Six receive Working Cities Challenge grants

The Working Cities Challenge awarded $1.8 million in grants to six Massachusetts cities in January in an effort to transform urban neighborhoods and encourage collaboration among local officials, businesses and nonprofits. The program was facilitated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and also funded by donors, with winners being picked by an independent jury.

A $700,000 grant awarded to Lawrence is designed to help the parents of children who attend city schools get job training.

The initiative arose from studies that indicate that students from financially stable homes are more likely to succeed in school, according to Jessica Andors, executive director of Lawrence CommunityWorks. Roughly 30 area businesses, nonprofits and public-sector entities have committed to providing job skill-training, education opportunities, and parenting support, Andors said.

The Lawrence grant was the largest awarded by the new Working Cities Challenge grant program.

Other recipients were:

• Fitchburg: $400,000 for an “eCarenomics” initiative designed to develop health and well-being metrics for a particular neighborhood

• Holyoke: $250,000 for creating links between the Holyoke’s Latino population and the city’s emerging innovation economy

• Chelsea: $225,000 for a program to reduce poverty and increase social mobility in a low-income neighborhood.

• Somerville: $100,000 for “Pocket Change: Creating a Somerville That Works for All Initiative,” designed to incorporate social media and mobile technology into workforce development efforts

• Salem: $100,000 to help boost a low-income neighborhood by focusing on economic development, small business development, workforce development and leadership development

The 20 cities that were eligible for the competitive grants had populations above 35,000, a median family income below the statewide level and a poverty rate above the median.