Office of the Mayor Partners with Family Independence Initiative

Jessica Taubner, the Greater Boston Site Director​, will be presenting on the Trust and Invest Collaborative — an innovative partnership between FII, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), the City of Boston, and Boston and Cambridge families — to transform social service delivery systems across the state and country.  

This event will be open to City employees, members of the press, and the public.  

Th​e​ ​Trust and Invest Collaborative​ is a 3-year, multi-million dollar project that aims to learn directly from families living with low-incomes about what solutions to ending poverty work best for their lives. Different than other social programs that limit what low-income families can, and cannot, spend their money on, FII invests directly in families’ initiatives, accelerating their self-determined paths to economic mobility.  

For the last 19 years, FII has created an environment where ​families create their own accountability system. Working in cohorts, they set their own goals and trust their peers to support them on their journey. Rather than providing social workers, services, or direction, we create an environment where families come together, empower themselves, and are trusted to improve their lives, in their own way. As they take initiative, families get more, not less, access to resources that can accelerate their efforts.  

“FII-Greater Boston has had the privilege of working with Mayor McGovern since 2018, when he hosted a general FII briefing with our founder Mauricio Lim Miller,” Jessica Taubner, FII Site Director said. “We are excited to be invited back to share information about the Trust and Invest Collaborative, an ongoing partnership with the MA Department of Transitional Assistance to transform how social services are delivered in Massachusetts.” 

The TIC will use a randomized control trial study — led by the Harvard Business School — to evaluate the effects of social and financial capital on the economic mobility and well-being of participating families living in Boston and Cambridge. The family branch of the evaluation team will be made up of past FII family partners who will serve alongside researchers and project staff. 

“This is a great initiative and I’m proud to have it include families living in Cambridge, MA,” Mayor Marc McGovern said. “Together, we must work to remove the stigma around poverty and put trust in our low-income families.” 

FII will be enrolling families in Boston and Cambridge who have a least one dependent living in the home; are eligible for cash assistance or SNAP benefits; and who have no previous or existing partnership with FII.  

Over the next three years, TIC aims to use project data to transform how DTA delivers benefits across Massachusetts and​[JT1] ​ ​ensure greater stability, mobility, and well-being of families​.  

For more information, please contact Niko Emack — Mayor McGovern’s Communication and Community Engagement Liaison — at ​nemack@cambridgema.gov​.    

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