A Federal Reserve Bank of Boston initiative that elevates new voices with new ideas to tackle economic challenges announced the leaders of its pilot projects on Friday.

The Leaders for Equitable Local Economies initiative, or LELE, selected five teams from four Massachusetts cities. The teams’ proposals have a variety of aims – from increasing opportunities for businesses run by people of color, to building better systems to support new parents. But they all share the basic goal of advancing racial equity and economic opportunity.

The leaders are based in Fitchburg, New Bedford, Pittsfield, and Worcester. The teams, made up of two to three community leaders, will each receive a $20,000 stipend (provided by private funding), coaching, and access to grant money.

Prabal Chakrabarti, a Boston Fed executive vice president and head of its Regional and Community Outreach department, said the LELE leaders have “an infectious energy.”

“They have real vision, and they deserve to have broader influence, but their perspectives are too often left out of conversations about growing local economies,” he said. “LELE makes sure we hear their voices.”

LELE approach modeled after Working Cities Challenge

LELE is rooted in the philosophies of the Boston Fed’s Working Cities Challenge, an economic revitalization program that stresses collaboration, continuous learning, and changing local systems. But LELE is distinct because it’s built on the ideas and energy of those who aren’t necessarily in formal decision-making roles – but whom Working Cities Challenge leaders came to see as critical to keeping initiatives going.

The Boston Fed put out a call for proposals in June, nine were considered, and the teams were chosen by LELE’s external advisory group. The Boston Fed’s Colleen Dawicki – who developed LELE with colleague Ines Palmarin – said the advisory group “had to make tough choices.”

“There’s high demand for efforts like LELE, because leaders across the state are already doing this work – they’re just not always being recognized or compensated for it,” she said.

Here are summaries of the selected projects:

• Fitchburg – Creating a More Equitable Child-Care System. According to the project proposal, Fitchburg has about 1,200 fewer child care slots than children under 5. Because adequate child care is critical to many working parents, a lack of slots decreases work opportunities. The two leaders plan to work with providers to add more slots in Fitchburg over the next two years while ensuring child care providers, most of whom are women of color, are more included in planning and decision-making about the local economy.
• New Bedford – Doer’s Lab. Three leaders are developing the Doer’s Lab in The Communal Space, a multi-cultural gathering space/art gallery for youth. The primary emphasis will be an eight-month series that's focused on youth development and features hip-hop “edutainment” and personal/professional workshops. The goal is to engage youth while giving them skills that lead to life-changing opportunities.
• New Bedford – Nurturing Motherhood-Revitalization of Community in Mother/Father/Parenthood. The two leaders of this initiative aim to strengthen the pre-natal support system for local BIPOC families (Black, Indigenous, people of color). They envision a care model that helps parents thrive through pre-conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and beyond. They see these families as foundational to a healthy community and aim to support them through trust, shared knowledge, and by building a collective understanding of each family’s journey through parenthood.
• Pittsfield – Leaders for an Equitable Pittsfield. This proposal by three community leaders (who already work with the NAACP and the Berkshire Black Economic Council) includes an analysis of the city’s historical failure to award grants, city contracts, and tax credits to BIPOC businesses. The team will then recommend ways to equitably distribute municipal funding and jobs. It will also support minority entrepreneurship by identifying sources of capital and technical assistance for a small group of BIPOC businesses. The main goals are to create sustainable supply chains and increase revenue and operational efficiencies for Pittsfield’s BIPOC businesses.
• Worcester – Reimagining Civic Engagement in Worcester. In this proposal, three community organizers help administer a community-led “equity evaluation” to determine whether the level of civic engagement in Worcester truly represents the city’s diverse communities. This evaluation aims to lead to a re-imagining of what inclusive and participatory civic engagement can look like in Worcester and to new strategies to bring that about.

LELE is funded through private philanthropic contributions from NeighborWorks, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the Barr Foundation – all of whom were Working Cities Challenge funders and supported LELE because of that.

Rumeli Banik, senior program officer for child well-being for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, said advancing diversity and equity in leadership is essential to improving outcomes for families and communities.

“We are pleased to support this cohort of visionary leaders who reflect the experiences, cultures, and backgrounds of the communities they serve in order to promote more equitable local economies,” Banik said.

Jim Canales, president and trustee of the Barr Foundation, said many Working Cities Challenge communities have learned how essential and urgent it is to strengthen the voices and influence of community members, especially as demographics change.

“It is critical to support local leaders who can make our systems more equitable and effective so that all members of our communities can thrive,” he said.

Palmarin said the teams will work with a coach over the next 18 months to develop strategies to advance their projects and leadership. She added they met together Wednesday for the first time to start building a community for sharing ideas, growing skills, and celebrating progress.

“If we want to have inclusive economies, there needs to be a broader table, with different people leading the conversations and work,” Palmarin said. “I’m excited to learn alongside these leaders about what it takes to make these cities more equitable.”