Mt Auburn completed a study on behalf of the Connecticut Employment and Training Commission to inform the Commission's decision on whether to modify existing state policy to give Connecticut's Workforce Investment Boards the option of directly operating Career Centers and delivering services. The study also involved analysis on the broader efficiency and effectiveness of Connecticut's Career Center system. The study included detailed revenue and expenditure analyses, analyses of management, programming, and Career Center performance in each Workforce Investment Area, and research on Career Center management structures in other states.

In 2004, Mt. Auburn Associates co-authored a report with the staff of MassINC that presented critical reforms needed for the Massachusetts workforce development system. This report drew from lessons learned through two years of MassINC's New Skills for a New Economy Campaign. The report found that there was broad agreement that Massachusetts's workforce development system needed reform to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In particular, it was found that the system lacked a unified vision, had long waiting lists for ESOL classes, had inadequate resources, and lacked core accountability standards supported by business and industry. The report has helped to shape the public policy debate in Massachusetts about how the workforce development system should be reformed.

Over the past 20 years, Mt. Auburn Associates has worked with about 25 smaller cities on the design and implementation of strategic economic development plans. These cities include Springfield, Fitchburg, and Fall River, in Massachusetts; Nashua, New Hampshire; New Haven, New London, Waterbury, and Hartford in Connecticut; Kingston and Glens Falls in New York; Waterville and Lewiston in Maine; and St. Joseph and Cape Girardeau in Missouri.

Mt. Auburn's interest and expertise in the economic development opportunities and challenges in the nation's smaller cities led to our study Third-Tier Cities: Adjusting to the New Economy. This research project, funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, examined the economic adjustment challenges of the nation's small cities. The work included an analysis of economic data on all U.S. cities, the creation of an extensive database on cities with between 15,000 and 125,000 in population, short case studies of ten small cities, some of which were selected because of their positive economic adjustment experience, and the development of recommendations for furthering the economic success of smaller cities. The report had significant influence in the field, leading to a number of efforts in Massachusetts that focused on that state's small industrial cities.

In 2006, Mt. Auburn researched and co-authored a report for the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century, a group of the state's public and private leaders, which provided an overview of the challenges of Connecticut's cities and recommended policy changes to ensure that cities continue to attract residents and jobs and contribute to Connecticut's future. The report utilized Mt. Auburn framework, and outlined the three essential qualities of a livable city: Place, People, and Payroll. The Institute concluded that addressing these three elements separately and together is essential to make our cities places where people live and work by choice.