MassHire Metro North Career Center, operated by ABCD since July 2020, has been awarded a Veterans Employment and Training Program Performance and Incentive Award for its outstanding service to veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic. When in-person services closed down, its JVSG team (Jobs for Veterans State Grants) quickly adapted to a new way of working, collaborating with leadership to adopt the technology required for high…
I applaud Timothy Scalona’s urgent call for the Legislature to pass the COVID-19 housing equity bill (“The eviction crisis is upon us — the Legislature must act,” Opinion, Sept. 9). Action for Boston Community Development has worked feverishly to meet the needs of our most vulnerable communities throughout a pandemic that has ravaged their health and stability. While some area residents have emerged…
More than 300,000 Massachusetts workers who lost jobs during the pandemic are about to cash their last unemployment checks this week, but experts are not expecting the end of pandemic-related jobless benefits to solve the state’s labor shortage. … Advocates are scrambling to connect hundreds of thousands of people losing unemployment checks with other aid such as food benefits, cash…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 2, 2021 CONTACT: Susan Kooperstein617.875.3619skooperstein@comcast.net Lee Phenner339.368.1140lee.phenner@bostonabcd.org NCAP Honors ABCD Leadership at Annual Convention in Boston Boston, MA – John J. Drew, President/CEO, Action for Boston Community Development, will be honored on September 2 at the national convention in Boston of the National Community Action Partnership (NCAP). Drew will receive the Robert M. Coard Innovation Award for his exceptional work…
ABCD President/CEO John J. Drew urges vision, collaboration After 18 months of a global health crisis, our country and the world have been conditioned to respond. We train our focus on the next milestone in the hope that it will lead to a meaningful turnaround. But it’s time for leaders to transition from a reactive to a proactive mindset in…
In the ultimate act of unfortunate timing, the pandemic-era unemployment benefits for some 7.5 million people will run out on or justbefore Labor Day, the federal holiday that honors the contributions of American workers. The largest such cutoff in history, affecting more than 300,000 in Massachusetts, is taking place as the coronavirus pandemic that caused unprecedented job losses escalates once again, casting a…
Across America, many are applauding the Senate passage on Aug. 12 of a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package as a first step in advancing the largest safety net expansion since the 1960s. That legislation aims to expand health care, fund climate change programs and provide free preschool and community college among other “human infrastructure” initiatives that will increase quality of…
President Biden’s American Rescue Plan contains a tax credit expansion that policymakers say will cut child poverty in half. Just as Social Security and Medicare nearly erased elder poverty, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion has the potential to lift out of poverty more than half of the 13 million children living below the 2021 poverty level of $26,200 for…
As Greater Boston endures tropical weather patterns, from balmy days to torrential downpours, it’s easy to forget that the winter of 2020 – 2021 brought frigid temperatures at a time when many had lost jobs due to the pandemic. Heating bills spiked as families tried to stay healthy and warm. “The economic fallout of the pandemic has been severe for…
After more than a year of isolation and hardship brought on by the pandemic, underserved youth in Boston are developing the skills and confidence to succeed when they’re back in the classroom this fall. ABCD SummerWorks is partnering with more than 100 mission-driven employers to provide youngsters with career readiness workshops, mentoring, and earnings of up to $1,600 from jobs…