The City of Worcester is home to a significant number of public parklands, but available funding has not kept pace with park expansion and needed maintenance. This brief reviews the potential of park conservancies – private non-profit entities that assume management and maintenance of public parklands – to improve Worcester’s signature parks and create new opportunities for public engagement.

Over the years, Worcester has been home to many foreign-born residents. Since 1980, the City has experienced a renewal in the arrival of immigrants and refugees.

The City of Worcester, like most municipalities, has struggled with outstanding pension and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities. While the City is engaged on a plan to fund its pension obligations by 2032, there is no plan in place to address the more than $727 million owed for OPEB, which mainly consists of retiree health care costs.

Non-profit organizations are recognized as important elements in a community’s social, cultural, educational, and civic framework. As such, they are given unique rights under both Federal and State law. These rights exempt them from certain municipal regulations and obligations. Our latest Bureau Brief - Non-Profits and Municipal Authority reviews a non-profit’s exceptional status when it comes to local control.

As a Massachusetts “Gateway City,” Worcester has welcomed residents from diverse backgrounds for decades. Prior to 1950, most new residents were born in or descended from European countries. Since 1950, the city began to attract greater numbers of residents from South America, Africa, and Asia. How has the face of Worcester changed over the last few decades? How has civic life changed as a result of the influx of new cultures? Or has it?

Unable to attend our 2014 Annual Meeting? Read our Bureau Notes to learn what you missed.

This report addresses a crisis local governments are facing across the nation: how to pay for OPEB – "other post-employment benefits" that were promised to retirees in better fiscal times.

This report examines the settlements that Worcester reached with its major collective bargaining units in spring 2011.

This report describes the performance of several municipal agencies including the Department of Public Works and Parks, the Department of Inspectional Services, and the Worcester Public Library, as well as measuring residents' level of civic engagement.

This report examines the controversy over Worcester's next stormwater discharge permit from the EPA.