our travel decisions.
Greg Reibman
Stepping up for those who've stepped up for them
Our goods friends and frequent collaborators at Colette Phillips Communications and Get Konnected! are looking to honor white males. You read that right. Building on a tradition Phillips began in in 2014, when Get Konnected! honored and celebrated 12 of Boston’s most committed white male allies under the banner ‘White men who can jump,’ she’s looking to publish a new list of male allies "who walk the talk."
Greg Reibman
Meet our new directors
In 2022 -- as we fortify our regional advocacy, rebuild and recover -- we’re very fortunate to have added six extraordinary new members to an already rock solid board. Please join me, somewhat belatedly, in welcoming six new directors who been elected to three-year terms to represent you at your chamber.
Greg Reibman
It's kind of, sort of, what they planned
According to the Baker administration, there was no clear-cut way to determine who worked in person, or who worked remotely, writes Shira Schoenberg at Commonwealth. Instead, an estimated 500,000 low income workers will receive a check in the mail in March if they earned at least $12,750 in employment income in 2020.
Greg Reibman
We need to decarbonize, but is this the approach?
Under the proposal before the Public Facilities Committee, all new residential properties and small commercial buildings (more on that below) would be required to be all-electric (with the exception – perhaps -- of allowing gas cooking).
Greg Reibman
'Employers need Gen Z workers. Gen Z workers need apartments'
More than half of all 18- to 29-year-olds lived with their parents during the pandemic, surpassing the previous peak in the 1940s during the Great Depression era, according to Pew. Now, thanks to the labor shortage caused by the pandemic, young workers' paychecks are growing and they're looking to move out again.
Greg Reibman
Teachers are quitting and look who’s hiring them
Teachers are finding they have high-demand skill sets in today's tight labor market. New senior housing proposed in Newton; sad news for happy hours in MA; new tenants for Linden Square in Wellesley; and the Love Local dining campaign is off to a great start.
Greg Reibman
