What works in Boston
All catalogues · United States of America profile
Quality scores are 0–100 rubric scores; “strong evidence” reflects study design; adoptions count documented replications elsewhere. Know more
Evidence snapshot for Boston
Boston has demonstrated measurable progress on gender equity in the workforce: the Boston Women's Workforce Council's 100% Talent Compact found the gender wage gap narrowed 30% from 30 cents to 21 cents per dollar between 2016 and 2023, though performance pay widens the gap back to roughly 30 cents and racial/ethnic pay gaps widened. The city has also pioneered community-led housing: the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative holds a 30+ acre land trust stewarding 227 permanently affordable housing units, and deployed violence prevention—Strength at Home Couples, a PTSD-informed couples therapy developed by VA Boston, reduced military veterans' risk of physical intimate partner violence to 0.53 relative to control at 12-month follow-up. These initiatives show Boston investing in equity and harm reduction, though evidence bases remain limited (the wage-gap study is not formally assessed for evidence strength, and SAH-C is rated 'Promising' on a single RCT).
Drawn from: Strength at Home Couples (SAH-C) — Preventing Partner Violence Among Military Veterans · Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative — Boston's Eminent-Domain Community Land Trust · Boston Women's Workforce Council — 100% Talent Compact and Biennial Wage-Gap Measurement · US State Salary History Bans — Removing Past Pay from Hiring Negotiations (Massachusetts 2016, California 2018) · Boston Performance Parking Pilot — Demand-Responsive Meter Pricing Tested in Back Bay and the Seaport · Principles of Artificial Intelligence — Massachusetts' First Statewide K-12 AI Curriculum Pilot · MWRA Quabbin–Wachusett Watershed Protection Program (USA) · Strength at Home — US Veterans' and Military Trauma-Informed Programmes for Partner-Violence Prevention (Men's Group and Couples Formats, Randomised-Trial Evidence)
Generated from this place's cited practices only. Always check the linked sources.
Strengths & weaknesses vs peers
Strengths
Water & soil — retention, infiltration, erosion control +35 pts 83 here · 48 average
Effectiveness +34 pts 100 here · 66 average
Impact on gender equality +30 pts 100 here · 70 average
Carbon — sequestration / storage, evidenced +23 pts 50 here · 27 average
Evaluated outcomes +22 pts 100 here · 78 average
Governance, certification & transferability +20 pts 83 here · 64 average
Innovation +16 pts 78 here · 62 average
Inclusiveness / equity +13 pts 56 here · 43 average
Teacher capability & pedagogy +12 pts 50 here · 38 average
Evidence of impact / measured results +10 pts 67 here · 57 average
Weaknesses
Evidence of learning impact -10 pts 17 here · 26 average
Achievement / evidence -12 pts 75 here · 87 average
Biodiversity — conservation / improvement, evidenced -31 pts 17 here · 48 average
Equity & inclusion -33 pts 17 here · 50 average
Curator validation -48 pts 25 here · 73 average
Gender-mainstreaming embedding -64 pts 25 here · 89 average
Score profile vs peers
Coloured bar: Boston. Grey bar: peer average across the corpus. Both on a common 0–100 scale.
Points compare this place's average on each dimension with the average across all evaluated places, on a common 0–100 scale. Know more
Top good practices here
Strength at Home Couples (SAH-C) — Preventing Partner Violence Among Military Veterans · 82
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative — Boston's Eminent-Domain Community Land Trust · 76
Boston Women's Workforce Council — 100% Talent Compact and Biennial Wage-Gap Measurement · 63
Principles of Artificial Intelligence — Massachusetts' First Statewide K-12 AI Curriculum Pilot · 53
MWRA Quabbin–Wachusett Watershed Protection Program (USA) · 53
Each number is the practice's overall 0–100 quality score against its catalogue's rubric. Know more
Recommended to adopt or replicate
Transferable practices from elsewhere that address this place's gaps.
Ciudad Mujer — El Salvador's Integrated Women's Services Programme · fit 100/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 3 other places
SASA! Community Mobilisation Programme against Intimate Partner Violence — Uganda · fit 100/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 4 other places
Rwanda's Land Tenure Regularization Programme — Titling Land in Women's Names · fit 90/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 6 other places
Abolition of Chhaupadi — Ending Menstrual Exile Huts in Nepal's Far- and Mid-Western Districts · fit 82/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Guyana's One-Third Gender Candidate Quota — Two Decades of Sustained Representation · fit 82/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Serbia's 40% Electoral Gender Quota — From One-in-Three to Near-Parity Party Lists (2020-2025) · fit 82/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Bogotá's Care Blocks (Manzanas del Cuidado) · fit 82/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Fit estimates how well a practice matches this place, 0 (poor) to 100 (excellent); the list is ordered to favour practices that address this place's gaps. Know more