Thanks to a new public-private partnership between the City of Boston and local organizations recently announced by Mayor Michelle Wu, immigrant residents will soon receive financial help for services like legal aid and assistance in navigating the naturalization process.

Mike Deehan, reporter at Axios, said this venture is certainly a win for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement, which is contributing $1.3 million toward the $4.5 million in funds. Deehan said the fact that the city is putting in less than half of the total amount may help insulate the partnership from naysayers.

“That could address some of the criticisms of too much taxpayer money going into services like this, or being at risk with services like this if the programs aren’t run to the scrutiny that a lot of folks want,” Deehan said.

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Finances are top of mind for myriad reasons on Beacon Hill, including the ongoing saga of delayed unemployment benefits.

Massachusetts made news last year for being named the worst state in the nation when it comes to paying out unemployment claims in a timely manner.

Although this has been an issue for years, Jennifer Smith, senior reporter and podcast host at Commonwealth Beacon, said it spiraled last fall. That’s when a new system to streamline payments was implemented by the unemployment office, which led to even more issues.

“At the start of 2025, before the new system went fully into place, Massachusetts paid about 90% of eligible first-time unemployment claims within 35 days. In September, 42.5% of those claims were paid within 35 days,” Smith said.

While delays with payments are now shrinking, there is still a significant backlog, and some lawmakers say they’re being “flooded” with calls from constituents looking for relief.

Meanwhile, some Bay State cities are looking to access special funds granted to the state’s 26 “Gateway Cities,” but aren’t sure how to get on the list.

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“The statute that defines a Gateway City … says that it’s based on your population, your median household income and your educational attainment. And that means that it is possible that cities will rise out of that category or drop under that category over time,” Smith said. “But when they were establishing this law, they did not actually include any mechanism for whether someone is supposed to be checking to make sure that that list remains the correct list.”

Weymouth and Marlborough now qualify for “Gateway City” designation, while Salem, Quincy and Methuen — currently on the list — no longer technically fall under the category. So will lawmakers act to swap out the cities in and out of the list? Deehan says he’s doubtful.

“The Lieutenant Governor is from Salem. A lot of high-rollers are from Methuen, and the Speaker of the House is from Quincy. They’re not coming off the list if it means a funding loss,” Deehan said. “These are people trying to get stuff for their towns; this is good lawmaking. So I don’t know how many people are getting too upset about the definition [of a Gateway City.] However, when there’s a finite bucket of money to fight over, then people will take it seriously.”

All that, plus the latest from the efforts to revitalize Blue Hill Avenue and to reopen Buddy’s Diner in East Somerville on this week’s local news roundtable.

Guests

  • Mike Deehan, reporter at Axios
  • Jennifer Smith, senior reporter at Commonwealth Beacon, co-host of “The Codcast.”

Stories featured in this week’s roundtable