A Message from the Chairman of the Board
Isaiah Berlin’s essay about Tolstoy distinguished between the fox and the hedgehog: “the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” The Research Bureau often appears to possess the characteristics of both when dealing with our customary topics of interest as well as new ones that events and circumstances thrust upon us. Annual benchmarking reports and panel discussions about state and municipal budgets earn our attention along with special forums such as “Life Sciences in the Worcester Community: A Vision for the Future,” which focused on a Worcester success story hiding in plain view, and “closing the achievement gap in public education,” a topic which has long vexed experts ranging from Daniel Patrick Moynihan to William Julius Wilson. Like the hedgehog, we view the world through the lens of a single defining idea, what best promotes good public policy, while drawing freely from a wide variety of experiences, sources of information and concepts like the fox.
The secret of The Research Bureau’s success is its ability to forge relationships with diverse constituencies and to collaborate with others who share common goals of revitalizing and restoring prosperity to the Worcester region. Working with city and town officials at all levels, neighborhood associations, public and private agencies, associations and institutes, The Research Bureau is a respected resource for financially-challenged local governments seeking public policy guidance.
