2016 In The News

Welcome to EMPath News. Here you’ll find our latest news and recent press coverage.

December

  1. Dec 23, 2016

    Rochester Business Journal: City anti-poverty effort to begin with mentoring

    In early 2017, both peer and professional mentoring programs begin as two-year pilots, and data is to be collected and reviewed to determine what is working and how best to grow or adapt the efforts. EMPath’s coaching model was chosen by RMAPI for implementation, along with a second model that concentrates on mentoring through peer groups.

  2. Dec 20, 2016

    WBUR: As New England Ages, Immigrants Make Up A Growing Share Of Health Workers

    EMPath participant Ayehu L. shares her perspective as a student in "Working with Frail Elders" class at Boston-based Jewish Vocational Services. It's a nonprofit job-training program focused on specific industries like food service and health care, both sectors facing labor shortages.

  3. Dec 16, 2016

    EMPath hosts conversation with Chuck Collins author of Born on Third Base

    In 1986, at the age of 26, Chuck Collins, the great-grandson of meatpacking giant Oscar Mayer, gave away his trust fund. In his latest book, Born on Third Base, Collins tells the story of his origins and the 30-plus years he has worked to rectify economic inequality.

  4. Dec 15, 2016

    Crains: Boston nonprofit wants to disrupt the poverty pipeline

    “Our goal is for a person to live without any kind of subsidy, for them to be successful,” [Judy] Parks said in an interview. “One of the challenges of being low-income is you have no assets. So you really have no cushion if your car needs work or you lose your job.”

  5. Dec 12, 2016

    New Grant Will Support Community Development in Roxbury

    As a partner to the BHA, EMPath will provide Mobility Mentoring to 200 housing development residents

  6. Dec 9, 2016

    Boston Globe: $15 minimum wage could squeeze workers on public assistance

    Food stamps, child care vouchers, and rent subsidies could be cut before families can afford to cover those expenses on their own, leaving some households, particularly single parents with young children, worse off despite a bigger paycheck — a phenomenon known as the “cliff effect.” EMPath participant Melina W. discussed cliff effects with Katie Johnston.

November

  1. Nov 18, 2016

    Sentinel and Enterprise: Financial-literacy group honors state Sen. Eldridge

    The group, which helps low-income families save money and become financially independent, lauded Eldridge for his "tireless" work with Midas, which included legislation to expand the earned-income tax credit, saving working families up to $800 in taxes, and strategies to help people save money through college savings or individual development accounts.

  2. Nov 11, 2016

    The GroundTruth Project: For Boston’s working homeless, a job is not enough

    An emergency knee surgery ended [Yolaida]’s five-year career as a per diem EMT last September, but she was already homeless six months before that. A breakup halved her family’s resources and her $15.48 hourly wage wasn’t enough to cover rent. It took three day-long visits to the application office before she got shelter for herself and her two children, ages 10 and 15, a “right” for families in the state of Massachusetts provided by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

  3. Nov 11, 2016

    WGBH: Working and Homeless in Boston – One Mother’s Story

    EMPath participant shares her story with Elizabeth Ross for Boston's Local NPR All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

October

  1. Oct 26, 2016

    Stanford Social Innovation Review: Catalytic Collaboration

    Path-breaking organizations, working together in a new way, might just transform the nonprofit sector.

  2. Oct 24, 2016

    This is your brain on stress

    Elisabeth Babcock writes about brain and behavioral science for the US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty blog

  3. Oct 13, 2016

    EMPath President and CEO Elisabeth Babcock Speaks at White House Frontiers Conference

    Elisabeth Babcock presented "Cutting Edge Trends in Economic Mobility" lightning talk at the White House Frontiers Conference at Carnegie Mellon University. October 2016.

  4. Oct 12, 2016

    Bay State Banner: Disparities in parents’ wealth a key driver of racial wealth gap

    Researchers at a poverty conference last week sought to dispel the narrative that hard work, careful economic decisions and formal higher educational attainment are enough to close the wealth gap between blacks and whites.

  5. Oct 6, 2016

    WBZ News Radio: Disrupting the Poverty Cycle Conference

    Carl Stevens reports on EMPath's Disrupting the Poverty Cycle Conference 2016

  6. Oct 6, 2016

    National Nonprofit Convenes More than 350 Leaders to Discuss Breakthrough Interventions and Outcomes for Alleviating Poverty

    EMPath Hosts Disrupting the Poverty Cycle 2016 Conference

  7. Oct 6, 2016

    Politico: MA Playbook

    Former Attorney General Martha Coakley and former Treasurer Steve Grossman moderate panels at the Disrupting the Poverty Cycle conference at UMass Boston this morning.

  8. Oct 5, 2016

    NECN: Progress Report: Closing The Poverty Gap

    "You're going to be the UBER for Poverty." -Sue O'Connell

  9. Oct 5, 2016

    WGBH: Boston Public Radio talk poverty

    Join Boston Public Radio hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on Boston Public Radio, for smart local conversation with leaders and thinkers shaping Boston.

  10. Oct 5, 2016

    Boston Globe: What $1B Could Do

    Elisabeth Babcock, president and CEO of Empath, which works to lift families out of poverty, figures that money could train almost 20,000 families, dramatically boost their income, and open doors to college. “Society isn’t built on one person being ‘smart’ for themselves,’’ Babcock said. “Society is built on people being smart for each other. When one of us thrives as a billionaire, that’s one billionaire. When 20,000 of us move out of poverty, that’s generations of change.’’

  11. Oct 4, 2016

    Commonwealth Magazine: New poverty numbers are misleading

    Martha Coakley and Elisabeth Babcock share how census data overlook other facets of the problem

  12. Oct 3, 2016

    Washington State ECEAP Pilots Best Way to Support Families

    ECEAP contractors tested two family support models, EMPath Mobility Mentoring® and the Family Development Matrix model. These models were chosen because they helped families in other states improve their well-being and family goals. The attached report produced by the WA state Department of Early Learning and Care describes a pilot project in which two models of parent coaching were introduced in the state for one year and both models were evaluated and produced positive results, but Mobility Mentoring results were far greater and therefore the state has now selected Mobility Mentoring to be implemented as its parent coaching model statewide.

September

  1. Sep 15, 2016

    Boston Globe: In 2015, Mass. wages rose slower than in rest of US

    And particularly in the Boston area, relief for these families is limited, said Elisabeth Babcock, the president of EMPath, a Boston-based organization that helps low-income families move out of poverty. Affordable housing in Greater Boston is in short supply, and a minimum-wage worker would have to work 97 hours a week to afford the rent on a one-bedroom apartment, she said. Hispanic households in Massachusetts are also struggling. The median Hispanic household earns 50 cents for every dollar taken home by a comparable non-Hispanic white household. That’s the lowest level in the nation.

  2. Sep 13, 2016

    Marketplace from American Public Media

    Elisabeth Babcock speaks to Marketplace reporter, Kimberly Adams, following the following the release of the U.S. Census Bureau's new report on Income and Poverty in the country.

  3. Sep 9, 2016

    Democrat & Chronicle: Catholic Family Center to lead anti-poverty pilot

    Catholic Family Center was selected in July. Marlene Bessette, president and chief executive officer of Catholic Family Center, said that until the funding was finalized, her organization focused on developing its implementation plan following the templates of the Family Independence Initiative and the Crittenton Women’s Union Mobility Mentoring project.

July

  1. Jul 18, 2016

    BNN: EMPath Tries to Break Cycle of Poverty

    Nicki Ruiz de Luzuriaga of EMPath talks about its efforts to break the cycle of family poverty.

  2. Jul 11, 2016

    Boston Globe: Can poverty be passed down? A nonprofit tries to break the cycle

    By coaching families, EMPath, formerly called Crittenton Women’s Union, hopes to simultaneously equip both generations to do better in school and get better jobs. The skills are intended not only to help parents navigate their way out of poverty but to help them show their children the way out, too.

June

  1. Jun 24, 2016

    Santander Bank Grants $900K to 25 Massachusetts Nonprofits

    In this round of funding, a large share of grants are supporting innovative financial education programs for low- and moderate-income teens and young adults, particularly those between the ages of 16 and 24.

May

  1. May 26, 2016

    Dorchester Reporter: Report: Half-million people employed by Mass non-profits

    More than half a million people in Massachusetts are employed by nonprofit organizations, accounting for 17 percent of the state’s workforce and representing the sixth largest state nonprofit sector in the nation, according to a report released Tuesday by a non-profit umbrella group.

  2. May 12, 2016

    Boston Globe: New name, same vision for Crittenton Women’s Union

    And in case anyone misses the wordplay, “EMPath” is meant to evoke the empathic aspect of the nonprofit’s mission, which Babcock calls “the head and heart part of what we do.”

  3. May 12, 2016

    MassNonprofitNews: Crittenton Women’s Union Now Economic Mobility Pathways

    The new EMPath name and identity was introduced at the organization’s annual Live! Work! Thrive! gala, held May 6 at The State Room in Boston, which raised $376,000 to support its ongoing work.

  4. May 11, 2016

    Sentinel & Enterprise: Nonprofit workers make up 17% of Mass. jobs

    The 650-member Massachusetts Nonprofit Network's report used data from the federal government's Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine that 529,538 nonprofit-sector jobs in Massachusetts during 2015 delivered more than $30 billion in wages for employees.

  5. May 10, 2016

    Digital Journal: Boston-Based Nonprofit Launches New Identity, Economic Mobility Pathways

    Crittenton Women’s Union, the Boston-based nonprofit that has, since 2006, helped thousands of low-income families to move permanently out of poverty with increased income, education, and assets, announced their new identity, as Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath).

  6. May 10, 2016

    State House News Service: Mass. Nonprofits Employ More than Half a Million

    More than half a million people in Massachusetts are employed by nonprofit organizations, accounting for 17 percent of the state's workforce and representing the sixth largest state nonprofit sector in the nation, according to a report released Tuesday by a non-profit umbrella group.

  7. May 5, 2016

    Zakim Bridge Lighting to Mark Economic Independence Day

    Lighting the path to economic independence. The landmark Leonard P. Zakim Bridge will shine teal and white on the evening of May 5, 2016, to mark the celebration of Economic Independence Day in the City of Boston. This lighting symbolizes the economic mobility pathways that transform lives and lead low-income families out of poverty.

April

  1. Apr 12, 2016

    Berkshire Eagle: Massachusetts treasurer hopes new tool will raise awareness of gender pay gap

    State Treasurer Goldberg convened a breakfast seminar of business leaders and politicians on Equal Pay Day, set on April 12 to signify the point in the year "women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year," according to the National Committee on Pay Equity.

  2. Apr 8, 2016

    Jamaica Plain Patch: Citizens Bank announces more than $500,000 in funding to 17 Massachusetts organizations for financial education

    As part of an ongoing commitment to give consumers the confidence and tools they need to be fiscally healthy, Citizens Bank together with Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg announced today that 17 nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts will receive $512,000 in contributions as part of the Citizens Helping Citizens Manage Money financial literacy initiative.

  3. Apr 7, 2016

    Massnonprofit News: Citizens Bank Gives $490K to 16 Greater Boston Nonprofits

    Grant recipients were chosen in a competitive application process based on their track record of success providing financial education programs, with clear and measurable goals for the program and sustainable program plans.

March

  1. Mar 1, 2016

    WCVB: Join Karen Holmes Ward and Crittenton Women’s Union for 'Live!Work!Thrive!'

    Join supporters of Crittenton Women’s Union at the 10th anniversary celebration on Friday, May 6, 2016 at the State Room in Boston. The Live! Work! Thrive! event will honor the 150-year legacy of two storied Boston charities serving women and families, and will celebrate the extraordinary achievements of CWU participants’ rigorous path to economic independence.

February

  1. Feb 16, 2016

    WBUR: New Group Forms To Find Solutions To Poverty

    It’s time for some new thinking about poverty in America, which is why, this month, the Urban Institute launched the new “U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty.” It brings together 24 thinkers from across the country, and across the political spectrum.

  2. Feb 9, 2016

    Commonwealth Magazine: Coaching can help poor emerge from poverty

    According to a new report from the Brookings Institution, Boston has the biggest wage gap in the country. One out of every four Massachusetts residents lives in a working-poor family that cannot afford to meet its basic needs. The current system of public assistance can help poor families survive, but it is not designed as a path to economic independence in our modern innovation economy.

  3. Feb 8, 2016

    Boston Globe: New Antipoverty Group is a Who’s Who

    The partnership, launched last week by the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, is funded by a $3.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Members have been tasked with identifying ways to lift people out of poverty that can be put to use in the public and private sectors. Partnership member Elisabeth Babcock, who has a master’s and a PhD from Harvard and is president of the Boston nonprofit Crittenton Women’s Union, said she is thrilled to be serving with such a star-studded group of poverty experts.

  4. Feb 4, 2016

    State House News Service: Personnel File

    The anti-poverty non-profit Crittenton Women's Union on Thursday named four new board members - Martha Coakley, Eileen Casey, Donna Jeffers and William Mantzoukas.

January

  1. Jan 13, 2016

    World Bank Group: The Practical Application of Brain Science to Livelihood Interventions

    This series introduces why and how livelihood initiatives can be designed to appropriately and ethically respond to psychosocial and mental health needs so that populations affected by trauma and economic hardship can take full advantage of the opportunities such development programs offer.