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State of the Commonwealth 2012

On January 23, 2012, Governor Deval Patrick delivered his fourth State of the Commonwealth address. In his address he promoted an ambitious agenda on getting people back to work, lowering health care costs and strengthening public safety. In each of these areas, the Governor again asked the Legislature and the people to make hard choices.

Governor Patrick also discussed a set of reforms to help Massachusetts community colleges meet regional workforce demands by providing workers with the skills they need to help fill the estimated 120,000 current job openings in the state. Learn more about the Governor's proposal for the fifteen individual community college campuses to come together as a unified, state-wide system offering a more streamlined curriculum as well as locally developed, regionally specific jobs and skills training.

Prior to the Governor’s address, Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray recognized Jon Davies Jr., son of the late Firefighter Jon Davies Sr. of Worcester, who died last December trying to rescue a missing tenant from a residential blaze. Davies was seated with First Lady Diane Patrick in her gallery area.  A moment of silence was offered for Firefighter Davies and Firefighter James Rice of Peabody, who also lost his life in the line of duty last December. Worcester Deputy Fire Chief Geoffrey Gardell and Peabody Fire Chief Steven Pasdon joined the Lieutenant Governor at the rostrum for the moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Emma Henderson, a 12-year-old student from John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton sang “The Star Spangled Banner”. The invocation was conducted by Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner of Just Congregations and the benediction by Rev. Dr. John M. Borders, III, of the Morning Star Baptist Church in Boston.

• Read the Governor's State of the Commonwealth Address
• View photos from the evening's events

 

 

 

Stimulus at work: Providing jobs, access and economic opportunity on the South Coast

Jeffrey Simon

Director, MA Recovery & Reinvestment Office

View Jeffrey's Bio

I recently attended the opening of a new interchange on Route 24 in Fall River. Exit 8B, as it will be called, was funded by the Recovery Act and it struck me, as I stood there on the bridge of the interchange overlooking the highway – amidst workers, state officials and local politicians – that this project represents everything that the stimulus program is about.

First - and foremost - the $35 million project put lots of people to work. From engineers to construction workers to laborers, the project involved many people in many different sectors.

The interchange is also critical to the long term economic development of the South coast area. It is the interchange that is vital to the development of the 300-acre SouthCoast BioPark in Fall River and Freetown, a biotechnology park that is being anchored by UMass Dartmouth and demonstrates enormous economic development potential for the region.

On the other side of the highway, in Freetown, the interchange is providing improved access to the 325-acre Riverfront Business Park. Stop and Shop has its distribution center there and couldn’t expand without this interchange.

This new interchange is the largest Recovery Act funded highway project in the state and it provided a region not only with much-needed jobs in the short term but also with long term economic hope for the future. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: That is what the stimulus program is all about.

Join Us on January 25 to Black Out Bullying

Hi, my name is Emaan Syed and I am the Essex County representative on the Governor’s Youth Council.  I live in North Andover and am studying at Umass Amherst.

The Council narrowed down two main issues we wanted to focus on during our term; youth violence prevention and education, from those two issues, we decided to focus on the issue of bullying facing the Commonwealth, as well as across the country.  While bullying has been around for centuries, recently, bullying is greater of an issue to us.  

Bullying is important to me because it is an unnecessary obstacle that too many students are facing in life.  Bullies are everywhere in the world and in life, and at times do not realize the inner damage that they cause in others.  The majority of youth that deal with being bullied do not show their distraught emotions or feelings to others, especially the bullies, while their internal struggle goes unknown.  It is important for the youth to come together and put an end to bullying, we are the ones with the most influence on the matter.  Students should not, “Put up with put downs”, do not put up with yourself, or your peers being bullied. 

Positive ways to prevent bullying include:

• Not saying hurtful words to people
• Encouraging positive language
• Not bringing yourself up by putting others down
• Be accepting of others' differences
• Not letting the words get to you
• Confiding in someone you trust

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Hi, my name is Kaden Belanger and I am the Hampshire County representative on the Governor’s Youth Council.

Black Out Bullying was created by the members of Governor's Youth Council to have the students in the Commonwealth take a stand against hate. When voting on whether to take on bullying, I strongly advocated my approval on this issue. 

I graduated from South Hadley High School in 2010 as Senior Class, Student Government and Gay-Straight Alliance President. I was also part of the  Peer Leaders group at my high school. It was only two years ago that a student at my school committed suicide because of bullying. As a leader of my school, I did all I could to help the students to ensure that this will never happen again. 

Today, suicide caused by bullying is more apparent in our nation. As a member of the Governor's Youth Council, I will take a stand to ensure that the Commonwealth will never have a youth suicide again. On the 25th of January, we must all band together as students to finally Black Out Bullying in the Commonwealth. The best way to fight hate is by coming together as a community to work in ending bullying in each of our areas. I strongly encourage all of you this Wednesday to wear black and take the pledge against bullying.

 

Massachusetts Shines in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Adam Freudberg

Director of Operations and Policy Advisor in the Office of Lt. Governor Timothy P. Murray

Massachusetts is a leader in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, workforce development, and job creation.  By working in partnership with government, academia, and industry, we are leveraging resources in a joint effort to encourage more and more students to study STEM fields to prepare themselves for future careers in Massachusetts’ innovation economy.

In December, I joined a delegation from Massachusetts at a STEM Conference sponsored by the National Governor’s Association.  To kick off the conference, Dane Linn, Director of the Education Division at the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, even said:

“Many states can learn from the work Massachusetts has done on STEM.  They have clearly demonstrated an ability to think strategically in the development of the state's STEM agenda both in the short and long term.”

At this conference, the Massachusetts delegation also included the Executive Director of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and senior staff from the Museum of Science, the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, PTC a technology company and large employer in Metro Boston, and the University of Massachusetts.  The conference was a great opportunity to highlight Massachusetts’ successes in STEM and also share best practices with STEM leaders across the country.  Linn’s recognition of Massachusetts as a STEM leader reflects the strong collaboration the Patrick-Murray Administration have helped to foster in recent years. 

Prior to coming into office with Governor Patrick, Lt. Governor Murray served as mayor of Worcester and on the Worcester School Committee, understanding firsthand the value of education in local, regional and state economies.  As mayor, he oversaw more than a billion dollars in new economic development projects, including projects to enhance STEM related industries in Worcester.

Lt. Governor Murray carried this interest into his new role, and asked that I attend the annual statewide STEM Summit on his behalf in 2007.  At the time, it was clear that Massachusetts was already successful in innovative STEM programming for students and educators; however, Massachusetts lacked in coordination and organized leadership to help accelerate statewide efforts, including funding opportunities.  So, our office began to work with a variety of educators and industry leaders to compile a comprehensive list of all STEM programs, now known as the 1,000 points of STEM.

Lt. Governor Murray then recommended to Governor Patrick that he create a council to focus on STEM.  In October 2009, Governor Patrick then signed an Executive Order in October 2009, creating the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, designating Lt. Governor Murray as chairman.  Since the establishment of the Council, Lt. Governor Murray has built a strong partnership with educators, non-profit and private sector industry leaders, and government agencies to improve coordination and planning. 

Massachusetts released its first statewide STEM Plan in 2010, and most recently selected six statewide STEM programs to focus on enhancing and funding which will benefit all regions of the Commonwealth.  The STEM Advisory Council is currently implementing programs needed to reach four main goals defined in the Plan: 1) Expand community engagement; 2) Strategically improve academic coherence; 3) Enhance successful options for educator development; and 4) Expand opportunities with our partners in business and non-profits.

With the leadership of Governor Patrick, Lt. Governor Murray, STEM Advisory Council members, educators and industry leaders, we can and will make positive changes to encourage and educate more students, teachers, and parents on the value of studying STEM education.

Did you know?

• Growth in STEM jobs has been three times greater than that of non-STEM jobs over the last 10 years.  (U.S. Department of Commerce) 
• Throughout the next decade, STEM occupations are projected to grow by 17 percent, compared to 9.8-percent growth for other occupations.  (U.S. Department of Commerce) 
• In comparison to their non-STEM counterparts, STEM workers earn 26 percent more on average and are less likely to experience joblessness.  The average annual wage for all STEM occupations was $77,880 in May 2009, significantly above the U.S. average of $43,460 for non-STEM occupations.  (NGA) 
• In 2010, the unemployment rate for STEM workers was 5.3 percent; for all other occupations, it was 10 percent.  (NGA) 
• Only about a third of bachelor’s degrees earned in the United States are in a STEM field, compared with approximately 53 percent of first university degrees earned in China, and 63 percent of those earned in Japan.  (U.S. Department of Commerce) 

 More about the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.