Economy/ Politics/ Race/Racism

Antiracist think tank emerges in Northampton

Backs public policy by and for historically excluded people  

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THINK TANKS come in all shapes and sizes, with political philosophies that range left, right, and center.

The new Western Massachusetts Policy Center in Northampton is setting out to be different. Its geographic focus is the four western counties of Massachusetts and its purpose is turning the power structure upside down through research and by training future policy leaders.

“We’re a grassroots, antiracist think tank that educates, trains, and resources public policy designed by and for historically excluded people and communities in our region,” says the policy center’s website.

Lauren Rollins, a 43-year-old White woman, is the CEO, founder, and chief funder of the policy center. She grew up in northern Virginia, spent time at a think tank in Washington, DC, and works as an advisor to a diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firm in Cambridge.

She says her goal is to build up and stabilize the Western Massachusetts Policy Center and then turn the top job over to a Black woman.

According to the policy center website, the organization will recruit candidates from diverse backgrounds to learn policymaking in the classroom and on the job. The center’s fellows will be paid $50,000 a year and receive health insurance and eventually free housing within walking distance of the center.

“They’ll learn while they earn, build their own portfolios, and emerge as far more capable, responsive, and agile policy engineers than their traditional counterparts,” the website says. “We’re specifically seeking aspiring policy professionals from BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, those with disabilities, and those who are neurodiverse or divergent.”

Rollins said the center will focus its policy efforts in seven broad areas – women, children, and families; infrastructure, transportation, and regional planning; housing accessibility and homelessness; unions and the future of work; conservation, environment, and land use; anti-corruption efforts and the future of policymaking; and supporting the region’s diverse youth.

“My hope is that we will amplify the needs of western Massachusetts and get more traction for the region on Beacon Hill,” Rollins said.

Her other goal is to build a pipeline of policy makers who will help transform the workplace.

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Bruce Mohl

Editor, CommonWealth
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About Bruce Mohl

Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

About Bruce Mohl

Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

“We’ve been privileging the hiring of white men with overinflated or no qualifications forever and without asking for much proof of skill at all – in every job, every position of authority. In other words, the market is saturated with them,” Rollins said in a blog post. “So in this way, the first real step in structural DEI transformation is to saturate the market with everyone else.”