Alison Carter Marlow has done pretty much everything around ABCD. “I’ve worked at ABCD Central, over at Temple Street, at a couple of neighborhood sites,” she said. “It gives you an important perspective on the organization as a whole.”

From her position as Community Coordination assistant, Alison was offered the task of running an entire neighborhood site at Parker Hill-Fenway. “I was terrified to take the leap,” she said. “At the time, I didn’t think I was ‘director material.’ But everyone had a lot of faith in me.”

When ABCD received the $2 million grant to administer Clinton’s “Welfare to Work” program, Alison was placed in charge. It was a tumultuous period in her life, a time that saw her get married to her husband Ron Marlow, buy a house and have the first of her two children, James, now age 7. Jacinthe joined the family three years later. From there, after a brief stint running the SummerWorks program, Alison was again asked to head a neighborhood site, this time serving the gargantuan Dorchester neighborhood.

ABCD President/CEO Bob Coard notes that Alison has done so much for ABCD in these many roles. “She’s dedicated and very bright,” he said. “She exhibits vision and follow-through and operates at a very high level of competence. We are so fortunate to have Alison as a key part of ABCD.”

This blend, along with her ability to, in her words, “just roll with it” were crucial at Dorchester, because five months after her tenure began, her building burned to the ground. Through Alison’s hard work and the perseverance of those around her, a new building now sits on the site, open for business a mere two years after the fire.

ABCD thanks Alison Carter Marlow for always being there when she is needed and doing an outstanding job with incredible competence, flair and humor!