U.S. Senator Ed Markey’s address champions justice and economic security
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2025
CONTACT:
Jamie McIver
857.488.5068
jamie.mciver@bostonabcd.org
(BOSTON, MA) – The ABCD Community Heroes Celebration on Friday, October 24, 2025 at the Westin Copley Place honored 18 remarkable individuals and partners whose service, compassion, and ingenuity embody the event’s theme, brilliance and resilience. The gala featured multimedia journalist Paris Alston, host of GBH’s News Rooted, as emcee. WCVB TV’s Karen Holmes Ward and retired ABCD director of government and industrial relations Robert (Bob) Elias, who served the organization and Greater Boston for 56 years, were inducted into the ABCD Hall of Fame. A complete list of the 2025 ABCD Community Heroes is available here, and represents neighborhoods across Boston and Mystic Valley.
The evening opened to Andra Day’s “Rise Up” as heroes representing every neighborhood and nominating program took the stage beside ABCD Board Chair Candice Caines-Francis, President & CEO Sharon Scott-Chandler, Chief Operating Officer Anne Corbin-Fennell, and U.S. Senator Ed Markey.
Senator Markey delivered a rousing address championing justice, climate action, and economic security. Linking the Green New Deal to neighborhood empowerment, he affirmed his fight to ensure “no one has to choose between heating and eating,” drawing spirited applause from the packed Westin ballroom.
“I am proud and honored to recognize our 2025 Community Heroes and Hall of Fame honorees who are on the frontlines, making a difference every day,” said ABCD President and CEO Sharon Scott-Chandler. She continued, “Much of ABCD’s presence over the past 63 years has been guided by Bob Elias – his passion for innovating programs, building relationships, and spreading our mission of helping Boston’s low-income and under-resourced communities, which has helped catapult the organization forward. Karen Holmes Ward has used her incredible commitment and platform to inform and uplift the communities that ABCD serves, and the issues that are important to people of color and nonprofit organizations. We are so proud to have partnered with Karen over these many years.”
After 44 years at WCVB-TV’s CityLine, Karen Holmes Ward recently closed out her final broadcast as host and executive producer and will retire in the coming months. CityLine is WCVB’s award-winning weekly magazine program which addresses the accomplishments, concerns and issues facing people of color living in Boston and its suburbs. She has served as emcee of the Community Heroes Celebration in years past.
Karen has interviewed many notables including Oscar® winners Regina King, Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, Octavia Spencer, Denzel Washington, and Spike Lee. She was part of the team honored with a National Association of Broadcasters Service to Community in Television’ Award for WCVB’s community service efforts during and following the 2013 Boston Marathon attack. In 2018, Karen was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She also holds honorary doctorates from Merrimack College, Cambridge College and Boston University.
Robert (Bob) Elias dedicated 56 years of his career and life serving at ABCD. He was the catalyst and creator of some of ABCD’s iconic events and programs, including the Community Heroes Celebration (formerly the Community Awards Dinner), the Seminar Series, Field of Dreams at Fenway Park, Hoop Dreams at TD Garden and the ABCD Hall of Fame.
Bob began at the South Boston Action Center as a vocational counselor with ABCD’s job training program. He implemented a new process whereby ABCD trainees were hired directly from ABCD by local companies for roles such as auto mechanics and typewriter repair instead of through the Department of Employment Services – saving the organization $1M, and greatly increasing employment opportunities for ABCD constituents. Longtime ABCD President Robert Coard then appointed Elias as a special assistant, and later as director of government and industrial relations, the role in which Bob served for the next four decades.
From Senator Markey’s impassioned call to action to the heartfelt tributes for Ward and Elias, the 2025 Community Heroes Celebration reflected the enduring power of community action — proving that when neighbors lift one another, resilience becomes a shared art form. Check out the festivities at abcdheroes.org and learn more about ABCD’s mission to create pathways out of poverty so that everyone can thrive at bostonabcd.org.