BMC and project partner, the Economic Development Council of Western Mass (EDC), are launching an Anchor Institution Collaborative (AIC) whose mission is to ensure that Springfield’s economy creates greater opportunity for low-income communities through deliberate action and meaningful collaboration among the private, public and nonprofit sectors. As an anchor, BMC leverages its economic output through three pillars: local hiring, local sourcing and place-based investing. Through a shared agenda, common goals, community action, and shared measures of success, the AIC is working to advance health and well-being in Springfield by committing to train, hire and invest in people from targeted neighborhoods (“Outside-in”), improve retention, and create career pathways to living wage jobs (“Inside-up”) by collaborating with other anchors and community based organizations to address racial and gender bias, education, skills, transportation, childcare, and other career advancement challenges of low-income working families.
