ABCDC History

The Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC) takes its shape from the diverse voices and efforts of the many community members who share a vision of a strong, vibrant and inclusive community. Since forming in 1980, we have renovated and preserved 370 units of affordable housing and helped more than 600 low- and moderate-income families buy homes.

At the Allston Brighton Parade

We have educated hundreds of tenants about their rights and organized them to defend these rights. Throughout our two-plus decades, we have fostered mutual respect and greater understanding among the ethnically and economically diverse population of Allston Brighton. We have organized neighborhood residents to improve parks, renovate schoolyards, and plant trees on barren streets. We were the first organization to create an Individual Development Account program in Boston. We are a lead organization in the citywide Community Business Network. And we initiated a model community-computing program to assist low-income families and individuals in accessing computer skills and technology resources, thereby improving their career choices.

Each year nearly 6,000 people benefit from our programs. Diverse voices in a multitude of languages swirl around our offices, classrooms and out in the playgrounds we have renovated, making the atmosphere in which we work rich and exciting. We have increased our capacity in direct response to the growing and changing needs in our community. The housing crisis deepens, challenging working families to find and maintain a place to call home. The economy falters making it more difficult than ever for people without technical and professional skills to find or retain work.

As a community-based, community-controlled, nonprofit organization, ABCDC’s mission is to engage neighborhood residents in the on-going process of shaping and carrying out a common vision of a diverse and stable community. This vision is carried out through community-led projects that protect and produce affordable housing, create greenspace, foster a healthy local economy, provide avenues for economic self-sufficiency, and increase understanding among and between the diverse residents of our neighborhood.

In these difficult times, we know we must dig our heels in a little deeper and reach out a bit further while ensuring that the Allston Brighton CDC remains a stable resource for our community.