Could you pls, pls, pls, list 10 (Ok maybe 5) concrete accomplishments that Boston World Partnerships has achieved in the last year.
Could you pls, pls, pls, put some real Bostonians on your Website like maybe Dr. Paul Farmer or maybe Bob Metcalf instead of the fake models.
This website is an insult to the real Boston I know and love. It’s all wine sipping yuppies in their “oh so fashionable settings.” In fact, it’s an insult to the real Boston that Tom Menino knows and loves.
If you want ethnic diversity… just get a photo of the crowd getting off at the Charles/MGH T stop as they head to work. That’s ethnic diversity. That’s the real Boston as they head to work at MGH.
Also, you should have full transparency on the finances of Boston World Partnerships. How much is the city of Boston paying for this operation.
You may have accomplished great things in your one year of existence but the only thing I see are pretty pictures of people drinking wine. Reminds me of the style section of the NY Times.
- Mike Walsh
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your interest in Boston World Partnerships. Here are some facts relative to the contents of your letter/rant…
Every single person on the BWP site was shot on the streets of Boston and Cambridge by Michael Piazza. Not the former Mets catcher. The Michael Piazza we used is a professional photographer in the area. No fake models there. Here’s Michael’s LinkedIn page… http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=37243528&authToken=GE3F&authType=name
Sorry to hear you feel the site is an insult. We see it as an experiment. And one that’s working relative to our goals. For instance, our weekly site traffic includes visits from as many as 30 countries a week. That’s a good place for us to be in this first phase, given that we’re focused on raising international awareness of Boston’s economic assets.
In terms of the diversity of the group, it’s worth noting that Color Magazine, a publication that serves professionals of color, honored BWP as Boston’s most important Change Agent for 2009 for our efforts in strengthening and celebrating the region’s diversity. Their awards are decided by panels of minority professionals. Again, real people. No models. As far as the actual data points: 42% of Connectors are women, 31% are people of color, 21% are born in another country, representing 30 different countries. I’m pretty confident that this is a more inclusive mix than any other professional organization in Greater Boston. Certainly room to keep building on that, but we’re proud of where we stand at this early stage in terms of the authentic diversity of the group we’ve engaged, and the recognition for that from groups like Color Magazine and The Commonwealth Compact.
In terms of finances, this is a public-private partnership in which P&G and the BRA provided performance-based seed funding to launch the initiative. (I think you can find this information in lots of places on the web. We’ve been very open about it). That allowed us to build the Connector model, which is totally unique. The BRA’s portion of that funding was a million dollars over three years. Not exorbitant, especially given the kind of results we’re getting (more on that below). Those are the only public dollars in this venture, and that was a one-time commitment. BWP will have to live or die based on its ability to get the private sector and foundations to support the organization going forward, and its ability to find other ways to monetize network activity. Just like any other startup.
In terms of the accomplishments, we have a whole slew of year one performance data coming out next month. That’s still being compiled and case studies are still being reported and fact-checked, so I won’t get ahead of that process for the sake of commenting on your blog. I will say that we will publish a white paper with that data and those case studies, and that it will include a case study showing how our work enabled Boston to retain 100 jobs and add another 100+, which translates to more than $10M in salary.
For us, this first year really has been focused on understanding how the Connector model works and calibrating it to make it work better, so that we could start to build on it and use it in more and more ways as a vehicle to promote Boston and to connect investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs to the resources they need to locate and grow here. Again, that’s happening and we’ll include lots of data and case studies in our publication next month.
Enjoy the weekend,
Dave McLaughlin
http://www.twitter.com/connectorsRus
Dave,
Thanks for your timely response. Looks like I should reserve some judgments until after the case studies and white papers come out.