ABCD was gratified by the enthusiastic turnout at our annual Legislative Breakfast at Carrie Nation on March 8 for the first time in three years. Special thanks to our co-hosts, Rep. Paul J. Donato, Second Division Chair, and Rep. David Biele, Boston Delegation Chair. This important event provided an opportunity for dialogue between our elected state representatives and senators and ABCD’s community leaders, board members and program directors.
At the breakfast, ABCD shared the needs we encounter as “boots on the ground” and how we propose to support our constituents’ economic stability and prosperity. ABCD seeks legislative endorsement through sustained or increased funding for a range of programs and services including a renewed investment in:
- Community Action Agencies
- Reproductive Services and Family Planning
- ABCD Mobile Homeless Outreach Team
- Early Education Teacher Salaries
- Head Start State Supplemental Line Item
- Child Care Resource and Referral Network
- Workforce Development and Education and Essential Aid
ABCD continues its extraordinary path to help and empowers those who are disadvantaged – elders, children and families. The theme behind our mission embedded in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 is as relevant today as it was then: to ameliorate the conditions of poverty “is not to make the poor more secure in their poverty but to reach down and to help them lift themselves out of the ruts of poverty and move with the large majority along the high road of hope and prosperity.” ABCD is fulfilling that mission by providing a broad range of programs and services including health and nutrition through SNAP and WIC, energy independence through LIHEAP, and income through EITC to close to 100,000 individuals last year.
