Speakers shared stories of perseverance, dedication, and care at the late activist’s memorial service As she lay in her death bed, Thelma D. Burns had one request: someone needed to distribute free Thanksgiving turkey vouchers in her absence. “In the last hours of her life, she . . . was making sure that other people would have the meal she…
HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge Offered Keynote Address (BOSTON, MA) – On Friday, November 18, 2022, at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport, ABCD honored 16 Community Heroes – volunteers, partners, collaborators, and leaders who uplift underserved and under-represented people and families throughout Greater Boston, and advocate for social, racial, economic and reproductive justice. The Community Heroes Celebration (CHC) is the…
Dear ABCD community, friends and partners: Earlier this week at Morning Star Baptist Church in Dorchester, we celebrated the life and legacy of long-time ABCD board member and community activist, Thelma D. Burns. The Boston Globe couldn’t have said it better when they wrote, “To Boston, Thelma D. Burns was ‘love personified.’” Thelma was an active ABCD board member for…
ABCD hosted the first in-person Community Heroes Celebration (CHC) in three years at the Omni Boston Hotel. Event Chair Russell Norris, General Manager, Slalom Boston helped honor 16 extraordinary community partners, collaborators, volunteers and leaders who uplift underserved and under-represented people and families throughout Greater Boston. Former ABCD President and CEO, John J. Drew, a national leader in the community…
Last month, Assistant Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Katherine Clark, toured our Medford Head Start and Children’s Services Early Learning Center, and met with parents, and staff to discuss ongoing challenges within the early education system and the impact on families. The center is the result of a collaboration between Encore Boston Harbor and ABCD to increase access to early…
ABCD President and CEO Sharon Scott-Chandler joined Boston Neighborhood Network News anchor Faith Imafidon on Nov. 18 to encourage Greater Boston families to get relief from rising energy costs this winter through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. WATCH HERE
For 60 years, ABCD has been many things to many people. The words people use to describe our Boston-area antipoverty and community action agency brim with hope for the future. ABCD means opportunity and pathways to economic mobility, they say. It is an investment in people and communities. ABCD lifts up our most vulnerable residents through education and innovation, equity…
BOSTON —The organization that offers much-needed assistance to at-risk kids and families in need will highlight more than a dozen people at its annual gala on Friday. For more information on the celebration at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport, click here. WATCH NOW
The Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) Board of Directors has named long-time Executive Vice President/COO, Sharon Scott-Chandler, Esq., president and CEO of the largest social services agency in New England. Scott-Chandler succeeds John J. Drew, who retired on June 30, 2022 after 51 years with the antipoverty agency, as president and CEO. With the passing of legendary ABCD President/CEO,…
One of the city’s finest leaders of the last half-century will be feted on Friday at a gala dinner that benefits the organization he served with distinction starting in 1971. John Drew, 85, retired from his top role at Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) in June, but Friday’s Community Heroes Celebration will serve as John’s big send-off in front…
