[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 9388-9389]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING ABCD AND ITS FOUNDER, BOB COARD

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 19, 2012

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, June 21, 2012, ABCD will 
celebrate and honor its late founder, Bob Coard, by renaming its Boston 
headquarters in honor of this titan in the effort to enable upward 
mobility and a higher quality of life for all people, regardless of 
income or situation in life. I rise today to commemorate and 
congratulate this incredible community action program the nation's 
leading anti-poverty organization, and to salute my great friend, the 
late, Bob Coard. From Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill, Bob was a 
consistent, persistent and insistent force, working tirelessly to 
direct critical resources toward the fight to eradicate poverty.
  Bob was an early, highly-effective general in the War on Poverty. He 
began his unmatched service even before President Johnson urged 
communities to organize around the vision of a creating a Great Society 
free of poverty and abundant in opportunity for all Americans 
regardless of race, creed or income. And Bob was still on the job when 
an extraordinary community organizer, President Obama, was sworn in as 
our 44th president. For all those years, ``ABCD'' didn't just stand for 
``Action for Boston Community Development.'' It also stood for 
``Anything Bob Coard Desired.''
  When Bob called, it was because he needed action for Boston's most 
vulnerable residents--more money for home heating assistance, help with 
Medicaid funding, support for Head Start.
  And we knew Bob was right because Bob recognized that our great 
challenge here in the United States is to bestow the world's blessings 
on all of God's children--to ensure, as President Kennedy said in his 
Inaugural address, that ``God's work on earth must truly be our own.''
  The son of a civil servant from Grenada, Bob Coard immigrated to this 
country to pursue the American Dream. Once here, he dedicated his own 
life to helping others pursue that same dream.
  When Bob started work at ABCD in 1964, the organization was only two 
years old and it had a tiny staff. Today, it has 1,000 employees and 
carries out a wide array of programs focused on meeting the needs of 
the poor and disadvantaged in the City of Boston.
  Recognizing that education provides the best way for young people to, 
in his words, ``make it in this world,'' Bob started two high schools 
for at-risk youth at ABCD, in collaboration with the Boston Public 
Schools.
  ABCD has been called the unsung hero of Boston. For 50 years ABCD has 
saved lives and made dreams come true, and while ABCD is at the heart 
of Boston's communities, it was the heart of Bob Coard that pushed ABCD 
to the national model it is today, and John Drew's amazing leadership 
that keeps that heart beating strong.
  From providing heating assistance for those in need during New 
England's long, cold winters to delivering job training to those who 
need work, ABCD is the bridge from poverty to self-sufficiency. The 
opportunities ABCD provides for low-income Boston residents to get back 
on their feet, live with dignity and achieve their full potential are 
building blocks for the continued success of these communities.
  Today, ABCD's assistance to people and communities has grown to all 
sectors of poverty relief.
  ABCD organizes Head Start programs for over 2,400 low-income children 
and families every year.
  ABCD supplies fuel assistance to more than 22,000 families a year.
  ABCD provides services for thousands of at-risk youth through 
SummerWorks, career development and two alternative high schools, and 
health services and family planning for more than 30,000 people every 
year through its Health Services Department.
  From the ABCD Foster Grandparents bringing love and security to 
disadvantaged children, to programs that offer assistance in asset 
development, tax assistance and financial education, ABCD offers 
stability, a sense of community and economic security to low-income 
families.
  In President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's second inaugural address, he 
famously declared that ``The test of our progress is not whether we add 
more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide 
enough for those who have too little.''
  That was Bob Coard's definition of progress, that is John Drew's 
definition of progress, that is ABCD's mission everyday.
  It is with great pride that I congratulate ABCD for its 50 years of 
vital service to the

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community, and that I commemorate my friend Bob Coard as ABCD dedicates 
its Tremont Street headquarters in his honor this Thursday on Boston 
Common.
  It is fitting that Bob Coard's building gazes out on the Common, a 
lush landscape where Americans from every walk of life enjoy the same 
open space, on equal footing. And just as the Common is part of the 
Emerald Necklace of parks and parkways that extend out to Franklin Park 
in Roxbury, Bob Coard and ABCD stitched together an array of programs 
that, taken together, provide a safety net for lifting Bay State 
residents out of poverty and into a new life of self-sufficiency.
  Bob Coard and ABCD are American icons, and I congratulate Bob's wife 
Donna, John Drew and the entire ABCD team for the incredible work that 
makes such a difference in the lives of so many Massachusetts 
residents.

                          ____________________