Since COVID-19 struck, Jamie, a 57-year-old mother from Everett, has worried constantly about keeping her family fed. Then the refrigerator died, and all their food was lost. “You don’t want to tell your child there is no food,” she said. A retired retail worker from Dorchester, Paulette, 69, juggles paying for rent, food, and other needs. She raised her granddaughter, who lives…
ABCD calls on Congress and the White House to set aside their differences and get the next coronavirus relief bill passed. Since COVID-19 struck, Jamie, a 57-year-old mother from Everett, has worried constantly about keeping her family fed. Then the refrigerator died, and all their food was lost. “You don’t want to tell your child there is no food,” she said. A…
As the coronavirus continues to impact jobs and the economy, food insecurity is rising in Massachusetts, and food assistance programs are seeing more people look to the federal government for help feeding their families. The anti-poverty agency ABCD reports 10,000 families coming to its food pantries since mid-March, compared to 4,000 families seeking help most years. The ABCD pantries get…
Do you need to learn English or improve your English-speaking skills so that you can find a new job, move up in your career, help your children with school assignments and meet other challenges of life? Beginning September 21, ABCD will offer free, virtual English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses from its centers in Mattapan, Roslindale and Mission…
Election department taking COVID precautions Source: Yawu Miller, Bay State Banner Last Saturday and Sunday, Boston voters with mail-in ballots could drop their envelopes in receptacles outside one of nine community centers across the city. Inside the community centers, voters checked in and voted early with the standard paper ballots. For those unwilling to make a trip to a local…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 20th, 2020 CONTACT: Susan Kooperstein617.875.3619 Lee Phenner339.368.1140 Learn English online – get help with computer skillsSign up for September classes TODAY Do you need to learn English or improve your English-speaking skills so that you can find a new job, move up in your career, help your children with school assignments and meet other challenges of life in…
John Drew, President/CEO of ABCD, talks about ongoing relief efforts in the Boston area and how needs might increase because of disagreements in Congress over pandemic aid. WATCH NOW
Massachusetts officials declined to say Monday whether they would accept new funding from the federal government that could boost unemployment benefits by $400 a week, as states scrambled to understand the controversial maneuver President Trump announced over the weekend. Charles Pearce, a spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, said the Baker administration is reviewing the…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 10th, 2020 CONTACT: Susan Kooperstein617.875.3619 Lee Phenner339.368.1140 Stresses need for all those from low-income neighborhoods, communities of color, to be represented in 2020 count ABCD President/CEO John J. Drew calls on Boston residents to make sure they send in theircensus forms and respond to Census door-knockers gathering detailed information on individuals and families. “The federal government just cut…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 6th, 2020 CONTACT: Lee Phenner339.368.1140 (mobile)lee.phenner@bostonabcd.org 30 million unemployed due to COVID shutdown in deepening crisis after essential $600 per week federal payment ended July 31 ABCD continues frontline aid to low-income Boston-area residents, boosted now by federal CARES ACT grant to combat COVID-19 destruction On July 31 more than 950,000 Massachusetts residents lost the $600 per week federal unemployment…
