| Founded | 1962 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Melnea Cass |
| Type | 501(c)(3) |
| Focus | Anti-poverty |
| Location | |
Key people | John J. Drew, President/CEO |
Employees | Approximately 1,000 |
| Website | www.bostonabcd.org |
Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) is an anti-poverty organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent, private, non-profit human services agency in New England, serving serving more than 100,000 low-income Greater Boston residents through its city-wide network of neighborhood-based organizations.[1]
In 1961 Boston residents, with support from Mayor John F. Collins and the Permanent Charity Fund, established the Boston Community Development Program (BCDP) to improve quality of life for city residents. In 1962 BCDP was incorporated as ABCD.
In 1964, Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act, and the City of Boston designated ABCD as its official anti-poverty agency. ABCD established a neighborhood-based Area Planning Action Council (APAC) system to manage 11 target neighborhoods of acutely concentrated poverty. [2]
