We talk a lot about how Maura is building a stronger Massachusetts, and this week is a great example. Here’s a quick summary with some of what she’s been up to this week ⬇️
You might remember how Maura delivered on her campaign promise to create MassReconnect and make community college free for those over 25 without a degree. The results were outstanding — we saw a nearly 45% spike in students ages 25+ enrolling in community college. The jump was so big that it drove an 8% overall enrollment growth across Massachusetts community colleges, reversing a decade of declines.
So this year, Massachusetts built on that success when Maura signed into law MassEducate, a historic investment in higher education to provide free community college to students of any age, and now we have the results!
Preliminary data from this fall shows that enrollment at Massachusetts’ 15 community colleges has already risen by 14%, which means we’ve seen the first two years of consecutive growth in community college enrollment since 2012.
And it’s not just community colleges. Enrollment at public four-year colleges also increased for the first time in more than a decade.
By investing in education, Maura is investing in our future. She’s making sure that students can get trained with the skills that are in demand by employers. It’s good for our students, our schools, our businesses and our economy.
That’s not all. This week, Maura announced that she’ll be providing 13 regional transit authorities with funding to provide year-round, fare free service in communities across Massachusetts.
The announcement builds on two years of successful pilot programs. The results have been outstanding. Since these programs became fare free, we have seen ridership increase and now exceed pre-pandemic levels.
Maura just made getting around Massachusetts easier than ever, while supporting local economies across our state.
She is continuing her work to make housing more affordable, announcing $161 million for 171 communities to create 18,000 housing units, 31,000 jobs and 14 million square feet of commercial development.
Of course, we can’t forget that the NBA season kicked off, Maura also declared October 22 Celtics Banner 18 Day…
And got to spend Celtics opening night with a Boston legend, and one of her personal heroes — Bob Cousy.
Maura is investing in education, strengthening our economy, and taking on the cost of living. There’s a lot of work left to do, but she’s making progress every day, and we’re so grateful to everyone on Team Massachusetts for your support in making a brighter future possible.
If you care about the progress she’s making and are able to donate to help sustain her work, you can chip in at the link below!
Thanks for reading!
-Team Healey