The Roundtable is focused on seven priorities as part of the 2021 – 22 Legislative Session. There’s lots of progress underway and more to come, and we look forward to further engagement among members, policy makers, and the broader business community to support these priorities. As a reflection of our mission and underscored by our members, the Roundtable approaches our policy work based on three guiding principles: increasing opportunity, ensuring equity, and driving competitiveness so that employers, workers, residents, and all can thrive in the Commonwealth.

Our priorities provide a framework for the Roundtable to build on issues of importance expressed by our members including 1) redefining competitiveness post-pandemic; 2) advocate for universal, high quality early childhood education; 3) develop strategies to support mental health and behavioral health needs of employees; 4) advocate for statewide transportation and housing; 5) prioritize opportunity pathways; 6) support offshore wind as a regional economic development opportunity; and 7) continue to be a business community voice for caregivers in the workplace. Below are some highlights of this work over the past few months:

  • Early Childhood Education: The Roundtable continues to advocate for sustainable, long-term changes to the early education and care system that would maximize the impact on various stakeholders, including children and their families, early childhood providers, and workers who rely on child care as critical infrastructure to engage in the workforce. Through collaboration with the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education, participation on the legislature’s Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission, and partnerships with national organizations, the Roundtable is advocating for the prioritization of federal dollars for child care. Most recently, the Roundtable and Business Coalition collaborated on testimony to the Joint Committee on Ways & Means and House Committee on Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight. More than 75 employers are members of the Coalition and growing! Interested in joining the Business Coalition on Early Childhood Education? Learn more by contacting Tom Weber, Executive Director, at t.weber@easternbank.com.
  • Workforce Development: As part of our commitment to paving opportunity pathways, the Roundtable’s new Talent Agenda brings to focus recommendations to invest in equitable talent development as well as talent attraction and retention and talent diversity. Building on past testimony by the Roundtable and direct feedback from members, the Roundtable has released A Talent Agenda to Drive Massachusetts’ Competitiveness including recommendations for the state to consider in allocating federal funding to support develop and diversify our workforce as well as transportation, housing, and other infrastructure investments to help attract and retain talent. There’s more work to be done, but we hope you find this agenda to be a useful framework as we dive deeper into getting things done together.
  • Offshore Wind Development: Massachusetts and New England are position for tremendous growth in the offshore wind industry, and Massachusetts must invest today in strategies to build a robust, diverse talent pipeline so all can benefit from this emerging industry. That is why the Roundtable is collaborating with the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology to work collaboratively between academia and industry to build strategies in preparing future talent. Read more about UML and BFIT’s effort.

We also know the needs of employees are top of mind to our members including employee mental health and caregiving responsibilities. The work of the Massachusetts Caregiving Coalition, first established in collaboration with the Roundtable, provides employers with the platform to learn innovative best practices and how companies are supporting these efforts. All of this first is directly connected to increasing opportunity, equity, and competitiveness now and for a prosperous economic recovery.

We’re more than halfway through 2021 with exciting initiatives and work on deck! Want to stay connected? Send us a note at maroundtable@maroundtable.com.