Rappaport Institute Gains Permanent Endowment

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston was established at the Kennedy School in 2000 to help connect the city and the university community. Now the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation has ensured that it will be a long-term relationship, by awarding a permanent endowment of $12.35 million to fund the institute.

The endowment, which was announced in June during an event at Boston City Hall, will fund institute operations including public sector fellowships, research grants, and scholarships and training programs for local officials.

’ÄúThe Rappaport Institute has already proven to extend what for me has been a lifelong interest in the interrelationship between the academic and political worlds,’Äù said Jerome Rappaport MPA 1963, a Boston real estate developer, ’Äúand I’Äôm pleased to know this relationship will continue for generations to come.’Äù

Rappaport has also provided scholarships since 1981 for elected and appointed officials to attend the Kennedy School’Äôs Mid-Career MPA Program. Massachusetts State Representative Kevin Honan MPA 1999 of Boston, a former urban fellow, said the scholarship ’Äúwas an extraordinary opportunity for me. The experience was very significant, and the educational program helped me a great deal in the work I do as a state legislator.’Äù

The cochair of the legislature’Äôs Joint Committee on Housing, Honan said that ’Äúgroundbreaking research’Äù from the Rappaport Institute on housing issues in Greater Boston proved invaluable to his committee. A report coauthored earlier this year by institute director Edward Glaeser found that regulation has caused low levels of new construction and high housing prices in the region.

Honan also recently employed a student as part of the Rappaport Summer Public Policy Fellows Program, which provides 12 graduate students from local universities with paid, 10-week, public sector internships in Greater Boston. It’Äôs another example of the academic and political linkages that lie at the heart of the Rappaport Institute. ’Äî LR